AFTER winning her 57th honour board event at Headland Golf Club, on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast, evergreen Josie Ryan is quick to downplay her remarkable achievement. Instead, she apologises for having a handicap of 16, a mark she seems to find embarrassing for somebody who once played off four. She claims she hasn’t broken 80 in […]
THE WORD ‘legend’ is probably used way too often in golfing circles. Yet at Gundagai Golf Club in the state’s south-west, it has been well-earned . . . three times over. That’s because there’s a healthy trio of golfers treading their fairways with almost 170 years of competitive golf between them. At the head of […]
Huntingdale President, Nick Harvey with George Oshlack. GEORGE Oshlack, a Huntingdale member recently transferring from Cranbourne Golf Club who turned 100 in April, plays three to four times a week and drives himself to golf. A holocaust survivor, Oshlack was a Cranbourne member for 65 years before the course closed in March and has had […]
THERE wasn’t much grass on the fairways of Mt Coolum golf course when Brian Simpson first joined the club in 1989, with players allowed a free drop in areas declared to be a ‘bare patch.’ “We took a preferred lie on almost every shot,” Simpson recalls. “That’s how rough and ready the course was in […]
IS 18 holes of golf too many – and maybe too time-consuming? Is nine holes not enough to hone your game? Then maybe here is the answer and possibly a future for golf in Australia’s biggest city, Sydney. It’s Newgreens Chatswood Golf Club, the first purpose-built 12-hole course in Australia. And it seems Moore Park […]
Winners are grinners: Brad and Cheryl Fortescue, Division 1 winners in Fiji. An incredible week in paradise! A sold-out field travelled to Fiji for the 2026 Fiji Masters, staying at the luxurious InterContinental Fiji Golf Resort & Spa and playing multiple rounds at the breathtaking Natadola Bay Championship Golf Course. Congratulations to Brad Fortescue and […]
The Ranfurlie Range in Melbourne’s outer south-east has introduced a new system, in part to address the extraordinary demand. GOLF’S continued momentum is being felt strongly across Melbourne’s outer south-east, where Ranfurlie Range has emerged as one of the region’s most active and accessible golf destinations. Based in Cranbourne, the venue has become a popular […]
By Judy Bull Cliff Riley joined Commonwealth Golf Club in 1983 and “considers himself lucky to be a member of Commonwealth”. He loves the historic clubhouse setting and has always appreciated the architecture of the course. Cliff was a country boy born in Ararat in 1927, attending school in nearby Stawell. Cliff’s father was a […]
The WA Golf Club has introduced a new program for women designed to bridge the gap between lessons and playing the game with confidence. ONE of golf’s biggest challenges isn’t getting people to pick up a club for the first time, it’s helping them feel comfortable enough to take the next step and head out […]
A place that makes golf feel fresh and fun IN a leafy suburb just outside Launceston, a new beat has arrived for Tasmanian golf. The Range at Country Club Tasmania is more than a driving range; it’s a vibrant, inclusive golf entertainment precinct that reimagines what a modern golf experience can be. Judging by the […]
By Peter Wightman – Captain Yowani Country Club TEN years ago, Yowani Country Club (YCC) in Canberra embarked on a major project to redevelop its golf course and related infrastructure and to replace the old clubhouse that was no longer fit for purpose with a facility that can sustain the Club’s financial future. In 2017, […]
By Liam Wyllie “Good things come in threes” proved true for Darren McCallum, who recorded three holes-in-one in the space of three weeks across three different golf courses. A member of Bannockburn Golf Club 30 minutes west of Geelong, McCallum made his first-ever ace on Sunday April 12 at Ocean Grove Golf Club, backed it […]
NICK O’Hern, who won the 2006 Australian PGA Championship at the nearby Hyatt Regency golf course at Coolum, will make a rare appearance at Gympie in September to help celebrate Gympie Golf Club’s centenary. O’Hern, famously the only man to have twice beaten Tiger Woods in the World Matchplay Championship, will be the guest speaker […]
