RYAN HAMMOND
What would you do if you found yourself sharing a locker room with Tiger Woods? Ryan managed to squeak out, “Hello.” Understandable really. Tiger was Ryan’s hero growing up and here he was face-to-face.
The journey to this point began at about 10 when he started playing but by about 15 it was almost sealed. At school he had no academic pretensions even though his proficiency with the written word tells me it could have been otherwise. I should know because at this time I spent a year as his English teacher and he was, as perhaps many of you were, “absent while present.” I taught him little. He did the minimum, kept out of trouble and dreamed of the important stuff like winning The Masters.
He was a bit like “Daisy” Thomas who I also didn’t “teach” but whose mother obviously had taught him what I would consider manners. He was Ryan’s caddy at Victoria when he spotted me in the crowd and greeted me with, “Mr Shand.” He was an established AFL star at the time.
But back to the real Ryan. What made him golf obsessive? After all he did try all the traditional country-kid sports like footy, tennis and cricket but golf was the one. Having talent and success helped but opposed to this was that he had to deal with a largely older playing group at an age when mixing with mates was all-important. Of course, this might have allowed him to grow up much earlier than others. I doubt that he realised then what he knows now but these things may also have played a part.
Ryan believes that golf is perhaps the hardest sport of all. I argued for chess but he dismissed this out of hand. Chess might be a brutal mind-bending contest but the conditions under which it is played are constant. In golf over four days or even one day, conditions can change radically and a course you thought was your friend might turn into a beast. Or you might turn into a beast because the game is played in the head as much as with the body. All true of other sports of course so let’s head in another direction.
No one ever masters golf. Just think of all of the moving parts in a golf swing or how many factors the brain takes into account when putting. Relentless practising will allow you to improve but disaster lies just around the corner. Actually, I think you know that so let’s turn to something else.
Golf is strategic which means imagination and a good understanding of your game is required. Anthony would illustrate this by referencing his best-man, Mark Allen, frustrating his playing companions by taking an age to select the “right” club for a chip. On a broader scale it is being about being able to think your way around a course. American-style target golf may lead to spectacular scoring but it is nothing compared to conquering our sand-belt courses.
There is a gladiatorial aspect to the game which as amateurs we rarely see but nevertheless is there. If I am playing skins or when the “snake” is involved, then the competition is secondary. Who wants to be bested by – insert your favourite pest’s name here – Ken Cooper?
Of course, at the pro level it is everything. It is most obvious playing the last few holes of a championship with everything up for grabs. If one of them in contention was Tiger then it was doubly difficult. He might be technically supreme but his greatest attribute was/is resilience. He often won because he intimidated his opponents. Of course he was going to make the clutch shot.
Ryan’s decision to turn pro came about after performing well at trainee events and then at finishing school to give him automatic entry to important Australian events. His results as a pro were relatively modest: 16 pro-am wins, 3rd in the West Australian Open including being at one stage one shot off the pace on the final nine, 5th in the NSW and 19th in the Australian Open. It was a light bulb moment that brought it to an end. In 2013 at the Masters and at Kingston Heath, one of his favourite courses, he woke up not wanting to play. The game he loved had become a chore.
It is not hard to understand why. For most pros the circuit is a grind. Travel is expensive. It can be lonely. Ryan became friends with the likes of Marc Leishman and Jarrod Lyle but on the course they are standing between him and the chance to play on for another week. All the players are very talented so a missed putt can make all the difference. He was comfortable with his decision to stop. He had always wanted to be a pro and had given it his best shot. Today he has no regrets.
What next? He always enjoyed coaching but a club pro didn’t appeal. He was given the chance to work as a groundsman with us for a couple of days a week which led to an apprenticeship and after the departure of Matt Heeps, appointment as Head Greenkeeper and that is happily what he is today. What I had thought was a job full of routine is not so; every day is different; more important is that every day he wants to come to work which is interesting given what this might otherwise involve.
For the 25 years or so that I have been a member the position of head greenkeeper has come with a target on their back. Ryan is no exception. Members might comment on how good the course is but rarely mention that might be because of the work of Ryan and his team. On the other hand, if they are unhappy, it is clearly Ryan’s fault. For a while I thought that was because we were a farming community and that the opinions were expertly based. Now I think it just reflects a healthy passion members feel for “their course.” It is worth noting what the job actually entails.
Science is its basis. The course is built on a semi-swamp so hydrology comes into play. Weather patterns need to be understood. The application of pesticides or fertilisers needs to be strategic. Plumbing, electrical and mechanical skills are needed. Cutting grass and to what level involves more than pointing the mower in the right direction.
The work environment can be challenging. How many of us would enjoy 4 AM starts, hard labour, working in all elements both hot and cold, weekend work including in summer seven-day weeks and no Christmas-New Year break all for a basic pay?
