YOU'VE MET THE TEAM, NOW MEET THE VOLUNTEERS

Last week we introduced the full-time crew at The Australian Golf Club for the upcoming ISPS Handa Australian Open – this week it's the volunteers’ turn! We are delighted to have a diverse group of 25 volunteers joining us, taking the total tournament crew to nearly 50 for the week. As with the full-time crew, we have asked the volunteers the same questions, with one slight change. The last question has changed from ‘Favourite hole/place at The Australian Golf Club’, to ‘Favourite golf course anywhere in the world’. Enjoy the introduction to our volunteers and we look forward to welcoming them ahead of the tournament.

Marlon Johnston, assistant superintendent, The Australian GC

DANNY NYE Hometown: Nabiac, NSW. Ideal 4 ball or dinner guests: Adam Sandler, Cameron Hanes. Favourite motivational quote: “When I go home people will ask me, "Hey Hoot, why do you do it man? What, you some kinda war junkie?" You know what I'll say? I won't say a goddamn word. Why? They won't understand. They won't understand why we do it. They won't understand that it's about the men next to you, and that's it. That's all it is.” Favourite golf course and why: Jacks Point, NZ, the views are extraordinary.	KEENAN HOBBS Hometown: Berry, NSW. Ideal 4 ball or dinner guests: Tiger Woods, Bill Murray, Michael Jordan, Wayne Bennett. Favourite quote: “You have two ears and one mouth, now that ought to tell you something.” (Jack Gibson to me) Favourite golf course and why: NSW GC – natural beauty meets first class turf management. Challenging holes but enjoyable for the average golfer also. It’s a world class golf course in our own backyard.	CONOR MORROW Hometown: Larne, Co. Antrim, NI Ideal 4 ball or dinner guests: Brian O’Driscoll (Irish rugby legend) Joey Dunlop (Irish legendary motorcycle racer), Adrian Dunbar (Irish actor) or James Nesbitt (Irish actor). Favourite motivational quote: “Good things come to those who wait”. My mother used to drum that into me, along with a lot of other sayings. Favourite golf course and why: Carindhu Golf Club. My local and junior club back home in Northern Ireland! Views to die for and beautiful parklands to take in. Plus, the Guinness is outstanding!
CAMERON WENHAM Hometown: Bankstown. Ideal 4 ball or dinner guests: Adam Scott, Phil Mickelson, Tiger Woods. Favourite quote: “Push yourself, because no one is going to do it for you.” Favourite golf course and why: Wolf Creek GC, incredible views off the tees and looks amazing.	PAUL WATTS Hometown: Sydney, Australia. Ideal 4 ball or dinner guests: Dr Alistair MacKenzie, Tiger Woods & Michael Clayton at Royal Melbourne or Cypress Point. Favourite motivational quote: “Loyalty cost nothing.” Favourite golf course and why: Cypress Point, has it all - the ocean, sand dunes and the inland Del Monte Forrest holes. Great place to play too.	HELEN OLIVER  Hometown: Mandurah, WA. Ideal 4 ball or dinner guests: Minjee and Min Woo Lee, Cam Smith, Marc Leishman. Favourite motivational quote: “Dreams don’t work unless you do!” Favourite golf course: My home club away from work…Harvey GC, a hidden gem in southwest WA – one super, one staff member, the rest volunteers, what they present with a very small budget is a credit to them and a joy to play.
KIM KENNEDY Hometown: Mount Evelyn. Ideal 4 ball or dinner guests: Marnus Labuschagne, Glenn Maxwell, Alana King. Favourite motivational quote: “The standard you walk by is the standard you accept." Favourite golf course and why: Barwon Heads - super fun and always in good condition, shot my lowest score there.	CRAIG EASTON Hometown: Earlwood, NSW. Ideal 4 ball or dinner guests: Ben Shapiro, Sir Peter John Cosgrove and Barrack Obama. Favourite motivational quote: “Just a moment in your life!" Favourite golf course and why: Muirfield Village GC, Ohio. Every hole is unique. It's like looking through an old-fashioned viewfinder it's that surreal.	JAMIE LOUGHLIN Hometown: Frenchs Forest, NSW. Ideal 4 ball or dinner guests: Bob Does Sports crew - Bobby Fairways, Joey D and Fat Perez. Favourite motivational quote: "Slow is smooth, smooth is fast.” Favourite golf course and why: Wannamoisett Country Club, Rhode Island. One of Donald Ross' best courses on a pretty small piece of property.
NICHOLAS BALL Hometown: Birmingham, England. Ideal 4 ball or dinner guests: Tiger Woods, Seve Ballesteros, Paul Walker. Favourite motivational quote: “I live my life a quarter mile at a time." Favourite golf course and why: Augusta, the setup of Amen Corner.	NJABULO FORTUNE Hometown: Pietermaritzburg, Sth Africa. Favourite motivational quote: “As you walk down the fairway of life, don’t forget to smell the roses.” Favourite golf course and why: NSW Golf Club, breathtaking location and I’ve worked here for the past eight years.	NELSON CARON Hometown: Raleigh, NC, USA. Favourite motivational quote: “It’s not hard to be the best, you just have to work harder that every one else!” Favourite golf course and why: The Honors Course, TN.
CALE BIGELOW Hometown: West Lafayette, Indiana, US. Ideal 4 ball or dinner guests: Steph Curry, Bill Clinton, Curtis Strange Favourite motivational quote: “Whatever you do in life, surround yourself with smart people who’ll argue with you.” - John Wooden. Favourite golf course and why: Brora Golf Club - golf with grazing critters	SUSANA OLIVEIRA  Hometown: Porto, Portugal Ideal 4 ball or dinner guests: Larry King, Michelle Obama, David Attenborough. Favourite motivational quote: “Find people who will make you better.” Favourite golf course and why: Royal Melbourne Golf Club – rich history – and Harbour Town Golf Links – many fond memories.	ANDREW MCDANIEL Hometown: Athens, Alabama (currently live in Fukuoka, Japan). Ideal 4 ball or dinner guests: Dad, and two good friends I haven’t seen in a while. Favourite quote: “Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection, we can catch excellence.” Favourite golf course and why: Kawana Hotel Golf Course (Fuji Course), Japan – classic golf by the ocean.
DAN GODEK Hometown: West Auckland. Ideal 4 ball or dinner guests: Tiger Woods, Micheal Jordan, Roy Keane and myself. Favourite motivational quote: “It is what it is.” Favourite golf course and why: Kinloch (Tara Iti, off the tips) gotta see the whole course!	SAM ROSE Hometown: Berrima, NSW. Ideal 4 ball or dinner guests: Jack Grealish, Roy Keane, Steve Carell, Morgan Wallen Favourite quote: "It always seems impossible until it is done." Mandela Favourite golf course and why: Augusta National – the attention to detail.
HIPPOLYTE DHOUAILLY Hometown: Paris, France. Ideal 4 ball or dinner guests: Kylian Mbappé, Leonardo DiCaprio, Timothée Chalamet, Elon Musk Favourite motivational quote: “You never know until you try” / "Your 'I can' is more important than your 'IQ'". Favourite golf course and why: New South Wales Golf Club – the breathtaking view from the top of the hill on the 5th.	ZAC NAISMITH Hometown: Goondiwindi, Qld. Ideal 4 ball or dinner guests: John Daly, Tiger Woods, Bill Murray, Shooter McGavin. Favourite motivational quote: “Whatever you do, always give 100%. Unless you’re donating blood." Favourite golf course and why: Goondiwindi Golf Course because I’m biased, and I also don’t get out much.	CAMERON SMITH Hometown: Lilydale, Victoria. Ideal 4 ball or dinner guests: Alister MacKenzie, Old Tom Morris, Mick Morcom. Favourite motivational quote: “Every being has an Everest to conquer.” Favourite golf course and why: Lahinch GC. Every part of the course is exactly where it should be on the land it was built.
AKONI GANIR Hometown: Rocklin, California. Ideal 4 ball or dinner guests: Tony Finau, Moe Norman, Rory Mcllroy. Favourite quote: “Everything you want is on the other side of hard.” Favourite golf course and why: Cypress Point Club, it just might be the best walk on the planet!	PAUL GRANGER Hometown: Lebanon, New Jersey, USA Ideal 4 ball or dinner guests: Marsh Benson, Alister MacKenzie, C.B McDonald. Favourite motivational quote: “Never underestimate the heart of a champion!” Favourite golf course and why: National Golf Links of America.	HUNTER OCKENDEN Hometown: Shellharbour, NSW. Ideal 4 ball or dinner guests: Adam Sandler, Harrison Ford, Tom Holland, Tom Hanks. Favourite motivational quote: “It always seems impossible until it’s done.” Favourite golf course and why: Concord GC, the 14th hole off the back tee.
MARK HOOKER Hometown: Auckland, New Zealand Ideal 4 ball or dinner guests: Donald Trump, Will Ferrell and my brother-in-law Sam.    Favourite motivational quote: “How we do anything is how we do everything.” Favourite golf course and why: Sunningdale Old course. Had the opportunity to play the course in 2022 and thought it was stunning.	HAYDEN WESTWOOD  Hometown: Melbourne. Ideal 4 ball or dinner guests: Carlos Sainz, Michael Jordan, Mark Wahlberg, Marc Leishman Favourite motivational quote: “Pivot, persist and deal. Get relative.” Matthew McConaughey Favourite golf course and why: Royal Melbourne West. Simply put it is an architectural masterpiece. The size of the bunkers to the greens brings everything into proportion. The placement of hazards and the undulating fairways create something very risk reward to play. Some of the best greens in the world and I was lucky enough to spend eight years of my early career maintaining them.

