By Peter Owen
BEERWAH Golf Club, nestled at the foot of the Glasshouse Mountains, north of Brisbane, has always been renowned for the quality of its greens, many claiming they are the best on the Sunshine Coast.
And officials of the popular hinterland club are determined to make them even better.
Work has been taking place most of the year on renovating and replanting the 14th green, with the putting surface likely to be ready for play early next month.
The club has its own nursery and staff have been able to grow the same Tifdwarf grass that had previously been used on Beerwah greens.
The renovation, under the direction of course superintendent Stephen Milgate and course architect Brian Bird, has included new irrigation and returfing the hole from almost 150 metres out from the green.
While work has been taking place on the 14th, golfers have played a temporary par-3 hole on the neighbouring driving range.
Immediately after work is finished on the 14th, greenkeeping staff will turn their attention to the par-4 fourth hole, where the green will be replanted and the hole renovated. A temporary green will be used while work continues.
Club manager Tracy Odgers said the goal was to progressively renovate each green, with one or two scheduled for each year.
“It’s not before time,” she said. “The course is 50 years old and we’re still playing on the original greens.”
Like most courses in southeast Queensland, Beerwah suffered from the heavy rainfall of early 2022. Most of the bunkers needed to be rebuilt and washed-out cart paths repaired.
The club recently also rebuilt its carpark.
The original carpark – made up of dirt, gravel and patches of bitumen, separated into rows by lines of fallen logs – has been replaced by a neat, bitumen-sealed surface, complete with kerbing and garden beds, the project partly funded by the Federal Government’s Building Better Regions program.
“We secured a $98,000 grant,” Ms Odgers said. “That didn’t cover the cost of the work, but our committee felt we needed to do the job properly.”
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