Golf Vic Vol 60 No 2 2019

Father-of-five Kinney was previously New South Wales state coach, ran the state academy at Riverside Oaks Golf Club and before that was a 15-year touring professional. When he saw the advertisement for the coaching job in Melbourne, he was interested straight away. One of his previous personal coaches was Steve Bann, who headed up the VIS with Dale Lynch when its methods and results first came to notice; in fact, Bann became one of his referees. When he secured the job, he, his wife Sally and four of their five children – Teah, 14, Angus, 11, Lawson, 9, and Ayva, 6 – packed up and moved to Melbourne, no mean feat in itself. The eldest, Jessica, 24, already lives in Melbourne and works as a veterinary surgeon. “The carrot for me was twofold,’’ says Kinney. “First, the challenge of the role, and with Golf Australia becoming One Golf, the fact they were building the home of golf at Sandringham. I saw it as an opportunity to get involved, specialise in my coaching, become involved at the home of golf. I’m in golf heaven down here. My next challenge is to get the whole family to love Melbourne!’’ Carrying a degree in anatomy and physiology, he brings a holistic approach to the task. “I like to build the person and then the golf is easy,” he said. “That’s one of my philosophies. To be great at any sport you need to have elite skills as a person as to the mindset you bring. If you bring the right mindset, you’re always trying to improve, whether it’s through nutrition or psychology, whatever it might be. You’ll look for every opportunity. “The winning and losing happens along the way and it’s a journey but if you look at the kids I’ve had exposure to, they’ll look to improve themselves from outside of golf. They might be learning new breathing techniques or learning to juggle. Indirectly it all helps their golf. I don’t think you can be elite if you haven’t got those human skills. “If there’s a commonality between all high-performance people, whether it’s in sport or the CEO of a company, it’s that mindset: ‘I’m going to do it a bit better and do a bit more than everybody else, and I’ll get there in the end. It might not happen right now, but I’m chipping away’.’’ He is the first-ever full-time coach of the VIS, which is significant. Previously, the likes of Joyce needed to supplement their income with private coaching; in this instance, Kinney will work with the VIS squad daily and their contact time will be around 25 hours a week. There will be a strong focus on girls because of the perception that Victoria has produced few elite female players recently. “The question would be: ‘why haven’t we produced girls’?’’ says Kinney, while Cutler points to Vision 2025, Golf Australia’s female participation program, as a guide. Players will be allowed to retain their personal coaches with Kinney’s guidance, which is somewhat of a change for the VIS. “We look at it as a value-add program,’’ said Cutler. “We will intervene if Dean sees something happening that he doesn’t think is right; it’s his job for the betterment of that player to intervene and discuss it with the player and the coach.’’ Paul Skinner, formerly assistant to Marty Joyce, remains in the system as the development coach, working with a squad of younger players who will sit beneath the VIS group and have 25-30 training hours weekly. The elite player program previously run in Victoria at cost to the athletes has gone, replaced by the development squad of around 12-15 players under Skinner’s coaching. Those players will be hand- picked rather than paying their way, aged from around 15-17 years and up. “It’s a feeder to the VIS,” says Cutler. “There was a bit of a gap here for school-age kids. There are programs around, but it was hit-and-miss. We’re talking 15, 16, 17-year-olds; providing something for them is an introduction to the development program and hopefully they’ll get to the VIS. It’s an introduction to our coaches and our service team so they get a feel for how it works as they go through.’’ There will also be a handful of development camps for young players not necessarily yet in the development squad to introduce them to the staff and the ideas. Up at the high end, there is the rookie squad of young professionals that currently includes the likes of Herbert and Coletta, a group that will touch base with Cutler from time to time. Quite intentionally, the system is incremental and Cutler uses the Tiger Woods example, pointing out that arguably the world’s greatest-ever player dominated amateur golf (winning three US titles) before he shifted to professional ranks. “That’s something we’ve talked to the players about,’’ he said. "Don’t jump a level or two until you’re ready. Try to dominate the level you’re at before you move to the next level." GOLF AUSTRALIA HIGH PERFORMANCE - VICTORIA GOLF AUSTRALIA ROOKIE PROGRAM VICTORIAN INSTITUTE OF SPORT (VIS) DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM DEVELOPMENT CAMPS (JUNIOR ATHLETES) VICTORIAN REGIONAL ACADEMIES OF SPORT (VRAS) & CLUB SUPPORT 2 3 4 5 ATHLETE PATHWAY The Golf Australia Rookie Program caters to professional athletes in the first five years of their careers that are tracking towards top- 100 world ranking status The VIS Golf Program is the pinnacle amateur program in Victoria. Athletes in the VIS will be in the last few years of their amateur career and is showing the potential, desire and commitment to be a top-100 ranked professional athlete The Development Program is a feeder to the VIS Golf Program, with athletes in this program slated as future elite players that need further development before progressing Young players who have been identified via tournaments, results and coaches will be invited to attend camps periodically throughout the year. The six VRAS play a role in identifying, developing and connecting country-based athletes to the HP pathway. Metropolitan and country clubs also play a role in identifying talented athletes. 1 Photography: Paul Shire Golf Victoria 7