What happened was this: Kerri-Anne Kennerley was invited by a friend to play in a charity golf tournament at the Ocean Club in the Bahamas, part of the Duke of Edinburgh Cup, a global series of events that raise millions of dollars for children and which has, as its major prize, golf at Wentworth and Windsor Castle, and a dinner with our man the Duke.\u00a0<\/p>\n
And, being a pretty tidy 18-marker and golf addict who had honed her game at The Australian with Gary Barter among others, our Ms Kennerley up and won it. You beauty! And there was a post-round celebration that would have made Australia proud.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The prize was a motza: airfares, accommodation, three rounds of golf including one at the fabulous Wentworth, and a black-tie dinner at the family home at Windsor Castle.<\/p>\n
There were butlers and people in red coats, and guards in interesting hats. There were succulent roasted meats and the wine was served in goblets.\u00a0<\/p>\n
And there was, of course, the Duke of Edinburgh, Edward, a nice one, son of the old Duke of Edinburgh, Phillip, and Her Majesty the Queen, Elizabeth, another very nice one.<\/p>\n
And, of course, our Ms Kennerley was there, seated next to his lordship, or whatever we call him, Edward, the 15th in line to the throne and very healthy odds with Ladbrokes to be the next King.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s a lovely chap – charming, delightful, very normal,\u201d according to Kennerley. \u201cHe\u2019s not a huge golfer, loves his tennis. But when he took up the title that was his father\u2019s, he took on the charity, too. And they make lots of money for the kids. And it was just a wonderful few days and a great fun evening.\u201d<\/p>\n
Just for posh people, though, right? Kennerley scoffs as if to say, we\u2019re Australians, mate. We don\u2019t do posh.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s just a golf day that\u2019s super fun and raises a lot of money for charity,\u201d Kennerley says. \u201cIt\u2019s very cool to be involved in. There\u2019s functions and lunches every day.<\/p>\n
“And the golf was so cool. You play the fabulous Wentworth and Windsor Castle\u2019s own course, known as the Royal Household Golf Course at Windsor Castle. It was just very cool, though I certainly didn\u2019t win.<\/p>\n
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\u201cThe big black-tie dinner, we just had the best time ever. It\u2019s one of those experiences that money can\u2019t buy. And they\u2019re starting a qualifying tournament in Australia, and I stuck my hand up to give them a hand.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Which is how we came to be at Long Reef GC on Sydney\u2019s northern beaches having a hit with Kennerley, her sister Jan Keogh, and my mate \u201cBlacky\u201d, Greg Black, a former water police who once piloted Kennerley and friends around the Whitsundays on a big white boat.<\/p>\n
Kennerley says she got into golf in her 50s \u201cjust to annoy my sister, Jan\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe married somebody who was a golfer many years ago. And you know what golfers are like; they come back from playing golf, and they\u2019re talking you through every shot, hole by hole. And I got a bit bored of that. But I also thought, well, I better give it a crack,\u201d Kennerley says.<\/p>\n
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Defending Australian Open champion Cam Davis casts a watchful eye over fellow The Australian member, Kerri-Anne Kennerley’s short iron in 2018. PHOTO: Getty Images.<\/p>\n
And the golf bug \u2013 along with the golf-travel-and-have-a-cracking-time-with-your-pals-in-exotic-locations bug \u2013 bit Ms Kennerley deep. She tried to play five times a week but her work \u2013 as one of Australia\u2019s most famous broadcasters and winner of three Gold Logies \u2013 rarely allowed it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But today she does play and practise enough to be an honest 18.1 marker with a solid little swing that elicits a tidy little draw. And while she does admit to a competitive streak, we do forget to find our golf balls on occasion as we roll around having a yarn.<\/p>\n
PLUS… The March 2026 issue of Golf Australia magazine will be on shelves across the country this Thursday … and it\u2019s a proper ripper.<\/p>\n
One of her lessons for golf, and probably life is: \u201cIt doesn\u2019t matter how badly you play, it\u2019s always possible to play worse.\u201d<\/p>\n And so we golf and gossip and talk so much we\u2019re chipped by a cranky Irishman who told us we were two holes behind. Well, one of the holes was a par-3, and he was in a three-ball, two of them scooting about in a cart. And we were having fun and a yarn playing golf on a Tuesday afternoon, the worries of the world in another universe. But, point taken, cranky-pants.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Kennerley\u2019s golf yarns are good enough to play slow for, particularly her interviews with Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods, Greg Norman and Gary Player.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cJack was a lovely man,\u201d she says. \u201cI interviewed him at a function at The Australian when they had him over to redesign the course. And he said, \u2018So many of you members have been saying that I should make the course the toughest test possible\u2019.