KEY POINTS:
You're not going to believe this, but once upon a time New Zealand boasted eight golfers in the world's top 200.
In April 2002, these players were among the game's elite on the official world rankings: Michael Campbell (No 24), Craig Perks (63), David Smail (161), Grant Waite
(167), Phil Tataurangi (183), Steve Alker (185), Frank Nobilo (196) and Greg Turner (197).
At this moment there are exactly two in the world's top 500 - Campbell at No 21 and Smail at 109.
So what's going on? In part, injuries (Tataurangi) and retirements (Nobilo and Turner) have contributed, catastrophic loss of form (Perks) and a more gentle tailing off in results (Waite and Alker).
But what of the country's rising talent. Are they making the progress expected of them?
The bare numbers say a resounding no, so what's going on to improve the situation?
Campbell raised eyebrows during the New Zealand Open at Gulf Harbour this month when he predicted 10 New Zealand players could be in the top 100 within 10 years.
"I truly believe that. The talent is there, no question," Campbell said, and he was talking of young men and women. "It's just a matter of nurturing them in the right way."
The problem area is those late teens-early 20s when players leave that cosseted amateur environment and turn professional, having to find their feet in a strange new world where they have to fend for themselves.
"I agree there is a good base of players at the moment," Graeme Scott, development manager at New Zealand Golf, said. "We've got players coming through who've just turned pro, like Josh Geary and Mark Purser. We've recognised we are able to produce a large number of good amateur players, but then there's a struggle when they turn pro."
There seems no argument that in purely golfing terms of swing and skill, New Zealand amateurs are up with the best.
Then they turn professional and flounder.
Why? According to Scott, and Turner, support structures are insufficient to provide stability for the new pros.
Picture this.
The eager young pro arrives alone in a foreign land for the first time. There's no one to greet him/her, there's flights to be sorted out, accommodation, practice facilities to be found, rental cars, finding tournaments, and above all keeping enough money in the bank account to stay afloat.
All the little nuts and bolts that don't necessarily affect a player's swing, but can fiddle with their minds, bringing attendant worries over what the next week or month holds. And from there the swing can get lost.
And if that all sounds basic OE which early twenty-something New Zealanders have been handling for the past 30 years, Scott has an interesting theory.
"It's a lot to do with maturity in the development process. Because players are very good amateurs, they tend to be classed as adults when they are not.
"They haven't done any living. Personal maturity is a big thing. It's going to help with how you address situations on the course, and how you cope with conditions when you are away on a tour.
"Sometimes I think we're trying to take boys and girls and put them into adult bodies."
Turner is developing what he hopes will become a 10-event circuit round New Zealand for the country's best amateurs and pros, men and women. He has firm views on the state of the New Zealand game, has opened his wallet to get both that tour and his Winning Edge, or Wedge, programme under way.
"There is a common theme for Michael, Greg and ourselves: how do we accelerate their development?
"Are there things we can do to remove barriers for them?" said Scott.
To the old cry that New Zealand golfers aren't making sufficient progress quickly enough, Scott says give them time. Wheels are moving, creaking rather than spinning smoothly, perhaps, but structures and logistics are being put in place.
Scott likes what he sees in the present crop.
The likes of amateurs James Gill and Troy Ropiha - who tied for the Bledisloe Cup as top amateurs at the Open at Gulf Harbour, missing the cut by a solitary shot - and Danny Lee, Tim Wilkinson, a fine prospect whose year on the secondary US Nationwide Tour was blighted by illness, Geary and Mark Purser, who made the cut in his first pro start at the Open.
He talks of Natasha Krishna, in the US on a scholarship - "she'll thrive in that environment" - Dasom Lee and Sharon Ahn as bright hopes.
"It's very positive, but it's a huge step up [to the pro ranks].
"Sarah Nicholson just found that out [when she missed getting her women's European Tour card]. She missed by one shot and it impacts on you for almost a year.
"That's the fickle nature of the profession. If you have a bad day in golf that's it, you're paying for your trip and taking home nothing."
Scott says the more events when elite amateurs and young pros - such as Turner is working towards - "so they can feed off each other" the better.
"New Zealand Golf is keen to follow every avenue to work with other organisations and individuals to create the best structure possible to go forward."
Step forward, Mr Turner ...
