The reality is that with a population that hovers near the 1,500 mark, Barham is not a big town.
Just over 300 kilometres north of Melbourne on the New South Wales side of the Murray River, the Barham Golf and Sports Club can be overlooked by golfers for some of the larger clubs along the Murray.
That is a trend Sienna Voglis and husband Matthew are working hard to change.
Coming up on 12 months since they relocated from Melbourne for Sienna to take the role as Club Manager/Golf Professional and Matthew as the club’s Teaching Professional, the Voglis’s are trying to impart some big-city thinking while maintaining the sense of community within the club.
Sienna grew up in Cohuna just 20 minutes south of Barham so knows the significant role that the golf club plays in small regional communities. It’s an atmosphere she wants to foster at Barham but given the club’s facilities wants to institute some more ambitious thinking about what the club can become.
“Everyone says it’s such a beautiful little course but when you look at our figures and our background, we’re actually not little at all,” explains Sienna, the club hosting the 64th Border Open Pro-Am over two days last November.
“We’ve got this infrastructure with accommodation and dining and the backing of the main club so it should actually be regarded as a big club.
“You want to become that bigger, better club, but you also don’t want to take away that great country feel. It is a really hard balance.”
A member of the Australian team that contested the Women’s PGA Cup in America in 2019, Sienna was working within the PGA Education Team in an administrative role prior to applying for the position at Barham.
It was that experience that prompted a move into management, knowing the support she could garner at Barham if she harnessed it correctly.
Change is not always well received in small towns but Sienna recognised that for the club to advance it needed to shed a few of its former traditions.
“When we arrived there was little to no equipment stocked in the pro shop,” Sienna says.
“We wanted the pro shop to be a place where members were not only able to access the latest equipment but where visitors would also enjoy spend time looking around.
“We didn’t previously have a coffee machine. Providing such simple services has increased a want to come in post-round and enjoy one another’s company because we now cater to everyone.
“There was a focus on getting the juniors up and running again, getting the ladies clinics going again but also making some changes in terms of policies and procedures to find more effective and efficient ways of managing that going forward.
“There are a lot of people up here that give up football and give up tennis because they’re not fit enough to play anymore. It’s just trying to capture them and get them out on the golf course. Make them aware that, ‘Yes, you are welcome and you can play.’
“As long as you show that they can play and get them out on the course enjoying it then you’ve got members for life.”
On top of spreading the word of what Barham has to offer golfers who visit the Murray region, the club is also considering new categories of membership tailored to suit the needs of locals. A $299 summer membership ran over the holiday period that included two lessons and now five-day and nine-hole memberships are being considered.
For Sienna, it’s about ensuring every member of the community feels connected to the golf club, just as she did as a junior at Cohuna.
“What I love about this place is that we still uphold a lot of those traditional values but we’re also very welcoming,” she adds.
“I was made to feel very welcome at Cohuna but there were still those expectations of wearing collared shirts, having them tucked in, those things that might now be considered old school.
“Those values are still important, we’re just trying to uphold them in a way that makes everyone in town feel welcome.”
