Golf clubs are known for bringing people together and creating welcoming communities, but what happens when your course is constantly ravaged by flooding?
That was the case for Nagambie Golf Club, and after the course was flooded three times in a year, something had to be done.
Rhonda Richards, who has been involved at the club for close to 50 years, was a driving force as the members decided to move location.
“We were originally out at Racecourse Rd and in 1993, around then, we actually got flooded three times in a very short time,” she said.
“We had to sort of start all over again each time because we only had sand greens.
“A few of us got together when this farm next to the cemetery came up for sale and (we thought it would be good) to go into the middle of town and it would be much better land.
“So we said, ‘let’s see if we can get venture loans’, so that’s what we did.
“We got this fella from Melbourne, his name was Bill Edgar, he was with Commonwealth Golf Club and he just wanted to help little places get on the map with a golf course.
“So he came up and stopped with us and the grass was taller than him and when we started designing the course he had to get in the ute because he couldn’t see where he was going any other way.
“We went by the mileage on the Ute and with two or three other men that had come up with him we designed the course.”
The club had planned to open the course in 1995, just a year after members got hold of the land, but it took longer than expected.
Richards says the course was created almost entirely by volunteers, and the clubhouse was constructed by a builder, who was a member of the club.
“Lots of courses have been built by volunteers, but not in these modern times,” Richards said.
“We’ve been there for 26 or 27 years and we started it from scratch.
“We planted 3500 trees and we all used to go on a Sunday with the fire trucks here because all the men were involved with the fire brigade here and lots of ladies, too.
“Someone would be driving the truck and the others would be walking along planting and watering the trees.”
The club was saving every last penny and putting it back into the course. This attitude persists, and Richards says the club has just received its best grant to date, of $109,000.
The club will spend another $100,000 of its savings to automate the watering of five of the holes, a job that is currently the work of volunteers.
That’s not to say the club is not grateful for the dedicated workers who give their time for free.
“We have what we call Dad’s Army,” Richards said.
“It can be anything up to 15 fellas and they come to pick up the sticks and mow the fairway, mow the greens and do any work that’s needed around the club.”
Richards is the female captain of the club, a role she finds rewarding.
“I love doing it,” she said.
“I’m now 83 and I think I’m getting a little bit older, but I can still manage to hold my own and keep up with the rules.
“I don’t like going out and playing for nothing, so I do like playing in a competition. I suppose that’s the competitive side in me, but of course my handicap has gone down a bit now and you get more aches and pains when you get to my age.”
Through her roles at the golf course and the countless hours she has dedicated to the club, Richards has done Nagambie a great deal of service, which was recognised when she was awarded an OAM last year.
“It’s a great honour,” she said.
“You never seek out that sort of thing.”
As life members of the Nagambie Golf Club you can find Richards and her husband at the club every almost every second day, enjoying the rewards of their hard work.