By Michael Davis THEY’RE blowing their trumpet loud and clear at the Heritage Golf and Country Club east of Melbourne. That’s because the famous Jack Nicklaus signature has been reinstated on its St John Course. The club says ground crews have worked diligently to produce two courses that members can be proud of and after […]
THOUGH it’s not officially open – with no hint of an announcement about a re-opening date in sight – golf is again being played at Pelican Waters. The first and final rounds of the Grant Field Junior Classic were played over Pelican Waters’ new 18-hole layout in January, with some observers pleasantly surprised at the […]
By Scott Kramer THE annual PGA Merchandise Show in Orlando, Florida is a golf equipment spectacle, with more than one million square feet of brand-new goods, apparel, accessories and other products on display. I have just returned from the 2023 rendition (it was the 31st year I’ve attended). As usual, the product introductions dropped plenty […]
By Gavin Kirkman, CEO – PGA of Australia IT was a real pleasure to attend the 70th PGA Show in Orlando last month. A stunning event put on by the PGA of America, it was heartening to see the global golf industry come back together in full-flight for the first time since the onset of […]
By Michael Davis AT just 33 years of age, Jake Solomon is relatively young to find himself in the general manager’s chair at Eastwood Golf Club. But with experience at Cranbourne, Woodlands and Commonwealth in senior financial positions, the Eastwood committee was very comfortable giving the personable young man the nod when he walked in […]
AFTER many years, he is off. Christian Gillott last month resigned as general manager at Newcastle Golf Club after an impressive six years (2017-2022) at the helm. The Queenslander decided he wanted to return home to be close to family and has taken on an advisory role at Indooroopilly Golf Club. Prior to the top […]
HE’S a long way removed from the world’s senior tours, but elegant Adam Scott showed some of Australia’s old masters what they’ll eventually have to face when he lined up in the season-ending Australian PGA Legends Tour Championship at Headland, on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast. Scott, 42, who spent several weeks at his Noosa home over […]
By Peter Owen LEON Trenerry, the former South African who moved to Australia in 2021 in search of a better life, is understandably chuffed with his performances on the Queensland associates circuit in 2022. After playing 30 events, he topped the Order of Merit. Now he’s looking to play more pro-ams across the country and […]
By Peter Owen LIFE hasn’t always been kind to Brendan Smith. The former Newcastle golfer, who turned professional in 2010, has been diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes and has recurring disc issues in his lower back. Despite these setbacks, Smith competed on the One Asia Tour and the Australasian Tour until 2017, when he ran […]
By Peter Owen A $100 million upgrade, which includes a new state-of-the art clubhouse and enhanced golf facilities, will transform Pacific Golf Club, on Brisbane’s southside, into an elite, one-stop golf destination. Pacific’s 18-hole course, at Carindale about 10km from Brisbane’s CBD, has always enjoyed a reputation of being one of Queensland’s best members’ courses. […]
By Michael Davis YOU’LL get yourself a long and spirited 19th hole debate as to which is the best golf course of the 20-plus on the Mornington Peninsula. This is especially the case around this time of the year as people return to their offices and other workplaces after the peak holiday period. It is […]
By Peter Owen PROFESSIONAL golfer Will White’s life changed forever three years ago when he landed a job with Boags, the iconic Tasmanian beer brewer. It was there he met Jenny, his future wife, and rediscovered the confidence he’d lost when his fledgling career as a touring pro went off the rails, leaving him disillusioned […]
HOW did a champion junior hurler (someone who plays hurling) end up the general manager at Bowral Golf Club? After a bit more digging, it actually made some kind of strange Irish sense. Kevin Kenny was born in the city of Kilkenny where hurling is, in Kevin’s words, “a rite of passage bordering on […]
THE big wet that devastated New South Wales and South East Queensland during the first half of the year prompted many golf club managers to comment: “This (wet weather and flooding) is a whole lot worse than Covid.” It’s a bold statement, but it tells the story as the disruption to businesses have been massive. […]
THE PGA Show will be celebrating 70 years as golf’s largest global business gathering when it returns to Orlando from January 25-27, 2023. Each year, the PGA Show dedicates a portion of the show floor specifically for independent inventors seeking to showcase their innovation to the golf industry. The area, referred to as the ‘UIA […]
WEEKENDS on the South Coast were the perfect catalyst to lure David Rootham away from Sydney. And Kiama Golf Club, one of the busier clubs on the South Coast of NSW and its happy bunch of members fitted perfectly into his plans. Like most clubs, Kiama has enjoyed a revival of interest in golf with […]
By Peter Owen PETER Marchant, the renowned Sunshine Coast sommelier who has travelled the world judging fine wines, has made a dramatic career change and taken up a new role as Noosa Springs’ golf operations manager. He began his new job late in September heading a new-look team in the resort’s Golf Shop that includes […]
WANTIMA Country Club, the home club of champion Australian golfer Cameron Smith, has a new general manager. Jason Patterson was appointed to the top job in April this year. Patterson’s experience and background started in Brisbane at Indooroopilly Golf Club and was followed by stints in the Middle East and Maldives where he worked for […]
JOSH Prowse is happy to admit he thought he might feel like a fish out of water when he accepted the position of chief executive officer at Moruya Golf Club on the New South Wales South Coast. After all, he was a Victorian, who loved the Collingwood Magpies and the Melbourne Storm and knew he […]
MAINTAINING a golf course is the most critical element of any golf club. But like so many other industries, finding skilled staff has become an immense challenge and turf managers around the world are struggling to find the people they need to help maintain golf courses and stadiums to a premium level. This human resource […]
