Magazine - Caloundra is Regional Club of the Year

By Editor in Golf on 15th Apr 2008 6:00

It has a reputation for being a friendly club, and now the Caloundra Golf Club has been recognised for the standard of it course, its professionalism, and facilities by being named 2007 Regional Club of the Year at the Queensland Golf Industry Awards.

The club is ranked number eight in Queensland (excluding resort courses), was established in 1951 and has around 1000 members. Secretary manager Sharon Purnell said she believed it was the first time Caloundra had won the award, and members were thrilled. “The members really support the club and we’re always looking to make sure the course and clubhouse facilities are used as much as possible to raise additional revenue to keep members’ fees down,” Ms Purnell said.

“When you’re turning over more than $1 million a year it’s got to be run professionally.” Ms Purnell said staff also needed to be recognised for their efforts.
Ms Purnell is believed to be one of just two female golf club secretary/managers on the Coast, the other being Lisa Shaw from Beerwah. “It’s certainly been a very male-dominated industry, probably because a lot of ex-professional male golfers used to move into management roles once they’d finished playing, but that’s changed over the years,” Ms Purnell said.“We certainly get very good support from our female members.”

While the award was judged against a range of criteria, no doubt the club’s efforts in dealing with the former Caloundra council’s decision to close its nearby sewage treatment plant in June last year played a role in the success. Closing the plant meant the club had to find an alternative water source for the fairways. Ms Purnell said, as a result, $800,000 was spent on significantly increasing the capacity of the dams. “Because it’s crown land, we couldn’t sell the fill or even take it off the course,” she said. “We ended up using it to elevate the sides of a couple of fairways. The course looks great now, but it will be even better when the work becomes fully established.”

The club also secured a $30,000 government grant during the year to upgrade its automatic water controller.

Source: www.thedaily.com.au/news/

Read more articles in Golf, by Editor or from April 2008.