Dubbo Golf Club has been named among the state's best in the final round of consideration for the Golf NSW Club of the Year awards.
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Dubbo joins five other nominees as one of the finalists for the NSW Golf Country Club of the Year award, set to be decided at an awards night in Sydney on October 21.
General Manager Rod Archer said that just having the club be considered was humbling and a good indicator for the club's future.
"It's obviously an honour to be nominated, but to succeed by making it as far as the finals round is quite humbling," Archer said.
"Golf is a sport where there are a lot of amazing facilities in regional NSW, let alone looking toward the metropolitan areas, so to be identified as one of the best in that category is a great acknowledgement of what the club has been through over the last couple of years."
Golf NSW outlined several factors as determining why Dubbo Golf Club was nominated for the award, including a sharp uptick in memberships and a large growth in operations, as well as a $100,000 investment in the club's facilities.
We've got some very big plans for the clubhouse and for the golf course, we just have to keep focused.
- Rod Archer
"I've only been here a couple of years, but the club's focus over that time has been stronger governance structures, cost control, but also member retention and attraction," Archer said.
"We've worked really hard across the whole business to make us both more appealing to the community, but also sustainable going forward."
"We've got some very big plans for the clubhouse and for the golf course, we just have to keep focused."
"Part of it is to establish financial security into the future, something like a hundred golf clubs a sector close in Australia over the next few years, and we're one of the few that is expanding and growing, and that's great to have."
While Archer hasn't been in the General Manager position for long, his impact has already been noticed, with his achievements at Dubbo Golf Club also seeing him through to the final round of the Club Manager of the Year award.
Among the reasons cited for his nomination were the club's success in securing the hosting rights to the 2020 Women's Open Championship, as well as the implementation of upgrades to the club's irrigation system to cope with the drought.
"It's challenging and it's very tiring, but it's also very rewarding when you begin to see the results and you see things happening," Archer said.
"The business is growing, we're able to put more back into our region, for me, that's a very, very positive thing."
Dubbo Golf Club president Niall McNicol said the award showed that the club was heading in the right direction, and that the acknowledgement from their peers was validating of the club's efforts.
"That's just showing that the structure taken by the club is working very well and that's recognition of all of Rod's great work, so it's a big accolade."
