Aidan Basile drives long and true off the first.
Photo by
Rechelle Zammit
Rotary Club of Shepparton Central Charity Golf Day organizer Phil Squires has lauded the generosity of participants — after attendees raised a staggering $40,000 for a good cause.
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Having been a staple event in the calendar at the Rotary Club for over three decades, this year’s extravaganza demonstrated that community spirit remains in no short supply in the region.
Attracted by the prospect of raising funds for Goulburn Valley (GV) Health, over 130 players dusted off their clubs to tee off in what proved to be a competitive outing on the fairway.
Alongside offering players the chance to support GV Health, those taking part were treated to a cooked breakfast before action got underway in the morning, as well as a sit down hot and cold lunch during the day.
With their appetites presumably satisfied prior to taking to the green, those teeing off did so in the knowledge that they also had a 50/50 chance to win raffle prize equal to their respective entry fees. Meanwhile, competition prizes were on offer for the longest drive, nearest the pin and straightest drive.
In addition, guest speaker Tony Shaw had been procured for the event before a Q&A session with former AFL defender Sam Docherty, hosted by Peter Cardamone.
Before those festivities got underway, 18 holes of golf ensued, with participants teeing off in the knowledge that they would be helping six post-graduate students to gain scholarships worth $5,000 in order to kick-start their careers.
Shane O'Sullivan was among those who put his golf swing to the test.
Photo by
Rechelle Zammit
After nearly 10 years of supporting GV Health in order to assist nurses in making inroads in the industry, the event has reliably proven a major success in terms of making a real-world difference.
In fact, Golf Day organiser Squires revealed that every nurse who has been helped via the programme is still serving in the profession, at the time of writing.
“We’re in partnership with GV Health and we’re supporting nursing scholarships, it’s basically a dollar-for-dollar matching scheme we’ve got,” he said.
“We expect to have raised around $40,000 for the day. Out of that, we’ll donate about six scholarships at about $5,000 each which will go towards post-graduate nursing scholarships to support the nurses and upgrade their qualifications.
“We had one of the nurses actually talk on the day as well at the event to explain how it helped her develop her skillset and support her. We’ve been supporting GV in this way for about seven or eight years and the golf day itself has been going for about 35 years.”
Peter Cardamone talking with Carlton's Sam Docherty.
Photo by
Rechelle Zammit
According to the Rotary Club of Shepparton stalwart, a six-figure sum has now been raised for GV Health in recent times.
“In the last seven years, we’ve contributed about $220k to GV Health with the nursing scholarships,” he said.
”The nurses who have been involved in the programme have actually all stayed involved which is great to see! It’s encouraging.
“[It] was a roaring success with 33 teams entered with four players per team - so about 130-odd players. The weather was terrific, as was the lunch, the guest speaker and the auction,” he said, as he gave his final verdict on the day itself.
The auction in question raised approximately $20,000 alone, with a varied set of 15 items on sale for the bidders present. Those punters who did walk away with a successful purchase landed themselves everything from mystery lunches to helicopter rides in what proved to be an entertaining addition to the festivities.
Carlton legend Sam Docherty proved a hit with those gathered at the event.
Photo by
Rechelle Zammit
Squires also spoke in glowing terms about aforementioned special guest Docherty, who charmed the crowd during his Q&A at the event.
The ex-Carlton star, who hails from Philip Island, delivered an inspirational address to those gathered, fielding their queries - while recounting how he overcome a range of professional and personal setbacks during his storied career.
Having hung up his boots in 2025, the retired former Brisbane Lions ace regaled the crowd with tales from his time on the field. A twice survivor of testicular cancer, he also previously fought back from a succession of ACL ruptures in one of the game’s great feel-good stories of recent times.
“He was very well-received and talked about his journey in football and some of the challenges he has overcome with knee reconstructions and three bouts of cancer. Sam is a really impressive individual, he speaks really well and is entertaining for the punters in the crowd,” the organiser said.
After yet another successful event, Squires is set on taking a short break to reflect on the 2026 extravaganza before turning his attention towards 2027.
“Yeah, we’re just finalizing everything from this event and then we’ll have a little bit of downtime. Then we’ll start thinking about planning for 2027,” he said.
“Obviously, it is a little bit early to think about it who our speaker might be but we have a really good formula that works well.
“We get a lot of returning businesses that support us really, really well and a lot of the players and businesses that support us are repeat [participants].“