<\/p>\n “Then he looked around the room and said, \u2018But you know, I don\u2019t see anybody in this room that\u2019s getting any younger\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n She met Tiger Woods before the Australian Masters in 2009 and says he was \u201clovely and polite\u201d. Another granted an audience with the great Eldrick was footballer Harry Kewell, \u201cwho was so nervous before meeting Tiger he could barely speak,\u201d Kennerey reports.\u00a0<\/p>\n Kerri-Anne Kennerley loads up on the 18th fairway at Long Reef GC. PHOTO: Matt Cleary<\/p>\n We agree that Greg Norman\u2019s prickly reputation with media is warranted, and that we know veteran working journalists who really, really don\u2019t like him.<\/p>\n \u201cBut he was never anything other than completely giving of his time with me,\u201d Kennerley says. \u201cAnd he\u2019d do anything to promote Australian golf.\u201d<\/p>\n And Mr Player? \u201cAn absolute pocket rocket,\u201d laughs Kennerley.<\/p>\n \u201cHe was 88 or something and he came out to Kooyonga Golf Club in 2023 to help the club celebrate its 100th anniversary. He won his first Australian Open there [in 1958]. And he turned up and ran the show. \u2018Get me your 10 juniors now! We\u2019ll have a clinic!\u2019 People went scurrying. They had to get kids out of school.\u201d<\/p>\n We talk shop of her time on the board of Golf Australia. We talk of the schism between Golf Australia and Golf NSW. She wants to know the mail on Chris Minns\u2019 \u201cridiculous\u201d attack on Moore Park.<\/p>\n Kerri-Anne Kennerley makes pure contact on the 18th fairway at Long Reef GC. PHOTO: Matt Cleary<\/p>\n She wants to know what Golf Australia magazine is doing to promote women\u2019s golf. She wants to help us with future magazines, promoting women and girls. Promoting golf.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I was growing up, girls just never played golf. It just wasn\u2019t a thing. It\u2019s just how it was,\u201d Kennerley says. \u201cBut now there are so many avenues. Women can sometimes be hesitant to join what they perceive to be male-dominated clubs. But it\u2019s not the case.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIf you\u2019re just getting into it \u2013 whatever age you are, and man, woman, boy, girl \u2013 I would say play a lot of public courses and go out and have a few lessons. You have to learn the right way from the beginning. And stick with it, find your people – and have fun!<\/p>\n \u201cBecause that\u2019s the game – you can have so much fun with golf. It\u2019s one of those sports that whether you\u2019re 10 years old or 90, you can play this sport. It\u2019s a great walk. There\u2019s great camaraderie. And anywhere you go around Australia, you can go somewhere by yourself and meet some fabulous people.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n One of those, if you\u2019re lucky, would be Ms Kennerley herself, who is about as much fun to have a hit with as Robin Williams. Maybe not that much fun. But pretty good fun.<\/p>\n Another who\u2019d be perhaps less fun though a pretty cool talking point, is the Duke of Edinburgh, Edward, who – if you practice a lot and enjoy a day out at Commonwealth GC on May 26th – will host you for dinner at Windsor Castle, with the red coats and goblets, and all that.<\/p>\n Sound good? Kennerley\u2019s estimate for the green fee (though details are yet to be announced) is $1500. The funds raised go to a long-time Australian charity, the Duke of Ed, a \u201cglobal youth development program for ages 14-24, offering a framework to build life skills like resilience and leadership through self-chosen activities in volunteering, skills, physical recreation, and adventurous journeys, leading to an internationally recognized certificate that helps with future education and employment.\u201d<\/p>\n Top of that you can play a group one Sandbelt course that\u2019s been renovated by Tom Doak and Brian Slawnik\u2019s Renaissance Golf Design and which Golf Australia magazine has rated 25th in the land with a bullet.<\/p>\n
PLUS… Golf Australia magazine presents our Top-100 Courses list for 2026, a feature-length guide to the best golf courses in the land. The list, compiled with input from an expert panel of golfers, travellers and architecture buffs, is a celebration of the country\u2019s finest layouts, from coastal masterpieces to inland gems.<\/p>\n
And you\u2019ll contest an event which offers, as its major prize, a trip for two to England to play golf Wentworth and the royal course at Windsor Castle. There\u2019s a heap of functions, long lunches. And then, of course, there is the almighty feast in the grand old dining hall in which you can dress up like an extra – or even supporting actor if you\u2019re sat next to The Duke – in Downton Abbey.\u00a0<\/p>\n Kennerely says the top-two players win the invite.<\/p>\n \u201cIt includes airfare and accommodation,\u201d Kennerley says. \u201cYou can register your interest at the website<\/a>. I just wanted to give people a little taste.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cNow, did you see where my ball is?\u201d<\/p>\n
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\n Golf Australia magazine March 2026: Why this issue hits different
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\n RANKING: Australia’s Top-100 Courses for 2026
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