Cameron Orford, a promising tennis player with a powerful right-hand serve, left Australia as a young man determined to make a living on the pro circuit in Europe.
He returned a decade later as a left-handed golf pro.
The remarkable transformation – from tennis, which he played right-handed, to elite golf, where he’d always been a leftie – took place in Dortmund, Germany, a city better known for its beer and its soccer team than for producing tennis or golf stars.
Cameron was successfully playing team tennis and practicing at a facility which catered for both tennis and golf, when it dawned on him that he preferred to play golf than tennis.
He’d played the game at Middle Ridge when he was growing up in Toowoomba and was good enough to have trimmed his handicap to five while still a teenager.
So Cameron secured an apprenticeship as a professional golfer, opted to pursue a career as a teaching pro rather than a tournament player, and settled down to a life of work and play in Europe.
Years later, that decision would lead Cameron on a path that would bring him to Noosa where, last week, he became a member of Peter Heiniger’s team of teaching professionals at Noosa Springs.
It was a dream job for Cameron who was unable to find a position in the golf industry when he returned from Germany to Toowoomba 10 years ago, even though his European qualifications bridged to Australia.
Undaunted, he went back to university, gained a commerce degree, became an accountant and eventually found himself teaching legal studies at a Toowoomba high school.
His first love, though, was always golf and he was regularly in touch with Middle Ridge and City – Toowoomba’s two golf clubs – asking to be remembered if a teaching position became available.
Eventually one did.
“It was great to be back at Middle Ridge where I’d played as a junior,” Cameron said. Later, he also coached at City Golf Club.
But he and wife Maxine, a hair stylist, were keen to tackle new challenges and were considering moves to either Melbourne or Noosa, when the position opened up with Heiniger Golf at Noosa Springs.
“It’s really good to be here,” he said.
“I’m enjoying the lifestyle and meeting the members, and looking forward to building relationships.”
Cameron said he had always loved teaching golf.
“It’s about the outcomes, I guess,” he said.
“There’s nothing quite like teaching the right things to a player and seeing their enjoyment when they start hitting the ball well.
“Sometimes you can see really quick improvement. I also love working with kids, helping them improve their games,” he said.
Dark day for Noosa in pennants
Noosa/s A grade pennant team – champions in each of the past three years – crashed out of contention for this year’s title on Sunday when they were demolished by Maroochy River 6½ – ½ in a one-sided semi- final.
The shock result came only seven days after the powerful Noosa squad had thrashed Maroochy River 5-2 in the final round of fixtures.
And in another massive upset, unbeaten Headland went down 4-3 in the other semi-final, setting up an unexpected final on Sunday between Maroochy River and Mt Coolum.
In what turned out to be a dark day for Noosa, the club’s B grade team went down to Cooroy 6-1, while Gympie dominated against Nambour, winning 5-2.
Sunday’s finals will be played at Headland, beginning at 7am. The junior Division 1 final, where Noosa Springs defends its title against a Maroochy River team, is scheduled for 9.30am. Full details are available at sunshinecoastgolf.org
Home advantage in Millbrook Challenge
It’s not quite the Ryder Cup, but the annual challenge between New Zealand’s Millbrook Golf Club and Noosa Springs is an international event that has become one of the highlights of the golfing calendar of both clubs.
As is the case with many great ideas, the Millbrook Challenge was conceived over a few glasses of wine shared by an Australian and a Kiwi after a round of golf.
It was early in 2007 that Noosa Springs’ David Meldrum and Graeme Evans, from Millbrook in Arrowtown, near Queenstown on New Zealand’s South Island, agreed to canvass the idea of an annual cross-Tasman competition between members of the two clubs.
The concept spread like wildfire and, in August of that year, a team from Millbrook arrived at Noosa Springs for the first Millbrook Challenge.
It was played over two days – the first featuring a mixed 4BBB stableford event and the second a single stableford competition contested by men and women. The top 10 scores from each club were counted to determine the winner.
Noosa Springs won that initial encounter, and in 2018 a squad from Noosa Springs trekked to Arrowtown, only to be beaten by the hosts.
The competition format has continued throughout the years, as has the practice of the home team always claiming the trophy.
There was a break in competition from 2014 until 2018, when the chairmen of the two clubs – Noosa Springs’ Jeff Barrett and Millbrook’s Kevin Peterson – resurrected the event. In 2019, Millbrook hosted, and won, the competition.
Covid and travel restrictions saw the event shelved until this month, when a team from Millbrook brought the trophy back to Noosa Springs.
Happily, they left it here when they returned.
The locals were far too strong over the two days and claimed the trophy, largely through the efforts of Noosa Springs’ Mike Angus, who combined with wife Dana to win the 4BBB team event on the first day, then took the individual stableford with 35 points on the second.
So attention now turns to next year, when a squad from our shores will head across the Tasman to attempt to become the first team to win the Millbrook Trophy on foreign soil.
