REGIONAL PROFILE Worrigee Links was built in the early 2000s and opened on 1 January 2004. It forms part of the Worrigee Sports precinct on the outskirts of Nowra on the NSW South Coast
Worrigee Links/Ex-Servos, NSW An 18-hole golf course, two bowling greens and a cricket oval with turf wicket block. Chris Regan and his small team at Worrigee Links, part of the Shoalhaven Ex-Services Group on the NSW South Coast, certainly have their work cut out managing three separate facilities. Superintendent: Chris Regan (50). Nickname: Rego. Family: Wife Kerrie, children Hugh (14) and Grace (9). Social media: On all of them, only to keep an eye on my 14-year-old son, to ensure he’s doing the right things! Period as a superintendent: 12 months. Association involvement: ASTMA and NSWGCSA. Career: Nowra Golf Club (casual, apprentice and 2IC 1990-1998), Elanora Country Club (1998-2002), Worrigee Links (2003 to present, including 13 years as assistant). Qualifications: Trade Certificate Greenkeeping and Cert III in Landscape and Design. Major hobbies/past-times: Coaching my son’s rugby league team, riding motorbikes, listening to good Aussie rock music and family time with our dog Maggie. I’m also a mad supporter of the St George Illawarra Dragons. 58
Where in Australia is Worrigee Links and what is the club/township famous for? We are situated on the south coast of NSW, two hours south of Sydney. Nowra is the main town which sees us in the catchment of the City of Shoalhaven. Nowra is famous for the horse Archer that won the first two Melbourne Cups. Legend has it that Archer was walked from Nowra to Melbourne! Arwon, which is ‘Nowra’ spelt backwards, also won a Melbourne Cup. We have had many sporting stars come from our region who have represented Australia in rugby league, rugby union, athletics, cricket, basketball, hockey, swimming, bowls and golf. Tell us a bit about your background and how you started out in the turf industry. I finished school in 1988 and started at Nowra Golf Club as a casual under superintendent Ed Watts. I finished my apprenticeship there before moving up to 2IC. I then had the great
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opportunity to continue greenkeeping at Elanora Country Club in Sydney under another influential superintendent Peter Schumacher. I really enjoyed my time on the Northern Beaches and made some wonderful life-long friends. In 2003 an opportunity arrived to move back home and start as 2IC under Tony Webster at Worrigee Links. The Regan family name is quite renowned in our area as my grandfather, father and uncles all played a lot of sport in the region. I am involved in an organisation called The Bernie Regan Sporting Trust which is named in honour of my father who passed away in 1984. From his sports store in Nowra, he assisted local children financially to achieve their sporting goals. On his passing, the Trust was set up to continue his vision of helping families financially. To date over $360,000 has been awarded in grants, something that we are very proud of.
