Over six weeks, more than 150 golfers swung and putted their way through the beautiful Queensland outback for one of the world’s unique golfing events. Our correspondent was among them.
It’s late afternoon and the Blackall golf course is swathed in soft, orange light. Gangs of galahs are squawking and swirling around us, wood ducks are ruffling still lagoons, kangaroos are watching cautiously from the fairways and one regal looking Sussex rooster is following us.
It’s a quintessential Australian bush scene and one we’re becoming familiar with as we travel the outback for the world’s most remote and richest amateur golf series, the 2021 Outback Queensland Masters (OQM). On this afternoon we’re checking out the course for the series’ fourth round and to play a few holes in preparation for the weekend’s rounds. In every town, the first nine is played on Saturday and the second on Sunday.
This year the tour began in Biloela, followed by Charleville, Quilpie, Blackall, Hughenden and concluded in Longreach. A $10,000 prize is on offer for the first hole-in-one on each of the first five courses and a staggering $1 million is up for grabs in Longreach. It’s an event for players of all ages and abilities. My golfing partner, Matthew Smith, and I chose to play four events, including Charleville, Quilpie, Blackall and Longreach. In between events, with our non-golfing partners, we are weaving our way through the outback.
Unlike our first games in Charleville and Quilpie, where the shock of playing on sand greens threw us, we plan to be ready for Blackall. Local knowledge on outback courses, it turns out, is critical. In every town the weather has been similar with chilly mornings, breezy days, cobalt blue skies and plenty of sunshine. Perfect for golf. On challenging courses when things go askew, there’s a mix of frustration and hilarity. Laughing off disaster shots, it’s soon understood, is the ideal coping mechanism.
RIGHT: Every course’s sand greens were different in colour, texture and pace. PHOTO" Paula Heelan.
On each course we are accompanied by a few dogs strolling along with players and supporters; in nearby paddocks we often spot horses, cattle, sheep, kangaroos, abundant birdlife and occasionally, teenagers on dirt bikes.
On the remote sand greens of Quilpie, ACT’s Murrumbidgee Country Club member, David Pennell did what every tournament player was striving for. He made a hole-in-one on the delegated hole, bagging the $10,000 prize. Word spread swiftly through the camp and on to national media. With the odds of an amateur making a hole-in-one at 12,500 to 1, the excitement was palpable. Pennell, who is on the 1,900km journey with his wife, Karen, says it was the most challenging par-3 he’d ever played.
“It’s my first hole-in-one in 51 years of playing golf,” he said. “The sand greens are so different to the grass greens I play on in the ACT – I can’t believe it’s happened.”
The concept for this annual event began with Tourism and Events Queensland’s, John Drummond, who wanted an outback golf event. From there, OQM executive producer and Cre8ion director, Theresa Famularo, PGA professional and golf coach Darren Weatherall and Golf Australia’s Queensland senior manager, Luke Bates came on board. And with input from local councils and golf clubs, a ‘tour-like’ golf experience was created.
Weatherall says the intention is to spread the game venues around each year to support local communities and for the players to experience new challenges coupled with wonderful outback hospitality and adventure.
“The incredible landscapes and challenging conditions, combined with meeting friendly locals, is what the event is all about,” he explains. “The event works well because it provides a professional experience for amateur golfers. Players travel a long way to compete in six remote locations so we want them to feel they are attending a worthwhile, professionally run event.”
With an exciting mix of orange jackets for the top two winners (male and female) in every event, a leaderboard, signage, branding, automated scoring cards, the biggest prize money pool for an amateur event, great food and entertainment – and having the Australian PGA Championship trophy – the Joe Kirkwood Cup – the overall experience is exhilarating.
Throughout the six-week tour golfers swing, slice and putt their way through gidgee, eucalypt and mulga scrub, saltbush, spinifex, cobblers peg, dry and running gullies, soft red dirt, cracked muddy earth, stony fairways and for the uninitiated – impossible sand greens.
Many hadn’t experienced these punishing, so-called ‘greens’ before. How hard could teeing up through the course and raking a sleek, smooth path to the pin be? For a start, the rake is no ordinary garden rake. It’s made of steel and weighs more than 10kgs. You mark out the path with the rake throngs, then turn it on to its roller side and drag it along slowly to make a smooth, seamless track.
