Suzanne Burns: Inspiring the golf industry of the future

As the Senior Manager for the PGA Institute in Australia, Suzanne Burns' (pictured top right) role is to foster and inspire students who are on the path to working in the golf industry.

Based in the heart of the world famous Melbourne Sandbelt, and owned by the PGA of Australia, the PGA Institute is a unique educational offering for those who are looking to enter the golf industry.

Offering educational courses, combining business, golf training, hospitality, and sport, as well as practical golf skills, the Institute is the only golf Registered Training Organisation (RTO) in Australia.

A major focus of the PGA Institute is allowing students the opportunity to blend their passion for golf, with their career, which is exactly what Burns' was able to do when she took on her role at the Institute.

An avid golfer, and already working in the training industry, Burns was able to find a job that combined her passion and skills, which is why she is so passionate - and successful - in helping her students achieve the very same thing.

Growing up in Melbourne

Life growing up in suburban Melbourne conjures fond memories for Burns, with summer holidays spent down at the beach, trips to see her grandparents’ holiday property in regional Victoria, with plenty of sport always on the agenda.

"It was a really happy childhood full of lots of sport and activities," she said.

"We didn't sit inside in front of the computers like many of the young generation do now.

"If we were not playing sport, we were always outside on the holidays. We would get on our bikes and muck about with all of our friends who lived down the street and we would come home when it started to get dark."

While Burns tried her hand at many sports growing up, golf was notably not one of them, and it was tennis that became her passion in the early years.

"Probably from the age of about eight years old, I was a very keen tennis player," she said.

"In the warmer summer months during school breaks, I was down with friends at my local tennis club, basically playing tennis all day and then participating in tournaments as well.

"Sport was just part of our family life. Weekends were always sport, and if we weren't playing, then we were watching sport. Like in the AFL football season we were always going to watch matches as a family if no one had their own sporting games to be played.

"It was lots of fun, lots of interaction, and part of that was being involved in sport and community clubs. Mum and dad always gave back to the clubs volunteering in some capacity from coaching to being junior coordinators or committee members.

"I have a really positive interactional relationship with sport."

Burns' passion for sport, and the role it plays in the community was fostered at a young age, and still inspires her in her role today.

Entering the workforce and career transition

While it was her dream job to be a teacher growing up, Burns admits that after a stint of work experience at a primary school, she had a realisation that while she loved kids, teaching was not for her.

That initial desire to educate stuck with Burns however, even as she moved away from the industry in the early stages of her career.

"I ended up going into hospitality, funnily enough, as my first career," she said.

"I did a bachelor of applied science, but it was also in hospitality because there was a lot of food tech involved.

"I really have always enjoyed working with people, so transitioning into training seemed a logical step in the roles I had within the hospitality industry. "

Working in hospitality allowed Burns to explore new parts of Australia, meeting new people and becoming skilled in training new staff, a skill that she would take with her.

"When I had a young family, I realised that I didn't want to do the hours that were involved in hospitality, and that also came in conjunction with a move to Malaysia," said Burns.

"When I came back from a three-year stint in Kuala Lumpur, I was looking for a new chapter in my career and actually stepped into a role with a training organisation that was just starting.

A move into the training industry

Making the move into the training industry, especially with an organisation that was just starting out, was invaluable for Burns to quickly learn and thrive.

"I was the second person to start in that training company and built it up and I realised training was a passion that I wanted to explore further. I then moved into working for Australian Industry Group, as a training consultant for their business services," she said.

"I also set up and ran my own consulting company in training and education and then moved to a company called Knowledge Space.

"I was a training coordinator for a number of years and ended up being the general manager as well, which was a company that had 800 or so people we were training.

Working with and training people was something that came naturally to Burns, and so it felt like the perfect fit to combine her natural training ability with her passion for sport, she just had to find that perfect role.

Building a passion for golf and blending it with a career

While sport had been a big part of Burns' life growing up, and even though her parents played golf, it wasn't until 2010 that she picked up the clubs for the first time.

"I had two young boys who had boundless energy and on the school holidays, I was looking for something to do with them that would get them outside, out from behind a computer," she said.

"I thought it'd be great if all three of us headed out to a great little nine-hole golf course, near our holiday house, that wasn't really busy.”

Playing and learning in a quiet environment with her sons was an idyllic introduction to golf for Burns, and before long she was a member of her local club.

"My mum was a member there, so it was really nice to be able to join the same club my mum played at," she said.

"One of my probably favourite golfing memories is an ambrose event, where it was myself, my parents, and my youngest son all playing together as a team.

"Golf is one of those unique sports that three generations of the one family that can all go and play in an event and be competitive."

As Burns' love for golf grew, and the more she played, ideas of aiming to become a PGA Professional and go down the coaching route entered her mind, however it was by way of a friend and colleague that she was able to find a career in golf that suited her perfectly.

"They came to me with the job description for the role that I'm in now as senior manager of the PGA Institute, and said 'isn't this your dream job?'," she said.

"I immediately applied and that was going on just shy of three years now, and I haven't looked back."

Inspiring the next generation

Burns' entire life, her experiences with sport, honing her skills and career in educational training, then harbouring a burning passion for golf, led to her current role as Senior Manager of the PGA Institute, which she couldn't be better suited for.

"I've been really fortunate to be able to combine my passion for golf and my career, and now I get to help others do the same," said Burns.

"The people that are in our education team are all extremely passionate about the sport and providing the best for our students”

"We see ourselves as custodians of the sport in terms of actually upskilling and enabling people to have a successful career within the golf industry."

In her time at the PGA Institute, there are some key projects that Burns is really proud of, that have enhanced the education and lives of those they have impacted.

"We've actually been working on delivering some golf management training in Vietnam for the Vietnam Golf Association," she said.

"I also instigated the ‘Day off the Green’, which was a professional development day for women working within the golf industry in Victoria and Australia.

Enhancing the opportunities for women and girls within the golf industry is something that Burns is particularly passionate about.

"As a woman working in golf, I think the future actually looks really positive for women in the industry," she said.

"There's more participation of women and girls actually playing golf, which then actually opens their eyes to possibly the careers that are within the golf industry.

"In my role, the primary goal is to have students who walk out of the PGA Institute with the qualifications they have obtained with us, empowered and able to get really good roles within the golf industry straight away."

The PGA Institute provides not only Australian, but international students too, best practice qualifications from an industry leading organisation, and what makes it truly special, are the people like Burns who are dedicated to inspiring the golf industry of the future.

The PGA Institute offers a wider variety of courses, which are available online and to international students. Learn more about the PGA Institute here.