MORE than fifty people gathered at the Rokewood Golf Club on Tuesday night to discuss the facility\u2019s uncertain future and how to save it.<\/p>\n
The club has been facing a declining membership for years with their two volunteer groundskeepers no longer able to tend to the course.<\/p>\n
About 30 people registered their interest in joining the club or helping out, and president Ross Hadler said he was \u201cheartened\u201d at the amount of people that attended the meeting.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a good turnout and there were a lot of community suggestions and support,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cHopefully there\u2019ll be something concrete to come out of it in the near future. All the suggestions were very constructive.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can see a future for the club going forward as long as we can maintain community interest.\u201d<\/p>\n
Suggestions from the community included sharing the grounds with a clay target shooting club, stronger advertising, and holding competitions on Sundays so as not to clash with football games on Saturdays.<\/p>\n
Shelford resident Chris Icke threw his hand up to be part of the new committee, and said the club holds a family connection for him.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy grandfather was quite involved with the golf club here, so I used to play on weekends when I lived here,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m more than happy to step up. It\u2019s important to keep the doors open. You don\u2019t wat to see nothing fold.\u201d<\/p>\n
Golden Plains Shire representative Cr Helena Kirby attended the meeting and said the community needs to be proactive in protecting it.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s great to see so many people here because if they want to save the club, they really need to do something about it,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve heard people from Rokewood saying they\u2019ll be playing golf at Bannockburn who didn\u2019t even know this was here.\u201d<\/p>\n
The club was established as municipal property in 1933, and Cr Kirby said the Shire could help in ways such as writing grant applications.<\/p>\n
Golf Australia\u2019s senior participation manager Mark Bamford was one of two representatives from the organisation to attend the meeting.<\/p>\n
He said Rokewood Golf Club is one of many clubs that need to think outside the box.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe challenge for Rokewood now will be to put something out there that is not the traditional 18 holes over four hours,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe awakening has been that most golf clubs up until COVID, have been in decline. It\u2019s been about a one per cent drop each year in membership for 20 years.<\/p>\n
\u201cAbout one club has shut each year in Australia.<\/p>\n
\u201cCOVID did something we couldn\u2019t do. Golf clubs had to adapt. We couldn\u2019t play competitions, we had to play socially.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll these new people came into the game saying \u2018I don\u2019t have to worry about a handicap, or what\u2019s happening today.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cMost golf clubs are trying to wind back on these changes now COVID\u2019s winding back and we\u2019re trying to say no, keep the changes.\u201d<\/p>\n
A new committee for Rokewood Golf Club is set to be elected as early as late next week once more financial members are signed on as a result of the community meeting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
MORE than fifty people gathered at the Rokewood Golf Club on Tuesday night to discuss the facility\u2019s uncertain future and how to save it. The club has been facing a declining membership for years with their two volunteer groundskeepers no longer able to tend to the course. About 30 people registered their interest in joining […]<\/p>\n