Recognising Australia’s Leading Clubs & Resorts in Service Excellence
On Friday, 29h May 2026 – 59club Australia & New Zealand held its third Service Excellence Awards at the Coogee Bay Hotel on the eastern beaches of Sydney. We had the privilege of recognising the very best Venues, Teams, and Individuals for their dedication to customer service excellence during an intimate lunch awards ceremony.
59club’s industry accolades are determined by scores collected from their impartial mystery shopping audits, which evaluates the experience afforded to patrons all in accordance with 59club’s objective benchmarking criteria.
During the awards ceremony, six awards were presented to the Individuals, Managers and Teams responsible for delivering the very best one-off experience across Australia. These awards recognised Retail Experience, F&B Experience, Golf Operations Team, Golf Visitor Experience over $120 Green Fee, Golf Visitor Experience Under $120 Green Fee and Most Improved Golf Visitor Experience.
A further six main award titles collectively recognised 59club Australia & New Zealand’s finest Customer Service Providers for maintaining elite levels of service excellence throughout 2024 and 2025, before the presentation of 59club’s iconic Flag designations took centre stage, of which eight were awarded.
Sam Hughes, General Manager of 59club Australia & New Zealand, commented;
“It was an honour to once again celebrate the outstanding achievements of the venues and individuals who have partnered with 59club Australia & New Zealand this year. We continue to see remarkable improvements across all venues as they apply rigorous measurement to their customer journeys and team interactions, consistently raising service standards and setting new benchmarks for excellence in the golf industry. Their ongoing commitment to enhancing guest experiences, driving revenue growth, and building lasting brand loyalty remains truly inspiring. It is especially rewarding to witness the awards grow year on year, with more attendees each year joining us to recognise and celebrate this collective progress. To all nominees and winners, your passion, dedication, and hard work continue to shape a stronger, brighter future for our industry.”
A special thank you to our valued partners, Turtleson, Golf Industry Central – The Golf Marketing Professionals, Pacesetter Technology, Global Talent Solutions, Zen Golf, Power Tee, Banbury Litho Ltd, Caddy Clubhouse and Studio Graphene, for their unwavering support as we continue this journey together, already looking ahead to an even brighter 2027 awards celebration.
Golf Operations Team of the Year – Led by Craig Stickling, New South Wales Golf Club
New South Wales Golf Club and Links Golf & Wellbeing emerged as the big winners of the night, both securing accolades in a total of 8 awards between them, along with retaining the coveted title of Gold Flag Designation.
Retail Manager of the Year – Brad Fairclough, New South Wales Golf Club
Elanora Country Club has joined the exclusive ranks of Gold Flag venues in Australia, adding its name to the growing list of industry leaders New South Wales Golf Club, The Lakes Club, and Links Golf & Wellbeing by consistently exceeding the stringent criteria required to attain this prestigious Golf Flag Designation.
13th Beach are now our first venue to go from Bronze Flag to Silver Flag which is a great achievement as they continually look at ways to improve the customer journey. They were also nominated for Food & Beverage Manager of the year.
Portsea Golf Club received their first Bronze Flag Designation along with the Most Improved Golf Visitor Experience award. The team at Portsea also shared nominations in the following categories: Retail Manager of the Year, Golf Operations Team of the Year, Golf Manager of the Year and Superintendent of the Year over $120.
The Lakes Golf Club, Glenelg Golf Club and Noosa Springs Resort also retained their respective Gold, Silver and Bronze Flags, demonstrating consistency and customer service excellence year on year.
The Lakes Golf Club – Gold Flag Designation
As is tradition across all the 59club franchises around the globe, the ceremony culminated with the presentation of 59club’s Gold, Silver & Bronze Flag Designations – The ultimate recognition for clubs & resorts who strive to deliver the best facilities and service offering to their Members and Guests. The full list of winners can be found here.
*For the full list of winners, see below.
59CLUB Australia & New Zealand FLAG DESIGNATIONS
(in alphabetical order):
BRONZE FLAG DESIGNATION: Portsea Golf Club, Noosa Springs Golf & Spa Resort
SILVER FLAG DESIGNATION: Glenelg Golf Club , 13th Beach Golf Links
GOLD FLAG DESIGNATION: Elanora Country Club, Links Golf & Wellbeing, The Lakes Golf Club, New South Wales Golf Club
59CLUB Australia & New Zealand ‘SERVICE EXCELLENCE’ AWARD WINNERS
Food & Beverage Manager of the Year: Victoria Trikilis, New South Wales Golf Club
Retail Manager of the Year: Brad Fairclough, New South Wales Golf Club
Golf Operations Team of the Year: New South Wales Golf Club, led by Craig Stickling, PGA
Golf Manager of the Year: Paul Rolles, Links Golf & Wellbeing
Superintendent of the Year (under $120 green fee): Kurt Schulenburg, Long Reef Golf Club
Superintendent of the Year (over $120 green fee): Mark Parker, New South Wales Golf Club
59club Leading Individual Experience Award:
Leading Individual Food & Beverage Experience:
New South Wales Golf Club
Leading Individual Retail Experience:
Leading Individual Golf Operations Team:
Links Golf & Wellbeing
Leading Individual Golf Visitor Experience (under $120 green fee):
Coolangatta & Tweed Heads Golf Club
Leading Individual Golf Visitor Experience (over $120 green fee):
New South Wales Golf Club
Most Improved Golf Visitor Experience: