The latest Australian golf news
By Peter Owen THE biggest challenge facing Travis Smyth, the up-and-coming Aussie professional about to compete in his first major championship, is finding somewhere to play. The 28-year-old, in the best form of his life and healthier than he’s been all year, plays on the Asian Tour, which is basically in recess until August. So, […]
By Peter Owen WHEN John Mellish was appointed head pro at Beerwah Golf Club, in the Sunshine Coast hinterland, he was thinking no further ahead than the six-month trial he’d signed up for. But somewhere between August 1, 1985, and February 1, 1986, the paperwork must have been lost because the trial period was never […]
By Tony Webeck IN a parallel universe populated predominantly by Marvel superheroes, it would have been Louis Dobbelaar who won the 2021 Australian PGA Championship. That year’s Joe Kirkwood Cup wasn’t contested until January the following year, almost a year to the day from Dobbelaar’s victory at the Australian Amateur Championship. Coming from the same […]
By Michael Davis THERE’S nothing wrong with having a good dose of confidence in life as long as it’s not overbearing. Looking back, Nick Bielawski, reckons he was well and truly punching above his weight when he put his hand up to be coach of the China Elite Program at Sandhurst Golf Club in Melbourne […]
ONE of the highlights of the Handiskins national final is a chipping contest that results in a club golfer driving away in a brand-new Yamaha golf cart valued at $15,000. This year 20 club golfers qualified for the chip-off at Royal Pines Resort where each player was allowed two 50-metre chip shots with the player […]
By Tony Webeck CROWD-PLEASING West Australian Min Woo Lee will tap into the electric energy of the party hole as he eyes off a maiden Fortinet Australian PGA Championship at Royal Queensland Golf Club from November 23-26. The third consecutive playing for the Joe Kirkwood Cup in Brisbane has been locked in for late November […]
TAKING down some of the greatest golfers in history puts you among the elite of the game. That’s one of many conquests for Frank Phillips in his prime. Phillips passed away last month at the age of 90, but his place in the game in Australia should never be under-stated. Renowned as being one of […]
A YEAR and a half ago, Adam A’Vard didn’t even play golf, but he was thinking about taking up the game. He did just that and last month the 27-year-old electrician from Devilbend Golf Club in Victoria was crowned the Handiskinsnational champion after winning the final showdown at Royal Pines Resort on the Gold Coast. […]
PGA TOUR, DP World Tour, LIV Golf merge commercial operations under common ownership Agreement establishes common goal to promote and grow the game globally for the benefit of all stakeholders, ends litigation The PGA TOUR, DP World Tour and the Public Investment Fund (PIF) today announced a landmark agreement to unify the game of golf, on […]
By Tony Webeck THE more that you scratch beneath the surface, the more apparent that it becomes. That David Micheluzzi’s summer of superiority was far more than a hot streak not seen in Australia in almost 20 years. A three-time winner to claim the ISPS HANDA PGA Tour of Australasia Order of Merit for 2022/2023, […]
By James Sutherland GOLF is big. Golf is getting bigger. Golf is different. These are the 10 words I unashamedly repeat every single day. Why? Because as an industry, golf is enjoying huge positive momentum, and I want everyone to understand the potential of our game. For Golf Australia, our purpose was laid bare in […]
KEPERRA Country Golf Club’s junior golf program received a shot in the arm last month when teenagers filled the club championship’s top three podium spots. Wesley Hinton, 16, won the A grade championship after posting a four-round total of 285 to edge out fellow teenagers Jack Jones (287) and Ben Dowling (295) – both aged […]
FORGET the Ryder Cup for a moment – here is a match made in Heaven. At least that’s the response you’d get from a few rugby league stars from the Manly Sea Eagles. The gun footballers thought they were dreaming when they turned up to Bayview Golf Club last month for a photo opportunity with […]
By Michael Davis ROYAL Park president, Bruce Sutherland, is a member of St Andrews in Scotland. “Luckily, I am a ‘country’ member which makes it affordable. It’s very dear otherwise.” But Bruce cherishes his membership at Royal Park just as dearly as he does that at the venerable home of the game of golf. Like […]
THE name Chappell will forever be synonymous with cricket after the stellar careers of brothers Ian, Trevor and Greg. Beyond their professional cricketing careers, the dedicated work of the Chappell brothers in building the game in Australia, and around the world, is something for the next generation to aspire to. Former captain Greg Chappell was […]
By Peter Owen DOM Azzopardi holds his mobile phone high in his hand. “I’ve got two 15-year-old identical twin daughters,” he says, “and I restrict the amount of time they’re allowed to use these. “I hate seeing young people on phones. The girls say to me, ‘Dad, you’re the one that’s always on the phone […]
I KNEW PGA professional Phil Curd, one of the most popular and successful club pros in Australia, had racked up more than four decades in the golf industry, but it did surprise me to learn he will soon pull the pin on a decorated golf career. In June, Curd will wave goodbye to the pristine fairways […]
By Peter Owen AS a 12-year-old growing up in Melbourne, David Kight would pedal his bike 30 minutes from his home in Mt Waverley to Metropolitan Golf Club early on Saturday mornings to offer his services to the members as a caddie. If he was lucky enough to land a job – as he usually […]
By Michael Davis OAKLEIGH Golf Club secretary Tim Anderson clearly has a sense of humour. He describes the recent successful merger of the men’s and women’s clubs “as always destined to be a marriage made in heaven”. Although he hastens to add it has probably been “four decades” in the making. Anderson’s matrimonial metaphors continue […]
THERE’S no Rolex gold watch or expansive long-service package for serving as a PGA member over your entire adult life, but if job satisfaction counts for anything then Greg Ramsey is “rolling in it”. On January 1, 2023 not only did Greg break open a fine bottle of Tyrells Merlot to bring in the new […]
