Newsroom

By MARC HINTON

When Greg Turner expressed an interest in All Black great Grant Fox becoming more actively involved in one of New Zealand golf's most exciting initiatives of recent times, the 1987 Rugby World Cup-winner didn't need a second invitation. He has a love for the game, a son who is becoming more and more prominent on the national scene and an abiding drive to help Kiwis succeed in sport. It was a natural fit that could before too long play a part in unearthing the next Michael Campbell.

That's the hope anyway, though Turner's ambitious plan to develop a structure to help aspiring New Zealand professional golfers bridge the chasm between the elite amateur game and footing it on the major professional tours around the world is still very much in its formative stages.

Which is where Fox comes in. The 43-year-old legendary first five-eighths who played 46 tests for the All Blacks and presided over more than a decade's dominance of the domestic rugby scene with Auckland just happens to be a keen golfer himself. What's more, Fox's 19-year-old son Ryan is a leading Auckland amateur who has his sights set on furthering his career in the sport.

And, just in case anyone had missed this, Fox senior is a man who thrives on the intricacies and mental challenges of sport - rugby or golf. If it's in the detail, it interests this guy who in his rugby prime wasn't particularly fast or strong, nor could he step or swerve with the best of them. But boy could he run a game and kick a ball like no one else at the time. In short, he was a man who did all the little things so well they added up to a package that eventually saw him rated the finest No 10 of his era.

He was also incredibly strong mentally, like many of his peers among that special group of Aucklanders, and knew what had to be done and when in order to win a test match. Not surprisingly, he has been hugely successful as a coach, in business and as a leading rugby analyst where his drive and attention to detail combine to make him every bit the achiever he was in his heyday as a player.

So when Turner was looking for people to bring on board as part of his broad vision for his Golf Tour of New Zealand, and in particular to play a role in a mentoring programme that is in the process of taking a rather significant shape, then it was hardly surprising Fox's was one of the names that sprung immediately on to his wish-list.

Reflects Fox: "When Greg rang me and told me what this was about, told me the sort of people he was trying to get on board, I thought this will actually be fun to be part of. The concept is really sound and, to be honest, I didn't have to think too long about it before I said 'yeah, I'd like to be part of this'."

"This", of course, is Turner's fledgling GTNZ which at present is still pretty much in the embryonic stage. And hand-in-hand with this Turner also wants to establish a mentoring programme for aspiring young New Zealand professionals. At the moment it has a working title of Wedge (short for, in case you were wondering, the Winning Edge).

In short what Turner is hoping to provide is a pathway for our best young players, male and female, to take them from elite amateur golf in this country to the big wide world of the major professional tours. But as the former touring professional well knows, there is a fair bit of territory to cover in between and at present too many of our hopefuls get lost in that wilderness.

Fox, naturally, has a rugby analogy for what is, in effect, a missing stage on the golf scene in this part of the world.

"From what I understand New Zealand Golf do a very good job in the amateur ranks," says Fox. "But once you turn pro it's 'good luck and Good bless you, you're on your own'. We've had a number of professionals who have done incredibly well, but the step from amateur golf to the tours, so Greg tells me, is enormous and we need a stepping stone in the middle.

"Rugby has these stepping stones. We have club, NPC and Super 14. We have a number of layers and it does prepare people really well for the top level.

"Whereas [in golf] it seemed to be there was a level missing where fledgling pros and top amateurs could really cut their teeth and get an understanding of what it's like to play on the tour. So it's about running tournaments here along professional tour lines, setting courses up so they're tough, having cuts, a small amount of prizemoney, all these sort of things. It provides them with a learning opportunity and potential for a little bit of income, so when they do take the next step to one of the tours offshore they're a little better prepared. I think it's a great idea."

Fox's enthusiasm made him a natural for Turner's "advisory" board which already has some heavy-hitters involved in one way or another. Campbell is there of course and enthusiastic about Turner's initiative, and Marnie Maguire representing the female game, but others such as Russell Coutts, Brett Steven, Tom Schnackenberg, Anton Oliver and of course Fox himself bring much more wide-ranging qualities to the table.

