Bev’s breaking barriers as dual golfing president

The Numurkah golfer has been president of her home club, the Numurkah Golf and Bowls Club, for the past nine years.

Last year, she was also elected into the top position of the Goulburn-Murray Golf Association.

She was the first woman president the golf club had seen, but not the first woman to be in the position for the association.

“It’s been a bit of a learning curve,” Mrs Hutchins said.

“I’ve been relying on Dave Roberts, the secretary, and Alexandra O’Dell, the former president, to help guide me.”

Mrs Hutchins said a few things going on in the association had interested her, so she went along to the annual general meeting last year to hear more.

By the end of that meeting, she was president.

“I had worked with Dave for many years and knew he was very good at his job, so I was quite happy to take on the role while he was there.”

Mrs Hutchins has been playing golf for around 28 years, picking up the sport because her husband played.

“One year, all the girls came out and played the chicken run, nine holes on a Friday night,” she said.

“When summer was over, we kept playing.”

The rest, as they say, is history.

A passion piqued and a lifestyle activated.

She said at that stage there was no women’s competition on Saturdays; only on Wednesdays.

Nowadays, as many women play on Saturdays as men.

Mrs Hutchins, with a 12.3 handicap that has been steadily improving since she retired, says golf is much more than just a game.

“It’s very social. If you play 18 holes, you’re out for four hours with three other women,” she said.

“There’s no pressure with it either. It’s a very individual game where you play against the course, not each other, and you’re not letting anyone down with inconsistency.”

Mrs Hutchins said another draw for her was the opportunity to get away to other clubs.

She’s played at Swan Hill, Bright, Yarrawonga and Barwon Heads, to name a few.

Typically, she plays golf three times each week.

“Sometimes more, not very often less,” she said.

Besides being a motivator for much domestic travel, her sport has also been a feature in international trips.

She and her husband took a trip to New Zealand a couple of years ago and in 2016 they played the famous ‘home of golf’, St Andrews Links in Scotland, the oldest and most iconic golf course in the world.

While she’s still finding her feet in her latest presidential role with the GMGA, she said commitment-wise she didn’t expect it to place her under too much more pressure.

“I’ll be going to a lot of events, but I was going to them anyway because they run more events for the women than the men,” Mrs Hutchins said.

“So I’ll be able to go to those and do the presentations to save Dave from doing them.”

She said she was also looking forward to learning and understanding more of what went on behind the scenes.