Lindeque swops South Coast for North Coast
Iqbal Khan
FROM Port Shepstone Country Club in the south to Richards Bay Country Club in the north, KwaZulu-Natal can boast to have some of the top PGA professionals in the game.
And when there’s a shuffle in the pack, the younger PGA professionals – many of whom have just graduated – are bravely taking positions at the top venues while bringing in fresh ideas at their destinations.
Last week we featured Dane Vosloo, who took over the golf operations position at Prince’s Grant outside Stanger and has settled into the new environment pretty swiftly.
This week Gavin Woodroffe, general manager of Zimbali Country Club, announced that Willem Lindeque, who graduated from the PGA training school this year and who had done his three-year apprenticeship and an additional year at Port Shepstone Country Club, had been appointed golf operations manager.
“We are delighted to have Willem on board and we look forward to him starting here at Zimbali Country Club on December 1,” he said.
“I know we will be in for some terrific times with a young PGA professional on our staff and who is energetic and full of ideas.”
Zimbali Country Club is in
“Unknowingly I played with Malcolm Fick, the captain of Zimbali, at Port Shepstone long before my interview.
“During our conversation I told him I had applied for the job at Zimbali and he seemed very interested in what I had to say.”
Lindeque has mixed feelings leaving Port Shepstone where he has made “loads” of friends but on the other hand he is excited to be joining one of the posh clubs on the KwaZulu-Natal North Coast.
“It’s a difficult situation when you move from one place to another. I have spent four wonderful years of my career here.
“It is one big happy family and I made many friends. It was an exciting journey.
“But life is all about improving one’s situation – this is a career move and to all those in Port Shepstone I’ll never forget how well you have treated me,” Lindeque said.
Though he comes from Port Shepstone, Lindeque knows the Tom Weiskopf-designed layout of Zimbali pretty well as he has played a number of tournaments out there. And he knows of the hazards around the 18 holes as well.
“It’s a great course and a challenging one, too. It’s become a course everyone wants to play some time or the other. I know the grasses used on the course as well,” Lindeque, who was a Top Five graduate to emerge from the PGA Training School early this year, said.
“Yes, I also know there are some dangerous hazards while playing a round of golf there. I’ve also seen some videos showing the venomous snakes that they have pulled out of the rough.
“These are some of the great challenges but I’ll learn a lot more when I’m hands-on from December 1.” I can’t wait to get to Zimbali – I’ll eventually settle in Ballito – and start afresh as a PGA professional.
“It’s going to be great working with Gavin (Woodroffe) – as he has a vast knowledge of Zimbali and I’ll be bouncing ideas off him. It will be nice to get to know the staff – all of them – as quickly as possible and settle into the job.”