The National Golf Academy
Elevating Your Game
Members can work closely with one of the Club’s PGA Professionals. An Overall Game Assessment will enable our instructors to ensure any instruction provided is tailored to your individual goals and needs. Those considering undertaking regular tuition may be interested in purchasing a lesson package.
On-Course Tuition
Do you always play better golf on the practice fairway than on the golf course? Or do you have a particular hole that you always struggle to score on? If so, spend some time with one of our PGA Professionals on the course and discover why.
Learning on the course allows you to address issues such as bad or uneven lies, course management and strategy, specialty shots and psychology. These are all issues that are better addressed on the golf course than at the practice fairway. On-course coaching can range between 4, 9 or 18 holes and can be shared between up to three players at a time.
Club Fitting
The Club’s club fitters are fully qualified to assist you to find the right equipment to ensure you get the most out of your game. Being a member of The National ensures you receive specialist on-going care coupled with the best pricing. The Club also invites preferred suppliers to conduct demonstration days at Cape Schanck and Long Island for members to trial the latest models on the practice fairway.
Practice facility
A Perfect Place to Practice
The National Golf Club boasts some of the finest practice facilities in the country. The range at Cape Schanck offers over 100 square metres of quality rye grass to hit off combined with Callaway range balls. The range has seven target greens at varying distances for approach to green practice, and is more than 260 metres in length for long game practice. The short game practice areas are designed with contours and slopes similar in nature to the design features of the courses and provide the ideal short game practice, including bunker practice, pitching practice and putting practice. Members agree there is no better place to practice and improve your golf.
Driving Range Hours - Cape Schanck
| Range Opens | Range Closes | |
| Monday | 6.30am | 5pm |
| Tuesday | 10.00am | 6pm |
| Wednesday | 6.30am | 5pm |
| Thursday | 8.00am | 6pm |
| Friday | 6.30am | 6pm |
| Saturday | 6.30am | 6pm |
| Sunday | 6.30am | 6pm |
Driving Range Hours - Long Island
| Range Opens | Range Closes | |
| Monday | 12pm | 6pm |
| Tuesday | 7am | 6pm |
| Wednesday | 7am | 6pm |
| Thursday* | 7am | 6pm |
| Friday | 7am | 6pm |
| Saturday | 7am | 6pm |
| Sunday | 7am | 6pm |
* The range is closed from 9am – 9.45am on Thursday mornings, as the team cuts the practice tee.
Please note that during the winter months, the driving range is closed from 3pm – 4.30pm for ball collection. All other practice facilities remain open.
Our Golf Professional Team
Tim completed his PGA traineeship at The National Golf Club in 2001 and is a 'Certified PGA Professional – Advanced in Coaching' with the PGA of Australia.
Since completing his traineeship, Tim has worked in Singapore, as well as being the head coach at Kingston Heath Golf Club between 2004 and 2008. Tim returned to The National as Head Coach in 2008.
Tim’s coaching philosophy centres around using the player’s current capabilities to achieve the most from their game, while identifying the areas of their game that will help them improve their scores quickly. While utilising technology such as launch monitors and an extensive understanding of biomechanics, Tim’s style is simple and easy to understand. Tim is a Titleist Ambassador as well as a qualified fitter of TaylorMade and Callaway golf clubs.
Since 2007, Tim has travelled the world playing the best golf courses, many of which are listed in the world's Top 100. His dream is to play all the courses listed and is well on the way to completing this dream.
Andrew received his full PGA membership status after completing his apprenticeship at Royal Melbourne Golf Club in 1990 and soon became the club professional at Woodlands Golf Club.
At the beginning of 2000 Andrew moved to The Heritage Golf and Country Club as their inaugural club professional. Here he had responsibility for building the business from the ground up, an experience he found very rewarding. Towards the end of his tenure at Heritage, Andrew developed the SureShotGPS device, the world’s first handheld colour GPS device designed specifically for golf. After spending a number of years travelling the world promoting the device, Andrew decided to return to golf teaching.
In 2009, Andrew took on a part-time coaching role at Heidelberg Golf Club. This allowed him the flexibility to conduct golf tours to destinations around the world. After three years working at Heidelberg, Andrew moved to a full time coaching role at the Green Acres Golf Club and was based there for six years.
A professional at The National Golf Club since 2019, Andrew enjoys helping members improve their golf and passion for this wonderful game. This is done through coaching, lessons, and clinics, as well as through a series of online tutorials he has recorded for members of the Club. Andrew is a master club fitter and brand ambassador for Ping, as well as a qualified fitter of Callaway, TaylorMade, and more.
The National Golf Club was pleased to welcome Wendy Dragojlo to the coaching team in 2023. Wendy completed her PGA traineeship at Woodlands Golf Club in 2007. She has played on the Australian Ladies Professional Golf (ALPG) and Ladies European Tour (LET) tours.
Wendy’s experience includes being the Victorian Tour Director at US Kids Golf, Golf Operations Manager at Portsea Golf Club, and earlier in golf operations and coaching roles at Green Acres, Waverly and Woodlands golf clubs. Most recently, she has run her own coaching business, Evolve Golf, developing and conducting programs introducing women and juniors to the game and supporting them to become members at clubs. Wendy provides private tuition and group clinics at The National, with a focus on our women and junior programs and pathways.
Before undertaking her PGA traineeship, Wendy completed a degree in Human Movement. She tailors her coaching through an understanding of an individual’s body movement capabilities and its effect on their golf swing. Wendy has a passion for coaching golfers towards achieving their personal goals and their increased enjoyment of the game.
