Willunga golf club members shocked by Onkaparinga Council $28,800’s golf spending scandal

MEMBERS at Willunga Golf Club were left “shocked, disgusted and disappointed” that the Onkaparinga council golf membership debacle has cost ratepayers a staggering $28,800.

Onkaparinga council CEO Mark Dowd on the golf course.

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MEMBERS at Willunga Golf Club were left “shocked, disgusted and disappointed” that the Onkaparinga council golf membership debacle has cost ratepayers a staggering $28,800.

The council’s elected members voted to reimburse CEO Mark Dowd’s $6800 establishment membership fee at the prestigious Kooyonga Golf Club — which is outside the council area — and then spent a further $22,000 in legal fees trying to keep it secret.

Once the expenses had been made public, elected members rejected Cr Don Chapman’s call to ask Mr Dowd to repay the fees, voting down a motion 17-3 on Tuesday night.

Mr Chapman, who called for Mr Dowd to repay the fees, said he was surprised, given the ombudsman said the council was wrong to reimburse the CEO.

“I am surprised that they didn’t ask for it back,” he said.

Over a round of golf, a few members discussed what $28,800 could have been better spent on.

Mr Dowd could have bought 28 Willunga Golf Club memberships, or played 800 casual rounds of Sunday golf at the Willunga Golf Club.

Willunga golfers George Meyer, Ian Tuck, and Larry lodge, raise a $6 beer after a game of golf. Picture: Matt Loxton

He could take four people — a Chinese investor, an Onkaparinga ratepayer and a deserving council employee for a round of golf — for a round of golf 200 times.

At the golf club’s restaurant, he could buy 4800 pints of beer, or shout 1200 rounds for himself and three guests.

Or if that wasn’t enough, he could buy 11,520 golf balls at the club’s Pro Shop.

As dark clouds hang over the future of the golf club, Mr Chapman and fellow members of the Willunga Golf Club said it would have been best spent on the club’s growing deficit.

Ian Tuck, 64, from Woodcroft said no one begrudges Mr Dowd for playing at Kooyonga — if he’s paying for it by himself — but business should be done in the area.

Onkaparinga CEO Mark Dowd

“If he’s promoting Onkaparinga he should be in Onkaparinga area doing it, not at Kooyonga which is probably 40km from where his office is, he should be doing it here,” he said.

“They (Chinese businessmen) might want to invest in this place, they’re not going to invest in Kooyonga.”

“We’ve never seen him (the CEO), I don’t know of anyone here that’s seen him (at the club).”

Cr Gary Hennessy, who on Tuesday night said taking “a multi-millionaire to a less-than-best course” lacked commercial reality.

But golfer Andy Sutherland, 45, Sheidow Park, said despite the Willunga golf course being on the rough, it remained the place of “a lot of corporate negotiations and discussions”.

“There are plenty of corporate groups that come out here and other functions that go on,” he said.

“To say that there wouldn’t be any here as opposed to playing down the southern sandbelt is a bit of a fallacy — this is just a good a course as any around here.”

If Mr Dowds invited ratepayer John Ayres, 65, from O’Halloran Hill, for a game of golf, Mr Ayers said he would decline.

“It’s not good enough,” he said.

Mr Ayres, who had his own business, said he used to bring people to Willunga to experience the golf course and the wineries.

“People come here because its known for its trees, bird life, it’s delightful,” he said.

“I’ve brought people from overseas here to play golf and they absolutely loved it.”