The Victorian Golf Industry came together on Wednesday evening for the 2016 Victorian Golf Industry Awards Dinner to honour and celebrate those champions and contributors from the past year, and honour eight new members into the prestigious Victorian Golf Hall of Fame.
Held in the magnificent clubhouse at Huntingdale Golf Club, 250 guests were in attendance and were entertained by golf tragic comedian Andy Lee entertained the room with stories of his golfing prowess and other escapades he gets up to with his non golfing mate Hamish, and heard from PGA CEO Brian Thorburn on several ongoing industry collaboration projects.
A highlight of the evening was the induction of the following eight new members into the Victorian Golf Hall of Fame.
· M.A. (Mick) Morcom) (1976-1937)
· Alex Russell (1892-1961)
· William (Billy) Meader (1869-1940)
· Don Lawrence (1925-1994)
· Sloan Morpeth (1897-1973)
· Tony Charlton AM (1929-2012)
· Sandra McCaw (nee Williams)
· Eric Routley
With six of the inductees being honoured posthumously, inductees Sandra McCaw (nee Williams) and Eric Routley were in attendance and regaled the audience with stories from their golfing pasts. Sandra relived her four wins in the Ladies Australian Amateur Championship and how Burta Cheney requested that she was not to win a fifth title; and Eric Routley passed on stories from his 45 years of pennant matches representing the Commonwealth Golf Club.
Current Hall of Fame members Brian Twite OAM and John Davis welcomed the new inductees and their representatives into the Hall of Fame and the inductees, their families and supporters got to celebrate this special occasion.
At the other end of their careers, the PGA welcomed several new Trainee members as they graduated into full PGA Membership after successful completion of their PGA Traineeship and each received their certificate and celebrated with their families and friends.
The 2015 Victorian PGA Trainee of the Year was Hayden Webb from the Settlers Run Golf Club.
Also on the night Golf Victoria Chief Operating Officer David Greenhill was honoured for his 25 years of service, and David was on hand to accept this special award on the night. Speaking emotionally he outlined his passion which continues for the game of golf, and also his passion for the Richmond Football Club which waivered more often!
MC for the evening Michael Roberts announced the importance of the next awards and acknowledged all of those volunteers make the industry tick across the state, and was pleased to be able to announce the 2015 Volunteer of the Year honours. Chris Collingwoodfrom Keysborough GC won the Melbourne Metropolitan Area Individual Male award, and Len Prior from the Bendigo Golf Club won the Country Victoria/Victorian Golf League Individual Male category. Helen Brown from Latrobe Golf Club was honoured in the Melbourne Metropolitan Area Individual Female category, and Nancy Parry from Foster GC was voted as the Country Victoria/Victorian Golf League Individual Female Volunteer of the Year. The final award went to the Lonsdale Golf Club Development Task Force whose efforts in driving the future sustainability of the club were championed as the Volunteer Group of the Year.
PGA Pro-Ams the Flinders Partners Group National Pro-Am took out Metro Pro-Am of the Year honours, theBig Garage Subaru Bairnsdale Pro-Am was rated the best Regional Pro-Am of the year, the Peter Stickley Vendor Advocacy Eagle Ridge Legends Pro-Am was voted the best of the Victorian EZ-GO Legends Pro-Ams, and the Harvey Norman Neangar Park Trainee Pro-Am took out top honours in the Trainee Pro-Am category.
Victoria’s leading amateur players were recognised, with Jo Charlton of the Metropolitan Golf Club announced as Victorian Female Amateur for 2015. Having had her grandfather inducted into the Hall of Fame earlier in the night made it a real family affair for the Charlton family.
Victoria Golf Club’s Ryan Ruffels’ accomplishments including winning the Australian Junior Championship, and finishing as the best placed amateur at both the Emirates Australian Open and Oates Vic Open saw Ryan announced as the leading amateur male for 2015.
Bruce Green PGA Club Professional of the Year was Scott Barradell from the Eastern Golf Club and PGA Teaching Professional of the Year was Matt Cleverdon from the Kingston Heath Golf Club. Both of these winners will now go on to represent Victoria in the National Club and Teaching Professional awards, to be decided and presented at the Greg Norman Medal Dinner at the RACV Royal Pines Resort prior to the Australian PGA Championship.
The full list of Victorian Golf Industry Award winners on the night included:
· Hall of Fame; M.A. (Mick) Morcom, Alex Russell, William (Billy) Meader, Don Lawrence, Sloan Morpeth, Tony Charlton AM, Sandra McCaw (nee Williams), Eric Routley
· Special Recognition of Service Award – David Greenhill
· Volunteer of the Year: Melbourne Metropolitan Area – Individual Female – Helen Brown
· Volunteer of the Year: Melbourne Metropolitan Area – Individual Male – Chris Collingwood
· Volunteer of the Year: Country Victoria/Victorian Golf League – Individual Female – Nancy Parry
· Volunteer of the Year: Country Victoria/Victorian Golf League – Individual Male – Len Prior
· Volunteer Group – Lonsdale Golf Club Development Taskforce
· 2015 PGA Trainee Pro-Am of the Year – Hayden Webb
· 2015 PGA Trainee Pro-Am of the Year – Harvey Norman Neangar Park Golf Club Trainee Pro-Am
· Graduating PGA Trainees; Bryce Bell, Ashley Blake, Michael Cooney, Dean Dixon, Andrew Jacobsen, Deyen Lawson, Tybin Lawson, Reanna Matthews, Mitchell Ohlmus, Shane Tempest, Brad Wilson (NSW).
· Choice Hotels PGA Pro-Am Series: 2015 Victorian Metropolitan Pro-Am of the Year – Flinders Partners Group National Pro-Am
· Choice Hotels PGA Pro-Am Series: 2015 Victorian Regional Pro-Am of the Year – The Big Garage Subaru Bairnsdale Golf Club Pro-Am
· Choice Hotels PGA Pro-Am Series: 2014/2015 Victorian Pro-Am Order of Merit Winner – Luke Hickman
· EZ-Go PGA Legends Pro-Am of the Year Winner – Peter Stickley Vendor Advocacy Eagle Ridge Legends Pro-Am
· Victorian Female Leading Amateur – Jo Charlton
· Victorian Male Leading Amateur – Ryan Ruffels
· Bruce Green Victorian Club Professional of the Year – Scott Barradell
· Victorian Teaching Professional of the Year – Matt Cleverdon