The PGA Professional
Join PGA of Australia Members Glenn Whittle and Brent Dale each month as they go through the stories of influential Members from your association as well as look into the current industry trends to enhance your standing as a PGA Pro.
Glenn Whittle sits down with some of the biggest names from the PGA of Australia, sharing their journey as PGA Professionals and touching on the highs and lows of creating a career in the golf industry.
Alternately, Brent Dale will delve into topics of personal development, exploring the current industry best practices in coaching, business, management and much more.
This is the PGA Professional Podcast is made by Members, for Members.
The PGA Professional
Ritchie Smith
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This episode of the PGA Professional Podcast features Ritchie Smith, one of Australia’s leading high-performance coaches. Ritchie shares how his career was driven less by technique and more by connection—building trust, consistent messaging, and a strong team environment that supported players like Minjee Lee, Min Woo Lee and Hannah Green. He also speaks candidly about imposter syndrome, the realities of tour coaching, and the importance of values and buy-in when making swing changes.
Key takeaways from the conversation with Ritchie are:
- Great coaching is relationship-first: trust, care and connection drive performance.
- Consistency builds programs and players—show up, deliver the same message, every time.
- Strong systems beat solo coaching: aligned support teams with no ego accelerate growth.
- Tour coaching is hard work (travel, fatigue, family trade-offs), not just glamour.
- Swing change starts with buy-in: diagnose → educate → commit → then drill.
- Values alignment matters—players leave when needs aren’t met, not because they’re “stolen.”