Ben Churchill and his wife Elsie came to Jamberoo from Crookwell where they had had some experience with the “sand greens” golf course.
To maintain their interest in golf, Ben and Elsie, along with Eric Gardner and Curly Irvine formed a Social Golf Club, the members of which played monthly on Southern Highlands Golf Courses.
From this experience, the members of the Social Golf Club were keen to see a Golf Course at Jamberoo, and with the sale to the Council of the Tate farm adjacent to the town, an opportunity was seen to enable this to happen. Elsie and Ben grasped it with both hands, instigating the necessary representations.
Following some opposition, the Golf Club was formed and the area now occupied by the Golf Course was leased to, and subsequently purchased by, the Golf Club.
From that time, and in the early years, all the development and maintenance work was done by volunteers, many of them from the farming community using their own equipment until the Club was in a position to purchase plant. On many occasions, farmers were seen working on the Golf Course while their wives were home doing the milking.
In 1981 the Club was able to open the Course with three sand greens. This progressed to 13 sand greens which were gradually replaced by grass greens and extended to eighteen holes in the nineties.
These early volunteers were totally responsible for the development and maintenance of the Golf Course during the period before the Club had a paid curator/groundsman, and then continued assisting through the period before and after a full complement of ground staff was employed.
Foremost among these volunteers was Ben Churchill, who, while still in the workforce, was a regular after work and at weekends and who, after retirement, along with others in the same position as himself formed a team dubbed “Dad’s Army” which was on deck daily tending to the Course. Their contribution to the Course and Ben’s knowledge of the design and watering arrangements was invaluable to the Club.
Since Ben stopped playing competition golf he was regularly seen playing social rounds with his good friend Laurie Walton.
Vale Ben Churchill – a dedicated volunteer for the Jamberoo Golf Club.
Thankyou Ben and all those who worked hard in the early days of Jamberoo Golf Club, so that now we can enjoy a round of golf at a unique, friendly golf course.
Yes they set the vibe of our club right from then start.