A unique amateur golf series takes players to six outback clubs over six weeks – with the bonus of a chance to bag a million-dollar hole-in-one.
EDITORS’ CHOICE – Best Amateur Tournament: Outback Queensland Masters
The edge of the Simpson Desert doesn’t seem a likely place to build an 18-hole golf course. But Australia’s newest golf club, Birdsville Dunes, opened just in time for the sixth and final stage of the 2022 Outback Queensland Masters.
Across the five previous golf courses, players swung their way across a mix of green grass, red or grey soil, mud and rocky surfaces. In Birdsville, with an explosion of wildflowers after an unusually wet winter, players were greeted with white sand dappled with shades of green and buttercup yellow. In this generally parched country it was a rare, magnificent sight – and a whole new ball game.
The 2022 edition, OQM’s third event, began in Roma, before making its way through Tambo, Barcaldine, Winton and Mount Isa to finish in Birdsville for the chance to take out the million-dollar hole-in-one on the final day. On each of the first five courses, a $10,000 hole-in-one prize was also up for grabs. In 2021, ACT golfer David Pennell landed an ace to claim the kitty on a far-flung sand green at the Quilpie course more than 10 hours west of Brisbane.
The event’s success is largely due to the small team who came up with the outback golf concept – Crea8ion director, Theresa Famularo, PGA professional and golf coach Darren Weatherall and Golf Australia’s Queensland senior manager, Luke Bates. With enthusiastic input from local councils and golf clubs, the team put together a sought-after ‘tour-like’ golf series. As the OQM moves further outback, players form new friendships and enjoy meeting locals in each town. Bates says it’s like a travelling family of more than 200 sharing an amazing experience.
“It’s wonderful to see amateur golfers of all skills, from first-timers to fairway frequenters having such a good time on these amazing outback golf courses,” he explains. “It’s all about fun out here. When you’re playing across incredible outback landscapes, playing well is just a bonus.”
Famularo says playing in a different town each weekend works brilliantly.
“Once the golf club members come to terms with the possibilities, they embrace the idea and watch in awe as their golf clubs transform and their towns bustle,” she says. “Dining under the stars every Saturday night with top entertainment is another drawcard. And by playing with someone new in every game, golfers build new and lasting friendships.”
The mix of entertainers has included country music star Adam Harvey, Busby Marou, The Hillbilly Goats, opera singer Julie Lea Goodwin, bush poets, comedians and more.
With the combination of a full-sized digital scoreboard, great branding, game flexibility, camaraderie and team support, top entertainment and an impressive array of prizes, players experience a professionally run, unique event. At each club, Weatherall also runs popular free clinics for local children.
On all six courses, players are met with new and challenging conditions. For those new to sand greens mixed with diesel-oil, the shock and frustration of approaching the green and putting takes some time to shake off. And carving a smooth, straight track to putt on with a weighty, steel rake is not easy for the uninitiated. Until you learn to read sand greens, Stableford points are far and few between.
Along the way golfers become to know and better understand remote towns, the natural history and geology of ancient places, rural industry specifics and the resilient people who live in the outback. Some pull caravans, others are in motorhomes, and some are in four-wheel-drives and choose to stay in prebooked accommodation.
On her second OQM tour, Brisbane’s Robin McConchie shared the driving with her friend Catherine Hurley from Melbourne. Together they clocked 6,000 kilometres and were away for just longer than seven weeks in completing the trip.
“The road trip is an adventure in itself,” McConchie says. “We managed to tick off some bucket-list items along the way. We walked in Carnarvon Gorge, flew over a flowing Lake Eyre, took part in an Aboriginal cultural experience like no other in Barcaldine, watched a blazing red sunset from the jump-up at the Age of Dinosaurs near Winton and teed off from the top of Big Red at Birdsville, to name a few. We were lucky to see the country after good rain. You can feel the optimism in the rural industry.”
McConchie says it’s great to plan your own adventure and catch up with OQM crew on weekends to play golf on courses so different from the manicured city fairways. “Unfortunately, I have yet to master the sand greens and I recommend you learn to hit the ball straight,” she quips. Despite the self-joshing, McConchie was closest to the pin on the $1 million hole-in-one green.
With time to spare, golfers check out the galleries, bakeries, cafes, tours and historical sites. Winton mayor and keen golfer Gavin Baskett says the event brings great economic benefits to the town.
“The caravan parks and accomm-odation houses fill up,” he says. “Golfers eat locally, visit the pubs and shops and take tours. After a long stretch of drought followed by a monsoon and then COVID-19, our town is now booming – we’re even working to improve our golf course for future events.”
On the Birdsville Dunes, players watch in disbelief as crows swoop in to pick up balls and carry them off to squawking mates alongside the fairways. Some owners of said balls give chase – hopefully causing the crow to drop it. Theft by crows is not uncommon and players must stay alert. If a ball is stolen it can be replaced without penalty. But if you lose a ball, you can’t claim it as crow-stolen if you didn’t witness it. Adding to the challenge, dragging and pushing buggies across sand is hard work on the legs. But when you’re a fiercely determined Outback Master, curly encounters are part of the fun of this extraordinary golf experience.
Having the Birdsville Dunes ready in time for the OQM was no mean feat. Club president Nell Brook, the driving force behind the new links, says she came up with the idea about 26 years ago.
“Designed as a championship course, it meanders through three sand hills, presenting a stiff challenge to good players but provides plenty of width and forgiveness for beginners,” Brook says. “We preserved the native vegetation as much as possible and in places, players must decide if they will challenge strips of shrubs on the fairway or take a longer route around. We’ve created a showcase piece for golfers of the world where they can also experience desert beauty.”
In November, the OQM took out the 2022 Queensland Tourism Awards for best ‘Festivals and Events’. The six towns selected for the 2023 series, which tees off on June 17, include St George, Cunnamulla, Quilpie, Richmond, Karumba and will conclude in Mount Isa where the $1 million shot, not yet taken out, will be up for grabs again.