KAREN Leonard has virtually spent her entire working life in the golf industry, including 20 years in management. She is currently the general manager at Yeppoon Golf Club in Central Queensland, but cut her teeth at Rockhampton Golf Club where she worked for 30 years – 19 of those as the boss. “I finished up […]
A FORMER golf professional is the new general manager of Patterson River Golf Club in Victoria. Adam Hayes, whose journey into golf club management started in the 1980s, says it is a great honour to be appointed GM at Patterson River GC in the southeastern suburb of Melbourne. “I started in the golf industry in […]
By Peter Owen HE’S just landed one of the plum jobs in Queensland golf club management but had circumstances been a little different, Dan Chandler may have become a crime fighter, following in the footsteps of his dad Mark, a police sergeant who recently retired after 30 years in the force. Instead, Dan has just […]
THE new general manager at The National Golf Club, Matt Corby, is undaunted after 100 days in the job he landed ahead of many high profile local and international candidates. More than a few industry eyebrows were raised when Corby, 52, was appointed to what is arguably the biggest job in Australian golf. After all, […]
LIKE a lot of golf clubs, the front office, pro shop or on the course is where you find out what makes a golf club tick. That worked perfectly for Asquith Golf Club general manager Matthew Furze, who found a happy home at Asquith and has now worked in the golf industry for 29 years. […]
Lawn Solutions Australia (LSA) is developing the best products, people and performance in the turf industry. Known as the go-to brand for ‘anything lawns’ in Australia, this includes turf, lawn care products, and lawn and turf related advice. Lawn Solutions Australia consists of a national network of locally owned, and mostly family-operated turf businesses. The […]
AUSTRALIAN-OWNED and operated Tru-Turf Golf and Sports Turf Rollers will continue to deliver rolling perfection well into the future with the business changing ownership late last year. Gold Coast local Scott Bullard has taken control of the business and has wasted no time getting his hands dirty both here in Australia and in the United […]
AFTER more than three decades as the head professional at Carbrook Golf Club in South East Queensland, Tony Di Tommaso has decided to relinquish the reins and hand over the running of his business to the golf club. But he, along with his brother Paul, will continue to work in the pro shop as employees […]
By Rob Willis AN exciting new purpose-built teaching facility has been unveiled with the opening of Club One at the Cronulla Golf Club. A state-of-the-art coaching and club-fitting studio, equipped with the latest technology including two simulators and teaching bays, Trackman, high-speed cameras and the only SAM PuttLab of its kind in the country, Club […]
THE iconic Kooralbyn Valley Resort is back on the market. The reported asking price is $68m. “We have had four deals over the past two years however all of the buyers struggled to get the right funding in place due to the impacts of Covid,” said the resort’s owner Peter Huang. With the international border […]
By Paul Vardy AUSTRALIA’S golf industry produces benefits to society in the form of health and wellbeing, community, environmental and economic. A significant amount of economic activity is generated in the preparation and maintenance of playing surfaces, buildings and surrounds. I’m still amazed at the level of golf participation spending compared to other major […]
By Michael Davis THE late Australian golf legend Peter Thomson had a favourite Jack Newton story. It happened on the first tee at an exclusive Sydney club during a final round of a NSW Open. Newton was leading the event and Thomson was waiting on the first tee for him to start his final round […]
By Peter Owen HE would never describe himself as a gambling man, but there’s something about Melbourne Cup week that has had a defining effect on the career of Headland Golf Club general manager Matt Lang. A Victorian, Lang fell in love with Queensland’s Sunshine Coast while holidaying every year at Mooloolaba with his family […]
THROUGH the NSW Golf Foundation and the Australian Sports Foundation, Golf NSW has established the Golf NSW Flood Relief Fund to help clubs in the golfing community get back on their feet following the devastating floods that have ripped through New South Wales. The efforts to thwart rising waters were impossible for many clubs and […]
BRAD Heuchan has never had a hole-in-one, but he has had “about” 100 aces. He’s simply lost count. Confused? Well, the 100 aces have been scored on his well-manicured short hole he designed and built in the backyard of his home, which is located 100m from Pacific Dunes golf course at Medowie, not far from […]
By Michael Davis NEW Flinders general manager John McKay was on the first tee at the picturesque Mornington Peninsula club weeks before he officially started in the role. It was the club championship and he spent six hours making sure he met everyone personally. So before he even started work, the members knew him and […]
WHEN it comes to Castlecove Golf Club, if the cap doesn’t fit … then try on another one. At least that’s the case for long-serving club manager AND head professional at Castlecove, Kate Macdouall. After serving as head professional at the popular nine-hole course, Macdouall was appointed club manager in 2018 as well. And to […]
By Michael Davis THE PGA of Australia has established a new Golf Learning Hub at Sandhurst, south of Melbourne. The completion of the Australian Golf Centre at Sandringham and the relocation of PGA administrative staff to the heart of the Melbourne Sandbelt has paved the way for an expansion of the PGA’s education centre at […]
IT was a busy time for some golf club general managers in the lead-up to welcoming in the New Year. Some of the general managers on the move included Jon Gahan, who is leaving The National Golf Club as reported in Inside Golf (December 2021). Then there was Andrew Gay departing Royal Adelaide, Tim Gahan […]
LATE last year Beerwah Golf Club in the Sunshine Coast hinterland organised a special evening to thank its sponsors and volunteers for their contributions throughout the year. They also invited the club’s superintendent Stephen Milgate to attend the function. An unassuming character, Milgate didn’t know the club also wanted to pay tribute to him for […]
