Bombs away on Boorhaman driving range

BOORHAMAN Golf Club is set to welcome a new driving range in the coming months after a $10,000 council grant has fully funded works to begin. As part of the Rural City of Wangaratta Community Grants program, the golf club was one of the biggest beneficiaries as they look to take their already diverse range of offering for golfers to the next level. Boorhaman Golf Club vice president Marcus Neal said the club was awaiting the planning permit to be ticked off before concreting, fencing and nets are to be installed. “We’re rapt with the council and very appreciative, we put a fair bit of work into our application to make sure we covered the criteria off,” he said. The driving range has been the brainchild of Mr Neal, who only joined the club’s committee last year. Mr Neal said he was getting lessons from club captain Nick Batchelor when a conversation stemmed about a potential driving range at the club as an alternative source of income. “The main thing we’re trying to do is to get more people involved in playing golf,” he said. “We want to be an option for people from Rutherglen and Wangaratta to come out here into a nice quiet, picturesque area. “It gives us other options to have community days as well and to get kids involved.” Mr Neal said the range would be set up on the first hole and include two dual-purpose bays, giving golfers the option to hit balls onto the fairway in one direction or turning around and hitting into a net. “We really want to promote something that’s new and exciting and to have a dual-purpose, so you can turn 90 degrees and have a net there as well,” he said. The project is proposed to be delivered in three stages, with roofing, automatic ball feeders and solar lights all in Mr Neal’s vision for the range. Without regular formal golfing days, Mr Neal said the club has long been exploring other avenues of regular revenue to ensure its survival. FootGolf has been a feature at the course since opening in 2015, and played a crucial role in revitalising the club amid declining participation and external challenges like the COVID-19 pandemic. Mr Neal said he hoped the informal nature of the club and the ability to include lessons with club captain Mr Batchelor for groups like schools would create a vibrant atmosphere at the new range. “The people who can play go to Wangaratta and Jubilee but for people who just want to learn the game it’s a good spot for that,” he said. “Long-term, the way you’re going to make money is probably going to come from the driving range, the one in Wangaratta is killing it.”

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