Meet The Family: The Stieler Family from Brookwater Golf & Country Club
Meet Mark Stieler, his wife Sharyn, and sons Ben and Ryan from Brookwater Golf & Country Club in Australia. Golf runs through their family, as does Brookwater Golf & Country Club; Dad Mark is on the Members Advisory Committee, whilst sons Ben and Ryan both work at the club. Read more about their family golf story.
How did you get into golf?
I never played golf as a junior. When I started working, a few of the guys played some social golf, which was mainly about the post-game beers. However, through this very social exposure to golf, I developed a love of the game and I ended up joining one of the local golf clubs and started playing regularly there.
How did you introduce your family to golf?
Before the kids came along, Sharyn and I started playing some social golf together and this evolved into playing twice a week at our local course. This continued right through Sharyn’s first pregnancy and she only stopped playing when her belly became too large to allow her to swing a club! This also meant that our eldest son, Ben, received much exposure to the sport even before he was born. Ben had a real passion for the game pretty much as soon as he could walk and this has continued unabated until now. Ben has played off scratch or better for a number of years now and continues to maintain this standard despite having to juggle his golf time with the demands of a heavy University schedule. Our youngest boy, Ryan, was much less enthusiastic about golf and focused most of his sporting attention on his sport of soccer. However, in recent years, he has really come to enjoy his golf and now plays regularly (though very socially) with friends and also with his family.
Tell us about your local Troon club and why you like it visiting there as a family?
We have held a Family Membership at Brookwater for about 12 years now, and we have lived within the Brookwater estate for the past six years. It is so convenient being able to just jump in the buggy and head up to the club for a game or some practice. We have made many friends at the club and whenever we go to the club there will always be someone there that we know. There are also many opportunities for socializing at the clubhouse outside of golf hours.
What’s your favourite family memory on the golf course?
From a golfing perspective, the greatest memories are probably some of Ben’s achievements, including winning the club championship and also winning the Brookwater Open. Sharyn’s hole-in-one was also an amazing thing to behold. It was also a lovely moment when Ben and I combined to win the Mens’ Foursomes Championship. The best non-golfing memory would definitely be the combined 50th and 21st birthday celebration that we held for Sharyn and Ben at the clubhouse at the end of last year. This was a great time that we shared with many of our friends from the club and the local community.
What is one golf club on your family’s bucket list to play at that you have not played yet?
We have played many lovely courses throughout Australia and New Zealand. We also had a club trip to Hawaii a few years ago, which was a wonderful experience. Our “bucket-list” courses would probably be some of the famous major-hosting courses such as Pebble Beach and St Andrews.