By Tony Webeck BRENDAN Jones arrived at the 10th hole of the Coronet Course at the Millbrook Resort on Friday needing par or better to make the cut. Most likely. At four-under par through 35 holes of the New Zealand Open in Queenstown and with the afternoon field only a handful of holes into their […]
APRIL brings the 2023 WPGA Tour season to a close as well as our inaugural Women and Girls Month delivered in collaboration with the PGA of Australia and Golf Australia. The highlight of the season had to be The Athena. Now in its third year, The Athena is like no other professional women’s golf tournament […]
BY the time you read this April Fool’s Day will be safely out of the way and things will start to become much moreserious as LIV Golf League players, including as many as 13 major winners, prepare to showcase their talent at The Grange Golf Club in Adelaide. Yes, from April 21-23 it will be […]
Performance54 is the group responsible for managing and promoting LIV Golf Adelaide. Inside Golf caught up with their managing director in Australia, Nick Haslam, to hear about his role and Australia’s first LIV Golf experience. Inside Golf: What can golf fans expect when LIV Golf comes to Adelaide? Nick Haslam: Golf, but louder! We’re going […]
By Rob Willis A SUPREME ball-striker, long off the tee before it was as crucial to professional success as it is now, a beaming smile and charisma to match, Brett Ogle was one of the stars of Australian golf in the late 1980s and into the ’90s. A kid with cocky confidence but the ability […]
By Peter Owen IT WAS after he bombed out in the final stage of Q-School in 2017 – closing with rounds of 80 and 78 at Moonah Links all but dashing his dream of a career as a touring professional – that Mitchell Smith fell out of love with golf. Disappointed and disillusioned, the former […]
By Peter Owen RYLEY Martin reckons he must be the only FIFO golf professional in Australia. Each few weeks the Sunshine Coast-based pro packs his bags, loads his car and drives 800km to Emerald, where he works as a first-year associate at the Emerald Golf Club. He works 10 hours a day for a week […]
By Michael Davis SYDNEY’S Stephanie Kyriacou admits she was overwhelmed on her first year on the LPGA Tour. “There’s lots of outside factors that affect your golf bit by bit,” she said before hitting off in the Webex Championship at Rosebud Country Club recently. “Then there’s all the big names and different courses and places […]
By Gavin Kirkman, CEO – PGA of Australia IT was a real pleasure to attend the 70th PGA Show in Orlando last month. A stunning event put on by the PGA of America, it was heartening to see the global golf industry come back together in full-flight for the first time since the onset of […]
By Rob Willis HE took down Greg Norman in shooting a tournament record score at the Australian Masters, conquered another giant of Australian golf in beating Peter Senior in a playoff at the same event, played two World Cup’s and the inaugural Presidents Cup. A seven-time winner as a professional, he competed in Australasia, […]
THE PGA Tour Champions is back in full swing with all eyes on Bernhard Langer as he seeks to equal Hale Irwin’s all-time wins record of 45 titles. Late last year, Langer notched his 44th Tour Champions title – the TimberTech Championship – to become the oldest winner on the tour at 65 years and […]
By Peter Owen HE’S been around for so long that some golf fans may have forgotten Richard Green is a seriously good player, the winner of three events on the European Tour, a member of Australia’s World Cup team on three occasions, and once placed as high as 29 in official world golf rankings. He’s […]
A paradigm is an accepted managing principle or design and, with its new Paradym family of woods and irons, available from February 24, Callaway looks set to challenge traditional golf design principles. The new Paradym drivers feature a ground-breaking 360 Carbon chassis married to a super-strong Titanium face; an achievement that allows for an incredible […]
By Michael Cooney G’DAY, golfers! I know that I start every month like this, but wow we’re in for a treat here. I’ve had the pleasure of reviewing the GolfBuddy Voice 2 SE as well as the GolfBuddy aim W11 Golf GPS Watch. Let’s get into it! Let’s start with the GolfBuddy Voice 2 SE, […]
IT all started way back in 1972 when South Australian businessman Alan Gillott awoke with a bright idea. “Why can’t we have women professional golfers here in Australia?” Alan thought to himself after reading a golf magazine. Well, Alan sprung into action and soon after that the women’s professional golf in Australia was born. That […]
It took 4 years of rapid-fire development and worldwide tour usage to raise Mizuno metal woods from the shadows of their iconic irons. Now after multiple iterative developments for stability, sound and spin they’ve added exceptional ball speeds to their performance equation. Introducing the CORTECH Chamber. Mizuno’s CORTECH Chamber encases a stainless-steel weight with elastomeric […]
FOR golfers who followed the football World Cup in Qatar, former England international Matt Le Tissier will be a familiar name and someone readers have more than likely seen playing golf in the celebrity pro-ams – particularly on the European Tour. Matt represented England eight times and is the second highest scorer of goals (161) […]
By Peter Owen WHEN Cameron Smith putted out for a par on the 17th green at Royal Queensland on the final day of the Australian PGA, his three-stroke lead assuredly enough for victory, the raucous crowd on that party hole begged him to toss his ball into the stands, just like almost every player had […]
FORMER basketball boss Neil Goffet has moved from the court to the course in his new role as general manager at Hawks Nest Golf Club. A former journalist at the Newcastle Herald, Goffet spent the past nine years as general manager at Newcastle Basketball where the association recorded incredible success during his reign. He replaces […]
VICTORIA’S Anglesea Golf Club located on the Great Ocean Road in the Surf Coast Shire has elected Jules Rolfe as its new president. In a high turn-out election, Jules Rolfe got the nod to become the first woman president of the club in its more than 70-year history. Rolfe is a keen golfer and lives […]
