Young golfers take a swing for the district

THE region’s budding young golfers took to the green at Heathcote Golf Club over the weekend to compete in the Victorian Junior Country Regions.

Eleven players and two reserves gathered from Ballarat, Moorabool, and Central Goldfields shires to represent Ballarat District Golf’s junior team.

Competing across Saturday and Sunday, team manager Andrew Milligan said the group’s efforts marked signs of strong debuts.

“We had six players making their debuts and four others gaining experience as reserve players while representing a composite western region,” he said.

“Some of our players were reserve players last year and made the transition to be able to contribute in 2024 which is really exciting.

“Our future looks really bright in that we think we can really challenge for the Victorian Junior Country Regions title over the next few years.”

The team was comprised of players from Ballarat, Bacchus Marsh West, Mount Xavier, Buninyong, Maryborough, and Midlands golf clubs.

They placed runner-up in both the gross and net events, finishing behind the South Western Golf Association and Golf Central Victoria respectively, and just three strokes behind the latter.

Mr Milligan said the competition saw several individual achievements for the team members.

“Four of the boys achieved the top 10 finishes in the Victorian Boys Country Championship,” he said.

“One of our girls, Sydney Viktorie Bayerle, finished fifth overall in the Victorian Girls Country Championship, and won the Girls Net trophy.”

Mr Milligan said the team’s performance was particularly strong given they were representing a standalone district.

“We draw from a much smaller pool of players because we choose not to merge with another association and play as a composite team,” he said.

“It limits our player pool but it maximises the opportunities we can give to our most talented junior golfers. From that perspective, we’re very pleased to be able to stand alone and create those opportunities.”

Nineteen clubs are affiliated with Ballarat District Golf.