Bill West
Mount Macedon Golf Club is elated to have won Golf Australia’s Visionary of the Year award for 2022. The award celebrates and rewards those doing terrific work to achieve gender equality in golf, and inspires others to follow.
“This award is fantastic recognition for a small regional-based club and shows what can be achieved through members’ commitment to simply focus on the outcomes of engagement and fun,” club president Matt Willis said.
Legendary golfer Karrie Webb, a record winner of majors, personally delivered the ‘You’ve won’ news to club secretary Marcus Ward and ‘Women Get Into Golf’ coordinator Bruce Fraser via a Zoom link-up from Golf Australia last Thursday.
To say Ward and Fraser were excited is an understatement. They initially found it hard to believe Mount Macedon had won against two other much larger clubs from Melbourne and Geelong, with the on line voting period having been from February 6 to 12.
Mount Macedon’s whole club approach to get women into golf resulted it being selected as a monthly winner early last year.
“Increasing your women’s membership from one to over 30 and being totally volunteer based is an amazing achievement,” Dalhousie District Golf Association stated.
Dalhousie president Mary Campbell and secretary Elaine Scanlon were among the first to extend congratulations.
Last Thursday it was good news for Mount Macedon Golf Club. It was exactly 40 years ago the small club was entirely wiped out in the devastating Ash Wednesday bushfires.
President of Woodend Golf Club, Barney Hearnden, said the elation of Mount Macedon winning the award contrasted against the despair 40 years ago.
“Woodend Golf Club has always been proud to support Mount Macedon now and back then when you needed to share a clubhouse. Congratulations again,” he said.
$10,000 WORTH OF EQUIPMENT
Visionary of the Year also means the local club obtains Callaway specialised women’s golf equipment valued at $10,000, as well as a big lift in profile.
Such is the popularity of the club’s ‘Get Into Golf’ clinics the March sessions are already booked out.
Mount Macedon is expected to be to the forefront when Golf Australia further promotes the opportunities for women to enjoy golf, both playing the sport and enjoying the social side.
The Express ran a feature article headed ‘Splendid vision on the Mount’ on January 31, outlining the background to this remarkable success story in enticing so many women to come forward and take up golf.
Ward thanked editor Angela Crawford, sports writer Bill West, and the Midland Express team for the support that “helped get us over the line to be named Golf Australia’s Visionary of the Year”.
