Two of Golf Australia s elite group of National Level Referees are this week attending the annual R&A Referees School at the home of golf, St Andrews in Scotland. They are the first Australian women to do so. GA s Manager Championships, Therese Ritter, and Women’s Golf New South Wales Golf Programs Manager Emily Miller and their many male colleagues have formed a diverse group of 70 delegates from 32 countries in the intensive four-day program. Both Ritter and Miller have previously refereed at a series of Men’sand Women’s Australian Opens, whilst in November 2009, Ritter became the first female referee to work at an Australasian PGA Tour event (other than the Australian Open). She was one of the group of ten senior Australasian PGA Tour, European PGA Tour, US PGA Tour, and GA officials who controlled the JB Were Masters at Kingston Heath. GA s Rules of Golf & Amateur Status Committee Chairman John Buckley (who is also a GA Board Member) said both Ritter and Miller were fine examples for young women in golf. It’s wonderful to see two young Australian women involved at the St Andrews Referees School which is the pinnacle of the R&A s rules education program, Buckley said. It’s important that Golf Australia continues to lead the way in providing opportunities in golf across a diverse range of areas. Both Therese and Emily are excellent role models for other young people who have an interest in refereeing and championship administration. The development opportunity provided by the R&A Referees School serves to augment Australia s multi-level rules education framework. This framework features an array of GA and State Association-conducted Rules education and development opportunities. The most recent addition to this framework is the Advanced State Level Rules & Competitions Course. The inaugural staging of this course occurred a few weeks ago at Melbourne s Victoria Golf Club. The Advanced State Level Rules & Competitions Course, which is a joint initiative of GA and The R&A, featured a variety of sessions conducted by senior R&A, GA, and Australasian PGA Tour officials. The successful course was attended by delegates from each State Association as well as staff from Golf Australia and the PGA of Australia. The R&A s Director Rules of Golf, Grant Moir, visited Australia for the Advanced State Level Course and is one of the nine-strong team of instructors in Scotland who are helping the delegates to improve their refereeing through a range of methods including the detailed study of the technique of top officials, through the analysis of televised Rules incidents, practical demonstrations of the Rules, role play sessions during which the students will deliver rulings to the R&A instructors, and, finally, the completion of a written exam. Part of the program takes place in a specially-constructed indoor demonstration area at the Fairmont Hotel where the greenkeeping staff have installed a stacked-turf riveted bunker, putting green, water hazard, teeing ground, and out of bounds area to allow instructors to make clear visual representations during classes. The 20th Annual R&A Referees School concludes on Friday. Both Ritter and Miller will be refereeing at the Handa Women’s Australian Open at Commonwealth Golf Club from 11-14 March.