When Maroochy River Golf Club’s women captain Carmel Smith was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in this year’s King’s Birthday Honours, it marked an extraordinary milestone for the club’s Women in Golf (WIG) sub-committee.
Carmel became the third person on the nine-member sub-committee to be awarded AM honours over the past two years – an incredible achievement for the popular Sunshine Coast club.
She joins Merryn York, WIG sub-committee chairperson and club vice-president, who was also appointed a Member of the Order of Australia in 2025, and Lorraine Mazerolle, an Emeritus Professor of Criminology, who was awarded a Companion of the Order of Australia (AC) in 2024.
This award is the highest and most prestigious level of the AM, and Lorraine was one of only four Australians to receive the accolade that year.
While all three women have very different backgrounds and interests, they are united in their love of golf and are passionate about encouraging more women and girls to embrace it.
Merryn, Lorraine and Carmel have had amazing careers. Merryn was an electrical engineer, Lorraine a world-renowned criminologist, and Carmel had a 30-year teaching career at Murgon State High School, including as deputy principal and acting principal.
Merryn was awarded an AM for “significant service to the energy sector in various leadership roles”. Before recently retiring, she was executive general manager, system design, for the Australian Energy Market Operator.
She still serves as a non-executive director of Transpower New Zealand.
Lorraine’s citation was for “eminent service to education, to the social sciences as a criminologist and researcher and to the development of innovative, evidence-based policing reforms”. Her list of achievements on the Governor-General’s website is awe-inspiring and she has held leadership roles at top universities all over the world. She’s also received multiple awards for her efforts to improve the relationships between the justice system and the community.
While Lorraine and Merryn were recognised for their contributions in their chosen careers, Carmel’s citation was for “significant service to golf through governance roles and as a player and administrator”.
Carmel, who was born in Kingaroy, first picked up a club in Murgon in 1968, and it ignited a passion that led to her volunteering at club, district, state and national levels for more than 50 years.
She has taken on leadership roles and supported hundreds of players, especially women and girls. She says she is grateful to be able to give back to the sport she loves and acknowledges her family, friends and colleagues who have supported her over the past 58 years.
“My involvement in golf administration was initially as a response to a perceived and genuine need but it soon grew into a personal passion,” Carmel says.
“To reflect that this then evolved into something considered worthy of recognition is quite remarkable. However, it reaffirms my strong belief that there is real value in the pursuit of things which are truly meaningful to us in life.”
Merryn’s love of golf also started at a young age. She was born and grew up in Maryborough and started playing golf in her 20s. She has been playing ever since.
She put her hand up for leadership roles at Maroochy River because she says it’s important to increase the participation of women and girls in golf.
“It demonstrates that women and girls can have as much fun, enjoyment and camaraderie as anyone in a sport that has historically had mainly male participation. This ultimately helps with having a more equitable society overall,” she says.
Due to her exceptionally busy career and raising a family, Lorraine’s introduction to playing golf only started when she was 51.
“My parents were both keen golfers and after they sold our family home in Glenelg in the late ’90s, they lived alongside the 13th fairway of the West course of the Grange Golf Club in Adelaide,” she says.
“As members, they urged me to take up golf for years, but I was not at all keen in my younger years, preferring tennis, netball, basketball, softball, snow skiing, surf lifesaving and triathlons.
“At 51, I realised that I didn’t want to be an academic who worked all weekends, as many academics do. With golf, I could switch off my phone for five hours to play a round and I didn’t need to commit to a weekly schedule as I was still working and flying all over the country and the world.”
Like Merryn and Carmel, Lorraine believes that golf offers diverse experiences for women and girls of all ages.
“It’s competitive and social at the same time,” she says.
“There are opportunities to forge new and enduring friendships. It offers exercise and you can experience the outdoor beauty of lakes, streams, bushes, mountains and spectacular vistas.”
As the instigator of the nine-hole Twilight Women in Golf Socials (TWIGS) on the last Friday of each month, Lorraine is keen to create great golfing experiences for women and girls to foster their mental and physical wellbeing.
“I want to use my contributions to golf governance to nourish the lives of all women and girls who dip their toes into the world of golf,” she says.
“Respecting different skill levels and ways that women and girls can or wish to participate in golf, I want to ensure that Maroochy River Golf Club adds value to the mental and physical lives of all our past, present and future women members.”
It’s a vision shared by all members of the WIG sub-committee and was set in motion in 2024 by the inaugural chairperson Julie Turner, who was women’s captain at the time. Several exciting initiatives are planned over the next year, including a leadership workshop and a Give Golf a Go fun day.
