Rodney Yee making a difference at Russley

Rodney Yee making a difference at Russley

By Neville Idour

Rodney Yee, the head professional, golf shop and learning centre manager at Russley Golf Club is making a difference on the coaching scene in Christchurch. 

He is the coach of Cooper Moore who recently won the under-16  New Zealand Age Group Championship at Pukekohe, competing against older boys.

Yee was born in Christchurch. 

Caption: Rodney Yee.

When did your golf journey begin?

``I was handed a golf club by a cousin when I was six and I had  few hits at the park between some rugby goalposts. Dad joined me up at Harewood Golf Club and a nice man, Mark Guy, took me under his wing. At that time he had a golf school. He was looking after most of the top players around town. Once or twice a week we would get together as a squad.”

When did that start?

``When I was seven and dad would drop me off and pick me up at night. I would be the last one to leave as there were no cars in the car park. They were good times being in a really good environment, having fun with a lot of good players.”  

Yee has been playing golf at Russley for the last 25 years since he was 10 years old and working there for the last 13 years. He says it is like a second home for him.

How did the work begin?

“Taking opportunities really. When I was still at university I was picking up range balls for the golf shop initially, then I was offered a position working in the golf shop part-time and doing some weekend work. It was kind of one opportunity led to another. At the time the professional Jason Hunter left and an opportunity came up to do a traineeship. It was really good timing as I was just finishing university studies.”

So, he started his training under Mark Guy. 

“During my traineeship I went to the Gold Coast in Australia for a conference. I remember very clearly arriving at Royal Pines and being blown away by the facilities. The two-storey car park and the golf shop had two Ferraris parked outside. Pretty much two thoughts went through my head —  do I want to work towards having an opportunity to work at an established place like that, or do I want to go home and build it from scratch?

“I decided to build from scratch. That is when the Russley golf learning centre started. Mark Guy thought the learning centre would be a good move. It took a year or two to get up and running.”

So how is it going now?

``Now we are just meeting demand. At the moment we have five full-time professional coaches. We turn over more than 100 hours coaching a week. We are fortunate to have one of the youngest coaching teams in the country … average age probably 30. The structure of our learning centre is we each look after our own space. There is no competition between the coaches. We work together really nicely.''

Jess Reid and Hillary O’Connor look after the ladies and the she loves golf programme and juniors. Moonhak Lee looks after the Korean space for members and other golfers. Yee, himself, has a core group of students who are at elite age or have longer term ambitions. Mark Guy is also on board. At the time of this interview they were looking for a sixth coach to meet demand. In 2023 they are bringing on another trainee.

Reid has been a teaching professional since 2013 and is retail manager of the pro shop. She was a Canterbury representative for four years and won PGA trainee of the year award all three years of her training. Hillary O’Connor was a Canterbury rep for 10 years. Lee was a Canterbury junior and senior rep. Guy was trained at the Mornington Club in Victoria and played the pro circuit. He was a professional at the Christchurch Golf Club in 1983 and Harewood in 1988.

Yee continues: “We are future proofing the learning centre and in two years time will introduce another trainee. Just to give a bit of backbone to it, our junior programme which used to run on a Sunday but now runs over the weekend. We have 70 kids in our programme alone, starting at three years old to about 12. We run groups of six. 

``At the moment we have 32 on our waiting list. Some have been waiting one or two terms to get a spot and that is why we are recruiting to cope with the demand. So that is just our junior programme which is tied in with Golf New Zealand’s futures' golf initiative which has been awesome.”

Outside of the junior programme, they probably have another 40 to 50 youth golfers come through each week. They promote the learning centre to bring people from the outside in. For example none of the 70 children in the junior programem are members. The fees are for a term at a time. The pathways and structures are well in place to take a youngster from three years old to as far as they want to go.

Yee said: “We have never really marketed the learning centre or promoted it. A lot of it has been word of mouth. There are a lot of cool success stories.”

So what about your golf? Have you played the pro circuits?

``No. I haven’t played the circuit. I played top level amateur.” 

He represented Canterbury at junior and senior levels and played for New Zealand universities at an overseas event. 

“I decided to be a teaching pro after caddying for Aussie pro Scott Gardner, one of the nicest people. I caddied for him in three or four events here in New Zealand. Talking to these guys inside the ropes convinced me I didn’t want to be travelling 10 months of the year or whatever. I hadn’t done enough as an amateur and I enjoyed helping people so that is why I am where I am now.”

How is Russley doing regarding membership?

``We have around 900 members now. It is a little out of control with a lot of new faces so we are probably at the point of looking at putting a cap on membership. We have probably gained 200 to 250 members since pre-covid. Things like she loves golf have been good and we are big on social media. We have embraced it and it has been a huge part of helping us achieve where we have got to.”

No doubt the setup at Russley is a template for others to emulate. Rodney Yee has certainly been making a difference on the Canterbury golf scene.