Young Indigenous Northam residents will soon have a pathway to playing amateur and state golf, if a new club's ambitions go to plan.
In 2017, the Six Seasons Golf Club was a far-fetched dream by a group of golf enthusiasts who wanted to see indigenous men, women and children in the Wheatbelt take up golf.
Flash forward two years and the dream is close to becoming a reality.
The club has since partnered with the Fresh Start Recovery Program after chief executive Jeff Claughton expressed his intentions of re-establishing an old golf course on their property in Spencers Brook.
Six Seasons Golf Club steering committee acting chair Robert Miles said the club was ready to welcome new members, with a focus on minority groups.
"Under our model we want to attract and increase the participation rate of Aboriginal people into the game of golf," he said.
Golf is normally a male dominated sport but we want the membership to be split.
- Six Seasons Golf Club steering committee acting chair Robert Miles
"But we want the membership to be 50 per cent women and 50 per cent men.
"Golf is normally a male dominated sport but we want the membership to be split.
"We want the club to be inclusive to other under-represented groups that play golf including women, migrant groups, people with disabilities and so forth.
"We will target those groups as much as we can."
Mr Miles said they wanted golf to be a serious sporting option for Wheatbelt residents.
"We want Indigenous people to think about it as a sport to take up, instead of the regular cricket and football and the other sports," he said.
"It doesn't get a lot of funding and support and we wanted to see if this was an avenue for that to happen.
"We would one day not only want the social engagement but a place where people can seriously learn about golf, so we can be the feeder into state and amateur golf ranks."
He said the nine-hole course would include cultural signage based on the Noongar year, divided into six seasons.
Mr Miles said the shorter nine-hole course, compared to the typical 18-hole course, was appealing.
"Some people get frustrated playing on a normal 18-hole course.
"It's a long day. We like that it's a short hole course and we think that could attract younger people."
For more information contact James West on 0400 214 365.
Carla Hildebrandt
Journalist at the Mandurah Mail
Journalist at the Mandurah Mail
