PGA TOUR
Audens Golf provides elite training for First Coast golfers of all levels
Australian ‘high performance coach’ Nic Catterall has worked with major champions Cameron Smith and Adam Scott
Garry SmitsJacksonville Florida Times-Union
July 31, 2026, 5:00 a.m. ET
- Audens Golf is a new Jacksonville-based venture offering instruction, fitness, and physical therapy for all skill levels.
- The company was founded by high-performance coach Nic Catterall, whose clients include professional golfers Cameron Smith and Adam Scott.
- Audens provides customized programs by merging golf instruction with physical evaluations to help golfers improve and prevent injuries.
- The facility features a team of experts, including a PGA Tour veteran, a PGA Master Professional, and specialists in physical therapy and conditioning.
In English, the Latin word “Audens” means bold and daring
With golf instruction and coaching exploding along with the current golf boom in the post-COVID world, Nic Catterall’s venture in Jacksonville meets that definition
Catterall, an Australian “high peformance” coach whose clients include 2022 Players and Open champion Cameron Smith, 2004 Players and 2013 Masters champion Adam Scott, six-time PGA Tour winner Marc Leishman and 2025 Tour winner Karl Vilips, launched Audens Golf earlier this year, a one-stop shop that can assist golfers of all ability levels with instruction, fitness and physical therapy at whatever pace they want to take, limited only by the amount of work they want to put in
Catterall’s staff includes past PGA Tour player Tim Wilkinson, PGA of America Master Professional John Mousley, who operates JM Golf Performance at the University of North Florida’s Hayt Center, strength and conditioning coach Mac Carnell, who has a Master’s in Applied Physiology and Kinesiology from the University of Florida and Jacob Evanich, a doctor of physical therapy from UF
As Kevin Bane, Audens Athlete Services Manager, put it, that all-star lineup has a common goal: Help golfers find “the edge.”
“The difference between the average shot on approach between No. 1 in the world and No. 100 is a matter of inches,” Bane said. “That’s a difference of millions of dollars.”
Bane is right. According to 2025 PGA Tour stats, there were 6 inches between No. 1 Scottie Scheffler and No. 101 Tom Hoge in average approach to the green, and Scheffler made nearly $23 million more than Hoge. The difference between Scheffler’s current scoring average that leads the PGA Tour (68.775) and No. 100 Haotong Li is just over a half-stroke per round over a 72-hole tournament
“We’re trying to help guys get those inches,” Bane continued. “The best professionals are looking for 1 percent better. And for amateurs, we’re trying to get them way more than 1 percent better. What’s great about our tailored approach is we get an exact baseline of where you are between your body and your golf swing and we’re going to custom-build a program based on the goals you give us. The higher your handicap is, the more potential there is for leaps and bounds improvement.”
Audens is a golf laboratory
Located in a nondescript office park off Beach Boulevard, between the UNF and the Florida State College at Jacksonville campus, Audens Golf hits prospective customers with memorabilia such as pin flags and photos commemorating the victories of Smith, Scott and other professionals. There’s a comfortable lounge with a TV and it’s there that Bane gets a client started on the process
It starts with having a chat with Mousley or Wilkinson about goals and desires. What does someone want out of the game? Reaching the PGA Tour? Competing for a club championship? A junior player trying to get good enough to earn a college scholarship? Or a retiree who simply wants to get better and not be in a lot of back or knee pain?
“The client is going to tell us what they want out of this,” said Bane, a native of Rochester, N.Y., who has been a caddie and player services manager at high-end private clubs and a ski instructor whose girlfriend, Megan Sabiston, is a Fletcher graduate. “Then, what makes those goals successful in three months? What about a year? And we’re going to build a program to get you to those goals.”
There is a wide range of fitness equipment and a golf simulator that not only gives players numerous on-screen challenges but has a hitting floor that can be raised or lowered in any direction to replicate uphill, downhill or sidehill lies
Audens merges instruction, fitness, therapy
Part of the process is golf instruction that goes hand-in-hand with fitness evaluation to give players a program designed for them, and physical therapy that will make it easier to swing
Or, as Mousley said, instruction that may cure swing flaws that lead to physical ailments
“I can work with a player who has had a physical therapy session or a physical training session, or the other way round,” Mousley said. “The work that [Carnell and Evanich] do is very predictive and informative to what I do. If they have a hot spot in their body or they’ve got a limitation in a joint, I know how that might translate into their golf swing.”
Carnell said he also will design programs for the individual golfer
“A lot of times, it’s not about getting stronger,” he said. “Golfers tell me they want to be more mobile, looser, swing better. Injury prevention is probably as important as performance. Performance is great. Clubhead speed is great but if you’re hurt you can’t get there. I come from a team sports background and we’d tell players, ‘the best ability is availability.’ If you can be on the course more, if you can practice more, if you feel good, that will help you get better.”‘
Good golf, winning golf, is now much more than a few lessons and hours on a practice range
“Professional golf has evolved into a performance management model,” Catterall says in the company’s literature. “It’s no longer about isolating one swing flaw or one physical limitation. Sustainable performance requires coordinated oversight across biomechanics, physical preparation, recovery systems and execution under pressure.”
Additional information can be found by visiting audensgolfperformance.com
