Fanie Viljoen – Head Teaching Professional
Glendower Golf Club
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Perfectgolf |
| What led you to becoming a PGA Professional?
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I have played golf all my life at high levels, but injured my back after turning pro , and then started teaching under Jamie Gough as my mentor. Joined the PGA as it is a very prestigious association to be a member of.
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| How long have you been in your current position?
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Teaching at Gillooly’s for 20 years, 10 years as head teaching pro, 1 year at Modderfontein and 2 years at Glendower golf club.
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| What does your job entail?
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Overseeing and managing daily running of Range, and teaching golf.
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| Do you have any environmental or sustainability goals that you have met and would like to share?
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Environmental goals is a continuous project. Every year they manufacture 1,2 billion golf balls, that get lost and then found by caddies etc.
At Glendower we try to use second hand balls found by people for everyday use, because those balls don’t just disappear, and are extremely expensive to recycle (like car tires). We also continuously looking at ways to use very old “unusable” balls, like drainage in pot plants, sprayed and used as decoration in houses or golf shops. We only use new Srixon balls for members on Saturdays. This is an obvious problem and we need to work on it.
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| Please give us a brief outline of the path you took to lead you to your current position | Played golf since 9 years old. Played scratch league for Modderfontein, as well as provincial golf for then Southern Transvaal.
Turned pro and had back injurie and then started teaching under Jamie Gough, a great mentor. After 5 years I bought the teaching rights from him. I was there for 20 years until my lease ended, then went to Modderfontein for a year, when I was offered position at Glendower golf club, where I have been for just short of 2 years now.
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| Why do you feel that you would be a good candidate to win this award?
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I have been dedicated to teaching the game I love for over twenty years, in which I have done over 35 000 lessons. Helped 14 club champions,
Over 15 provincial golfers, two national squad members, and a number of professional golfers achieve their goals. And for growing the game, my business model is based on helping the average (which is the bulk of golfers, not the small percentage of elite player) and trying to introduce and improve their game in order to grow our industry. So in essence I love helping golfers of all levels, an due to the fact that I am still doing it, I think I can’t be too bad at it.
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