Golf club’s new ramp making a difference

WHEELCHAIR users and families with prams are already benefiting from a new accessible entrance at the Ocean Grove Golf Club.

The $50,000 project replaced an uneven ramp with a Disability Discrimination Act-compliant entrance after a year of planning and five weeks of construction.

It required complex engineering due to the golf club’s location on soft ground close to the Barwon River.

Ocean Grove Golf Club general manager Russell Powell said community groups using the clubhouse had already welcomed the upgrade.

Among them is the Ocean Grove Film Society, which has two members who use wheelchairs.

“They’re very excited about it,” Powell said.

The club received a $17,000 Stronger Communities Program grant to construct the new ramp with the assistance of federal Member for Corangamite Libby Coker’s office.

Coker congratulated the club on its efforts to secure the grant and the use of local builders on the project.

“One of the spinoffs from these grants is that it’s a catalyst to getting the job done for many community groups, but it also means often you can increase employment locally,” she said.