Golf won’t go to the dogs

Spend an hour with Jason McQualter and you understand what it is to be a man in demand. The Pakenham Golf Club general manager averages about five minutes between phone calls and heads popping into his office to ask a question.
The continual interruptions would be enough to drive most people crazy, but Jason seems to thrive on the high-energy demands of his job.
Whether it’s booking a tee time, sharing a soft drink and a few moments with a member or talking about multi-million dollar changes to the course and clubhouse, the 39- year-old brings an infectious level of enthusiasm to the task at hand.
Talking a mile a minute, Jason would seem more in tune with the fast-twitch fibres of the greyhounds he leads onto the track at Cranbourne, rather than the relaxed world of the golf course.
But the single figure handicapper is obviously as adept with the clubs as he is with juggling the demands of his job.
Almost four years into the general manager role, Jason is relishing the challenges of steering the club from the recent turbulent times to more prosperous days ahead.
After 10 years as the pro shop manager, Jason stepped up to the top job after the former incumbent embezzled hundreds of thousands of dollars from the club.
It was a bitter pill to swallow for many at the club, but Jason isn’t one to dwell in the past. He has a job to do and he knows he can’t undo what has already happened.
“They said to me you’re the next senior person, you can sit in the chair for six months. We’ll ride it through and then we’ll advertise the job,” he said.
“This is the first year that we will be back on our feet, but realistically that put us back five to 10 years in our development.
“Without the financial problems, ‘X’ amount of money would have been spent on the golf course revamping greens and tees and doing aesthetic work on the clubhouse and surrounding areas.”
Leading from the front means keeping everybody at the club enthusiastic and positive about the direction the PGC is taking.
A planned development will see a new clubhouse along Cameron Way, with improvements to the playing conditions another priority.
“The future direction of the golf club is to raise all fairways, putting 200 millimetres of sand on it, in effect making it a mini-sandbelt golf course where no matter how much rain falls on it, it will be playable,” he said. “In the next four to six years the clubhouse will be moved down to the present back area of the course with an entrance off Cameron Way. “ The clubhouse development will be co-existing with an eco-centre and cultural centre.”
Not that the planned redevelopment is a panacea for all the club’s ills.
Jason said the club was “not travelling flash but we’re doing OK”.
Making the jump from “OK” to something more positive will need a number of factors to go in the club’s favour.
One sure bet, however, is that the former quiet country club will soon be smack-bang in the middle of a potentially huge market of young golfers. “We are under no illusions – we are in the boom corridor growth area and within the next three to 10 years it will be going gangbusters.,” he said. “The circle will turn, there are too many people coming into the town not to get a percentage of those joining up as members.”
There is plenty of competition, however, for the disposable income of those new arrivals in the area.
Golf clubs ranging from designer courses to cheap-and-cheerful country tracks are all looking to attract new members and green fee players.
For Jason, making sure Pakenham gets more than its fair share of new players is critical to the club’s success.
“What drags them in is the golf course itself so you have to spend money on that,” he said. “When you have seven golf courses within a 30-minute drive it becomes a dog-eat-dog scenario.”
Dogs are something Jason knows plenty about. Anyone watching Sky Racing when the Cranbourne greyhounds are on will recognise Jason’s silver locks as he walks the dishlickers out to the starting boxes.
Despite being beamed into thousands of pubs, TABs and homes, Jason is refusing to let his rising star eclipse that of the greyhounds.
“Being a bit of a punter over the years, I’m well aware there’s a lot of people out there watching it but I’m not sure they are keeping an eye on the parade steward, they’re only interested in which number wins,” he said.
And it’s the number of wins that could be a talking point in the McQualter household in years to come, with 12-year-old son Nicholas joining his dad on the Golfing Honour Board as club junior champion.
Jason has five junior titles to go with three senior championships, but is clearly worried – as much as he is delighted – by the prospect of his boy taking over his records.
“A couple of weeks ago he won our junior championship so he’s got his name up there on the board with Dad,” Jason said. “Nicholas has only been playing for a couple of years so it’s a good effort to get his name on the board.
“He’ll probably make my game go to a better level and when he gets really close I’ll probably have to pull the finger out. “The way he’s going I’ve probably only got two years left in me.”