KEY POINTS:
Greg Turner says golf administrators in New Zealand need to stop resisting his efforts to smooth the passage of promising, young amateurs to professional competition.
He said the attitude of sports administrators, and not just in golf, frustrated people who had played the game at top level and returned to try to help their sport.
"We're not renowned for our long-term vision in this country, especially our sporting organisations and it's frustrating," he told NZPA.
"It's bloody frustrating when you're someone like me. I think I'm right in saying that it's a regular recurrence with New Zealanders who have gone and done reasonably well in sports and possibly in other things. And when you get back and you want to contribute, you find that the establishment doesn't react well to change or to the thought of change."
Turner vented his frustration in an interview with The Scotsmen newspaper.
"The prevalent attitude in administration must change 180 degrees," he said.
His three-year-old initiative, named Wedge -- Winning Edge -- had recently caught the attention of Sport and Recreation New Zealand (Sparc), the government's funding agency.
"A few months ago Sparc relegated golf into an area where the game had to apply for funding on a project-by-project basis," Turner said.
Sparc's justification was that its criteria for producing world-class players or performances was not being met by New Zealand Golf.
"As far as Sparc was concerned, NZ Golf took players to the edge of the abyss, then pushed them off," Turner told the newspaper.
"Sparc likes our programme -- it makes sense to them -- and they told NZ Golf to build us into their next funding application. If they do that, they will get some money.
"My original expectation was that, once that subtle difference was made clear to New Zealand Golf, the irrefutable logic of it all would get them on board."
Turner said the New Zealand Professional Golfers' Association (PGA) "was no help either".
It existed to service the needs of club professionals, not to help young players make their way in the game.
"There are irreconcilable issues there.
"Having said that, the PGA should have got involved. Their members are best served by New Zealanders winning things like US Opens."
Turner, 43, has long been frustrated by the virtual abandonment of New Zealand's young golfers from the minute they turned professional.
The former European Tour player, who won 12 times around the world during an 18-year career highlighted by his role in the winning International side at the 1998 Presidents Cup, has high-powered backers.
Last year's US Open champion Michael Campbell, All Blacks Grant Fox and Anton Oliver, America's Cup-winning yachtsmen Russell Coutts and Tom Schnackenberg and former tennis professional Brett Steven were all behind the Wedge project.
Wedge was a four-pronged system designed to bring the best out of young players placed in its path. It offered logistical, financial and mentoring help and a series of tournaments.
"There is so much that needs to be explained to new professionals," said Turner.
"They need to know where they should be playing, how the circuits work and how things work within the circuits."
- NZPA
