The Portarlington Golf Club has made the plans of two more local organisations possible with substantial community grants.

The Portarlington Girl Guides and the Portarlington Cricket Club are the latest beneficiaries of the PGC’s Community Contribution Fund to address outstanding issues for their memberships … and well beyond.

Girl Guides district manager Belinda George said the organisation was “extremely grateful” to have received $5000 earlier in 2021, then another $5000 for the second part of their hall restoration project, including urgent roof repairs.

“It means the Guides will have a venue that is safe and able to facilitate their needs for the foreseeable future,” George said.
“Previously we had leaks in the roof and other plumbing issues, but this project will give us somewhere warm, safe and hospitable for the girls to use.”

George said the Girl Guides shared their hall with several other community groups, spreading further the benefits of the funding, with Portarlington Playgroup, fledgling women’s group BeWRECT, the local CWA branch, the Portarlington Orchestral Group and Bellarine International Women’s Group all soon to share the space.

“So it’s great for all of us … it really gives the community somewhere to use and be safe and to feel welcome again,” she said.

The Portarlington Cricket Club recently received $6000 to build a new barbecue area and buy outdoor furniture. PCC treasurer Claire Heatlie said the cricketers were “very grateful”.

“We really struggled last year, as did everyone, and the cricket department runs at a massive loss, so the kitchen and the bar income is very important,” she said.

“We were really limited last year with the amount of people we could have in the room. Now we have an extra 40 tables and chairs so we can seat people outside because of the grant.

“Without support like this, clubs like ours just don’t survive.”

The Community Contribution Fund was established to support not-for-profit community or sporting organisations to make positive improvements that will, in turn, benefit the wider community.

PGC chief executive Michael Phillips said the club considered many factors when allocating funds, including the potential for increased engagement of volunteers, community and participants.

“The golf club sees itself as a community leader and that it’s our duty to assist other sporting clubs and community groups whenever we can,” Phillips said.

“Our success as a club in the community is partly measured by the success of everybody else in the community.

“We feel we have a significant role to play in that space and we are very fortunate and lucky to have a business model that allows us to support other community groups who don’t necessarily have access to the funds that we do.”

The club earlier this year gave $3650 to the Portarlington Bowling Club for greens maintenance and $1500 to the Portarlington Miniature Railway for safety improvements.

Portarlington Golf Club CEO Michael Phillips checks out the new  Portarlington Cricket Club facilities with James Harvey, Peter Evans and Claire Heatlie.

Photo: VINNIE VAN OORSCHOT, Bellarine Times

Welcome to the new Portarlington Golf Club website.

You’ll already see a bold new look, reflecting our club’s colours and bold new brand.

But you’ll also get to experience a range of new functionalities, designed in alignment with the club’s new purpose statement, “Where golf and friendship come together”.

And while the “old” address will continue to work for a while, you’ll also see the club has adopted a new internet address and email formats.

Portarlington Golf Club chief executive Michael Phillips said all on show at www.port.golf was emblematic of the club’s new image.

“We have a new executive chef, a whole new concept and feel in our clubhouse and our food and beverage offering has been modernised and expanded to reflect the wishes of our members and guests,” Phillips said.

“So it’s only fitting that our portal to the outside world also reflects our new bold, clean and classy image.”

The website features quick links to popular features of the club’s services and social media posts.

“And one of the biggest additions is the ability for all members and visitors to book in our bistro in a state-of-the-art online format,” Phillips said.

“Our members have a range of special options available to them specifically, but all the public-facing information we think is now much more logical and easier to access.

“The new website and email addresses are a big leap for us. But we’ve gone from a very long and convoluted domain name to one that is short, sharp and memorable – so either browsing our site or emailing us on your phone is now so much easier.”

The vivid imagery for the club’s new website was generated by local design house Streamline Media, chiefly through its principal Jarrod Boord and photographer Nikole Ramsay.

Boord, a long-time drone photography and video specialist, set the date for his aerial visit months before his October 27 appearance.

Then, remarkably, the planets aligned on that very day and a still, warm and cloudless morning presented itself for the sparkling images presented around this website.

“It’s a beautiful course, so I’m thrilled that we got lucky on the dates to be able to show the world just how stunning the property is,” Boord said.

We're excited to re-open our club, but we must do it in a restricted way to ensure the health of not only our business, but more importantly our staff.
The Bellarine Peninsula’s hospitality sector is being hit hard by worsening staff shortages with very few people ready or able to work in our industry.
So, as we approach the busiest time of our year, changes have become a necessity.

If we do not alter course, our people will soon tire because there is so much work and so few staff.

Our first ports of call are that we can’t open our kitchen every day of the week and must continue to stagger our bookings.

We encourage you to make a booking so not be disappointed when you turn up.

We are committed to training the next generation of hospitality workers, but in reality, we’re likely still a few years from them becoming skilled leaders in our industry.

In the interim this summer, we ask customers to continue to be patient while we navigate these difficult times.

Please understand these challenges, and becoming upset and aggressive with staff just doing their best is not acceptable.

Our clubhouse will be open seven days a week from 10am and the restaurant will operate Tuesday through Sunday for both lunch and dinner services.

COVID UPDATE

By government orders on 19 November, all members and guests over the age of 12 years and 2 months are required to show proof of double vaccination on entry to the clubhouse and pro shop or to play golf.
Face mask restrictions have been loosened, but they are still required within retail environments, which includes our pro shop.

For a couple of generations of Saturday golfers at Portarlington, Col Evans’ performance was a staple.

But the man who conducted the famous “Saturday night beer raffle” – or Col’s Swindle as it was known to more than a few – has done so much more at the Portarlington Golf Club.

Evans, one of five brothers, will soon notch an extraordinary milestone – 60 years of consecutive membership of the club.

Along with Bill, Ron and Jim (all deceased) and his other brother Norm, the Evans clan have been synonymous with the building industry around Portarlington – not to mention the cricket and football clubs, where they are legendary.

But from the day Col joined the golf club as a wide-eyed 17-year-old, when the course was just nine holes long, he’s been nothing but proud of another of the town’s great institutions.
“It’s been a great place over the years,” Col enthused when told of his impending honour.

“I remember when we went to 14 holes in the ‘60s, then to 18 in the ‘70s and to what it is now.

“I was involved (officially) for a bit over 14 years, from memory. I was vice-captain, then captain and then on the board for a while, too.

“I am proud of the club. I remember when I first came here, there was an old house that had been removed from in town and put down near where the pro shop is now and that was the clubhouse.
“I remember a few times when there were floods in Geelong, we had all the Barwon Valley golfers come out and play out here as if they were members here, too. That’s what the club is all about.”

Evans has been a consistent golfer for many years. “But I never quite got to single figures,” he said with a wry smile.
“I got (my handicap) to 9.6 once, but I never got to play off nine.”

Evans has had a hole in one on the 17th, won “a few” quarterly medals and has been medallist of the year. He represented the club on several occasions and even Geelong in the Queen Elizabeth Medal once at Royal Melbourne.

“But I only ever played once a week and never practised … it’s a waste of time.”

Evans was made a life member of the Portarlington Golf Club in 2003 as he recovered from a cancer scare.

But he never thought much about receiving his latest honour, he said. “Nah. I just play golf to meet people around the club … but it’s not bad.”