BACK IN FRAME: Brian Doyle.
It is a question Brian Doyle asks himself after a self-imposed five-year exile from Hawke's Bay amateur golf.
"Have I changed?" Doyle poses the question just before a coaching session with a group of secondary schoolboys at Golflands in Hastings.
"My enthusiasm for coaching is as great as it has ever been," says the Hastings PGA professional who is at the helm of the elite section of Golf Hawke's Bay Academy.
"I've tried to continually grow and sort of taken that little step back at that level to do one or two other things," he says before taking 25 members of the two-tiered academy to compete at the 72-hole Wairarapa Open at the Masterton Golf Club in Gladstone.
"I've played a little bit of bowls now and then but with the kids I'm excited to be back and it'll be nice to be back at the representative level again."
The former Bay senior men's coach (2001-09) has not been involved here since finishing as New Zealand high performance coach in 2010 after his involvement with the Titleist and Srixon national academies.
"I still do my private coaching but not at the representative levels," says Doyle, who is excited about returning to the provincial level.
In March 2010, he didn't reapply to coach the Hawke's Bay senior men's amateur team because he felt too few people were making too many decisions to the detriment of golf. Doyle's outburst came after a raft of long-term volunteers in key positions either resigned or chose not to reapply or seek re-election.
Among those who quit were women's selector Kaylene Clarkson, men's selector David Howie, and Chris Walker, the manager/selector of the juniors.
The Bay amateur stocks were healthy leading up to Doyle's withdrawal. Among them were now-professionals Doug Holloway, Daniel Pearce, Nick Gillespie and Pieter Zwart with amateurs from outside the province gravitating here to glean skills off him as well as gain national honours.
The Bay has looked anaemic since then, albeit amid claims Golf HB has been injecting new blood to rebuild in a code that struggles to woo members in what has been a national dilemma.
Says Doyle: "Having been out of it for a while, the stocks of Hawke's Bay professionals are a tad on the thin side with Kim Southerden leaving Napier Golf Club and Duane Todd leaving Maraenui Golf Club."
With a plethora of talent, especially in the elite academy, Doyle took up the challenge when asked if he would apply for the job.
Of the 13 elite academy members, five consult him individually.
This weekend's trip will give him some insight but he already has nutted out a plan during his one-year contract for the 13 to 17-year-olds.
"They have raw talent, pretty green so I'm not going to do a whole lot with them in 12 months.
"It's not my job really to coach them on the technical side of things but more the other things around them at a high level of sports."
Scratchie Dallas Williams, of Wairoa, who has settled in the Bay and is a member of the Hawke's Bay Golf Club, was reserve at the men's interprovincials last year but Doyle reckons academy members are perhaps a couple of years away from footing it at the senior level.
"I'm quite excited that there are four young ladies in the 13-person squad as well," he says of Lara Giddy (Hastings GC), Paris Brown (Maraenui GC) and Poverty Bay sisters Skyla and Jett Pohatu.
Golf HB academy
ELITE: Dallas Williams ( 17, Hawke's Bay GC), Oliver Alderson (17, Hastings GC), Kaleb Tawera (16, Maraenui GC), Taine Manaena (16, Hastings), Gabriel Wincop (16, Maraenui GC), Mako Thompson (16, Maraenui), Thomas Alderson (15, Hastings), Adam Winter (15, Maraenui), Dylan Bagley (14, Hastings), Paris Brown (16, Maraenui), Lara Giddy (16, Hastings), Skyla Pohatu (16, Poverty Bay GC), Jett Pohatu (14, Poverty Bay).
PREMIERE: Liam Brown (17, HBGC), Ryan Champion-Lamplugh (17, Maraenui), Nathaniel Solomon (16, Wairoa), Wyatt McCartin (16, Napier), Wade Williams (14, HBGC), Sam Morrell (15, HBGC), Christian Walker (14, Karamu GC), Blake Burton (16, Napier GC), David Rawnsley (16, Maraenui), Cosmo Graham (13, Hastings), Sebastian Kettle (12, Napier), Zack Swanwick (9, Napier), Tuhourangi Wilson (9, Karamu).