Martin Slumbers arrived in Australia last weekend aiming to grow the game and instead found golf under attack.
The chief executive of the R&A, which runs the Open Championship and is golf’s global decision-maker outside the United States and Mexico, has landed in Sydney for a few days ahead of this week’s Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship in Melbourne. This is a tournament for amateurs to compete for the winner’s prize of participation in next year’s Masters and the Open Championship. It was created by the R&A and Augusta National, organizer of the Masters, to develop the game in the Asia-Pacific region.
Slumbers, however, quickly learned that Sydney’s beloved Moore Park Golf Club would be reduced from 18 to nine holes to make way for a city center park. New South Wales Premier Chris Minns announced the decision after previous calls from Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore to cut it in half. From 2026, up to 20 hectares of the public course will be removed to make way for green space for around 80,000 residents living within a 2km radius of the Moore Park area by 2040.
The decision sparked fierce backlash, even from outside New South Wales. Legendary Queensland golfer Karrie Webb and major winner Hannah Green, from Perth, were among those to criticize the decision.
Slumbers did not want to get drawn into a war of words that saw newspapers criticize the siting of golf courses in central Sydney.
“I’m aware (of the matter), I was in Sydney last weekend and I heard about it in the papers,” Slumbers told the Australian Golf Digest at Royal Melbourne. “It would be inappropriate to comment on this particular incident.”
Sleep Abroad an organization whose home base is on the doorstep of the Old Course in St Andrews. The Old Course is a public course located in the middle of a Scottish university town and closes its famous links every Sunday to golfers. Instead, the Old Course encourages the public to walk the course with their family, friends and even their dogs.
The benefits of golf and the willingness of many of its courses to share their grounds with the public are evident to Scots. But not to Australians. Many still think that golf is a pale, masculine and bland sport, reserved for the rich. Private clubs exist but golf has never been so affordable and accessible to the public. Moore Park Golf Club costs between $45 and $65 to play and hosts more than 60,000 rounds of golf per year. It is one of the busiest golf courses in the world. With the inclusion of the Moore Park driving range, the facility welcomes more than 500,000 visitors per year… 82% of whom live within 10 km of the site.
Moore Park GC is just the latest golf course to come under attack from local and state governments. Across town, it was proposed that the Marrickville Public Golf Club be reduced from 18 to nine or 12 holes, but this proposal was canceled after lobbying by Labor ministers at federal and state level. States. In Melbourne’s southeastern suburbs, Monash Council is seeking community input on whether it should retain the nine-hole Oakleigh course or convert it into a public park. Northcote Golf Club has had to fight to remain a full nine-hole course, despite the local council closing the course at 3pm each day for use as a park.
Slumbers said the message about the benefits of golf needs to be delivered louder and more clearly.
“There is a need to create a better dialogue around the values of golf for society,” he said. “We’ve just come out of the Covid-19 pandemic (during which golfing exploded internationally) and if there’s one thing we’ve all learned, it’s that being more Being gentle with our bodies, taking better care of our health, is something we really need to focus on.
“Golf is very good for physical and mental health. It’s good for the economy (via tourism), and it’s good for society. I think we all need to make this point more. I don’t envy policymakers who have to compromise on these types of issues, and this is not the only place in the world where discussions about compromise take place. This happens in the UK and America.
So what line should the game take in Australia? A more aggressive model?
“I think it’s really a Golf Australia issue; (general manager) James Sutherland has been very eloquent on this issue,” Slumbers said. “It’s about trying to get people to understand that golf is part of the solution. It’s good for society, it’s good for individuals. It’s good for the environment. We don’t make our case here (in Australia) enough, but I’m sure Golf Australia will continue to do so.
Whether the message will get through, only time will tell. If so, hopefully before another public course is put in the crosshairs.
