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 EGTF MASTERS COURSE

7 - 12 January 2007, Manor Park Golf Club, New Zealand

By Lee Holdsworth, EGTF Master Teaching Professional

Wellington, New Zealand is the capital of the Country and commonly known as 'windy Wellington', was the destination for the first Masters Course of the year.  The nickname certainly held true as my plane approached the water surrounded runway sideways, being tossed back and forth violently by an apparently 'gentle' northerly!

Safely on the ground I met up with Bill Abbott the Chief Instructor for the week, who I would be assisting.  Murray McDonald, one of the resident EGTF Professionals from Manor Park Golf Club, was also at the airport welcoming us to New Zealand and to take us to our accommodation.  Thank you Murray and may I take this opportunity to thank all the staff at Manor Park GC who assisted us throughout the week.

L - R: Lee Holdsworth, Yasin Ahmed, Don Finlayson, Renee Fowler, Brenda Ormsby, Pete Tutton, Mark Lilley, Murray McDonald, Bill Abbott

As with all the Masters Courses it was good to catch up with some old friends and fellow Professionals and meet with some new ones, chat about the industry and a general 'how is everything going'?  With the introductions completed, the week began with a gentle recap on some of the basics followed by a more in-depth look at Sports Psychology.

The Masters Course is exactly that - a deeper look into the sport.  Understanding motor skills and what is the best method for teaching them.  Understanding different bodies will work in different ways, resulting in different golf swings.  An introduction into Golf Biomechanics - the study of human movement.  Video analysis - cause and effects.  Advanced techniques, advanced drills, how to work with elite players.  These are just some of the topics that we covered on the Course.  It was good to see the students soak up this new information and ask questions about these areas and wanting to understand more.

Brenda Ormsby receiving her Masters Diploma

Manor Park Golf Club is blessed with fantastic scenery, lush grass and superb greens.  However, the wind does howl and you need to be on your game to shoot a good score.  The first of the playing ability rounds saw over half of the students pass the discipline with just three needing another attempt.

The latter part of the week involved a short game skills test followed by the student giving a 45 minute lesson.  These were a pleasure to watch from an instuctor's point of view as the entire group gave excellent, well stuctured lessons.

We finished the week with all but one of the students completing all the components of the Course.  Congratulations to all of those who were successful and I wish you all the best for the future and special thanks to Bill and his tireless devotion to teaching the game that we love.