Golf Vic Vol 60 No 2 2019

suggestions of matters where members would like to see improvement. Just as positively, a recent campaign to draw women and girls to the club resulted in an increase from just 19 to 39, more than double and a healthier proportion of the overall membership. That overall membership, incidentally, has increased by around 19% over the last 12 months, well above the industry average. And many fears have been allayed along the way. “We’ve had quite a few women win the neutral comp, so there’s really no issues along the lines that it’s always men who win. And women who have been used to going and playing on Wednesdays are still playing on that day. I think that’s fantastic. We’ve reassured them that there’s nothing that should stop them from still doing that, but should they want to play Mondays or other days, they now can,” said Bosma. Then there’s what’s happening beyond golf. Between 1964 and 1996, before the club took over the land in 2007, the Mt Derrimut site was an agricultural field station for the University of Melbourne, meaning there is a lot of land available for other uses. “We’ve got a long list of potential things we will look at incorporating as value-add services. We’re having meetings with various sporting associations to see what’s going to work well with, and for, the community,” said Bosma. “Our master plan includes many ‘zones’ for families and women to attend the club in a safe and inviting environment,” said Ebeyer. “Things like BBQ zones, kids' play areas, gym, yoga, wellbeing and so on.” Further to that, the board has instituted a corporate health program for local businesses, promoting nine holes after work as part of a health and wellbeing package. “Bulla Dairy completed our trial over the past year and it went brilliantly,“ said Ebeyer. “So, this year we are rolling it out to the rest of the corporate world.” A volunteer program encouraging men and women to do things to help the club and assist their own health and wellbeing at the same time has seen volunteer numbers grow from five to 68. A free health check machine has also been introduced. And the club is working with former AFL footballer Danny Frawley on the Towards 100 program which will see professionals speak to members free of charge on matters such as exercise, nutrition, finance and other matters of life and wellbeing. Underpinning this activity is a recognition that golf clubs, while focussed on their members as part of a community, must also be run on a highly professional basis. “Golf clubs are all sitting on large assets, multi-million dollar assets, some of which they own, so there’s a lot of responsibility. They are registered as companies and they need to operate efficiently,” said Bosma. Bosma, like Anthony Gurry at Amstel Club, is an independent director, a pattern which will likely become more commonplace in golf clubs as it reduces some of the political instability and potential for bias that surrounds many golf club boards made up solely from the member base. As to the future, Mt Derrimut is not resting on its laurels. There’s still much the club wants to do. Aside from the extensive master plan and extending the events calendar, Ebeyer hopes to bring more high-profile women to promote the club, to run events to attract young girls and their mothers, and to work towards a better and more inclusive culture. “There’s a lot of engagement, it’s very much focussing on marketing, introducing more of the value-add ancillary services, promoting Towards 100 , leveraging Vision 2025 ; we’ve defined a lot of things now and we really need to work through those programs and get things happening, be a busy club and see where we come out at the other end,” said Bosma. “This is a great location with a great outlook and great potential. We’re not there yet but boy, oh boy, the members are very lucky. This club is great!” Liedeke Bosma with Mt Derrimut director Ali Dogan. 26 Golf Victoria