Yardage Book Yarns

Noel Ratcliffe was born in Sydney in 1945

His father played cricket for Australia and was friends with Sir Don Bradman

Noel started playing Golf by sneaking on Bexley Golf Course late on a Saturday afternoon. He then joined New South Wales Golf Club where his first handicap was four

After a strong amateur career, He decided to turn pro at the age of 29

Heading straight to Europe he secured his tour card where he played for over 35 years

Noel holds a number of records on the European regular and seniors tours including being the second person to ever earn 1 million euros on tour

Winner of 16 professional tournaments worldwide, he has played with and beaten most of the best players in the world

I hope you enjoy these great stories from Noel from the 70's, 80's and 90's

Stacey Peters (Nee Keating) grew up in country Victoria

She started playing Golf with her Grandparents in Lismore 30 minutes from her parents farm. Neither her Mum or Dad are golfers, she built her own little six hole course and driving range on the family property 

After finishing school she moved to Melbourne to study and met a PGA Pro who helped her get her handicap down to scratch, he also gave her the idea that she could pursue a career as a professional, something she had not considered

After turning pro, on only her second year on the LET she won back to back tournaments in Spain and France

Stacey now has a full time role with Golf Australia in elite player development, commentates on TV and is about to become a mum for the first time

Enjoy Stacey's journey so far 

John started playing Golf at Keperra GC at the age of 12 with his father

After completing his PGA Traineeship in Brisbane, he headed to Europe and secured his European tour card, with two victories and the confidence that he could compete with some of the world's best players it was off to America where he has held his USPGA tour card for over 20 years. His best results have been wins in the John Deere Classic in 2006 and Valspaar Championship in 2014

He has had three top 10 finishes in every major excluding the Open Championship

 Winner of the Australian Open at Royal Sydney in 2006, one of his career highlights

In 2017, his only child Jacob was diagnosed with a brain tumor, this resulted in him walking away from the tour and not touching his clubs for 18 months

John is an absolute gentleman, he has not changed a bit in the 25 years I have known him 

Brett "Noddy" Kimmorley grew up in Belmont, just north of Sydney

From a very young age he aspired to be a professional Rugby League player. Through hard work and perseverance, he went on to become recognised as a household name in NRL circles, at club and representative levels. He played for five NRL teams including the Cronulla Sharks which he is most known for, represented NSW in 10 Origins and Australia in 22 International Tests 

 After a stellar playing career, tragedy struck in 2017 when Brett lost his best friend and wife to Cancer, he was left to deal with the grief, work and raise his four daughters

 Regarded as one of the nicest men to ever pull on a jersey, a true Golf nut

 I hope you enjoy listening to this as much as I did doing it

Glenn

Nick O'Hern grew up playing Golf at Mt Lawley Golf Club in Perth, Western Australia

The lowest handicap he ever got down to was 4. After completing his PGA Traineeship and shooting 82, 84, 88 to finish dead last in a tournament as a professional, he sat in his car crying which motivated him to create a plan that proved to be the best thing he ever did for his career

He went on to win 6 tournaments, earn over $7m in prizemoney, represent Australia five times, play on all of the world tours and beat Tiger Woods twice in Matchplay, the only person in history to do so 

An inspirational story proving that hard work and belief are the main ingredients required to achieve your goals 

Affectionately known as "POM", Peter O'Malley might just be the most down to earth Golf Professional in the history of Australian Golf

Born and raised in Bathurst, country NSW. He initially wanted to be a Greenkeeper or Chef, but quickly learned that his Golf game was good enough to take on the worlds best

He turned pro in 1987 and played on tours around the world for over 25 years and competed in 16 major championships

His biggest win came at the Scottish Open in 1992 playing with Faldo where he shot 7 under the last 5 holes, which finished with an eagle on the 72nd hole

POM shares with us many yarns about:
- Playing with Seve
- Making swing changes with Denis Pugh
- Winning the Scottish Open playing with Faldo
- Breaking up a fight between Radar Riley and his brother
- The early days on tour in Europe with Parry, Senior, Riley
- Partying with Chooky Fowler
- The swing keys that made him such a great ball striker
- How technology has changed professional Golf 

Enjoy this episode!

Glenn

Steve Bann started Golf as a 12 year old caddy at Riversdale GC in Melbourne. He completed his traineeship at Huntingdale GC after walking away from the game for three  years 

A 16 year old Robert Allenby challenged Steve to a match in a Thursday comp, but soon realised that his "Club Pro" coach was pretty good when Robert shot 64 but that still was not good enough, as Steve shot 63

Steve led the Australian Masters by two shots with three holes to go in 1988 but lost to Ian Baker Finch

He was the founding coach of the VIS Golf Program which produced a number of world class players

Steve spent 25 years travelling to the PGA Tour up to 10 times a year to spend time with a number of his players

If not the most influential Golf coach in the history of Australia Golf, he is certainly up the top   
Steve shares the following stories with us during this fascinating interview:
- Nearly becoming a rock and roll hale of famer (joke) 
- Watching Sam Snead and Lee Trevino playing when he was young
- Meeting Greg Norman for the first time
- Being 10 under par for 14 holes in the last round of the Aussie Masters 
- Coaching a young Stuart Appleby and Robert Allenby
- The day Renee Appleby was tragically killed 
- Going to Tiger Woods house
- Witnessing Tiger's 59 with two three putts
- His 19 trips to the US Masters at Augusta

Don't miss this one!

Craig Laundy is nearly 50 years old. He was born in Sydney into the Laundy family  Hotel business started by his Grandfather, and with his brother has helped his Father Arthur Laundy grow it into the empire it is today

Craig has played four rounds at Augusta National 

He has played Golf with Greg Norman and is great mates with John Sendon and Craig Parry

He was in Federal politics for close to six years and served  eventually  under his close friend Malcolm Turnbull 

His brother Stuart won the Sophie Monk Bachelorette which posed as a potential problem for the Prime Ministers Office 

Craig is a member of both Concord and The Australian Golf Clubs and plays off a handicap of 13 

Enjoy!

Geoff was born in 1961 in Queensland, he had to move to Sydney with his Grandmother at only five weeks old to get better medical attention as he was born with defects to both legs due to his mother taking the morning sickness drug Thalidomide

He had to have his right leg amputated at 11, and had to endure bullying at school

He started playing Golf at 12 which changed his life in many ways for the better

In 1989 he started competing in disabled Golf tournaments around the world and turned professional 12 months alter

Some funny yarns and a truly inspirational story. I hope you enjoy it as much I did  

Sarah Kemp was born in Sydney, started playing Golf at 12. 

She got down to a scratch handicap at a young age and won several national titles as an amateur and represented Australia in the 2004 Espirito Santo  World Cup

She turned pro in 2008 and played for many years in Europe before embarking on the US LPGA Tour. She has played in all 5 majors and still has plenty of game left and will one day likely win a major championship

Now engaged to Lisa Cornwell from The Golf Channel and hanging out and playing Golf with Ex President Bill Clinton

Great chat and insight into the life of a female Professional Golfer