Champion Australian golfer Karrie Webb recalls her early years growing up in Ayr in the heart of Queensland’s sugarcane country.
CHAMPION GOLFER KARRIE WEBB REFLECTS ON GROWING UP IN NORTH QUEENSLAND AND HER LIFE-LONG LOVE OF THE SPORT.
GOLF for sugarcane south Evelyn Karrie WAS of Webb Townsville. PART Webb town were OF of growing LIFE avid Ayr, Her from an golfers, parents up hour’s in an the as early drive Rob were age and her Collinson. Karrie grandparents was They just four began Mick years a and family old, Joyce taking ritual her when along they played to the nine golf course holes. each weekend while at “My seven grandparents o’clock on Sunday started mornings,” picking me up recalls the 44-year-old champion golfer. “I just had plastic clubs at the time but that got me hooked. For my eighth birthday they promised me a real set of golf clubs so that’s when I officially started.” Always competitive, Karrie played many representative sports while in primary school, but by the time she had turned 11 she knew that she wanted to be a professional golfer. Her spare time was spent practising on the golf course that backed onto Ayr State High School, which she attended. “I think that growing up in a small town afforded me many opportunities. At some golf clubs, there’s only certain days and times that kids are allowed to play, but I never had those restrictions. I could just get out there whenever I wanted and practise until dark,” she says. Karrie played her first Australian Junior Championship when she was 14 and by age 20 had won the Weetabix Women’s British Open. At 25 she qualified for the World Golf Hall of Fame and became the youngest player to win the LPGA’S career grand slam. The following year Karrie was to majors and she Karrie’s achieve has the although available a first, house a stellar Super and she’s in in playing remains Townsville Slam, now her career. based winning career the that in youngest, the continues all she US, five loves family. at home to “I’m return and trying eventually, to so to she spend can when visit more my her playing time career is you to spend spend completely more about than six winds months half down, your there. life my goal When overseas, world, you seeing realise different how beautiful parts of the the area where There’s I a grew lot of up beauty in north and Queensland a lot of great is. things to do, especially if you love the outdoors,” she says. When she was growing up with her two younger sisters, Janelle and Kate, Karrie’s father Rob was a builder, while her mother Evelyn worked with her parents who had a toy and gift store in Ayr’s main street. These days her parents manage the town’s Delta Theatre, a movie theatre built in 1910 which was repurposed as a Chinese restaurant and then a clothing store. Karrie bought the property in 2000 and Rob has since restored it as a cinema. “That was Dad’s last construction job, to renovate it back into a movie theatre. I was trying to help my parents out and give them an easier life, but in the end, because of Dad’s choice, it has given back to the community at the same time.” Karrie mentors up-and-coming female amateur players through her Karrie Webb Series. For more information, visit karriewebb.com
I WAS BORN IN AYR and it was a great place to grow up. It’s a sugarcane town with great farming land on the Burdekin River and business flourished because of that. It was the same as any town based on farming, it depends on the price they get at market. Ayr was a close-knit community and for a small town we had access to great facilities. We had a creek hut down near the mouth of the Plantation Creek, off the Burdekin River. My dad, being a builder, got some of his mates and once a month for six months they had a working bee. You could only get there by boat and they had to barge down all the supplies to work on it. We had running water and generated electricity and it became more luxurious as time went on. I was a sporty kid and played just about everything that had a representative team during primary school. I’ve been playing golf since the age of eight. I wanted to play cricket, but girls couldn’t participate in organised games so I played in the school grounds with the boys. The parents of one of my best friends at primary school had an indoor cricket centre so I also played there. When I got to high school I focused on golf. It was only a five-minute walk from home to the golf course and it backed on to the high school so I just walked to the golf course and would be there until dark. With golf it was all on me; I liked the fact that all the hard work I put in was going to be reflected in my performance and no one else was able to affect how that went. I think I was always pretty competitive, even with school work, I always put 100 per cent in and wanted to do well. Golf still struggles, especially in the cities, with the stigma of being elitist but in the country that couldn’t be further from the truth — it is very community based and lots of volunteers and working bees keep the course in good shape. For me it wasn’t until I started travelling down to Brisbane and interstate for the bigger tournaments in my teens that I realised there was this elitism and stigma attached to it. I don’t think I would be the player I am today had I grown up in Brisbane, Sydney or Melbourne. I walked to the golf course every afternoon and the place was mine — I didn’t have to book a tee time and no one was upset to see kids on the golf course. My coach growing up was Kelvin Haller. He was one of my parent’s friends, a good player and head greenkeeper; we didn’t have a club pro. I enjoyed high school, but from a young age I said I wanted to be a professional golfer and school stopped me being on the golf course. I’m still good friends with a lot of my school friends and they still talk about how on the last day of school I wasn’t crying, I was super excited that it was done. My work ethic comes from my parents; they’re both very hard workers. They taught us to be good, respectful people and that you don’t get anything for nothing. My parents weren’t pushing me to play golf and as long as I kept my school work up, I could spend as much time as I wanted on the golf course or at tournaments. When I said I wanted to be a professional golfer, they were very supportive. I started going down for state juniors and played my first Australia Junior Championship when I was 14. I had to fight for a couple of years to be recognised by the selectors as I had to fly from Townsville to Brisbane. I had that grit and fight-for-everything mentality — no one was going to hold me back. I love the game and there’s nothing better than making a living from something you love.