Profile

Marnie McGuire
With 25 years involvement in golf, Marnie McGuire is well qualified to pass on her skills and experience to others. Marnie's Dad Dave McGuire was a scratch golfer, and he taught her how to play - after she chose to play golf instead of hockey. She started playing at age 14, caught the golfing bug, and it soon became apparent that she had talent for the game.

Growing up in Auckland and playing amateur golf, Marnie remembers having a huge amount of fun with her friends, and fantastic support from both the Auckland district and New Zealand. She won a college scholarship to Oklahoma State University and left New Zealand with dreams of making it big in golf. While just 17 years old, Marnie won the 1986 British Ladies Amateur (she was the youngest ever winner at the time), was the 1990 Queen Sirikit Cup Individual Champion and was named in the 1990 First Team All-American which placed her as 1 of the top 15 college players in the US. After these and other successes, she turned professional in 1992 and joined the Japanese Professional Golf Association. She was 22.

Few New Zealanders realise or appreciate the success that Marnie achieved in Japan - or the huge following she created amongst the Japanese. During her 7 years on the Japanese professional tour she won no fewer than 5 Open Championships and was named the 1995 Halberg Sportswoman of the Year back home in New Zealand.

Marnie considers winning the 1998 Australian Open - where she led the tournament from start to finish - a career highlight and after this decided she needed a new challenge. In 1999 she joined the US Ladies Professional Golf Tour and remains the only New Zealand woman to have played on this tour. She stayed with the USLPGA tour - achieving many more top 5 finishes - until her retirement from professional golf in 2004.

Like many professional athletes, retirement marked the beginning of a new chapter for Marnie. She returned to New Zealand, became pregnant with her son Max and trained as a massage therapist, as she thought it would be the ideal occupation to combine with being a busy full-time mum. However, golf wasn't finished with her yet, and she began working with high performance amateur athletes at New Zealand Golf as a coach. Coaching reawakened her passion for golf as she discovered she had a unique talent for it. She stayed with New Zealand Golf for 3 years, coaching teams to some of New Zealand Golf's most consistent performances, including back-to-back wins in the New Zealand Women's Tasman Cup in 2005 and 2007 - which hadn't been achieved since 1938.

Now that Marnie McGuire Golf Ltd has taken off, Marnie no longer works with New Zealand teams, but is still involved with several high performance athletes.

As a coach, she believes the biggest opportunity to improve your golf score lies in improving your short game - and this is where she focuses her coaching efforts. She gains a huge amount of satisfaction from working with golfers who are committed to improving their game - no matter what their starting point - and goes to great lengths to create drills, programmes and practice routines that are tailored for every individual she coaches.

Gaylene Eyre

Gaylene's journey to Marnie McGuire Golf Ltd has been quite a ride. With an incredibly varied background she has held a huge variety of roles, all of which have added to her skill set and approach. A trained social worker, experienced counsellor and careers advisor in the early stages of her career, these roles built the foundations of her belief in adopting an individual approach to development. Always passionate about sport, she began working within it about 15 years ago and has worked in schools, public swimming pools, for Sport Wanganui and Sport Waikato (where she was Secondary Sportfit Director). Throughout this time she was involved in a variety of sports - hockey, swimming, netball and cricket - at a number of levels. She developed a desire to see if she could make a difference in high performance sport.

The opportunity came when a friend provided her with an introduction to the Executive Director of the then Women's Golf New Zealand. Gaylene flew to Wellington for an interview and the next day was offered the position of High Performance Manager.

When she took the position, Gaylene had no working experience in golf and was just beginning to play the game herself. What she had however was a belief that the processes of elite sport are generic, and that if she developed the programme and put the right people in place around her, she could make it work.

She was right. While with Women's Golf New Zealand she lead the high performance programme to an impressive performance record with a programme that focused on processes rather than outcomes and that put the athletes at the centre of the circle. When men's and women's golf amalgamated in November 2005 Gaylene was appointed as High Performance Manager for the new organisation, New Zealand Golf, where she continued her success with the women's programme and brought significant cultural change the men's side of the game.

