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.”

Click the link to see the presentation from Queensland Weekender shown on Channel 7 on Sunday 5/7/2020 at 5:30 PM.

Where to play golf and have a beer on the Sunshine Coast

Dear fellow members

You will be aware that the State Government has progressively relaxed COVID-19  restrictions over the past few weeks to the point where I am pleased to announce that the latest guidelines released have allowed us to re-commence serving alcohol at the golf club.

However, to provide this service we are required to observe a range of protocols which must be closely followed to protect the golf club, you the members and all our visitors.

Details of these requirements have been developed into a Safety Plan. They are not particularly onerous and are outlined below –

• For now our licensed area will be limited to our southern deck which has a maximum capacity of 30 people.  You can be seated or stand but there is a preference that you are, and remain, seated. Furniture has been positioned to establish the required social distancing rules and should not be moved.
• Please do not be offended if you are asked to wait when the maximum number of people on the deck area (30 people) has been reached at any one time.
• Always adhere to physical distancing  (1.5m from others) unless you are members of a shared household. Please respect direction from staff if reminded of this requirement.

• All members, guests and visitors wanting to drink and socialize on our deck must provide the following details:
  • name,
  • address,
  • phone number, and
  • time of entry.
• Service point for alcohol will be at the doorway nearest the kitchen, accessed via the deck.
• Payments to be card only – no cash.
• No stubby coolers allowed.
• The option to purchase a bottle of wine for sharing will not be available. Instead, wine will be sold on an individual basis, served in disposable glasses which can be re-used during your stay.
• Staff will be cleaning tables after each group leaves so it would assist greatly if you can dispose of your empty bottles and cans in the relevant bins on your departure.
• Opening hours for alcohol sales on the deck will be:
  • Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday- 1:30pm- 5:00pm
  • Tuesday, Saturday, Sunday-12:00pm-5:00pm.

These service arrangements have commenced and initially will be reviewed weekly to include the ongoing availability of staff/volunteers to maintain the service.

Note

Sale of takeaway alcohol is available to members and visitors from the golf shop from 10:00 am each day but at this stage it cannot be consumed on the deck.

No BYO alcohol is allowed at the Maleny Golf Club.

Summary

COVID-19 in Queensland is seemingly well under control at the moment but it remains a real risk in the broader community as readily evidenced by events over the past two weeks in Victoria.

Clearly therefore, while our social life at the golf club will virtually be back to normal with the above announcement, there is no space to lose respect for all the safety protocols, past and into the future, that have enabled us to reach this position.

We still have to be vigilant but in closing I want to thank everyone for the contribution and sacrifices you have made over these past 4-5 months and trust that we can all now enjoy this small luxury in life again we have earned.

With kind regards

Jeff Kruse

President

Congratulations to all winners and thank you to everybody for your support – a bit of fast selling before today’s comp saw the total raised to around $21,000.00 so an injection of over $10,000.00 into the club.