By Martin Blake Mike Jackson knew the milestone was coming up, but when the moment arrived at Yarra Yarra last week, he marked it off on the Excel spreadsheet that he keeps, and like a cricketer taking block after a century, he set out for the next landmark. Jackson is a legend of Yarra Yarra […]
Sixty-five golfers enjoyed perfect autumn conditions at the exclusive Capital Golf Club in early April at The Chappell Foundation’s (TCF) third Melbourne Golf Day. The field was warmly welcomed by TCF co-founders Greg Chappell, still a highly respectable 7-marker at 77 years young, who has already broken his age a dozen times, and Darshak Mehta, […]
SYDNEY golf coach Brent Dale will host the inaugural Sydney Junior Open on July 2–3, 2026 at the Oak Point Golf Club in Sydney’s western suburbs. Designed to elevate the standard of junior golf in Australia, the event will feature a 54-hole World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR) tournament for players aged 13 and over. The […]
GOLFERS all over Australia have begun asking the question midway through their round of golf: “What’s with the blue tree?” And that in itself suggests the idea is a winner. Hawks Nest Golf Club, a hidden gem located an hour north of Newcastle, is the latest to add a blue tree to their golf course. […]
MOST days you’ll find Kaye Hosking at Beerwah Golf Club, cleaning woods and irons, sorting them into sets, making phone calls, directing golf professionals and club officials, organising schedules, and introducing dozens of ladies to the joys of golf. Dale Williamson, golf and membership manager at the Sunshine Coast hinterland club, describes her as a […]
AT 80 years of age, Roz Briggs decided it was time to get serious about her golf. Using artificial intelligence to design clubs suited to her, Roz knocked an amazing eight strokes off her handicap in just a year. ‘Most Improved’ is the last trophy the Axedale octogenarian expected to win at her age, but Roz’s achievement […]
Maroochy River member, Lisa Green (centre) teamed up with new member, Katie Hall (left) and GIG participant, Sarah Sherrington. By Linda Hooper IT started as a seedling of an idea at the October Women In Golf (WIG) Sub-Committee meeting at Maroochy River Golf Club. TWIGS, an acronym for Twilight Women In Golf Socials, was launched […]
MOST top professional golfers boast pretty strong amateur careers before they take the plunge to try to make a full time living out of the game. They learn pretty quickly, too, there is chasm between playing to put food on the table and competing for a time-honoured amateur trophy with the security of a full-time […]
THIS year looms as a landmark one for Toowoomba Golf Club at Middle Ridge with the Darling Downs club celebrating an impressive 130 years since first opening its fairways in 1896. Rather than simply reflecting on a proud past, the club is using the milestone as a springboard for the future, unveiling a series of […]
A legend of amateur golf in NSW and more specifically around the Newcastle region, Owen Beldham was recently honoured with induction into the Hunter Region Sports Hall of Fame. In a fitting tribute, Owen’s family submitted the following letter, detailing his outstanding golfing career and in a display of the respect he enjoys, not just […]
AT Eastwood Golf Club, tucked beneath Victoria’s Dandenong Ranges, septuagenarian Trevor Skerry delivered the sort of round most golfers only fantasise about. The 78-year-old returned a remarkable 47 Stableford points to run away with the Wednesday competition, prompting good-natured cries of “bandit” from fellow members as he handed in his scorecard. Skerry, who plays off […]
AT 79, Wodonga Golf Club’s Noel Nicholas achieved a feat that had fellow members in awe after he broke his age by an astonishing nine strokes. Nicholas, who only took up golf at 44 after hanging up his cricket whites, fired a two-under-par 70 off the stick to win a mid-week competition with 46 Stableford […]
WHEN Steve McMahon wandered into the bar of Ipswich’s old North Star Hotel way back in 1975 and told the bemused barmaid, ‘I reckon I could pour a pretty good beer,’ he had no idea he was about to begin a career that would see him manage golf clubs for the best part of the […]
ASK any serious golfer and he (or she) will agree . . . a par round beats a hole in one every day of the week. And to shoot one at the age of 90, well, a golf round doesn’t get much better than that. Roseville’s John Todd is, quite simply, a golfing marvel. As […]
