THREE years ago, Golf NSW employed nine Regional Managers to look after regions in NSW, with the aim to provide face to face service to the clubs and to increase participation.
Gary Begg was employed to look after the NSW western and far western region, an area covering over 560,000 square kilometres.
Born in Leeton, NSW and a PGA Member for over 40 years having completed his apprenticeship at St Michaels Golf Club with Cyril Trist, Begg was very excited to take on the challenge of increasing participation in the Western Region which had suffered recent natural disasters of drought, flood, mice plagues, covid, and more floods.
Like all country golf clubs, volunteers are short on the ground and they struggle with player numbers and in some cases to keep the doors open.
Ready to go at Albert. The NSW Golf intitiative to provide golfing opportunity in Western NSW has been a success.
Clubs in the area include Coolah, Dunedoo, Binnaway, Baradine, Coonabarabran, Gilgandra, Narromine, Nyngan, Trangie, Albert, Cobar, Tottenham, Walgett, Brewarrina, Darling River (Bourke), Wilcannia, South Broken Hill, and Wentworth Sporting Complex (Near Mildura) and when Begg started, they had one junior in the region. Now through the work of Begg and Golf NSW there are 160 juniors that attend the various golf courses on weekends.
The ladies numbers have also increased with only five beginner ladies at the start of the program, to now having over 80 new ladies introduced to the game and trying golf and as a result most clubs are gaining new memberships from the clinics.
The beginner ladies are planning to start ‘Ladies on the Move’ in the next few months, which involves travelling to clubs in joining beginners from other clubs for a get together, to meet new friends, have plenty of laughs and to enjoy the experience.
Six Junior Golf Open gala days have also been planned for 2024, youngsters from the age of five attending and playing 3-9 holes on shortened courses, with some players at times making a 5-6 hour round trip to attend and take part.
The future is looking bright for the west and far west due to the initiative of Golf NSW board and CEO Stuart Fraser as they continue to forge ahead with efforts to grow the game in all regions of NSW.
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