Maleny Golf Club has just acquired an electric greens mower which will abate morning machinery noise for the benefit of the neighbourhood and reduce the club’s carbon footprint.

Course Superintendent Mick McCombe said the new environmentally-friendly Toro mower did not carry hydraulic fluids and used all-electric components for traction, steering, deck lifting and cutting.

“This eliminates the risk of hydraulic fluid being spilt on our environmentally sensitive golf course and will help reduce our carbon footprint as well,” Mick explained.

“It is noticeably much quieter to operate, so we can mow the greens in the morning without the neighbours hearing us, and the small on-board petrol generator, which charges the batteries, is less costly to operate.”

Advanced cutting technology also regulates the speed of the cutting units in relation to ground speed, giving an even clip rate across all putting surfaces.

“This will substantially improve both the aesthetics and playability of our greens, making the mower a very welcome addition to our maintenance fleet as it will enhance our ability to produce quality putting surfaces year round,” Mick said.

The maintenance fleet now includes an array of sophisticated, special-purpose machinery. However, when Mick joined the club in early 2014 as construction of the first nine holes got underway, he had just two old lawn spreaders to work with!

The Management Committee is pleased to announce the appointment of experienced sports administrator Mr Stephen Porter as General Manager to drive forward Maleny Golf Club’s continued growth and development.

President Jeff Kruse said Mr Porter was highly credentialed and brought a wealth of management and business development experience to the club, including four years as Secretary Manager of Peregian Springs Golf Club.

“This is a significant appointment and comes at a pivotal time when the golf club stands ready to take advantage of all that has been achieved and be taken to the next level of development,” he said.

“We are really looking forward to getting Stephen on board and I know all members will join with the Management Committee in making him feel welcome and offer him every support in his new position.”

Mr Porter, who is scheduled to start on May 3, said he was excited by the opportunity and would be focusing on ways to leverage Maleny Golf Club to both feed off and enhance the Sunshine Coast Hinterland’s visitor offering.
“Maleny’s golf course is in an absolute gem of a location and in great shape,” he said.

“I’m looking forward to getting to know the members, familiarising myself with the lie of the land in terms of the traditions and culture and helping the club realise its amazing potential as a highly valued golfing destination, membership experience and social hub.”

Not to be confused with his local namesake, who has a crossing on the course named after him, Mr Porter, 59, is right handed and plays off a handicap of 19.

He comes from a sporting family which includes niece Cassie Porter – the number 1 ranked female amateur golfer in Australia and currently number 40 in the world.

Stephen is married to Wendy, a sports administrator at a Sunshine Coast independent school and father to Nicholas – an Australian Water Polo representative (currently on a college athletics scholarship in the USA).

Stephen began his sports career as a Club Tennis Professional in Austria before moving into sports business sales and marketing in Sydney. Whilst studying for his MBA Stephen relocated to Singapore to head up Asian operations as regional manager with Balsam Pacific Sports Surfaces.

Stephen was recruited by Australia Sport International Ltd in the late 1990s as its inaugural Chief Executive – heading up the Australian government’s key sports industry development initiative and promoting Australia’s sports business capabilities to the world – leveraging the Sydney 2000 Games.

He moved to the Sunshine Coast in 2003, working briefly with Caloundra City Council and the Chamber of Commerce & Industry QLD (CCIQ) before lengthy tenures with Peregian Springs Golf Club and HART Sport.

Maleny Golf Club’s growing membership is about to celebrate the first anniversary since all 18 holes were opened for play last year with the extension of the Par 4 Ninth into a Par 5 and construction of a spacious new practice green as added bonuses.

All members are invited to attend a free BBQ on the deck to celebrate following the competition at 12:30pm on Tuesday 13 April, which also marks the recommencement of monthly Tuesday Shotgun starts.

Anyone interested in viewing a pictorial record tracking development of the club’s magnificent new infinity practice green can do so by clicking on THIS LINK.

The club has also maintained its innovative posture by ditching Red, White and Blue as tee colours to eliminate traditional gender-centric sterotypes.

Club professional Wayne Perske said Farm (Green), Obi (Stone) and Mountain (Black)  had replaced old Ladies, Men’s and Championship tees – the aim being to enhance flexibility and further encourage enjoyment of the course by all players, regardless of their gender or ability.

“Our course ratings reflect the difficulty for both men and women and in future golfers will be able to play competition golf in mixed competitions from the tee block of their choice,” Wayne explained.

Some men, he said, preferred not to play from the red markers because they had been designated as ladies’ tees for so long.

“We are changing it up so there’s no stigma attached to a certain colour. By playing from a more appropriate tee-box, more golfers will potentially be hitting approach shots with short or mid-irons instead of hybrids and long irons,” he said.

“This could result in a more enjoyable round, with better scores and maybe even fewer lost balls.”