Congratulations to Hillary O’Connor, one of our popular staff members who has been accepted into the NZPGA Trainee Professional programme next year.

With her outstanding golf and interpersonal skills she will make a success of this opportunity as she has excellent role models with the current professionals and environment we have at Russley. Jess Reid was Trainee Professional of the Year for three years and Rodney Yee has featured in NZ’s golf awards Professional Of The Year finalists for the last three years.

What is involved in the NZPGA Trainee Programme?

Hillary’s three years of training apprenticeship needs to be undertaken in the employment of a fully qualified PGA Professional and during this time she will be mentored by Rodney. She will receive on-the-job training as well as attending the PGA Schools and workshops.

The apprenticeship will cover:

• The golf swing including the use of modern teaching aids and techniques.

• Golf Science - understanding human anatomy and biomechanics and the impact that they have on the golf swing.

• Golf Specific Psychology

• Club Design, Construction and Repair.

• Retail Theory - specific to the golf business.

• Event and Tournament Management - promotion and management of events, from corporate golf days to club events and the running and staging of Professional golf competitions

Three training schools are held annually covering theoretical assignments and practical examinations to assess progress. Prior to graduation Trainees are also required to achieve competence in first aid and the rules of golf. Trainee Professionals are encouraged to enter and play in NZPGA conducted Pro-Am tournaments.

To be eligible for acceptance into the PGA Trainee Programme applicants need to produce evidence of playing ability. They must have an official handicap no higher than 5 for women (Hillary’s is currently +1.3) and demonstrate their ability in a playing test conducted by the PGA as part of the Aptitude Assessment Day which includes a round of golf;

This is a wonderful opportunity for Hillary to utilise her passion for golf in for what is a dream job for her.

What Is Hillary’s Background?

As a 6 year old she started golf at the Horarata Golf Club. Her brother who is two years older was having lessons and she went along with him. They enjoyed the individuality of the game. As they were both very competitive the challenge was always to try and beat each other. Although she played many other sports it was this individuality that appealed to her – you could only rely on yourself.

Hillary has had a number of golf coaches over the years – Alastair Palmer coached her at Lincoln when she was very young and Aiden Berry has been her coach for 12 years at Coringa and Pegasus.

Highlights for her so far in golf have been winning the 2015 Torro Women’s Team Tournament which also went on to win the Canterbury Women’s Sports’ Team Of The Year award. The following year she represented New Zealand at the South Pacific Junior Championships in New Caledonia. She regards her 66 at Coringa as the best round she has played and recently she went around Russley in 72 – she says that she finds our course difficult!

During her time on the staff at Russley she has been involved in working in the Café and Pro Shop. Although she found working in the Café a huge push out of her comfort zone with the functions she has enjoyed doing something that was different and having contact with the members – she now knows most of their names and numbers. Hillary has worked previously in the Pro Shop at Pegasus Golf Club for three years and has enjoyed working in our Pro Shop because of the interesting concepts that Rodney has implemented to introduce juniors and young people into golf.

The experience that was gained by working for Canterbury Golf promoting golf in schools and with the SNAG junior programme sparked an interest in teaching golf and has been the motivation for her applying for the NZPGA Trainee Programme. The years that were spent at Aiden Berry’s coaching sessions were very special to her and she now wants to spend time assisting golfers who want to improve their game.

During her training she is expected to play in 5 tournaments – these could be part of the Charles Tour events or Pro Ams and she is pleased that she will be able to accept any prize money that she wins. She has played in some amateur tournaments in Australia and would like to play in some professional tournaments there in the future and then who knows - perhaps the Chinese tour.

Most of all she is looking forward to helping people enjoy golf more. We would like to wish her well in her endeavours.

- Contributed by Bob Smith

A Final Note From Rodney

We are really looking forward to Hillary joining our team of professionals in the New Year. Golf is currently in a wonderful place right now despite everything else that is happening around the world and our coaching team of Jess, Tom and I are all extremely busy with our teaching schedules, turning over between 65-80 hours of teaching on a weekly basis between the 3 of us. We have some great concepts happening within our learning centre and it is only going to get busier as we continue to grow. This is a wonderful opportunity for Hillary to jump on board and learn the ropes.