And Turner, once he has the GTNZ up and running, hopes to develop the role of this advisory group to encompass a mentoring aspect for young professional hopefuls which he identifies as a key plank in the process.

Again this has Fox more than a little enthused because it embraces an aspect of sport that you could say drives him.

Says Fox: "Most people understand you can have all the talent in the world but if you don't have the mental side of it right, it doesn't work. I can see the mentoring group really helping these fledgling pros and top amateurs with mental toughness essentially."

And Fox says it doesn't matter that he's never played top tournament golf. In fact, in some ways the All Black great believes that can be a benefit.

"I guarantee if you took the mentoring group and sat them all down and talked about the mental side of what they do, there would be an awful lot of similarities. Sometimes coming from a slightly different perspective can be good. Sometimes in one environment you can't see the wood for the trees."

Fox talks about the "outside the square" benefits which he says are additional to the key golf guidance that remains intrinsic. "It's not about the athlete adopting everything, it's about filtering and sifting the information and picking the one or two things that might make a difference. That's the key… they've got to work out the things that can help them. You can do a lot of talking and end up doing nothing but confuse and clutter. Making sure they take one or two key points and apply them is a much better way of doing it."

And the more time Fox spends around this game of golf, the more he's convinced the top two inches is as important as a smooth swing or a deadly putt.

"In my view people at the top of their respective sports have a real mental toughness and the people who have that X-factor when the heat's really on they step up. That's about mental fortitude and the big players responding to the big occasion. Look at Mickelson who's just won Masters, Woods was still knocking, they were all there, but cometh the hour as they say."

First things first. For the system to work, Turner's GTNZ needs to take shape. There's no sense advising these young hopeful if they've got nowhere to play. And for the tour to take shape it's going to take significant buy-in from business, government, local bodies, national associations, you name it.

And Fox cautions that a bigger picture approach needs to be taken as Turner looks to set up a network of up to a dozen tournaments around the country.

"While we understand a sponsor needs a return on investment, this is about being part of an environment that's trying to help young Kiwi golfers achieve their dreams. We're talking about producing our next champions and they're ambassadors for New Zealand as they generate an enormous amount of publicity. Look at what Cambo's done, look at what he's done for tourism in New Zealand. The exposure New Zealand would have had out of his US Open victory, well money can't buy that.

"Also, this is about helping youngsters try to achieve their dream. I think that's really important."

Fox is also thriving in his latest role as a golfing dad. When he can, he caddies for Ryan, and it doesn't take him long to become absorbed in the battle between player and course.

"I don't tell him what club to hit because he plays a different game to me, but it's about a game plan, where you want to hit the ball off the tee, how far, what club gets you to that point, sidehill lies, into the wind, in the rough, uphill … I love discussing all those things then let him make the choice. That's the stuff I love about golf - it's about the detail. I liked that when I was rugby coaching. The big picture stuff didn't really interest me, but I was interested in the detail."

Fox is also learning as Ryan chases his golfing dream there's a time to step back and give the boy some space. And to provide the sort of support only a parent can.

"It's a learning process for me too," grins the All Black great. Yes, he says, frustration is an element that comes into the equation. From both father and son. "I went to as many tournaments as possible early, and he's only been doing it since winter last year … but he's a bit more independent now. He has a dream. He'd love to be a professional golfer. Our responsibility as parents is to do everything we can to help him achieve that dream. But the key is about being the best that he can be - and if that is playing pro golf that's wonderful, and if it's not and it's about playing amateur golf here to a reasonable level, well that's still great."

Fox is also a firm believer in a balanced life. In covering your options. So Ryan, unlike a lot of our top amateurs, will balance university with his golf. "To me [throwing everything into golf] is fraught with difficulty because if you don't succeed - and the vast majority won't - what do you fall back on? His challenge will be to find time to study and do the golf thing. That's about sacrifice and sacrifice is a big part of it."

And his own game? Playing off "a battling four", Fox finds time in his busy schedule to get out once a week. Cricket great Martin Crowe is a regular companion and let's just say some things never change. "I just love it," says the one-time superboot. "I like the intricacies, and I like the competitive side of things."

And it is as a competitor, after all, that Fox still has so much to offer.