Yarra Yarra’s GM, Mathew Loughnane, takes things in his stride just like he did growing up playing footy and cricket in Woodend and Ballarat in country Victoria.

“I wasn’t really into golf at all. It was all footy and cricket even when I was doing a sports and marketing degree at university,” Mat says.

“I was looking for somewhere to do my final year placement and the Victorian Golf Association offered me one.”

During his placement Mat came under the care, guidance of tutelage of two legendary golf administrators – Doug Fox (VGA Chairman at the time) and the talented David Greenhill. 

“They were great to work with and fantastic mentors to me,” Mat recalls.

The admiration was mutual. At the end of the placement, he was offered a job with the VGA, where Loughnane stayed for six years before accepting the GM’s post at Curlewis just outside Geelong.

The Yarra Yarra course is one of the Melbourne sandbelt’s best.

“Mind you, Curlewis was very different back then from what it is now. We had a staff of two in the office in those days. But I was only 27 and had my first GM’s job and was there for seven years.”

That was when upmarket Kew Golf Club, in Melbourne’s inner east, came knocking and Mat stayed there for a decade before landing the job at prestige sandbelt course Yarra Yarra just over 12 months ago.

“To be honest, the only difference between Kew and Yarra Yarra is one has a very good golf course and the other has a great golf course,” Mat says.

By and large members’ expectations are the same.

“Our biggest (daily challenge) here at Yarra Yarra is time sheet pressure. There has been a real shift in golf. If people are going to join a golf club, they want to play. We’ve really got to manage that and get them a game,” he says.

In the last five years, too, people have really wanted to get into Yarra Yarra and membership applications have surged. There is now a three-year waiting list to join Yarra Yarra. 

“A lot of this is due to the work done on the golf course removing a lot of trees and vegetation to bring it back to the original Alec Russell design,” Mat says, with the result of the club’s five-year plan returning Yarra Yarra to the stunning layout Russell created all those years ago.

“Yarra Yarra is a great golf course in the sandbelt where membership is fine for people who can afford it. But Melbourne is so blessed. There’s golf for everyone in this city.”

Yarra Yarra GM Mathew Loughnane.

Mat feels he’s blessed to have had supportive boards in all of his three tenures as a GM.

“You are not going to like everyone or agree with everyone. But all in all, I have been lucky.

“Not every member is going to agree with you all the time either. But you’ve got to be able to put all that aside and be guided by what is the best for the club. That includes getting the most out of the facilities and being able to invest money back into them. In the end, it’s about looking after the members’ interests and what is best for the whole club.”

At 44 and the father of three young children aged nine, 10 and 14, Mat seems to have the work-life balance sorted, too.

“The club understands I have a young family and I’ve always worked Monday to Friday. Of course, there is always give and take but the board is very supportive of me.”

Yarra Yarra is in good hands.