After a stellar 2016, top Perth golf coach Craig Bishop can quite rightly be described as a “supercoach”.
His star pupil Curtis Luck won the US Amateur Championship in August and his 6&4 win in the final over American Brad Dalke at Oakland Hills in Michigan was only the third time the championship has been won by an Australian.
Luck went on to snag the Asia-Pacific amateur title in October and was also a member of Australia's victorious Eisenhower trophy team in September.
But wait, there’s more. Bishop also coached the 2016 men's and women's Western Australian amateur champions, Fred Lee and Jess Whitting and was named Coach Of The Year at the 2016 WA Sports Star Awards.
These remarkable achievements have put Bishop’s world-beating program he runs at his teaching studios at Golf Box Booragoon in Western Australia in the spotlight.
The in-demand coach has also enjoyed success with Tour professionals and is at full capacity in terms of his teaching schedule.
Bishop began coaching after a playing stint on the Australian PGA Tour from 1998-2000. While he admits he didn't have a defining breakout tournament on tour, he had a lightbulb moment while he was a pro at Royal Melbourne that would impact his career as a coach.
"I played a round at Royal Melbourne with a guy called Chuck Cook," Bishop said.
"It wasn't long after my tour stint so I was still playing reasonably well, but he made some comments about my game that really resonated with me."
A renowned US golf coach, Chuck Cook worked with US Open winners Payne Stewart , Corey Pavin and Tom Kite in the 1990s. He currently coaches Jason Dufner, the 2013 US PGA winner, and also has Keegan Bradley and Luke Donald on his roster.
Cook introduced Bishop to the concepts of The Golfing Machine, a comprehensive book written in 1969 by Homer Kelley which details building the ideal golf swing by using simple physics and geometry.
Intrigued by The Golfing Machine, Bishop studied the theory in-depth and took further instruction from eccentric swing guru Mac O'Grady in the US. He became a qualified Golfing Machine instructor when he passed his GSEB (Golf Stroke Engineer Bachelor) coaching level in Portland, and is one of only three coaches in Australia to be accredited.
Bishop has combined his extensive knowledge of the golf swing with the use of modern technology to achieve top results with the players in his academy.
Bishop has coached Curtis Luck for six years and carried the bag for the World No.2 amateur in last month's Australian Open. Bishop said the 20-year-old acquitted himself well and is a class act, both on and off the course.
"The Open showed that Curtis is on the right track," he said.
"It gave him confidence that he can compete at that level and that his game is close to where it needs to be."
"The things he needs to work on are easy to fix."
Luck played the first two rounds with Jordan Spieth and Geoff Ogilvy and was the co-leader after the first round.
A solid second round was followed by a tough day in round three. Bishop said he knew what Luck needed to work on just by watching the blur of the clubhead during the round.
"After the third round, we had a good session to get him flushing it again," he said.
"We were confident going into the final round of a better day."
A final round 67 was one of the lowest of the day and helped Luck finish as the leading amateur, tied for 11th overall.
Luck missed the cut in the Australian PGA Championship and his focus now turns to the Masters in April, an exemption earned after his US Amateur win . Bishop will be on the bag at Augusta.
"I'm looking forward to racing Curtis up the hills at Augusta," he said.
Bishop, who coached the WA men's team from 2011-2014, sees huge potential in State Amateur champions Fred Lee and Jess Whitting. Fred Lee also made the quarter finals of this year's US Junior Championship, which was won by Royal Fremantle's Min Woo Lee.
"Jess Whitting is now playing US College golf and Freddie has unbelievable talent," he said.
In the play-for-pay ranks, Bishop looks after Perth professional Brady Watt.
Brady Watt became the No.1 amateur in the world in 2013 under Bishop's guidance and was the US amateur medallist the same year. Watt is based in Texas and is currently plying his trade on the US PGA's Latinoamerica feeder tour.
"It is a huge challenge for Brady to go and play in America," Bishop said. "I talk to him on the phone every two weeks.
"I am trying to organise a week next year to meet up with all my players who are now based in the US."
At the other end of the golf career spectrum, European Senior Tour player Peter 'Chooky' Fowler, who is currently fourth on the 2016 Order of Merit, credits Bishop with turning his game around seven years ago.
Fowler was the leading player in the 2011 European Senior Tour season, winning twice and posting 11 top 10 finishes and Bishop was on the bag for Fowler in the 2012 Australian Senior Open at Royal Perth when he coasted to a six-shot success.
Bishop remodelled Fowler's swing to help avoid the back injuries that were an all-too-frequent occurrence for the New South Welshman.
"I started working with Peter seven or eight years ago," Bishop said.
"He is an extremely diligent player and understands why his swing works.
"I work with him for four weeks a year and he is great with the rest of my guys.
"He plays practice rounds with them, helps them out with their games, and tries his best to outdrive them."
Bishop sees his role as a golf coach as more than just teaching his talented team how to finetune their swings and improve their games.
He says the opportunity to mentor his players for a life outside of golf is just as important and derives great satisfaction in seeing his players mature as people.
"Not everyone is going to make it in golf," Bishop said. "So they need to learn skills that will benefit them in whatever they do."
"Being able to have an influence on someone's life - to see them grow as a person - is a real privilege.
"It is really satisfying to catch up with players I have coached and see them excelling in whatever non-golfing area they have chosen, such as business."
And Bishop's advice for good, young amateurs and juniors who have a bit of potential is a lesson for life, not just for success on the golf course.
"Persist and resist is what I would tell them," he says. "Understand what you need to work on and keep working, even if the results aren't immediate."
As golf swing fads come and go, Bishop's approach to teaching the game is reaping deserved rewards - and that never goes out of style.