 

FINE-TUNE BEGINS AS LAKES CREW WELCOMES NEWEST RECRUIT

This week has seen The Lakes crew start to really fine-tune preparations for the upcoming Open. Mowers that were freshly sharpened after our recent renovations have gone out, with the course coming along nicely as we count down the days for the Open to arrive. Stripes have been burnt into the tees with walk-behinds (pictured top left is the ladies tee on the 11th), while all greens are now being cut with pedestrian mowers as well. With two hectares of greens, normally at this time of the year we cut them with triplexes to save on manpower, but for the Open we will be making an exception.

As the club's name alludes to, we have a lot of waterways throughout the The Lakes property, primarily on the back nine holes and down the left hand side of the 1st hole. Lake edges have been snipped down and an application of Primo was put out the next day. An application of insecticide and wetting agent was applied to pretty much everywhere where there is a sprinkler on the course so it could be watered in, except for greens. They received their own brew of insecticide, nematicide, fungicide and wetting agent (pictured top middle left is the 18th green being sprayed). Also over the past three months our clubhouse has received a facelift (pictured top right) and all construction was finished this week which could not have been timed more perfectly.

Finally, we welcomed a new team member recently – Baily the border collie (pictured right)! He has come in to replace our current course dog Ruby, who after 10 years of loyal service to the club will slowly transition into retirement. Baily’s only five-months-old and rules the roost already!

Michael Ervin, assistant superintendent, The Lakes GC