American amateur golfing legend Bobby Jones once remarked that golf is the closest thing to the game we call life.
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“You get bad breaks from good shots; you get good breaks from bad shots – but you have to play the ball where it lies,” he said.
Certainly the farmers battling years of drought in outback Queensland know a think or two about that.
And it might explain in part why Burrumbuttock Hay Runners organiser Brendan Farrell is teeing off on a special crowd-funding project for one of the towns on his recent hay run north.
He is calling for donations to support the Muttaburra Golf Cart Shed Project, which has a fundraising target of $10,000.
After the 12th hay run from Darlington Point to Muttaburra in February, Mr Farrell was asked to play a round of golf with the locals.
It was then he noticed the poor condition of the sheds to house the golf carts and wanted to assist the community to build something new.
With the gradual demise of local polocrosse, rugby and other sporting clubs, golf is about all that’s left in the tiny township, he said.
“Golf provides great social interaction for farmers,” Mr Farrell said.
“They will travel an hour to go and play golf for three hours and get together for a chat so it’s vital in keeping community spirit alive.”
In a recent update to the Burrumbuttock Hay Runners Facebook page, Mr Farrell said he was “still here” and would not abandon drought-stricken farmers.
“I think a lot of people thought I’d have gone away by now,” he said.
“But the drought hasn’t gone away and so I’ll just keep putting my hand up.”
In April, Mr Farrell met with the “big guns” (Rotary Club of Sydney executive which helps manage hay run donations) to discuss his plans for outback communities for the next three to five years.
An August hay run has been flagged but Mr Farrell said “the kitty has dropped away a fair bit” with less than $200,000 remaining.
“We need all the money we can possibly get for fuel,” he said.
“We are starting to stockpile hay again but there’s a lot to do and I also have to keep the wheels turning on my own trucks.”
For now Mr Farrell is calling on the community to support the golf project and, if the response to his previous efforts is any indication, Muttaburra can expect some fine accommodation for its golf carts in the near future.
The man who says he’s “just a bloke with a truck” is still rolling out the help to keep the dream alive for farmers.
To donate to the golf shed project click here
