Vincentia Locals Tee-Up For A Long Shot

They said developing it was a done deal and many believed that.

But an ambitious cooperative of Vincentia community individuals and groups will tomorrow formally bid to take control of the Vincentia Golf Club, save the course and create a social hub for the community with employment and training opportunities for the region's young people.

Jervis Bay Community & Sports Club (JBCSC) became a registered company on February 21, 2025, aiming to secure a future for the troubled Vincentia Golf Club (VGC) precinct by "de-amalgamating" from The Country Club - St Georges Basin.

Vincentia Golf Club had amalgamated with The Country Club - St George Basin in 2016 with members hoping the parent club would reinvigorate the site and get the small club back on its feet.

But there was apparently no appetite for the work and investment required to update the clubhouse, maintain the course and promote the club as a focal point of Vincentia.

There was, however, an almost irresistible $12.5 million proposal for a 60-bed aged care facility and at least 200 apartments with a private bowling green, pool and pickleball courts and a modest nine hole golf course.

After the Vincentia club members voted overwhelmingly against selling to private developers, The Country Club gave up on its Vincentia Golf Club property and closed its doors to angry members in August 2024.

It wasn't a viable operation, said the Country Club board, and its hilltop bush location was far more valuable as a development site.

Many felt Vincentia GC had been purposely neglected in favour of development plans despite that locals were vehemently against carving up their course.

In early September 2024 the community came together and formed the Vincentia Golf Club Working Group, comprising representatives from VRRA, Vincentia Matters and Friends of Vincentia Golf Club (FoVGC), the three Vincentia golf sub-clubs, residents and other community members, to liaise with the St Georges Basin Country Club.​

The Country Club board underestimated the depth of feeling and capacity for fundraising of Vincentia's golfing community.

It's hasn't been easy - or harmonious - but with perseverance and investment, JBSCS, might just pull off the longest of shots to resist the lure of big developers and transform the Vincentia Golf Club into a genuinely community-led multi-use enterprise.

The story so far from JBSCS Director, Tom Karp

Vincentia Golf Club was started in 1969 via a purchase and partial land grant from a developer, Warren Halloran.

Through the hard work of early residents, thousands of community hours were invested into constructing a 9-hole golf course and, some years later, a club house.

The club enjoyed many happy years and traded with a small profit. The course was extended to 13 holes.

The golf course has on-site dams providing a watering system for the course. It is also challenging with hills and many trees, and this has probably contributed to our golfers considerable success in competitions in the region.

However, financial debt accumulated from the extensions to the club house, and the improvements and extensions to the course.

In 2016, the club had the choice of amalgamating with the Country Club St Georges Basin (CC) or closing its doors.

On amalgamation, the CC paid off the $1.5m debt in return for ownership of the entire course and clubhouse, which then had an estimated value of around $6m.

Since the amalgamation with the CC there has been minimal maintenance on the clubhouse and course, but there has not been any revitalising of the clubhouse or investment in food and catering to attract more patronage as was stipulated in the Memorandum of Understanding for amalgamation.

It appears that the CC were considering developments at Vincentia at the time of amalgamation and possibly talking to developers very soon after amalgamation.

In August 2024 an Extraordinary General Meeting of CC members voted on whether to reclassify some land from core to non-core land to allow a senior’s living development to occur. The proposal for a large-scale development up to four stories high was out of character for the area.

The vote to reclassify was an overwhelming NO.

In response, the CC immediately closed the Vincentia Golf Club clubhouse and course, barring entry to all members and patrons and stirring up action and dissent in Vincentia.

In December 2024 the local state member Liza Butler intervened, and the CC re-opened the course in January 2025 then later called for expressions of interest to de-amalgamate Vincentia from the Country Club St Georges Basin.

Representatives of the golfers, nearby residents and other community groups set up a Project Team to work through the detail of de-amalgamation.

The Vincentia community set up the Jervis Bay Community and Sports Club (JBCSC) on 21 February 2025 as one option to take back Vincentia.

The Project Team also liaised with a number of registered clubs who may have been interested in taking on Vincentia and who we felt would be a good fit because they had a suitable ethos and community approach.

However, none of these clubs have remained interested, so at this stage the JBCSC is the only remaining entity interested in taking on Vincentia Golf Club.

JBCSC aims to be more than a traditional registered club.

It will provide a centre for golf and other sports and hospitality services, but importantly it also aims to be a community hub for social gatherings, community groups and celebrations as well as providing work training opportunities for local youth.

We are looking at what other sports we might provide (eg pickleball), which additional facilities we can offer (eg children’s play areas) and how we can provide youth work training .

There is the ambition to eventually expand the golf course to 18 holes.

We recognise that there is a lack of local training opportunities for youth, especially vulnerable youth. We believe JBCSC could provide youth training opportunities in hospitality, course management and golf pro space, to name a few.

This is a real opportunity for JBCSC to break new ground, and it is perhaps a model for others in the Shoalhaven area.

Training opportunities can also extend to the mature demographic, including the retired population, through possibilities with U3A and specialist community groups.

We now have more than 600 people signed up via the JBCSC website to keep up to date with developments and support us. We will soon ask the community to financially support us via membership fees and donations.

We will also be approaching community groups and nearby residents for their support and input on what facilities they want and how best to keep the green space we have on the golf course and its surrounds, which includes Jervis Bay National Park.

The golf course is picturesque with views of Jervis Bay and the escarpment.

The JBCSC has advised the Country Club that it has strong community support to take back Vincentia. We need funds to repair the dilapidated clubhouse and re-commence operations.

We have progressed in finding a funding source, but we will also need to raise funds from the local community. We then need to negotiate a deal with the Country Club, and it will need to be voted on by club members.

This is a lengthy and complicated process and will take many months.

But strong vocal support from the Vincentia community and other supporters is what will help us achieve this and create a hub designed to build community coherence, harmony, resilience and ecological sustainability through enhancing individual, family and group wellbeing becoming an expression of Jervis Bay’s heartbeat.

This Community Sporting Club will complement Jervis Bay’s globally known white sand beaches, marine sanctuaries and natural environmental wonders.

It could also be a destination of choice for the thousands of tourists to Jervis Bay each year.

What price for the Country Club to let Vincentia go it alone?

CC President Bob Proudfoot’s sent a missive on 2 June 2025 that was substantially misleading in the claim that that the CC management met with two directors of the newly formed JBCSC in September 2024, when in fact JBCSC was not established until February 2025.

It was also misleading in implying that the CC has provided JBCSC with the basic due diligence information it has requested - in particular the CC has not provided a detailed list of assets that would be transferred under a de-amalgamation, despite that the legislation requires this to be provided.

The CC set a strict deadline for the JBCSC to come up with a bid. But the JBCSC team are ready for negotiations to begin on Friday June 20.

For more information, updates on progress or to support the Vincentia community in creating this community hub, visit www.jbcsc.com.au

Tom Karp is the Director of JBCSC and a retired actuary with more than 40 years’ experience in insurance and financial regulation. Tom was a Senior Executive with the Insurance and Superannuation Commission (ISC Commissioner) and the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority. He held senior roles in the International Association of Insurance Supervisors and the International Actuarial Association. Tom was a board member on three government bodies and a consultant to the IMF and World Bank on insurance related projects. Tom lives in Vincentia and loves playing golf.