Sports minister Tim Mander tours flood-soaked Townsville Golf Club as clean-up begins

The Ross River has started to drain out of the Townsville Golf Club’s course, revealing nine badly impacted fairways and a massive clean up for the not-for-profit club. See the pictures.

Townsville Golf Club: Floodwater covering the fairways during the 2025 deluge.

Volunteers armed with shovels and brooms worked throughout Townsville’s very muggy Friday cleaning truckloads of debris off a very soggy Townsville Golf Club course.

Normally an 18-hole course, club president Danny McLoughlin believes they’ll be lucky to get nine holes open by next weekend.

“There were quite a number of holes that became part of the Ross River during the dam releases,” Mr McLoughlin said.

“We’re confident we can get the course up and running again, the main thing is the lag-on effect on the damaged greens, and we’ve also got a swarm of army ants eating their way through everything.”

Mr McLoughlin said a damaged green can take up to three months to grow back, and replacing one can cost anywhere from $100,000 to $200,000.

Townsville Golf Club: Club president Danny McLoughlin beside a heavily washed out cart path damaged when the Ross River cut onto the course.

The club was visited by Queensland sports minister Tim Mander on Friday, February 14, who used the opportunity to point people toward $5000 grants currently available to help community sports clubs.

Mr Mander said the $5000 Sports and Recreation Disaster Recovery Program was for “initial disaster relief” and officials from his department will be travelling across the flood affected region soon to get a better estimate of the long-term rebuild costs.

Townsville Golf Club: Sports Minister Tim Mander addresses the media

Townsville Golf Club general manager Mitch Bligh said the club has already received their $5000 grant and is using the money to help run a pump that is clearing water out of the fairways, and to purchase equipment like shovels.

Townsville Golf Club: Clean-up volunteers (L-R) Mez Cheetham, Desma Wojciechowski, Julie Laslett and Val Thompson.

“Today is the first day we’ve been able to get out here and see everything,” Mr Bligh said.

“The river winds around the back of the golf course and it has destroyed the bank.”

The golf course is surrounded on two sides by the Ross River, which bends around the property, and is just 2.8km downstream of Alpin’s Weir.

Townsville Golf Club: Floodwater covering the fairways during the 2025 deluge.

Alongside over 200m of bank erosion, the club - which is a not-for-profit run by a committee of volunteers - is also dealing with damaged irrigation systems, bunker damage, fairway damage, eroded cart paths, and are currently trying to save as much of their “finicky” couch grass as possible.

Sports clubs in need of help covering clean-up costs can apply for the grant at qlf.gov.au/recreation/sports/funding/disaster-recovery

Originally published as Sports minister Tim Mander tours flood-soaked Townsville Golf Club as clean-up begins