PGA of Australia
Tiger’s former coach praises
Australian PGA
T
iger Woods’ former coach American
Hank Haney is under no illusion as to
why Australian golf is booming.
In short, the quality of Australian coaches is
second to none.
So far this season the world has watched
on as Jason Day, John Senden and Steven
Bowditch, Matt Jones and World Number
1 Adam Scott have achieved standout PGA
TOUR victories while Karrie Webb continues
to dominate on the women’s circuit.
And there has been plenty of other
international success for the Australian
Touring contingent; Brett Drewitt and David
McKenzie have notched wins on the PGA TOUR
China and Marcus Both was victorious on the
Asian Tour. Closer to home Matthew Griffin,
Dimitrios Papadatos and Anthony Summers
have all won on the PGA Tour of Australasia.
While much has been rightfully made of
Adam Scott’s ‘green jacket’ influence, Haney
was forthright in his opinion of why Australian
golf is going from strength to strength.
Regarded as one of the world’s foremost
authorities on the elite game, Haney took
to Twitter following Australian Steven
Bowditch’s PGA TOUR win tweeting;
“I’ve said it before, no PGA does teaching
better than the Australian PGA, they just have
a lot of great teachers and the results keep
coming.”
That’s high praise from the man who
guided Tiger Woods to 31 PGA TOUR titles
and six Majors; but warranted according to
the PGA.
“Australia is spoilt when it comes to quality
PGA Professionals, so much so that our
Members are in increasingly high-demand in
international industries,” said Brian Thorburn,
Chief Executive Officer of the PGA of Australia.
Jason Day with his coach/caddy
Col Swatton, a PGA Pro
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July 2014 | www.insidegolf.com.au
“An Australian PGA Professional’s skills,
knowledge and training is second to no other
PGA in the world. In fact the PGA’s education
and training staff have even been engaged
by international associations to assist with
the development of their own coaches and
industry personnel.”
After completing the PGA’s threeyear Trainee Program, Australian PGA
Professionals graduate with Vocational (Level
3) Golf Coach accreditation, recognised by
the Australian Sports Commission as the
highest level of golf coaching accreditation
available in the sport.
In addition, Trainees graduate with the
nationally recognised qualification of
Diploma of Sport Coaching, achieved by
completing industry-based training and
assessment across the program’s four subject
areas of Coaching, Game Development, Small
Business and Management.
Just as Touring Professionals are driven to
improve their performance and continue to
succeed so too are their coaches. Education
and learning doesn’t stop for Australian PGA
Professionals once they graduate from the
Trainee Program.
The PGA of Australia offers one of the best
continuing education programs in the world
highlighted by the upcoming Srixon PGA
Coaching Summit. PGA Professionals will
gather on the Gold Coast in September to
learn from industry leaders on a range of
topics including swing techniques, motor
learning principles, ball flight, positive
coaching and self improvement.
The Srixon PGA Coaching Summit brings
together some of Australia and the World’s
leading sporting authorities including
Graham DeLaet’s coach Henry Brunton,
Australian Teaching Professional of the Year
Denis McDade and Adam Scott’s movement
PGA Pro of the Year Denis McDade, who
coaches PGA TOUR player Matt Griffin
Adam Scott with his father, PGA Pro Phil Scott after winning the Australian PGA
specialist David Darbyshire in a week-long
networking and learning opportunity that is
the envy of PGAs around the world.
That’s a lot to take in for th