It has been one year since the course was restored and from a negative has blossomed an ongoing positive, with the Dunedoo Sports Club more active than ever.

To cap it all off, the club was the recipient of the Heart of the Community award at the NSW Clubs and Community Awards in Sydney on May 27.

"We were a finalist... it was out of 20... And we thought well, that was pretty amazing. You know, so we had a little finalist, poster up on the bar," Club Director Belinda Fergusson said.

"[it was] just great to be there [in Sydney] to represent our club, to be honest. We're a bit of a legacy to our parents. I keep coming back to that. Our parents have done a lot for the club and for the community and that's where their offspring are. We're doing it for the community as they did."

"It's just been like a big roller coaster really... from when it happened to the turf been laid and now we've got this - it never stopped raining and now since the turf was laid. Now we've got this beautiful golf course that we never had before," Club President Mick Gallagher said.

The club hosted the NSW Men's Sand Green Fourball Championships in March, with so many golfers registering that players had to be shared with Coolah. While maintenance keeps a core group of passionate volunteers busy, it has been worth it.

"The golfers were saying that the course was as good as any courses they've played on. Which was pretty special for us to hear that all the work that had gone into to groom the course for the weekend all the hard work we've done prior," Mick said.

For many, the Dunedoo Sports Club is the heart of the community. Barry Nott has been involved with the club for more than 60 years. He is a life member, former president, caretaker and regular patron. He lives across the road and - as one person put it - not much happens without Barry around.

Barry said the club is integral to the town. "We've got two clubs, of course, and I think both of them are very important... It's just a place for families to go, to meet up with others and... without it... I don't know where Dunedoo would be," he said.

"...the management there has been excellent. As it probably has been for a while but especially... the last 12 months with the decimation of the course itself and what's accrued from that is quite amazing."

"There are lots of older guys who come here and it's their home and then for other people it's a sporting hub. For other people it's a place where they bring their families and - it's a place where they can feel comfortable and safe. Then for younger families it's a place out in the open, a different environment to a hotel where you can be out in the back in the fresh air," Belinda said.

She said the NSW Clubs award was the cap on a great year and hopes Tunes on the Turf - which makes its planned return in November after two years of cancellations due to COVID restrictions - can be a celebration of everything they've accomplished.

"...Back here a year after everything started - it's just fate that we won this [award]. It puts a full stop on everything and it lets us move forward," Belinda said.

"We can celebrate and we're always going to be the heart of the community. And that's what we've aimed to be, the heart of the community, and we'll move forward with that. With that thought in mind, with that passion behind what we do."

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