Local Legend: Sylvia Donohoe – Golf Australia Magazine – The Women’s Game

Sylvia was lucky enough to have some teachers at Narooma Central School – as it was known back then – who were keen golfers, and she was introduced to the sport through them when she was 14 years old.

“Those that wanted to play put their hands up, and I put my hand up, and it started from there. We just had fun doing it, and the teachers were very willing to get us out there,” Sylvia recalls.

“Our school was across the road from the golf club. You could get onto the golf course real easy back in those days. We ended up having our own little junior comp on a Saturday morning, and it snowballed from there.”

It was evident that Sylvia was a talented prospect; as a teenager, some ladies from Narooma would take her around the district to local tournaments. However, the sport was still new to her, and it took her a while to figure it out.

“I just liked to get out there and hit the ball. The competition part of it was involved, too, I didn’t win a lot, but I was only here for a couple of years before I left.”

The winning mentality would take little time to develop. You would be hard-pressed to find a golfer that has displayed the kind of dominance Sylvia has since returning to her hometown club in 2007 after living in Sydney for 39 years.

She didn’t contest the Narooma club championship in 2007, as she was still competing in senior events back in Sydney. She teed it up in 2008 though, the same year she lowered the Narooma course record to 67. Sylvia won the club championship and has been winning the title ever since. That’s right, the now 72-year-old has won every one of the past 16 club championships at Narooma, which go just nicely with the two she claimed as a teenager in 1966 and ‘67.

Sylvia’s incredible run of club championships may start and end at her beloved home club, but what is in between is just as impressive. Sylvia’s first club in Sydney was The Australian, where she would see her name scribed on the club champion honours board four times.

Sylvia married her husband Graeme – also a handy player himself – and joined him at his club St Michael’s Golf Club in Sydney’s east; at this period, life took over from golf, and her focusses shifted to her job at Precision Golf Forging (PGF) where she worked in the sales department, so she was only able to play on a Sunday and never contested a club championship there.

Sylvia moved on to a job at the New South Wales Golf Club three days a week, which saw some free time open for her to play more golf – leading her to Bonnie Doon Golf Club – where she was a member for 25 years, winning the club champs 10 times there.

Playing at Bonnie Doon was where Sylvia started to discover some of her best golf – but not until she turned 39 – making her way onto her first New South Wales State side.

“It wasn’t until later in life, when I got to about 39, that I was playing really well and got selected for the state team, which was pretty cool back then. The youngsters in the team were 16. So, it was a big step for me; I was like the grandma in the team,” Sylvia joked.

RIGHT: At 72, Sylvia still swings the club impeccably well,
playing off a three handicap. PHOTO: Brendan James.

She has also rubbed shoulders with Australian golf royalty.

“When I was in the state team playing against Queensland, we played against Karrie Webb. I thought in my mind, playing that girl when she was only about 16 or something, or even younger than that, I thought, this girl is going to go a long way. She was on fire,” she recalls.

Sylvia was undoubtedly onto something back then. She also casually added her first trip away when she was 16 was with three-time major champion and World Golf Hall of Fame inductee Jan Stephenson and echoed the same message as when she saw Webb play.

“You couldn’t get a more positive person than Jan Stephenson. She was going to be the best no matter what.”

“I’m not a legend. I’m just an ordinary golfer.” – Sylvia Donohoe.

“My very first trip away was with Jan, and we went to South Australia and played in the Golf Australia Cup, which we won; thanks to her, we both contributed. She was a person that had to get up and go, and she knew what she wanted from an early start.”

Once Sylvia turned 50, she cashed in at the state and national senior titles. Dominating the New South Wales event from 2001-2012 winning seven titles in that period to compliment her seven Australian titles in 2001-02-05-07-08-09 and ‘11.

Sylvia still loves the game as much as she ever has. Playing at least twice a week in the Monday and Wednesday comps and occasionally on a Saturday off a three marker is not far off her lowest-ever official handicap of plus-two.

Perhaps Sylvia’s most memorable achievement – which fills her with emotion when she discusses it – is Narooma Golf Club honouring her dedication and legacy by naming the member’s lounge after her. It reveals Sylvia’s kind and humble character when her first thought is with those who constantly backed her through life, who aren’t here to see the tremendous honour bestowed on her.

“I’m talking to you with tears in my eyes because I get quite emotional about it,” Sylvia says.

“The memories of the people that got me there, I only wish they were here to see what has actually happened. One was Mum and Dad; basically, without their backing of me, you don’t get far.”

“It’s still emotional when I go in there. You usually get that bestowed on you when you are dead and buried,” she laughed.

You will battle to find someone more deserving of this kind of recognition. Everyone either knows or knows of Sylvia in the area. Her legendary status has indeed travelled, and when she does tee it up, she is somewhat of a celebrity at Narooma.

RIGHT: Sylvia shows the style that has yielded so many club championships. PHOTO: Brendan James.

“People are all behind me here. If I go anywhere and do play, they all jump up and down and scream and holler, ‘Oh, well, that’s our Sylvia,’ so it’s fantastic, it’s a great feeling.”

At last year’s Women’s Seahorse Classic at Narooma, the victor Carly Warn from Canberra’s Gungahlin Lakes Golf Club, called Sylvia “a legend” in her winning speech, which was enough to reduce the local favourite to tears.

“I’m not a legend. I’m just an ordinary golfer,” Donohoe humbly stated.

But once you break down all of Sylvia’s achievements, “an ordinary golfer” is perhaps one of the bigger understatements, and legend seems far more accurate.