CHAMPIONS: Siblings Matt and Kiara Frohmuller show off their record-breaking scorecards. GOLF is no stranger to family success stories, but every so often the game produces a moment that raises eyebrows. Wolston Park Golf Club near Brisbane may have witnessed one such occasion during its January monthly medal when a brother and sister achieved a […]
FOR a bloke whose idea of recreation is paddling his surf ski 27km across the ocean from Rottnest Island to Fremantle’s Sorrento Beach, playing a round of golf at Brisbane’s Virginia Golf Club on a Tuesday morning must seem as challenging as mowing the lawn. It certainly seemed that way when Mark Gardner, a 40-year-old […]
David Lilley, Kevin Delayney and Kerry Stait, all made hole in ones on the same day, but on different holes, at Bathurst Golf Club. IT was almost like a scene from that famous movie Groundhog Day at Bathurst Golf Club last month. Every time General Manager Brad Constable turned around there was another hole-in-one. Of […]
GOLFERS across Australia will be familiar with the Sunshine Coast Classic—a hugely popular destination tournament that continues to attract strong interest from players looking for a professionally run, enjoyable week of golf in one of the country’s favourite golfing regions. In 2026, the team behind the Sunshine Coast Classic is expanding its tournament offering with […]
TRENTHAM Golf Club’s most famous hole has added another chapter to its folklore, this time written by a teenager playing his very first competitive round. Seventeen-year-old Harrison Kenton-Barnes produced a moment to remember when he scored a hole-in-one on the 112-metre par-3 13th hole, the same hole made legendary by the late Jim McCormack, who […]
WHEN Kevin Isbester stood on the tee at Nambour’s short par-three sixth hole, he felt pretty confident. After all, the 78-year-old veteran had scored a hole-in-one there – his first after a lifetime in golf – only two days earlier. Not that he thought history would repeat itself. He knew the chances of scoring another […]
IT’S long been regarded as one of the best golf layouts in Australia. Yet big changes are occurring at the renowned Newcastle Golf Club at Fern Bay, Newcastle, near the mouth of the mighty Hunter River. And one of Australia’s leading course designers Bob Harrison is leading the way as the club has begun major […]
SO often new mothers feel isolated and disconnected from their friends, work and hobbies. It is a problem for young mums around the world and in some cases can lead to postnatal depression. Now progressive thinking women who are members at the beautiful 13th Beach complex at Barwon Heads on the Bellarine Peninsula have come […]
IT’S the dream of every club golfer to record that elusive hole-in-one at least once in a lifetime. But for 85-year-old Malcolm Coleman, who plays his golf at The Grange Golf Club in Adelaide, once has never been enough. Since first picking up a club 60 years ago, Malcolm has achieved the rare feat five […]
A group at Brisbane’s Carbrook Golf Club became so frustrated at one of their mates ‘pulling the handbrake’ to protect his handicap that they agreed the player with the worst score each day would have to play his next round using a pink golf bag. Little did the group of four golfers realise their initiative […]
HE’S travelled the world, was a touring professional, became a senior administrator at Golf Queensland, and has been a rules official at numerous Australian Opens. He even worked for a year at the Guinness factory in Dublin. But Scott Wagstaff has a special love for Carbrook, a small golf club situated in the south-eastern suburbs […]
Ross Watson studies the layout of the Caloundra golf course – his first and last design project. IT WAS just chance that Ross Watson, who has designed more Australian golf courses than perhaps any other golf architect, chose to retire to Caloundra, on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast. By coincidence, it was at Caloundra that Watson began […]
MASSIVE changes are afoot at Port Kembla Golf Club with plans for a considerable upgrade to the course and club. Members of Port Kembla Golf Club and Wests Illawarra have voted on a proposal to transform their golf club into a premier golfing and entertainment hub. They have given golf entertainment company Swing Factory the […]
