Royal Queensland Golf Club Heritage Day Luncheon 2016

Thank you, Mr Gahan, for your kind introduction. It is my great pleasure and honour to join you today for the third consecutive Royal Queensland Golf Club Heritage Day I have attended since I was sworn-in as your Governor.    

The idea of a Heritage Day is inspired, because it applies to just about every aspect of this golf club.

The very bunkers and water hazards at Royal Queensland pay homage to the long history of the sport. They recall the sandy tracts and small streams that lurked throughout the earliest courses along the coasts of Scotland.

It is always touching to see golfers paying personal homage to these hazards by hitting golf balls into the sand or the water, or both, at every opportunity. Or perhaps that’s just a desperate attempt to appease the golfing “gods”.  

Then there is the heritage specific to this Club as it approaches its centenary. 

The Club’s acquisition of the “Royal” title is rich with intrigue and mystery.

The Club’s history is rich with great golfers of national and international prominence who have learned their craft and, importantly, their sportsmanship, on this course.  

The Club is also rich in vice-regal associations with Governors-General, and with Governors, who have presided over historic milestones in the Club’s history.

As your current Patron, I am delighted to have joined that exclusive group, though relieved that a handicap under – pick a number between 30 and 40 – has never been a criterion for entry to the clubhouse.

Above all, the Club has been fortunate in its office-holders and membership over the decades.

Their commitment to this Club and this location, come floods or massive bridges, has sustained its stature in Queensland and Australian golf.   

This course has given many thousands of Queenslanders that unique combination of pleasure and acute pain that brings golfing devotees back for more, again and again.

I look forward to presenting some of those devotees shortly with the Governor-General’s Trophy, Governor’s Trophy, Governor’s Medal, and Hickory Championship.

For now, I extend to the Club my gratitude for its warm hospitality today and in the past, my congratulations on another successful year, and my best wishes for a successful year to come. Thank you.