Golf Vic Vol 60 No 1

feature by Brian Meldrum In country towns, golf often struggles to gain the same attention as other sports. But in Heywood, two brothers and two sisters have grown up with the game, emerging with enduring friendships. BRIAN MELDRUMmet the talented quartet. Over in Victoria’s far south-west, the sporting culture that exists in towns that dot the rolling hills between the coast and the Grampians doesn’t stray very far from the norm. For the younger generation in particular, a bit of tennis and cricket in the summer months only serves as a bridge between the winters, which are dominated by football and netball. Sisters Rebecca and Georgia Bryden, and brothers Jayden and Noah McLeod, grew up in Heywood, a small town about 30 kilometres north-west of Portland, home to the Alcoa aluminium smelter. The youngsters, of course, played the team games but the real and enduring sporting passion for all four of them was, and still is, golf. Which in Heywood puts them very much in the minority. In fact, at one stage a few years ago they were Heywood Golf Club’s only junior members. “The odd one or two would come in, and then wander off,” the boys’ mum Debbie said. “But they were the only ones who stuck.” Stuck, not just as golfers but as very firm friends. “We get along too well,’ joked Rebecca. “We’ve grown up together, at school and such, so we’re like a little family.” So much so, in fact, that the McLeods and the Brydens have become very close, travelling as one to golf tournaments far and wide and going on camping trips together. So, what inspired four kids in a football- netball mad town to embrace golf? As is so often the case, it was a family thing. The parents played golf and the children followed suit, albeit from different beginnings. “Jayden and Noah were only little kids when they’d squash onto the golf buggy with their plastic clubs and come around with us when we were playing,” Debbie said. Now the boys are familiar figures in tournaments across the south-west and beyond. They each did work placements with Warrnambool pro Craig Bonney, who has continued to keep an eye on their swings. And after playing alongside them at Heywood recently, it is obvious that both of them are very talented young players. They each are playing off a GA handicap of two and would dearly love to have a crack at playing pennant golf in Melbourne if an opportunity were to come their way. Jayden, 19, won the Heywood club championship in 2017 and was runner-up last year, and both he and Noah, 17, helped the Western District Golf Association win the nett section at last year’s Victorian Boys Country Championships. Brothers Jayden and Noah McLeod with sisters Rebecca and Georgia Bryden have been playing golf together at Heywood since they were small children. THE HEYW 38 Golf Victoria