After 4 years living and breathing golf, commuting between her home in Cambridge and work in Wellington Gaylene decided it was time to redress the balance in her life. She resigned from New Zealand Golf, took stock and set about creating a new career direction. Soon after Marnie McGuire Golf Ltd was born, along with a fledgling Professional Coaching business where Gaylene works with individuals to help them achieve their goals. She also helps her husband Mark out at their business Toccata Cafe in Cambridge and loves catching up with her two children Phillipa and Brad.

See below to read more about Marnie, Gaylene and their views on golf

Describe what you do at Marnie McGuire Golf
Marnie: My primary role is to coach our clients and that means taking a really holistic approach to coaching and the environment we teach in. I'm really passionate about teaching people about every part of the golf game, plus a little bit about life and their mental attitude. The fun environment we create is very unique in New Zealand.

Gaylene: I look after the nuts and bolts of the business; the admin, setting everything up and getting it organised, and I'm also the first point of contact for everyone. I'm fully involved in the boot camps and golf days too - Marnie and I create a real team environment and so I work closely with our clients too. I think the environment we create is really exciting - we bounce off each other, have a lot of fun and I think we make a difference to people by creating that environment. We have a really strong focus on being positive and we reinforce that all the way through.

What's the most fun you've had on a golf course?
Marnie: This has to be a tie between 2 totally different days. The first is playing at a charity day event with Gaylene where she had a complete shocker - and was threatening to throw her clubs all day because her golf wasn't going well. I was there to have fun with my friend and enjoy the day but Gaylene ended up in the foulest mood. I just laughed at her all day and had a good old time!
The second is winning the 1998 Australian Open; coming down the last 3 holes and playing with one of the world's best players Kelly Robbins. Coming up the 18th hole I had goosebumps all over. I had a 2-shot lead and had led the tournament from start to finish and winning in front of an Australian crowd felt like being at home because everyone was rooting for me. It was such a great tournament to win because I won against some of the best golfers in the world.

Gaylene: I don't know whether I have a favourite, but every time I step onto a golf course I have a lot of fun because I really enjoy playing. When I've been watching New Zealand teams etc has been pretty amazing, though I've probably spent more time being stressed than having fun watching elite players. I think most days are fun because I'm having some down time, hanging out with friends and playing a game I'm passionate about.

What's the golfing achievement you are most proud of?
Marnie: I have a few that I'm particularly proud of. The first is winning the British Amateur at age 17. Then there's being nominated to First Team All American while I was at College at Oklahoma State University. That selection meant I was in the top 15 players in the collegiate system - out of maybe 2000 or 3000 players. Being named the 1995 New Zealand Halberg Sportswoman of the Year was also really special.

Gaylene: Personally: shooting 84 - I was pretty excited about that.
Professionally: Creating the programme that led the New Zealand Golf High Performance Programme to some really excellent results.

What's your favourite golfing memory?
Marnie: Winning my first professional golf tournament with my mum caddying for me. It had taken about 14 years of hard graft to get to that point, so to win my first tournament was the culmination of everything I had been working towards. To do it with my mum on the bag was the best moment ever.

Gaylene: Not sure that I have a favourite, but probably the thing I love most about golf is going out onto the course and hanging out with your friends. I have a friend Jan, who I learnt to play golf with and some of my favourite memories are hanging out with her and the laughs we had as we learnt to play the game. The sheer frustration of being on the course, not being able to hit the ball and that kind of thing; the gales of laughter.

How would you describe yourself?
Marnie: Happy, nice, friendly and I care about people.

Gaylene: I'm pretty laid back, I'm organised - that sounds back to front, doesn't it?! I'm pretty driven and very focused on what I want to achieve so I make sure I put things in place to achieve my goals and I think because that's what makes me appear laid back. I have a good sense of humour and I like to laugh my way through life. I have a focus that you should live every day because you don't get to live it again - I think the saying is that ‘life is not a dress rehearsal.' I want to go into my grave battered and beaten, and having experienced as much as I can.

I enjoy hanging out with people, hearing about what they do, their views on life and their experiences - I find that fascinating. I love being able to make a difference with people. I'm a bit of a homebody even though I spend quite a bit of time travelling around the country.

How would you describe each other?
Marnie: Gaylene is a very warm, caring person. She engages so well with everyone and can talk to anyone in the world! Everyone loves her; she really listens to people and has time for everyone. She's a unique individual.

