Saturday 4th February 2023 will go down as a red-letter day for Nudgee Golf Club.
Years of hard work, planning and patience came together on Saturday, as the Club formally opened our two new courses, and marked the end of the resumption, redevelopment, and relaunch phases of our project
A record number of members played on the Opening Day, with over 420 golfers celebrating the completion of our redevelopment journey.
The day started early, with Chef Sarah sizzling sausages on the BBQ for Captain Dave Beard to serve. The morning field dispersed to all corners of both courses, for the first ever joint shotgun start. While the competition on course was fierce, the friendly Nudgee spirit wasn’t far away as groups came together to enjoy a complimentary nibbles in the Clubhouse.
At the end of the morning field, and before the afternoon golfers headed out, we held our formal opening of the courses.
Nudgee Board member and MC for the event, Lis Whitehouse directed proceedings, which started with a magnificent Welcome to Country and Smoking Ceremony conducted by Jahmarley Dawson. The show was pretty much stolen by Jahmarley’s 3 year old son, Xavier, who wandered carefree through the ceremony.
I had the pleasure of welcoming the Sports Minister, Stirling Hinchliffe, the Club Patron and the former Presidents, and all the members who had gathered for the event. I shared a potted history of the redevelopment with those present, and expressed the commonly held feeling of joy that members now have in the completed project.
Minister Hinchliffe’s speech touched on the themes of community sport, and how the shared partnership with the Department of Transport and Main Roads established a pathway to restore Nudgee Golf Club to 36 holes.
The formalities concluded with ceremonial opening drives on each course. Golf is a game for all ages and abilities, and so we chose the reigning Junior Girls and Junior Boys Champions (brother and sister Savannah and Archie Cunningham), reigning Senior Champion (Diana Wilson) and multiple Veterans Champion ( Glen Daniels) to tee off.
The afternoon field then headed out to compete before returning for their complimentary nibbles, followed by presentations, conducted by Captain David Beard.
A Truly Awesome Day.
I’d like to extend a big “Thank you!” to the organisers for the day, particularly Directors Lis Whitehouse and David Beard. To our General Manager Darren Richards, and the Admin team, Chris Duke and the Pro Shop team, to Chef Sarah and the men and women who fed and watered us, Course Superintendent Peter Culross and his team, for their work through the project, and then to present the greens in magnificent form on Saturday.
Thank you to the members, for coming out in record numbers on Saturday, and for staying the course through the construction. Congratulations to the winners on the day, but we are all winners now. Our Club has grown in quality, and as one of our new touchstone’s states, we are more than just two great courses.
We are Nudgee Golf Club
Paul Rigby – President