Cooroy vets remember their history
It’s nearly 20 years since Cooroy opened its second nine holes, but many of the club’s old-timers clearly remember how the course used to be played.
And even if those memories may fade, the Cooroy veterans make sure the old nine-hole track is never entirely forgotten – at least for a couple of rounds a year.
Three weeks ago the vets hosted the first round of the Foundation Members Old Course Challenge – a competition that began in 2017 and is decided by scores recorded on the course’s original nine holes. The second, and final, round was played last week.
The original holes are one, two, three, four, five, six, 16, 17 and 18.
All golfers play an 18-hole stableford competition on the day, but separately record their scores for the nine old course holes on a second scorecard.
After the first round, Andrew Aves led with 23 points. But the winner, after second round scores were added, was James Henderson, who had rounds of 19 and 20 for an excellent aggregate score of 39.
Remarkably, it was his second successive win in the event. And the 39 points he accumulated over the full 18 holes on Wednesday was good enough for the C grade stableford prize.
As well as preserving a bit of club nostalgia, the Old Course Challenge commemorates the efforts of foundation members Ed Otto and Lionel Willett.
Sadly, 95-year-old Lionel couldn’t make it to the clubhouse, but was quick to pass on his best wishes to young James Henderson.
Club competitions
NOOSA
Monday 8 August
Women’s stableford: A grade – Tracy Whitbread 40, Allana Moore 39; B grade – Gail Stokes 41, Trish Corben 37; 9 holes: Lou Bowen 18, Barb Allen 17.
Tuesday 9 August
Men’s stableford: A grade – Karl Gottschalk 40, Justin Smith 39, Joe Ottaway 38c/b, Andrew Watson 38c/b; B grade – Donald O’Donnell 41, Brian Hansen 39, Mark Ostwald 38, Bob Cox 37c/b; C grade – Greg Steele 43, Colin White 41, Mark Buckley 39, Grainger Mayfield 38c/b.
Wednesday 10 August
Vets 4BBB aggregate stableford: Ted Burgess & John Duke 76, Jaro Cemy & John Humphreys 70c/b, Neal Moloney & John Kingston 70c/b.
NOOSA SPRINGS
Monday 8 August
Men’s stableford: A grade – Jack Chalmers 32c/b, David Geddes 32c/b, Jesse London 32c/b; B grade – Michael Hart 39, Robert Scarborough 36, Martin Cook 35; women’s: Janet Dunn 39, Susan Ellis 38, Susan Walker 32.
Tuesday 9 August
Men’s stableford: John Mulquiney 33, Peter Heinz 32, Gary Webster 31; women’s: Diana Taylor 38, Dot George 30, Margot McKellar 27.
Wednesday 10 August
Men’s stableford: A grade – John Betar 36, Jack Chalmers 35, Michael Pickering 33c/b, John Doggett 33c/b; B grade – David McMartin 36, Peter Kemp 33c/b, Darryl Dent 33, Vince Green 32c/b; women’s: A grade – Lorna Gibson 34, Tereza Holley 33, Rosie Randall 32; B grade – Rosemary Scarborough 36, Marlo Douglass 35, Susan Walker 33c/b.
Thursday 11 August
Men’s stableford: Ryley Martin 35, John Mulquiney 33, Peter Shortal 32; mixed Ambrose, 9 holes: Kaye Bollen, Rosemary Perkins, Kevin Perkins & Raffi Sekzenian 27¼; Lionel Richards, Taqui Golf, Debbie Collinge & Jennifer Richards 27¾c/b; Joss Cooper, Kini Naughton, Philip Fortington & PB 27¾.
Saturday 13 August
Men’s stableford: A grade – Peter Schouten 41, Doug Oates 38, Chris Wilson 37; B grade – Paul Phillips 36c/b, Angus Thomson 36c/b, John Buchanan 36c/b; women’s: A grade – Dianne Hudson 42, Lee-Ann Hay 40, Fran McLaughlin 37; B grade – Marlo Douglass 40, Janet Dunn 38, Robyn Buchanan 37.
Sunday 14 August
Men’s stableford: James McCulloch 39, John Doggett 32, David McMartin 31; women’s: Rosemary Scarborough 36, Joanne Avonen 31, Lesley Little 29.
COOROY
Tuesday 9 August
Women’s stroke: Div 1 – Kim Gladman 68, Christine Michael 74, Wendy O’Hare 76; Div 2 – Carmel Clark 69, Elaine Henman 76, Aileen Morton 79.
Wednesday 10 August
Vets stableford: Div 1 – Kerry Davies 39, Mark Kelly 36, Scott Bennett 36; Div 2 – Matt Saunders 41, Mark Woolway 40, Michael Lunney 38; Div 3 – James Henderson 39, John Cairns 37, Steve Paice 35c/b.
Thursday 11 August
Women’s stroke: Div 1 – Kim Gladman 69, Tina Thomas 70, Wendy O’Hare 71; Div 2 – Elaine Henman 72c/b, Jocelyn Rabjohns 72c/b, Carmel Clark 72.
