Geelong’s PGA Professional Darrell Brown still pinches himself when he walks along the practice tee at the US Champions Tour.
“I look one way and there’s Bernhard Langer, beside him Jose Maria Olazabal, over there Fred Couples and think ‘what am I doing with these guys, am i dreaming? All around me are legends of the game, some of them well into their 60’s and still all competitive beasts.”
It isn’t a dream of course but the result of a chance meeting with veteran Australian professional, Richard Green at a national PGA championship at Royal Pines a few years ago.
“My good mate Philip Hodge, we had played on the Australian Tour together, was caddying for Peter Lonard, and I was up there for a look,” Darrell said
Green was drawn to play with Lonard and “hit the ball sideways all day. He had a shocker.”
“I had known Richard a bit because he was in the VIS as a youngster under Dale Lynch and I had worked with ‘Lynchy’ a bit, when I was on tour.
“Anyway, after the round I asked him, ‘How long has it been like this?’.”
Suffice to say, it had been happening for what seemed like ages.
Richard Green enjoyed an outstanding 2024 season on the PGA TOUR Champions, with plenty of help from Darrell Brown.
Darrell had played on the Australian Tour for close to a decade, winning a dozen pro-am’s along the way but never breaking through in a four-round tournament. He knew enough to know things were grim for Green.
“He asked me if I could fix it, and I said I was very confident I could.”
With the help of modern technology and lots of work with Darrell over almost four years, Green was ready to launch himself on the Champions Tour in the US in 2023. He won first stage qualifying by 11 and final stage by three and in two years on the lucrative tour has pocketed $5.5 million.
Brown has enjoyed the ride and goes to the US three times a year to help Green fine tune his game.
“Richard always had the game and at his best was very, very good and won a lot in Europe and Australia. The problem was that when his swing was off, he did not know how to get it back. At his best he was a good as anyone which he’s proving yet again.”
Brown has been amazed by Green and says what has always separated him and other from the pack is drive, resilience in coping with off-course setbacks, mental strength on course and keeping himself in peak physical shape. Other factors come into it like a fiercely competitive nature and a love of the game.
“I still say this to a lot of the young kids I coach, including emerging professional Deyen Lawson and many elite youngsters.
“Everyone has natural ability but these things filter the top players out from the pack.
“I am still not sure if all the talented players I coach are fully aware of what I keep telling them about how hard you have to work to get there.”
Geelong teaching professional Darrell Brown.
Brown says he’s been very lucky in the game and coaching Green has been the icing on the cake.
“I was not that gifted.
“I realised when I was young that I had to work very hard to get to the top level. I was not blessed with the natural ability that others had.
“Now I see myself in a coaching sense as a bit like a Mick Malthouse or Allan Jeans in the AFL. As players they had to work very hard and that made them really good coaches.
“I don’t know what else I would have done, though, without golf in my life. I gave it my best shot knocking around in a 1974 Toyota Corolla from one side of the country to another, chasing my dreams from tournament to tournament.
“I’ve met some wonderful people along the way especially in regional Australia playing the pro am circuit who would happily billet you in their homes. I am still friends with many of them today.”
Golf has been good to Darrell Brown and he has been good for the game.
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