The Portarlington Golf Club has embarked on an ambitious pathway towards environmental sustainability.

In line with the club’s long-term strategic plan, president John Bowman said a bold $100,000 investment in solar energy would have great immediate positive impacts.

“The club has entered into an agreement with Aus1 Energis to supply a 99.36 kW on-grid solar power system. This system will produce an average of approximately 370 kWh per day over the year,” Bowman said.

“We basically want to become more socially responsible and have a positive impact on the environment’s health.

“Over the expected 20-year life cycle of this system, it will be the equivalent of us planting more than 13,000 trees, which can only be good for all of us.”

There is a second aspect to the club’s strategy of developing long-term and sustainable environmental projects.

The club has significantly reduced its reliance on potable water for irrigating turf and will continue to do so through the development of a stormwater harvesting system.

“This, in essence, diverts stormwater to our dams on the course to be used for irrigation,” Bowman said.

“To continue the reduction in potable water use, ‘Class C’ recycled water is also used for irrigation.

“Water savings have also been achieved through the introduction of Santa-Ana couch turf on the fairways and tees. This has allowed the club to provide better quality playing conditions whilst reducing the volume of water required to produce such surfaces.

“We have also been active in the promotion of native vegetation around the course. We have enhanced this with the selective removal of large, old and dangerous pine trees and planting out these areas with indigenous native flora to increase the bird life associated with the golf course.”

Some of the bird species that have increased in number in the past couple of years have been the Rainbow Lorikeet, Little Lorikeet, Yellow Tailed Black Cockatoos and Tawny Frogmouth Owls.

“The types of machinery that we use certainly plays a part in how we sustainably operate, and is part of our overall environmental improvement strategy,” Bowman said.

“We currently use an electric green roller and are about to receive delivery of our first electric green mower. In time, as the club switches to solar power, we will see a shift from the exclusive use of fossil fuels to – at least in part - being able to operate under solar energy.

“Through this technology, we will further lessen our impact on the environment by reducing noise.

“Our aim is to develop more sustainable actions across our business and foster better environmental stewardship, ultimately leaving the property in better condition for future generations to enjoy.”

Julie Milne turned sparkling club form into a district level victory today when she ambushed a quality field to win the prestigious individual crown during the June Gillivour Silver Salver.

Milne, a member at host club Portarlington, won the overall and A grade crowns with a fine 38 stableford points that she attributed to a “bit of good rhythm” in which she’s currently reveling.

Her total was three points better than A grade runner-up Elizabeth Raftery, of Bendigo, who shared the day’s next best score of 35 with Ocean Grove member Deb O’Neill, the winner of B grade.

Raftery’s score was enough to propel her Bendigo team, including Leanne Robertson and Sue Holland, to victory with 96 points to win the time-honoured June Gillivour Silver Salver.

O’Neill and clubmates Sharon Cresswell and Susie Stevens were runners-up with 89 points in the chase for the silverware, awarded to honour one of Portarlington and the SWGA district’s most successful golfers and administrators.

Milne, on a roll in club golf, too, said playing on her home course was an advantage against a quality field of visitors.

“But that only helps if you’re hitting them all right, which thankfully I am at the moment,” she said.

“I was in a bit of good rhythm out there today, putted well and managed to get out of any bunkers, so it was really a thrill to win because I know the wheels could come off at any minute,” she said modestly.

“I think that’s the biggest thing I’ve won, it’s quite an honour.”

Raftery, the reluctant spokeswoman for the winning team, said her score was built on hard work rather than anything spectacular.

“There was a lot of scrambling all day … it wasn’t pretty, but it was effective,” she said, heaping praise on Portarlington’s condition.

“I thought the course was fabulous because Bendigo is wet and muddy at the moment and this was nice grass to play off.

“It was lovely to win an event with Leanne and Sue … we’ve played regularly together (over the years).”

Click Here to view the results

Julie Milne wins the individual crown

Deb O’Neill wins the B Grad event

The Bendigo team of Leanne Robertson (left), Elizabeth Raftery and Sue Holland win the June Gillivour Silver Salver.

A hearty band of visitors raised $2250 for Feed Me Bellarine at the Portarlington Golf Club on Saturday night.

With weather befitting the club’s Christmas in July theme, chief executive Michael Phillips was delighted with such a strong turnout for the charity event.

“With everything that has been going on, we were thrilled to see so many people buy a ticket for such a worthy cause in Feed Me Bellarine,” Phillips said.
“It was very much something we wanted to do for our local charity and we hope to expand on it in future years and make it something of an annual celebration around the clubhouse.”

Almost 100 guests partook in a three-course meal and took in the great vocals of duo Cam and Christian, all in the name of community fundraising.
Feed Me Bellarine chief executive Lana Purcell was humbled to receive the donation.

“Things rarely slow down for us since we started, but this is a particularly important time of the year for us in the cold weather we’ve been experiencing,” Purcell said.

“So we’re absolutely thrilled that so many great community-minded people came out to share an evening and help us out so much.

“Our hearty thanks to the members at Portarlington Golf Club and those in the area who came along to support the night.”

Feed Me Bellarine is a community food project that collects spare food and excess produce and shares it with people who need it most.

In the past decade, it has provided more than 800,000 meals and saved more than one million kilograms of food from landfill.
More than $1.3million of donations has been raised to help the concept thrive and expand.

Have you ever wondered why what you’re looking at out your window doesn’t match what the weather guru is telling you on the radio or TV?

Well ponder no longer!

The Portarlington Golf Club has just installed its own weather station, the only one of its kind in Portarlington that can give us an accurate representation of what’s happening around town.

The new WeatherLink system provides constant updates on temperatures, wind direction and speed, rainfall and barometric pressure.

It even gives you daily highs and lows so you know exactly what’s going on in YOUR neighbourhood, not on the other side of Melbourne.

And for those who are visiting Port, it’s absolutely the best way to know what you’ll confront when you arrive.

So how do you access this data?

For the essentials, click on the “WEATHER” tab at the top of our home page, www.port.golf and you’ll go straight there.

If you want a bit more information (trust us, there’s lots of it!), download the “WEATHERLINK” app from either the App Store on Apple or Google Play for android phones. (The icon will have “DAVIS” written across the bottom.)

If you like your weather hardcore, log on to www.weatherlink.com, create an account and follow your nose to Portarlington. Once you familiarize yourself, search for the “bulletin” via stations around the country using the “map” tab.

And the best bit of all of this … it’s free!
If you have a business around Portarlington and the northern Bellarine that has a website and want to share our weather data to your clients, reach out via email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and we’ll try to help you out.

Enjoy!