More than 100 golfers and bowlers from the amalgamated Wentworth Golf Club and Orange Ex-Services Club previewed the latest designs for the golf club's new clubhouse.
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And they liked what they saw, according to the club's former CEO Daniel Perkiss, who is leaving Orange to return to the Illawarra to be closer to family.
After the clubhouse burned down in 2019 a temporary structure was put in place.
The preliminary designs, which have not been released publicly, showed a club with a ground floor housing a car park, lockers and a pro shop, and the first floor housing 2240 square metres of space for dining and other uses.
"This dwelling is very, very significant in size," said Mr Perkiss.
"We expect people will be blown away by the size and scale of the development.
"We're very confident in the growth prospects of southwest Orange, with the Shiralee Estate, Wentworth Estate and Poplars Estate."
Mr Perkiss said that west of Woodward Street "there are very few hospitality venues, so the club plans to take a significant stake in that space and will grow with the community out there as a sporting precinct but also a hospitality precinct".
At roughly $7,000 a square metre, the budget for the clubhouse build will be about $15 million, Mr Perkiss said.
The expected timeline will see planning and engineering approvals through the rest of 2021, the first soil turning in early 2022, and the ribbon cutting ceremony in late 2022.
Members who attended the information session appeared to endorse the new clubhouse design, Mr Perkiss said, but there was some disquiet about forthcoming changes to the course's layout.
"There have been a couple of issues with golf balls impacting neighbours' properties, and we're actively working to reduce that risk, which means some changes to certain aspects of the course."
The club has taken legal advice on the key issue - "houses being peppered with golf balls" - and was working with neighbours "to come up with practical solutions".
"Whenever you're changing any element of a golf course it raises concern and interest from the members," Mr Perkiss said.
The course, a par 70, may be temporarily shortened.
"It may, in the short term, but the overall intent [would be] to get the course back to full par 70."
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