The winner of Golf Australia’s 2023 Visionary of the Year competition has been announced as Red Cliffs Golf Club.
The club, situated on the boarder of Victoria and New South Wales, was honoured with the award after their tireless efforts in engaging with new community members from the Cook Islands.
While it already had a few members from the Cook Islander community, its facilities were not adequate to support the needs of the community as a whole.
In response to this need, Red Cliffs Golf Club developed a playground and barbeque facilities to better serve their community.
It also developed a clinic specifically for Cook Islander women, through their Get Into Golf program.
The aim of the Visionary of the Year award, now into its fourth year, is to recognise “outstanding initiatives within the golf community that show leadership towards gender equality while inspiring, educating and empowering others to follow.”
The two other finalists were Queensland’s Windaroo Lakes Golf Club and Victoria’s Woodlands Golf Club.
Karrie Webb officially announced the award to Deanne Davis, a committee member for Red Cliffs Golf Club.
The club’s Get Into Golf program will receive $10,000 worth of products from Callaway Reva, an invaluable prize for women and girls beginning their golfing journey.
“It’s just wonderful,” said Davis. “Our clubs that we give to beginners are basically hand-me-downs from members. Hopefully a lot of other clubs take our lead.”
Ms Webb lauded the initiative in creating a community hub, saying “I think you’re going to be a great example for a lot of rural golf clubs in trying to engage with their community and trying to get a different demographic out to their golf club”.