	{"id":122953,"date":"2026-06-06T04:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-06-05T18:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/?p=122953"},"modified":"2026-06-03T17:02:08","modified_gmt":"2026-06-03T07:02:08","slug":"major-golf-club-upgrade-tees-off","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/major-golf-club-upgrade-tees-off\/","title":{"rendered":"Major golf club upgrade tees off"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>CONSTRUCTION is well under way on a major redevelopment of one of the city&#8217;s sports clubs.<\/p>\n<p>As part of its $7m project, Midlands Golf and Bowls Club is currently building a space that will include new bistros, bars, function facilities, an indoor kids area and a kitchen.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We&#8217;re really looking at growing this place further to become a destination club in the local community,&#8221; Cameron Vallance, the club&#8217;s general manager, said.<\/p>\n<p>With funding from its subdivision with Villawood of Drew&#8217;s Paddock, Midlands has been able to progress through to beginning the bulk of its upgrade.<\/p>\n<p>They hope to have the majority of their construction stages completed by the Christmas and New Year period.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, Midlands remains open, driven by a business plan that aims to offer more to a variety of age groups.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Something for all ages is one of our key things under our strategic plan,&#8221; Darren Bandy, club chairman, said. &#8220;Doesn&#8217;t matter what age you are, you can come here and there&#8217;s something for you to do.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Vallance said: &#8220;We&#8217;re golf, we&#8217;re bowls, we&#8217;ve got darts playing here, we&#8217;ve got bingo, we&#8217;ve got Malaysian food, we&#8217;ve got the RSL\u2026 We&#8217;ve got all these things happening.&#8221;<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_122956\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-122956\" style=\"width: 600px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-122956\" src=\"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2026\/06\/Midlandsentrance_34161_tn.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"323\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-122956\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">An artist&#8217;s impression of the new front entrance for Midlands Golf and Bowls Club. Image: Midlands Golf and Bowls Club.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>He said such an approach has reduced patrons&#8217; age profile from the 60s to the 40s.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;And the other thing is when we do have events, like music on the grass and all those things, it&#8217;s really a family day,&#8221; Bandy said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We have jumping pillows and different games, different activities so that there&#8217;s something here for everyone.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Bandy said the infrastructure upgrade would serve the club into the coming decades.<\/p>\n<p>Villawood&#8217;s Victorian regional manager Julian Perez said the club&#8217;s expansion and upgrade was a testament to the club and the developer working in tandem.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Drew&#8217;s Paddock is a remarkable project, one where Midlands had the foresight to develop a section of its driving range as a true quality housing project and spearhead a very real resurrection in the club&#8217;s fortunes.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;This has allowed the club to address its debt, renovate and expand its clubhouse, attract new members and post successive fiscal surpluses.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>CONSTRUCTION is well under way on a major redevelopment of one of the city&#8217;s sports clubs. As part of its $7m project, Midlands Golf and Bowls Club is currently building a space that will include new bistros, bars, function facilities, an indoor kids area and a kitchen. &#8220;We&#8217;re really looking at growing this place further [&#8230;]<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"btn btn-secondary understrap-read-more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/major-golf-club-upgrade-tees-off\/\">Read More&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":250,"featured_media":122962,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-122953","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Major golf club upgrade tees off - 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