The Ladies European Tour (LET) was singing the praises of the course crew at Coffs Harbour Golf Club after successfully hosting the Australian Women’s Classic (13-16 March) despite some significant weather hurdles. After the Australian WPGA Championship at Sanctuary Cove had to be called off due to Tropical Cyclone Alfred, it was very much a nervous wait for WPGA and LET officials to see what would transpire for the co-sanctioned Classic which was to be held the following week. For Coffs Harbour superintendent Matt Duff, it would end up being one of the most challenging weeks of his career, but ultimately one that was extremely rewarding and which galvanised his crew in a way he hadn’t seen before.

The Classic hasn’t had the best of runs with the weather in its short history and so it would prove again in 2025. Across the six previous tournaments, which up until last year had been contested at Bonville Golf Resort, the weather had some form of impact, either in the lead-up to and/or during the event itself. The 2024 tournament was the worst affected, with tournament officials calling a halt to the event with just one round completed due to 250mm of rain smashing the course across the week. Moving up the road to Coffs Harbour Golf Club for the first time this year, that weather would also follow.

Duff has been course superintendent at Coffs Harbour since September 2023 after moving there from nearby Sawtell Golf Club where he was superintendent for seven years. Prior to that he worked at Bonville where he was the assistant for the number of years. Knowing the local climate intimately and its propensity for extreme weather events at this time of year, Duff was more than aware of the likelihood for something significant. But not even he could've imagined what would befall the 27-hole facility this time around. 

Duff’s eyes, and that of his crew and tournament officials, were glued to the weather forecast and rain radar in the week leading up to the Classic as Alfred slowly tracked down Australia’s east coast before making landfall late on Saturday 9 March. In Coffs Harbour’s case the rain started arriving on Tuesday 4 March and wouldn’t stop for the next week. After the course recorded 30mm that Tuesday, the next eight days saw totals of 41mm, 59mm, 163mm, 64mm, 16mm, 30mm, 10mm and 15mm up to and including Wednesday 12 March. All up the course received 428mm in a nine-day stretch.

Not surprisingly, on the Monday of tournament week when the practice rounds were due to begin, the WPGA and LET made the announcement that they were reducing the tournament to 54 holes. The aim was to push the start out to Friday to allow time for the course to dry with more favourable weather forecast. That would allow for two practice days on Wednesday (Pro-Am day) and Thursday before round one teed off on Friday. However, with the course already saturated and with falls of 10mm on the Tuesday and a 15mm dump in one hour on the Wednesday, the Pro-Am and practice had to be cancelled.

“It was an absolute rollercoaster of a week,” reflects Duff. “We’d had four rounds of the men’s club championships leading up to the Classic and the course was in pristine condition. Then to have it rain like it did for pretty much a week was so hard to take. The frustrating thing for us was the rain would fall in the evenings after the course had dried out during the day which made a lot of areas unplayable again. Despite that, we worked closely with Tour officials and tried to keep positive, knowing that we only needed one good drying day and we would be set to go for Friday’s opening round.” 

One of the biggest areas of concern for WPGA and LET officials were the fairways on the 6th and 7th holes which were holding a considerable amount of moisture on the surface and in lower areas of the landing zones. If these weren’t up to scratch, the discussion was had around playing both holes as par threes instead of a par five and par four.

To combat this, Duff and his team employed every conceivable tool possible – squeegees, paddle pumps, turbine blowers, dummy rakes – in order to push water off those fairways (see photo below). Knowing that weather conditions were only going to improve from the Thursday, Duff and his team worked tirelessly to achieve the desired outcome. The big moment came at 5.45am ahead of Friday’s opening round when Duff and his crew received the news that tournament officials had deemed those two holes fully playable.

“It was such a huge morale booster and the whole team was on a high after we got that news,” states Duff. “It gave us such a lift and we knew we were on a winner and heading in the right direction of presenting a quality course for the women to enjoy. We managed to get a cut on all surfaces over the three days of tournament play, which at the start of the week was looking grim and unachievable. We lifted the heights of the fairways, tees and surrounds by 1mm (to 11mm) and ended up just single-cutting (2.9mm) and rolling greens instead of a double-cut as had been planned.

“Considering the conditions earlier in the week, I thought the course presentation was fantastic. It was a real testament to the hard work and dedication shown by our entire greens team and band of member volunteers who have been on board for the past seven months when we started this journey towards the tournament. The success of the entire event was an astounding accomplishment by the whole club, across every department including all staff and member volunteers.” 

The weather for the three rounds of the tournament could not have been more contrasting with full sun and 30 degree temperatures, combined with northerly winds to not only test the players but also dry out the course further. In the end it was Belgian veteran Manon De Roey who would end up holding her nerve on the Sunday to claim her second WPGA Tour of Australasia title, birdieing the 54th hole to claim the title by a stroke from England’s Cara Gainer.

In aftermath, the club along with the WPGA and LET, were quick to praise the efforts of Duff, his team and member volunteers across what was a hugely challenging week. “Shoutout to the staff at Coffs Harbour Golf Club for doing an incredible job to get the course ready for play tomorrow,” wrote the LET across its social media channels ahead of round one, while the club itself posted the following on its Facebook page:

“A huge shout out to our amazing Greens team and Greens volunteers including members and past staff, who put in an incredible effort in the lead up to the Australian Women’s Classic. Not only have they spent months prepping the course, they also had the added challenge of a cyclone and flooding rain. The turnaround from days of rain and a very wet course to the amazing condition of the course presented for the three rounds is an absolute testament to the hard work and dedication from the boys. We are sure you’ll agree, they deserve a huge round of applause.”

Photos: Matt Duff; Tristan Jones - LET; David Tease - Golf NSW