Australian Golf takes the game to parliament house

Claiming no other sport contributes as much to the Australian economy as golf, leading figures from the Australian Golf industry including five time Open winner, Peter Thomson went to Canberra this week to ensure politicians are aware of the impact of the game.
Following in the footsteps of Fred Couples and Greg Norman who lobbied US government on the impact of golf in the US economy last month, chairman of Australian Golf Industry Max Garske and Golf Australia CEO Stephen Pitt, took the game to the top.
They met with a whole range of Australian politicians including sports minister Kate Ellis discussing the environmental impact of golf courses in the Australian climate and innovations required to advance the game further.According to Daniel Lewis’ report in the SMH:

Australia boasts 1530 courses and about a million people play some 30 million rounds every year, but club membership is declining and the biggest group of golfers is aged between 55 and 64.

If correct, Victorian MP Richard Marles then rightly added: “I think we have got more golf courses per head of population than any other country in the world.”

As an outside observer of the Australian Golf industry for some time now, I must say that the last year or so has seen some fantastic initiatives.

The industry does seem to be bringing the game out of the dark ages and pushing it in the right direction (There was talk of nine hole competitions and a review of the current handicap system which is exactly the sort of thing the game needs.).

The upcoming handicap changes, Tiger’s Australian presence and this push into Australian politics bodes well for Australian Golf. What we need now is another major winner, a few professional’s getting on board and for the golf industry to keep up the momentum.

2 thoughts on “Australian Golf takes the game to parliament house

  • Definitely good to see Golf Australia keeping up the momentum for the industry. I think some of the golf clubs around the place need to start becoming a bit more creative in their bid to attract new members.

    The nine hole competitions are a good example. Despite this initiative running for more than a year now, few clubs seem to have taken it on. A bit more focus on junior golf by some of the clubs I think would help lift the game as well.

    Reply
  • Good point about junior golf Malcolm, that is definitely something that needs to be looked at.

    Reply

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