Royal Queensland’s new GM Paul Hinton focuses on ladies golf

Newly appointed Royal Queensland General Manager, Paul Hinton, is well-known to most in the industry after serving over ten years as GM at Royal Sydney. Relishing the opportunity to return to his home state, Hinton has taken the helm at a pivotal time in the club’s history.

Hinton’s achievements at Royal Sydney include five Australian Opens, a Davis Cup, the building of a Fitness Centre and improvements in Member services and utilisation.

“I was very fortunate to be part of a great team at Royal Sydney during a very exciting and busy time. I am delighted to be appointed GM of Royal Queensland with so many positive opportunities and events planned over the next few years, particularly the Club’s Centenary in 2020!”

The widely publicised Discrimination Case against the Club was successfully resolved in late 2018, with judgement handed down in favour of Royal Queensland. Contrary to reports published at the time, the club’s Playing Program was found to be fair to all members, legal and not in breach of any laws – a win for the club!

With this issue now finalised, Hinton is keen to focus on the future.

“As with many clubs, we are focussed on growing Ladies Golf. The Club launched the Ladies Academy Program in the latter half of 2018 and we are delighted with the uptake,” Hinton said.

“Using our state-of-the-art Coaching Centre, and low student/coach ratios, participants receive greater one-on-one time to focus on their individual technical skills with greater success. Our four-step pathway program is designed to progress the beginner golfer through to one who will confidently take to the course in all forms of play,”

“We understand that some Ladies, no matter what their level of golfing ability, may struggle with confidence which can affect their decision to participate in competition and, or social play. With this in mind, we provide our Ladies with a supportive, welcoming and relaxed environment that transfers into enthusiasm to participate in not only social play and competition but also in taking up membership of the Club which is a fantastic result,”

“With every Club looking for an edge, I have been amazed to discover that RQ’s Coaching Centre is a well-kept secret that must be shared!”

Opened in 2018, the Coaching Centre is an outstanding world-class facility of which the club is tremendously proud. Royal Queensland has one of the best Day/Night Short Game training facilities in Australia.

The Centre is fitted out with two Teaching Bays, each of which are fitted out with Trackman technology (radar style ball and club geometry) as well as Swing Catalyst software (combines cameras), that allows coaches to combine the technology and send the vision to the client to view their movement and practice drills to improve their performance. This technology is then further supported by Force Plates (on the floor) and the Gears 3D optical system to create a full picture for both the coach and the client.

The Centre also contains a designated Putting Lab.

The fully air-conditioned, indoor/outdoor Centre is supported by the five major manufacturers in Titleist, Callaway, Ping, TaylorMade and Mizuno and is the only location in Queensland that sells TPT Shafts.

The club is extremely fortunate to have the highest quality coaches lead by Chris Gibson, the PGA Head Professional.