Womens Golf

Club Taree Women’s Golf are a group of women passionate about playing, growing and promoting golf at Club Taree.

We currently have about 60 golfing ladies with a regular competition field of about 50 players a week.

We believe our course is one of the most beautiful in the Mid North Coast of NSW. Our full membership fees are very reasonable. Please make inquiries at Reception if there are any special deals going at the time of joining.

We have a well equipped Pro Shop and run beginner clinics a couple of times each year. We have a great fleet of golf carts for hire.

We are a very friendly Club and will certainly make any new members or visitor extremely welcome.

We use M Power, an electronic tee booking system. The Pro Shop can help you with all your booking and golfing needs.

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Our Committee

The Associates

Women golfers at the outset were called associates. It was on 17 March 1926 that the so-called associates formed their own committee and controlled their own affairs and this is so today. Their initial meetings were held at the Butterfly Cafe situated next door to the Boomerang Theatre on the corner of Albert and Manning Streets. The cafe was owned by Eckert and Gladys Edwards who was a golfer as was her sister Olive Robinson.

In 1927 there were 15 associates and in 1928 the number rose to 51 while the men’s membership was 40. The women gave great support in building the course and recreational facilities from the beginning and have continued to do the same through the years. The first Associates Club Championship was contested in 1928 and the winner was Mrs K Hannay. In 1938 a cup was donated by S G Robinson. The first winner was Mrs A G Byrnes with 135 gross for the 27 holes. It was known as the Boomerang Cup and was played on Open Day. It is now only played over 18 holes.

An Inter-Club event was introduced in 1955. This was, and still is, known as the ‘Assef Bowl’ being donated by the Assef family, and involves competition between Taree, Wingham and Tuncurry-Forster Clubs.

A number of women were not only involved in managing the home club, but also in supporting the Central North Coast District Golf Association Women’s Golf.

Mrs E P (Essie) Chadwick was the President of the CNCGA committee which organised an annual competition for clubs in the area during 1930 and 1931. She was honoured with Life Membership of the CNCDGA in 1950. Mrs Chadwick also held the position of Taree Associates President from 1940 to 1952 and was made a Life Member of the Club. At the 1956 CNCDGA AGM it was decided to purchase a silver tray to be known as the Chadwick Trophy in honour of her work. Another stalwart was Mrs Beryl Avery. She was not only a great golfer but also an astute administrator. She was a member of the NSWLGU Council as well as being a North and North West Representative and a Life Member of the CNC. Miss Devella Reid was the CNC Secretary from 1964 to 1970. Mrs Kay Woolcock was Vice President of the CNC as well as Chair of the Match Committee and Treasurer. Mrs Barbara Boyd was Treasurer from 1994 to 2005.

Status of Women Golfers

Over the years the status of women golfers has changed. In the late 1980 and 1990s some significant moves had been made elsewhere to have women join as “full members” though this did not take hold at Taree until 1998 when the associates category was abolished and women golfers were made full members of the Club with full voting rights becoming known as Taree Women Golfers. On 26 November 2003 Taree RSL and Golf Clubs amalgamated and in October 2004 women golfers voted to change their name and at the AGM in November 2004 it was decided that the name should be changed to Taree RSL and Golf Club – Women. In 2006 the Club’s trading name became Club Taree, it was considered necessary to change the name again to Club Taree – Woman’s’ Golf.

The Players

The leading women golfers in the first 50 years were Mrs Beryl Avery, Mrs Olga Moore and Miss Devella Reid. Mrs Avery, with eleven Club championships to her credit, beginning in 1966 through to 1984 created a record unlikely to be broken. She was the associates only single figure marker for many years and represented the CNC team at the Northern Cup consistently and won the Open CNC Championships in 1969 and 1975. Mrs Avery was President of the Taree Associates for 12 years and was awarded Life Membership.