Charleville has an unnerving mix of sand and grass greens and the sand greens are oiled, jet-black, shockingly slow and smell of diesel. But we are Outback Masters. With fierce determination and persistence, the three putting on nearly every hole begins to quell and scores pick up.
In each town, Weatherall runs free coaching clinics for the local kids who turn up bursting with enthusiasm and excitement. “It’s a great chance to introduce golf to young people and for them to gain some first-hand knowledge and skills,” he explains.
Brisbane’s Edwina Robertson is the youngest adult player in the series. She says with so much attention to detail and innovative, thoughtful organising, the event is the best she’s experienced.
“The effort, resourcefulness and creativity gone into making this happen is so impressive,” she adds. “Everyone is having a brilliant time.”
Road tripping between events means the journey is as rewarding as each golf weekend. We’ve come to know and better understand remote towns and isolated stations and the resilient people who live there. Driving through incredible, expansive landscapes across country you haven’t seen before is unforgettable.
With two weeks to spare between our Blackall and Longreach weekends we drove through the Barcoo Shire, across the heart of the Channel Country to the red sand dunes on the edge of the Simpson Desert. After recent rain the country is bursting with new life.
We stayed at Charlotte Plains sheep station near Cunnamulla where we bathed in hot artesian baths; and we visited remote towns including Yaraka, Windorah, Birdsville, Bedourie, Middleton and Winton. We lunched at one of the world’s most isolated pubs, the Betoota Hotel, which reopened a year ago after a 23-year closure. In Boulia we stayed in glamping tents for the Boulia Camel Races, widely known as the Melbourne Cup of camel races and flew over the town and incredibly stunning landscape in a helicopter.
With many outback towns having a golf course, practice games are sought after in between the main events.
At Cunnamulla in the far south west, the golf course boundary runs alongside the Warrego River. On several holes, giving way to mobs of emus making their way across fairways and greens to their watering hole is common. In Windorah, population 80, it looks as though most of the golfers have left town. While the course is in need of some serious maintenance, we found enough holes to have some long practice shots on overgrown fairways and putts on some crumbled sand greens.
This July, as well as hosting the OQM with more than 140 players plus crew at all six destinations, the outback also hosted the Big Bash at Birdsville, which attracted more than 9,000 people, the Queensland Music Trails and countless families travelling around for the school holidays. With thousands on the roads, the outback has never been so busy. Some, like us, are in 4WDs, some are in campervans and others are towing caravans. Booking ahead for everything, particularly accommodation, hairdresser or medical appointments and restaurants is essential.
Bates says many OQM players this year attended the inaugural event in 2019 (2020 was cancelled due to COVID) and intend to play again in 2022.
“The majority signed up for all six events and many are travelling in groups. It’s like a travelling golf club with everyone creating memories together,” he adds. “Friendships and connections are made and many are eager to come again next year.”
Blackall club president and town baker Grahame Schulter says the OQM provides a welcome injection of funds both into the club and the town.
“We rely heavily on tourism these days and try hard to do it well,” he says. “Events like this have a big impact on businesses which have battled through both drought and COVID.” And Grahame’s tip for handling the sand greens? “Chip and run with a 7-iron and throw it up to the flag.”
Famularo says at first, when suggesting to members of small bush clubs that they take on the OQM, there is a little apprehension and a lot of curiosity. “But ultimately there is absolute awe from the locals as they watch their golf clubs transform and their towns bustling with people,” she adds.
“With world-class entertainment, dining under the stars at every event and playing with someone new in every game, our golfers build new and lasting friendships.”
This year the event concluded with those who had played two or more weekends, eligible to vie for the $1 million hole-in-one. Against the wind, one by one, players stepped up for their shot. No-one managed to pull it off. Never mind, the million-dollar prize rolls over next year and most will be back to try again.
The six towns selected for OQM 2022, which tees off on June 18, include Roma, Tambo, Barcaldine, Winton, Mount Isa and concluding at Birdsville’s under-construction course where the million-dollar shot will be up for grabs again.
For information about the 2022 Outback Queensland Masters and the results from this year’s event, visit www.outbackqldmasters.com
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