Chapter 8 - Club Professionals

CLUB PROFESSIONALS
BILL CORRY
Beverley Park has been extremely fortunate to have had outstanding profession­als to help and advise members, and generally promote the game of golf.
The 1990 Chairman of the St George Leagues Club, Horrie Maher, was a sports' writer for the St George Call newspaper fifty years ago. On 26th December, 1941 he wrote of Beverley Park's Will Corry:­
"Will Corry, famous Australian golfer and well-known sportsman, has taken up residence in Kogarah to enable him to give full time to his duties of supervising the construction of the Beverley Park Golf Course which is now more than half completed.
"Corry, besides annexing every golfing prize worth winning in Australasia with the exception of the Australian Open, has also represented Country against City at football and cricket, and held the Australian record of being the golfer capable of the longest drive for three consecutive years.
"On the original Bathurst course, where he learnt to play the game, Corry drove a ball 416 yards, and to commemorate this remarkable feat the club drove a peg suitably inscribed with shield, into the ground where the drive ended. This record still stands and will probably remain unbroken.
"It was on this course where Corry when 30 years of age had his first competitive game of golf. Graduating from a raw novice he quickly adapted himself to its intricacies and in no time was a highly proficient player. He was placed on scratch and had to concede handicaps to all other players from his very first match, and is the only golfer in Australia who has never had the pleasure of playing with a handicap, before turning professional. Corry won the Bathurst Championship that year, which was a distinctive feat, his rise from novice to champion in less than a season being meteoric.
"The next year he came to Sydney and turned professional. Now being a prominent figure in the golfing world, particularly in the activities of the leading Australian championships, Corry was largely sought after by other players who desired to model their styles upon his. Playing in the Queensland championship eleven years ago, he was approached by a youth who requested to be allowed to be Corry's caddy for the much discussed championship which had attracted a considerable gallery of golfing enthusiasts Corry condescended to allow the youth to caddy for him. When playing from the third tee the then famous international mistimed one of his shots. 'Gee' said the caddy, 'I could do better than that'. Corry did not see this youth again till several years later. He noticed him playing in the Australian Championship. It was Von Nida, who has now risen high in the golfing sphere."
On one occasion, when challenged to a round of golf by club members, Corry played the entire round with a putter and beat all of his opponents, sinking birdies at will.
Frank and Will Corry introduced indoor sport into Australia. Their concept of participation in sporting activities at night and during inclement weather was widely accepted. Indoor cricket wickets, tennis courts and practice golf became very popular.  Because of Will's foresight, organization and determination, miniature golf quickly spread through Sydney, then throughout Australia.
Under Corry's guidance the newly formed Beverley Park Golf Club has begun to make its presence felt in the popular sporting district of St George. The Beverley Park course was to be the pride of Kogarah Municipality. Constructed on a formerly mosquito infested swamp it had matured from a dream into reality.
 