Mrs Olga Moore won ten championships from 1950 to 1970. In 1961 Olga reduced her handicap to 9 making her eligible to participate in State titles and in 1961 set a new associates’ record of 77. When eligible, Olga attended almost all the local, regional and state competitions available at the time.

Miss Devella Reid won seven championships from 1951 to 1965. She also won the CNCDGA Open Championship at Wauchope in 1957 and the Open Northern LGU Championship as well as, in the team’s event, the Essie Chadwick Salver and the A A Maloney Cup. Miss J Breckenridge won three championships (1932-1937).

In the last 50 years Mrs Kay Woolcock with eight wins from 1982 to 2000 is the leading winner. Kay and Rosemary Brinkman were joint winners of the Country Foursomes Championship.

The championships were fairly evenly contested overall. Miss Sally Geary has won four titles from 1995 to 2004, followed with three wins by Miss Vicky Laws (1992, 1993 and 1994), Mrs Nicole Cumming (from 2003 to 2006) and Miss Dana Barriball (2007, 2008 and 2009). In the past four years the championship has been hotly contested between Miss Christine George and Mrs Cindy Googh with two wins each. In 2014 Cindy achieved a remarkable feat becoming a “triple champion” winning the Championship, The Foursomes (with her mother Mrs Merle Wright) and the Mixed Foursomes Championship (with Shayne Jennings). Kay Woolcock and Nicole Cumming have also achieved this feat.

Many of these ladies featured heavily in the Foursomes Championships as well. Olga Moore and Beryl Avery’s wins spanned the years 1964-1970. However the stand-out winner has been Kay Woolcock who has shared this title a record eighteen times with a number of different partners. With five wins with Catherine Andrews, three with Vicky Laws and recently with Judy McKenzie she has surely created an unbeatable record. Kay Woolcock has also won 10 Mixed Foursomes Championships.

Taree Women Golfers created pennants history in 2008. Both the Division 2 and 3 teams won the Southern Division and qualified for the finals in Kempsey, something not done before. The Division 2 team was narrowly defeated by Bonville and the Division 3 team comprising Linda Sinclair, Pat Kimberley, Rowena Meldrum, Sue Bell, Lorraine Hodgson, Jennifer Sharpe, Narelle Duke, Doreen Barry and Winsome Stitt was victorious over Sawtell in a very tight match.

The Life Members

The life members in the early years were essentially those who provided leadership through their contribution to the growth of the Club, usually as president. Mrs Lyne was president for thirteen years from 1936 to 1948. Mrs Chadwick (Four years as president) and Mrs Avery (Eight years as president) were also honoured with Life Membership in 1952 and 1988 respectively. This honour was also bestowed upon Mrs E M Maloney, Miss H Pankhurst and Mrs D Webber for other services to the Club. It wasn’t until 2012 that two more women golfers were made life members: Kay Woolcock and Rosemary Brinkman.

In nominating Rose and Kay, Senior Vice President of Club Taree, Graham Gibson, at the AGM stated, in supporting Rose’s nomination, that she was a longstanding member of the Women’s Committee, being president (four years), captain (3), handicap manager (8) and Match Committee (16). She has been the senior vice president of the Golf Management Committee for 5 years and has had an outstanding record as a golfer during her time as a member of the Club. Her contribution to the progress of the Half Way House for over 10 years has been exemplary.

Kay Woolcock has had a similar record being president for three years, captain (8), vice-captain (3), handicap manager (3) and treasurer (3). She has also been a Member of the Golf Management Committee for ten years serving as Club golf captain (2), vice-captain (2), secretary-treasurer (4) and committee member (2). Her golf record has been extremely impressive; she has also been a member of the Board of Directors of Club Taree for the past ten years.

Conclusion



There is little doubt that the women golfers over the last hundred years have played an important role in the growth and development of the Club. They have been very independent in their management of their affairs and very supportive of the management of the Club as whole. They have also been a force for good in the wider community of Taree.