Then there are the other restraints. Only recently have we had a staff of three. Warragul has seven. Matt Heeps, Ryan’s predecessor, came from Royal Melbourne where there were 27. Money doesn’t grow on trees – a cheap shot because Ryan questions my admiration for trees – but for too much of his time here the Club has teetered on a financial abyss. Staff wages are the biggest component of our budget which obviously affect’s Ryan’s department but on top of this he has to deal with day-today expenses such as fuel and chemicals. He obviously has a say in big ticket items like equipment replacement or course improvement but these come from the Board.
This means he has to be an advocate. He might have dreams but that is of no use unless he can convince the decision makers and of course that might mean nothing if there is no money. Fortunately, we seem to have reached some financial security and the benefits of that are already evident. Ryan pushed for the decision to build the dam on the 17th mainly to solve a drainage issue. It was part of an ancient water course which led to the building of the dam between the 6th and 7th to lower the water table although the Committee of the time were surprised to find construction had started even though they had not signed off on the deal. For which we are eternally grateful. The other good thing is the almost universal acknowledgment that the new dam has made an otherwise straightforward hole – boring in other words – an interesting challenge. Surely a tick of approval for Ryan.
Finally, interpersonal skills are required. While he admitted he likes being a boss, he has a small staff and an enthusiastic volunteer group with their own opinions to manage.
When he got the job he did take the inevitable criticisms personally before realising that this wasn’t an issue because he was directly responsible to the Manager and ultimately to the Board who, of course, is responsible to the members. He didn’t say it but I will: if you have a complaint take it up in writing with the Board rather than directly confronting Ryan. Of course, previous Committees and the Board have instructed us to do it this way but the message has fallen on deaf ears.
Ryan isn’t crying poor here because he loves his job but wishes members had a better understanding of what the job involves. In this, Drouin is not alone. Australia-wide the industry is in turmoil and clubs are struggling to find and retain committed staff.
Let’s end though on a more positive note.
One of his predecessors, Jason Allen, once made the statement that before he made any changes to the course he would spend a year observing. Ryan has had 14 years so we can rightly judge “his” course – except it isn’t because it is the Board’s and therefore ours. However, it is worth noting what has been accomplished under his watch. Extensive drainage works have occurred on the 6th, 7th, 9th, 11th, 12th, 13th and 17th. The new holes on the 7th, 2nd and 3rd were constructed by outsiders but have been bedded down during Ryan’s time. More recently, concrete paths have been added. Mention has been made of the new dam on the 17th and now we have the reconstruction of the 17th green – both strongly advocated for by Ryan. Beyond all of this, his career change has allowed him to rediscover his love of golf.
He has 13 of our Club Championships to his name, the first of which was at the tender age of 15. As a junior he made the semi-finals of the Victorian Junior Championships and then was selected in Vic State teams both junior and senior. He has 5 West Gippsland and 3 Gippsland Championships to his name. Maybe though it is the 9 Pennant Scratch titles with basically the same solid core of mates that he likes the most. Golf is usually a solitary pursuit so being part of a team is special.
His game is based upon an immaculate short game rather than length off the stick. When chipping from off the green he is expecting it to drop so his opponents know he is never out of it. He can putt from anywhere as I saw when he dropped a forty-footer at Huntingdale in the Masters and again on the 17th hole at Moe in a pennant final to keep his match alive although not for long. This ability didn’t just happen but is the result of countless hours of practice. And then there is his steely determination of which I was reminded in the recent Club Championships. He was part of the group and yet he wasn’t. He performs at his best when he is in his own world. I can’t resist this. Matt Long, a former Club Champion was in the final group and is the exact opposite, with his interaction with anyone interested in the rubbish he talks. Well, I suspect it is rubbish but it could well be serious stuff.
Behind all of this is a person and who better to remind us is life-long friend, Matt Guy. Matt says that for someone so well organised on the course it is a surprise it is not the same off the course. Matt commented that on golf trips how often Ryan would be the only one to “forget” to pay his share of the dinner bill. Worse, he would be in bed before daybreak clearly wanting to get an advantage for the next round of golf. This reminded me of something I wrote many years ago in Hooks and Slices after he had made the cut in the Australian Masters. “Ryan has spent a lifetime training his mother to organise everything for him so he wasn’t impressed when she “forgot” to pack his clubs for a Pro-Am the next day. Mothers know best though: he won with a borrowed set.”
Matt said it wasn’t just talent that makes him such a good player: it is also the result of countless hours of practice – especially chipping and putting. This doesn’t mean that he doesn’t lose. Matt was his caddy the day he finished play in a pennant final seven under the card – and still lost.
Ryan has had quite journey. A Drouin boy, he is now “home,” and I suspect will be for quite a while.
George Shand (2025)
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