 
BILL Mc WILLIAM   O.A.M. (Order of Australia Medal)
Bill Mc William became Club Professional in 1947, retaining this position for 32 years.
It was Bill McWilliam who pioneered Schoolboys and girls Championships, and his contribution to hold them nationwide is immense. Bill continues to attend counselling camps run by the NSW Golf Association where he shares his skill and knowledge with budding youngsters.
He first came under notice in the 1947 Australian Open as recorded in the June edition of Golf in Australia by Frank Dillon:­
"Although after the first two days there were only two players in it, the 1947 Australian Open Championship, contested in Queensland for the first time, was one of the most thrilling fixtures in the history of Australian golf.
"Few who on Saturday, June 7, were in the couple of huge galleries which followed 26-year old W. (Billy) McWilliam (shepherded and nursed by that great sportsman, Len Nettlefold, a fellow competitor) and H. ("Ossie") Pickworth (playing with one of Australia's outstanding amateurs in W.A. Edgar) will ever forget the experience.
"From the outset everyone who knew the least thing about golf considered 30-year-old "Ossie" Pickworth, who won at Rose Bay last year, would win again. He's the best golfer in Australia at the present time, and that's just that. No one was more sanely certain about this fact than Pickworth himself. He's a young fellow with no hampering inhibitions, modesties or other such things about hard facts, particularly when they relate to himself.
"Well Pickworth got the jerk of his golfing career when, thinking he was on his way to victory after the first round two-over-par 73, scored in a 33 mph wailing westerly, he heard the news that a virtually 'no accounter' in William Mc William had shot a 65 equalling Henry Cotton's world record.
"This 26-year old was known to be a keen professional, ten years ago assistant at North Brighton (Sydney), then five years in the AIF, after that at Goulburn (whence from the blue in 1933 came Lou Kelly to win the Open), and more recently at Beverley Park, Sydney. He'd finished well in last year's Open, put in a couple of good rounds in the recent Ampol £1000, and occasionally had come under notice in not too big a way. . . .
"In round two Pickworth (and others) had a real shock when McWilliam showed no signs of fading out. He did a solid 74 ­really great going with the fierce light of publicity on him. Pickworth, who had been eight strokes behind, stepped on it, and certainly picked up five of his eight strokes leeway with a memorable 69. . . .
"But it was in that 'back-breaker' third round that Pickworth (and others) received their biggest shock. This young man, who smites a mighty shot with every club in the bag, out-played Pickworth. The latter battled with all that was in him and did a 74. McWilliam, seemingly unperturbed, did 73 - and Pick worth was trailing four strokes with a round to go.
"When the final round of play began, the newcomer had perhaps more fight in him than his potent rival. He beat out determined pars at the first three of the final round. But he got them with a struggle. Pick worth was scoring his with mechanical perfection. While the one was stinging his irons right home to the greens the other was weakening in body, and the mind alone could not force those irons just on line. They began to fade a bit - but Billy for a while got out of things by deft approaching and good putting. After 57 holes that touch of fade began to take its toll. Strokes were dropped here and there, for the delicate touch was being numbed. It took McWilliam 39 to the turn, while Pickworth, revelling now in the unease of his victim (for Pickworth - like the greats of all sport - is a 'killer') had gone to the lead.
"He didn't hold that long, for at the next, the 434 yards 10th, McWilliam was beautifully home in two while Pickworth, finding a loose lie off fairway to the left, was short and took five.
"Each had got his par four at the 11th, but thereafter the lusty strength, clear head, and better equipment of the masterly shot­maker came thundering down on the almost exhausted man of little experience but tremendous heart. It had been a sensational and ever memorable battle for 65 holes. But the distance was too great for the rising champion.
"Mc William was second, and he was at 290, five strokes away from first amateur and third man Keppel Enderby. It was a great showing for one who before the event was rated more than a 100 to 1 chance and who was actually laid 20 to 1 he would not finish in the first five."
Bill was New South Wales Champion in 1940 and was equal third with Peter Thompson in the 1949 Australian Open, played at the old Bonnie Doon course, second place went to Von Nida and this event was won by Eric Cremin. McWilliam also won the Canberra Federal Open in 1954-55.
During his time at Beverley Park, Bill had a number of assistant pros, including Bruce Crampton, Bruce Devlin and Greg Norman (for a few months in 1975).
 
DAVID HONEYSETT
David has been the Beverley Park Golf Club professional since 1979. Born in Mudgee, NSW, he came to Sydney in 1966. Although fired by the game of golf, he was basically self-taught due to the fact that there were no golf pros in his local area. David began playing golf at the age of thirteen, and managed to reduce his handicap from 32 to 7 inside twelve months, playing with borrowed clubs.
At the age of fifteen he played off a handicap of one and won the State Schoolboys Championship in 1966 at Beverley Park by six shots (67-71). In that same year he finished third in the National Titles in Tasmania.
By the time he was nineteen years old, David had completed his traineeship under Eddie Emerson at the Randwick Golf Club. He then served six months at Eastlake Golf Club before securing the position of Club Professional at the Bowral Country Club, where he remained for four years before going to Moss Vale Golf Club for three years. He took up his post of Club Professional at the Beverley Park Golf Club in 1979.
Although David has played in only a small number of tournaments, his highest finish in a four round tournament was 12th behind Greg Norman in the Wu Lein Classic in Victoria shooting 72,74,71,73; he has no aspirations to become a touring pro. David has always wanted to be a Club Professional.