Golf Australia August 2019

A MAJOR championship win does amazing things, for more than just the winner. You don’t have to go far back to Tiger Woods claiming this year’s Masters to think of the flow-on of people talking golf around the office, at social functions both non-golfers and golfers alike, or the increased mainstream media coverage of the game. Similarly, many staff of golf courses and driving ranges I spoke with in the immediate aftermath noted an increase in patronage after Tiger’s 15th major win. More recently it hit a little closer to home, with Hannah Green’s drought-breaking major win ending a 13-year wait for the Aussie girls since Karrie Webb claimed the 2006 Kraft Nabisco. Green’s victory again raised the coverage of golf in her home country, even if the West Australian…

When Brookwater opened in 2002 there was much fanfare with many visiting golfers quick to draw comparisons with the home of the Masters, Augusta National. The undulating terrain, creative bunkering and sloping putting surfaces fueled appraisals of the design crafted by Greg Norman and then design chief Bob Harrison – both of whom are devotees of the work of Dr Alister MacKenzie, who created Augusta. But the truth is this par-72 is an original, just 30 minutes’ drive south west of the Brisbane CBD. It boasts an overwhelming Australian feel and even the occasional kangaroo bounding across a fairway. The Norman and Harrison design is one of Australia’s most spectacular inland courses and has been well-entrenched in national course rankings for 17 years. Its latest ranking came in January this…

THE COURSE LOCATION: 1 Tournament Dr, Brookwater, QLD, 4300. CONTACT: (07) 3814 5500. WEBSITE: www.brookwater.com.au DESIGNERS: Greg Norman and Bob Harrison (2002). SLOPE RATINGS: Men – Black 146; Gold 141; Silver 133. Women – Jade 139, Silver 143. PLAYING SURFACES: Tifdwarf Bermuda (greens), Santa Ana couch (tees), C2T (fairways). GREEN FEES: $100 (Monday - Thursday, 18 holes, includes shared cart); $120 (Friday - Sunday including shared cart). COURSE SUPERINTENDENT: James Gordon. PGA PROFESSIONALS: John Collins and Ian Triggs. THE CLUB MEMBERSHIP: Brookwater has a variety of membership categories including junior, intermediate and family classifications, as well as seven- and five-day options. A full seven-day membership costs $3,650 for residents and $4,110 for non-residents, while a family membership is $5,850 for residents and $7,250 for non-residents. Junior memberships start from $360,…

AT FIRST glance, it all made perfect sense. One big event every month from March through July. Players. Masters. US PGA. US Open. Open Championship. But now that we are nearly done with the first go round of all that, I’m not so sure this new schedule is really the best thing for professional golf as a whole. It certainly works for the financial juggernaut that is America’s PGA Tour, but for everyone or anyone else? As my old Scottish granny used to say, “ah huv ma doots”. Take the European Tour. While it has long been the case that the game’s second-circuit has only occasionally been the place to be for the very best practitioners, that fact of life has been cruelly exacerbated in 2019. After the so-called “Middle…

GOLF Australia has joined the fight to keep Brisbane’s Victoria Park Golf Course open after councillors announced plans to turn the public course into parkland, which would be more than double the size of the City Botanic Gardens. Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner said the proposed 45-hectare public park would hope to mirror some of the great parklands of the world. “When you think of some of the great parklands across the globe, Central Park in New York City, Lumpini Park in Bangkok and Hyde Park in London come to mind for their hundreds of trees, free attractions and for offering people a green sanctuary within a busy capital city,” Schrinner told the Brisbane Times. “About 26 hectares of this council land is currently used as a pay and play public…

1. How old was Tiger Woods when he had his first hole-in-one? 2. On February 6, 1971, Apollo 14 member Alan Shepard hit a golf ball on the moon. What club did he use? 3. No female has won on the PGA Tour but a male golfer has won an LPGA event. Who was it? 4. Augusta National was closed for three years during World War II. What was the courses used for during this time? 5. In what year was the tapered wooden tee patented? 6. Who is credited with inventing the sand wedge? 7. Which golfer won 11 successive tournaments in 1945? 8. In August 1996, who made his debut as a pro in the Czech Open? 9. What is the maximum amount of time allowed to look…