Bacchus Marsh West Golf Club has become one of the fastest-growing clubs of its kind, due to improvements made possible through water entitlement and irrigation modernisation.
Only a few years ago, the club was floundering with just 70 members. Now, it has boomed to more than 400 members, who have been enticed by the now beautiful and challenging greens.
Club stalwart David Edwards said a strong relationship with Southern Rural Water had been crucial to the remarkable turnaround.
“We’ve been playing golf on this location since 1904, but the club has only existed since the early 1970s. During that time, water has always been an issue,” David said.
“But now with our ability to obtain irrigation right, and purchase water through the trading platform, we’re now at the point where we’re ‘the place to be’.
“The water is the lifeline of the golf course. In times of drought, our membership can diminish to very low numbers. But the ability to now manage our water better, we’ve been able to see through a very dry season this year and see our numbers continue to increase.”
The club sources its water through a water right, which is accessed from nearby Pykes Creek. One of the big improvements has been the installation of battery-operated timers on the course, which means volunteers don’t have to water manually.
Greater, more efficient access to water has proven a gamechanger for not only the club, but the wider region. Behind the course, there are now three sports ovals that have been created recently. They are fully dependent on the irrigation water supplied by Southern Rural Water.
“Without water, we just actually wouldn’t have a golf club. We wouldn’t be here today. It’s all dependent on those relationships and the water supplied by Southern Rural Water,” David said.