RIVERSIDE Golf Club was always Kendall Marchment’s home away from home.
As a youngster from Melbourne, Marchment and his family would often play at the Nichols Point course during Easter holidays.
Fast forward to now and that young man is now the club’s captain.
The role includes duties such as setting the program of events for the year, liasing with course staff regarding set-up for major events, finalising daily competition results and conducting presentations at their completion.
Since making the move to Mildura almost a decade ago, working as a mechanical fitter at Sunbeam, Marchment has made Riverside his home base.
“It has the friendliest bunch of members I’ve met at any golf club,” he said.
“As a junior we often used to come up at Easter time and play at Riverside, so I remembered that when I made the move up here.
“The course is so much different to those in Melbourne. It’s much tighter and more challenging and doesn’t leave a lot of room for error.”
Born in Sydney, Marchment grew up in Melton and learnt his love of golf from his father and grandfather.
“My Mum used to have to buy me a new set of plastic golf clubs every week because I tried hitting actual golf balls with them!” he said.
“A lot of the golf clubs down there you can’t join until you’re 10 so when I hit that age Dad joined me up at Melton.
“Through there I made VGA Colts Pennant squads and I moved on to Gisbourne before joining Victoria Golf Club.
“I won a few tournaments here and there, but being part of the Victorian junior squad was pretty special.”
While the past 12 months have not been ideal for anyone, Marchment said the lack of foot traffic had allowed the course to reach pristine condition.
“This is the best nick I’ve ever seen it,” he said.
“Obviously not having much foot traffic on it over the past 12 months, plus some rain, has allowed the curators to work their magic.
“The past 12 months have not been fun for anyone, so I really want to try and bring the club together and bring people out here to have some fun.”
The next major event for the club is the Riverside Open on May 1 and 2.
