A full clubhouse refresh, a new outdoor terrace and a state-of-the-art simulator facility are paying dividends for Campbelltown Golf Club, with the venue recording consecutive revenue records since it wrapped up renovations in October.

The investment was underpinned by certainty. Part of the Campbelltown Catholic Club group, the council-owned course and clubhouse secured a new 50-year lease.

“That was enough confidence for our Board to say, ‘let’s do something,’” general manager Dave Turner told Club Management.

Planning had been underway for several years prior to works beginning just before Easter last year. While it was not a full rebuild, the renovation touched almost every part of the clubhouse.

“The clubhouse really needed updating; the carpet was damaged and furniture was old,” Turner said.

Upgrades included new carpet and furniture, fresh paint, a new foyer and reception desk, kitchen improvements, and the relocation of the gaming room, which made space for a new outdoor terrace, featuring fire pits and lounge seating. The terrace was the only new addition to the floor space, with the remainder focused on reconfiguring and optimising the club’s existing footprint.

The outdoor terrace offers views overlooking the golf course. Image credit: Supplied.

The former gaming room also made way for The Bays, the club’s new TrackMan Performance Facility. The purpose-built space features both Trackman TM4 and IO DUO technology to support precision practice, coaching, and year-round game development. 

The result, as Turner described, is “night and day”.

“It’s very modern and very contemporary. It’s a very pleasant place to be,” he said.

Betting on off-course golf

The introduction of TrackMan technology to the club reflects an industry trend that Turner said he and the wider golf club industry has been watching grown over several years.

“Golf Australia has been talking for a number of years now about off-course golf being the biggest growth in the golf industry,” he said.

With more than 530 courses available virtually and game modes ranging from children’s games to “PGA-quality training”, the facility caters to everyone “whether you’ve never swung a club in your life, or whether you’re Tiger Woods”.

The Bays offers year-round play. Image credit: Supplied.

Beyond its appeal as an all-weather, air-conditioned alternative to the course, Turner said the simulators complement the club’s food and beverage trade.

“Our bar’s 10 metres away. It’s a really good accompaniment for our F&B trade,” he said.

While it is difficult to isolate the simulators’ direct impact, the results since reopening have been emphatic.

“We beat our [total revenue] record in October, then we beat it again in November, and then we beat it again in December,” Turner said.

The uplift also reflects golf’s broader post-COVID surge. Rounds at the course have jumped from around 30,000 annually to close to 50,000 in recent years, Turner said.

Rebranding the bistro

Alongside the cosmetic works, the club rebranded and relaunched its dining offer as Birdies Bistro. The menu was overhauled by head chef Shaun Holmes in partnership with the group’s executive chef, balancing innovation with crowd favourites.

“You can’t reinvent the wheel every time for the sake of it,” Turner said. “We changed the menu slightly… and it’s proving to be really popular.”

Birdie’s Bistro was introduced as part of the refresh. Image credit: Supplied.

For Turner, the upgrades were about more than aesthetics. With a dense residential catchment and strong existing trade, the club “just needed that polish with the renovations”.

The renovation work was delivered with the help of architect firm Cullinan Ivanov Partnership and building company Meridian Construction Services.

“It has been incredibly rewarding to achieve so much on a tight project budget. And to have a project so well received is a tribute to our team and our incredibly important project partners,” Cullinan Ivanov Partnership director Richard Cullinan said.

Now, with refreshed facilities and diversified offerings, Campbelltown Golf Club is well positioned to ride golf’s popularity wave.