Becoming a general manager was never the plan. Five years after her first shift in the Secret Harbour pro shop, she\u2019s the GM who hosted the WA Open.<\/p>\n
Sophie Edwards spent her very first day in the pro shop sending golfers off both nines with no idea about crossovers. Five years later, she\u2019s the general manager who has hosted the WA Open and, in her own delightfully honest words, was pinching herself in the lead-up.<\/p>\n
\u201cI remember feeling so out of my own depth,\u201d Edwards says of that first day at Secret Harbour Golf Links in 2019. \u201cI had absolutely no idea what I was doing and messed up the whole field, sending people off both nines with no idea of crossovers. The one thing that stood out to me was how welcoming and comical our membership base was, it became very clear to me that learning all their nicknames was just as important as figuring out what a Stableford comp was.\u201d<\/p>\n
That\u2019s the thing that got her hooked: the people. \u201cI started out on a casual basis and fell in love with the community golf creates,\u201d she says. \u201cInternally, the members and public golfers have been so welcoming, while also working towards providing golfers with the experience they desire is rewarding and challenging. Externally, the golf industry has been the most supportive and encouraging industry I could imagine. I couldn\u2019t see myself in any other industry now.\u201d<\/p>\n
So she said yes. To everything that came her way. Drinks cart, accounts, membership, even helping the greens staff with coring, quietly building the kind of knowledge that only comes from working every corner of a golf club.<\/p>\n
\u201cThroughout my journey in the business, every opportunity I was given I never said no,\u201d Edwards says. \u201cWe run with a small team at Secrets, which gave me the opportunity to wear many hats in a day. Being able to learn every department gave me a unique approach to transitioning to GM with an operational understanding.\u201d<\/p>\n
It wasn\u2019t a path Edwards ever expected to walk. \u201cI never planned on becoming GM. If I told myself where I ended up five years ago, I would probably laugh,\u201d she says. \u201cAs I grew and people trusted me more, I began to realise I was influential and important to the growth of the business, which ignited my passion.\u201d<\/p>\n
Edwards is careful to share the credit, especially with the people who taught her the game and the club itself. \u201cMy past GM Ben Sweeny created a four-year plan back in 2022 to develop my career to the point of being able to step into his shoes,\u201d she says. \u201cOur golf operations manager Nic Pull spent hours weekly growing my golf knowledge and tournament knowledge. And our superintendent Tom Tristram took the time to teach me course care and project planning. He was the one who taught me to create a solution to every problem and figure the rest out along the way.\u201d<\/p>\n
On working in a mostly male-dominated industry, Edwards speaks with a clear-eyed honesty and real hope.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe golf industry is in a huge time of growth for women, and I have been incredibly lucky for the opportunities this has created. I am aware it wasn\u2019t always like this and there will always be that old school mindset, however I will take this time of growth and run with it as far as it can take me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Earning her team\u2019s trust, she says, came down to something refreshingly simple. \u201cI think it was just showing up for the team consistently. I would never say I am the smartest person or most knowledgeable, but I\u2019ll fix and solve what I can, even if it\u2019s with zip ties.\u201d<\/p>\n
That consistency was tested on the biggest stage of her career yet, with Edwards stepping into the GM role just weeks before Secret Harbour hosted the WA Open in October.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am still pinching myself that I have this opportunity to host and learn from the best in the business,\u201d she said ahead of the event. \u201cThe buzz this event has created within the team, our members and wider community is contagious. Working alongside GolfWA and the PGA to bring together the WA Open is a life-changing learning curve that I will bring to internal events and day-to-day operations.\u201d<\/p>\n
Edwards\u2019 advice for the next woman weighing up a career in golf-club management is encouraging: \u201cDeep dive into the industry as soon as possible. Being involved in the GMA, conferences and PD days not only grew my knowledge but solidified my place within the industry through the connections I made.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ask what surprises people most about the job and her answer says everything about who she is. \u201cBeing able to listen
is the most important skill,\u201d she says. \u201cI realised stepping into this role, nobody is expecting you to have the answers, but everybody wants to be heard.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Becoming a general manager was never the plan. Five years after her first shift in the Secret Harbour…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":954737,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[566],"tags":[64,63,8779,755,85,522125],"class_list":["post-954736","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-careers","tag-golf","tag-sports","tag-womens-editions-summer-2026"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/954736","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=954736"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/954736\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/954737"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=954736"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=954736"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=954736"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}