Campaign to help ruined golf clubs

Rowes Bay Golf Club.

Golf Australia has promised to start a fundraising campaign for golf clubs destroyed by the floods in northern Queensland with the support of the legendary Karrie Webb.

GA & # 39; s chief executive Stephen Pitt said today that a campaign would be launched through the national organization's website with tax deductible donations and government mediation.

"It has taken a huge toll on those communities," Pitt said. "From a wave perspective, it has destroyed a number of golf clubs, we've had 16 that have suffered incredible damage, and there's probably a damage bill in excess of $ 20 million, so it's very important.

"From the point of view of Golf Australia – and I know that Karrie & # 39; s are immediately aware that this is located in Townsville and has done a lot of work with the Townsville Golf Club, among other things – we would like to start a fundraising campaign to help establish and manage clubs. do some lobbying by the government to try to get support for these clubs.

"There are clubs that are under water, there are clubs that have washed away greens, it's pretty gruesome and they're really important facilities within communities, we'd like to bring a batch and band together for those clubs and get them back on their feet. get. "

Webb, who lives in Townsville when she was in Australia, said that the floods had destroyed her personally. "Clearly growing up in the north of Queensland, we have experienced floods before, but never to this degree, at least not in my life," she said. "I'm just destitute for the community in North Queensland, especially the community in Townsville, my family was all very lucky, but I have a lot of friends who were not so lucky and who had different degrees of flooding through their homes, and the cleaning went on and my heart goes out to everyone in Townsville who has to deal with that. "

Ricki Lasky, LPGA's chief tournament business officer, said that everyone on Tour was familiar with the extreme weather in Queensland.

"It really hits home when you see the damage around Townsville and especially when it is an area so close to Karrie's heart," Lasky said.

"The LPGA family has close ties with Australia and we give our sincere sympathies to all those affected."

Meanwhile, the twelve-month jubilee of the launch of the Vision 2025 strategy of Golf Australia to encourage women and girls to play golf, arrived with Webb, saying that it is "urgently needed".

GA will soon begin a national roadshow that projects the program in clubs across the country with its pillars around gender equality

Webb said the game should be less intimidating for new members of both sexes, recalling a time when she was a young amateur who had to raise the hem on her shorts at a club to meet the guidelines on their length. "Those things have to disappear from the window," she said.