Gaylene: I think she's pretty awesome. I love watching her work because she has an amazing ability to get the best out of people and she wants them to be the best that they can be. She sees things really quickly and will spend a lot of time thinking about the best way to help someone.

She's unbelievably generous with her time, incredibly loyal and obviously knowledgeable in golf. She's had the most amazing experiences but is very humble about what she's achieved - I don't think many people really know the extent of what she's achieved. She's pretty amazing and I feel really privileged to know her. We're best mates and the fact we get to work together and have so much fun is just fantastic.

What's the secret to being a successful professional golfer?
Marnie: A passion for the game and the determination, commitment and work ethic to stick to reaching your goals. Golf is a very challenging, humbling sport. Stickability keeps you going back, and you need that determination to never give up.

What's the secret to being a successful manager?
Gaylene: I believe it's acknowledging the outcomes you're trying to achieve, then locking them up in a cupboard so you can focus on the processes that will allow you to achieve the outcomes. I believe that if you're process driven, outcomes will come. The programme I managed was very athlete centred and coach supported, so the wellbeing of the athletes was really important.

What do you like to do when you're not on a golf course?
Marnie: My son Max is 2 ½, so when I'm not at golf I love spending lots of time with him. I also go to the gym, and hang out or entertain with friends.
Gaylene: I really enjoy hanging out at home and spending time in the garden with my husband Mark. Being with my family is really important to me - this means Mark and my two kids Philipa and Brad. I love catching up with friends, and I love watching movies. Mark and I get away to Whitianga when we can.

Marnie McGuire - Performance Record

Amateur career highlights:
 1986 British Ladies Amateur Champion (at the time youngest ever winner, age 17)
 1990 Queen Sirikit Cup Individual Champion
 1990 Oklahoma State University: First team All-American (top 15 players in the US)
 Winner of three collegiate tournaments

Marnie turned professional and joined the Japanese Ladies Professional Golf Association, the JLPGA, in 1992 aged 22.

Japanese career highlights:
 1994 Nasuogawa Ladies Open Champion
 1995 Mitsukoshi Cup Champion
 Year? Goyokensetsu Ladies Open Champion
 1996 Daikin Orchid Ladies Champion
 1996 Suntory Open Ladies Champion
 1998 Australian Open Champion
 1995 New Zealand Halberg Sportswoman of the Year

After a very successful career on the JLPGA it was time for another challenge. In 1999 Marnie joined the US Ladies Golf Tour and is currently the only New Zealand woman to have played the US LPGA tour.

United States Career Highlights from 1999 - 2004 include top 5 finishes in the following:
 LPGA Corning Classic
 Cup Noodles Hawaiian Ladies Open
 LPGA Takefuji Classic
 Safeway Classic
 Top 10's Longs Drugs Challenge
 The Philips Invitational honouring Harvery Pennick
 ShopRite LPGA Classic
 Giant Eagle LPGA Classic
 State Farm Rail Classic
 First Union Betsy King Classic
 Sybase Big Apple Classic

Since retiring from professional golf in 2004 Marnie has discovered a love of coaching. She worked with the New Zealand Golf High Performance Programme as a performance coach for 3 years and has had a great deal of success with New Zealand international teams. These include:

 2005 New Zealand Women's Queen Sirikit Team 5th place
 2006 New Zealand Women's Queen Sirikit Team tied for 1st place. Natasha Krishna finished as the 2nd individual.
 Inaugural New Zealand Women's Ross Herbert Trophy team 1st place. Sarah Nicholson won the Australian Women's stroke play played at the same event.
 2007 New Zealand Women's Tasman Cup team won vs Australia. This team achieved a back-to-back wins in 2005 (in New Zealand) and 2007 (in Australia). A back-to-back was last achieved in1938.
Marnie is currently coaching two of New Zealand's top female golfers.

Marnie is no longer working with New Zealand Golf however is still involved with high performance athletes and is currently coaching two of New Zealand's top female players.

Marnie has teamed up with Gaylene Eyre (former High Performance Manager at New Zealand Golf) to form Marnie McGuire Golf Ltd. The company was launched in April 2007 and focuses on working with people who really want to make a difference to their golf game. The pair have created a unique environment for learning and fun. They have a proven record in performance, having worked together in the High Performance programme for New Zealand Golf.