Golf: Brooky outlines bold dream for golf academy in New Zealand

My, how time flies, especially when you are having fun.

It only seems like yesterday that Lynn Brooky was rocking up to amateur golf tournaments in and around Wellington clad in black leathers and sitting astride a 600cc Kawasaki motorcycle.

Deeply conservative Women's Golf New Zealand officials never really knew what to do with the rebellious young woman, but her playing abilities and flair for the game were such that they had little choice other than to tolerate her independent streak.

Roll on nearly 20 years and Brooky is still the same in so many ways. She has ditched the bikes but now has a liking for nice cars, which she steers all around Europe, taking in the tournament stops on the Ladies European Tour.

The tour has been her home away from home for 15 years, rewarding her well with four tournament titles and career earnings on the continent of close to £900,000 ($2.3 million).

Since the retirement of Marnie McGuire in 2004, Brooky has been this country's No 1 female golfing export.

Now 41, life's rich experiences have taught her many things, among them the importance of planning for her future. She is happy to continue playing a game she adores, but knows the time will arrive when she must plan for, then live, a life after golf.

Brooky this week revealed such a realisation has arrived at a good time in her personal life.

The difficult times, such as one failed marriage and the death of her mother in 2006, are well behind her. She is now settled into a personal and professional relationship with highly respected English coach Ian Godleman, and it is that link that has spawned some future plans.

Brooky is exploring the feasibility of establishing her own teaching academy in New Zealand, catering for golfers of both sexes and all ages.

She wants to tap into the domestic and international market, and her plans include having her international guests choppered to the facility for two-week camps immediately after their arrival in Auckland.

Precisely where the academy will be built has yet to be decided but Brooky is confident she has the wherewithal to pull the concept off. Her confidence is the product of a spell spent in Europe during the Northern Hemisphere's last winter when she committed herself to managing and restructuring training schools for Pro Golfing Tours, a company financed by Swiss and German backers. She oversaw clinics conducted in Portugal and Mauritius as a team of coaches, under the guidance of Godleman, the head teacher, worked with clients from as far afield as Australia.

Godleman is widely regarded as one of the best teaching pros in Europe - he has worked with Seve Ballesteros, Ian Woosnam, Philip Price, Stephen Ames and David Frost.

Brooky said: "It's worked well and they've asked me to stay on. It's not that I am even thinking about giving up playing the game; this was a project I committed myself to over the last European winter. Word has spread and it is growing quite fast.

"In time I want to bring this same concept back to New Zealand.

"It's tailored for everyone, from beginners to pros. We bring in specialist coaches and players to give advice in all areas of the game."

Her time with Pro Golfing Tours came at a time when she was deeply hurt at a perceived rebuff from New Zealand Golf (NZG) officials, who kept her in the dark about their plans for the inaugural New Zealand Women's Open held in Christchurch in January.

"I was prepared to go to the Open but they would just not talk to me about it," Brooky said.

"The other New Zealand girls who played on the European Tour [Elizabeth McKinnon and Sarah Nicholson] knew all the information. I did not, they did not contact me at all." She remains oblivious to the cause of NZG's apparent indifference but no longer concerns herself about something which, at the end of the day, is not her problem.

All she knows is that she wants to make a meaningful contribution to the game in this country and, in time, she sees her academy project as the vehicle with which to do it. "I would really like to see some of the kids being taught properly. I know there are some good boys coming out of New Zealand at the moment, and they've won some great tournaments, but what about the girls?

"I offered New Zealand Golf my services two years ago but they turned me down. They said yes, yes, and when the day arrived for me to do some work with them I got a phone call to tell me not to bother turning up.

"It was really disappointing. I was keen to give the younger players some positive experience."

Brooky is using that brushoff by officialdom as motivation as she heads into a new playing season in Europe.

"I am no kid, I am no failure, and I really want to win as a player again - just to prove a point.

"Some time in the future I will return to New Zealand and I will make available an open arena where anyone, anyone at all, who wants to learn the game of golf can get all the feedback from my experience and the experience of my own coach."

If everything comes off, those kids are sure to benefit greatly from Brooky's benevolence.

* Brooky shot a two-over 75 in the first round of the women's Swiss Open at Golf Gerre Losone in Ticino yesterday. The score put her in a tie for 79th and trailing joint-leaders Stacy Lee Bregman of South Africa and Finn Jenni Kuosa by 10 shots.

- NZPA