One of only four people to be elevated to PGA Immortal status, Earp is best known for guiding the game of a young Greg Norman, turning a raw talent from North Queensland into someone whose record as world No.1 has been bettered by only one golfer.

Yet Earp’s influence on Australian golf stretches far beyond the waters surrounding the Great White Shark.

Major champions Wayne Grady, Adam Scott, Jason Day, Karrie Webb and Cameron Smith have all spent time in Earp’s orbit, a man who applied the rhythm of horse-riding to how the body needed to move in the golf swing.

Days out from the start of the 2024 BMW Australian PGA Championship, Earp shares his unlikely rise from a dairy farm in northern New South Wales to one of the most revered members in the history of the PGA of Australia.

The second day that I set foot on a golf course was my first day of work to become an Assistant Professional under Reg Want, who was the Professional at Coolangatta and Tweed Heads Golf Club.

It was explained to me by my boss that you’re a professional, and you carry yourself like a professional because you are the backbone of the club. When the people first come in, you’re the guy they’re going to see. And you’re the guy that they’re going to see after they finish their game.

I used to ride horses a fair bit on our dairy farm and the coordination I learnt to work with the horse, not the horse work with me, helped in understanding what Reg was talking about with regards to the golf swing. It’s about finding the swing that suits them − for their body. There’s not two people in the world who swing the club the same. They’re all built differently, so you have to design a swing based on what they’ve got to work with.

The most important thing to me was to work on a pace. To get people to slow their swing down, you’ve got to find something for them to do. I would tell people that it’s like starting an outboard motor on a dinghy. You can pull it with your right hand and do it as quick as anything, because you’re trying to crank it over. Now do the same thing with your left hand and you can’t do it as fast. I used to get right-handed players to push the club back with their left arm. That would slow them down to a pace that suits them.

Norman Von Nida paved the way, a bit like Joe Kirkwood. I think he had 67 or 68 tournaments that he won over the years and he went over there without a pound to his name. He paved the way. I admired him so much for what he was capable of doing. He wasn’t a very big man but pretty strong in the arms and the legs. He set a great example. Always dressed very nicely, and he thanks Walter Hagen for that.

I really think the person who deserves more credit for what he’s done in the world of golf is Joe Kirkwood. He went overseas to America and he teed up with Walter Hagen and Joe Kirkwood was a big part of where the golf tour is today. The PGA of Australia is very lucky to have a person of that calibre to name our PGA championship after. He deserves more media, more respect.

When I first started at Royal Queensland, I wasn’t allowed in the clubhouse to have a drink or anything. You’d go out the back to be able to get a drink. I think we were the first golf club in the Commonwealth to allow the Professional into the bar.

I never seriously thought of leaving RQ in the 45 years that followed. Some of the guys asked me to go to Royal Sydney after Alex (Mercer) had finished there but they’ve been good to me. They’ve looked after me and been wonderful all the way through. It’s a wonderful club.

Greg (Norman) was so easy to teach. He was already a good golfer. I’d see him and might only say a few words while he was hitting balls. The good players are all easy to teach; it’s just finding out the solution that’s going to help them to get the result they want.

The story of Greg hitting a ball over the Gateway Bridge is absolutely true. Excuse me for dropping names but (Federal politician) Sir James Killen was with us. I said to Greg, ‘Do you reckon you could hit a ball over that bridge?’ He said, ‘Yeah, no problem.’ We went back to where the original tee was for the 12th and he hit six balls, three over and three under. And they were still rising as they went over the bridge. The gantry was still working, building the bridge, and so there’s the bridge and then the gantry on top of that, and he hit them over the gantry.

Corinne Dibnah had a silky swing. She won a British Open and a European Open. I never got to see Ben Hogan. One of my wishes in life was to see Ben Hogan and meet Ben Hogan but I never met him.

Karrie (Webb) used to come down here and come away on a couple of state trips with us. She had mongrel. She was determined. I don’t know where she picked it up from – it might have been born in her – but her attitude was that ‘this is my tournament and you’re not going to take it away from me’.

It never felt like a job; it felt like a pleasure to me. To be doing something that you like and something that you love, what more do you want in life? Helping people to enjoy themselves. Couldn’t get anything better than that.