Bob Shearer Foundation

Following the passing of Bob Shearer in 2022, the Kelly family pledged a significant amount of money to start the Bob Shearer Foundation to support junior/elite amateur golfers and or trainee professionals to achieving their goals and moving through the ranks to a professional level.

The Foundation was launched in 2023 and is part of Southern Golf Club and is administered by a Foundation Board. The Foundation is not in place to introduce young people into golf or to foster junior golf, that responsibility lies with the Club, the Foundation is in place for elite amateurs and trainee professionals who are ready to start a career as a full-time golf professional.

Guidelines are in place to ensure funds are not distributed to golfers who are unlikely to make an impact in professional golf. Having guidelines in place also helps drive and motivate elite amateurs and trainee professionals to work harder and have access to funds from the Foundation.

To make an application to the Foundation, elite amateurs or trainee professionals would need to satisfy a minimum three of the following criteria.

Elite Amateurs
1. Current playing handicap of +4 or lower.
2. Current World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR) of 2,000 or higher.
3. Represented Victoria in the Interstate Teams Series in any of the three years prior to the Application to the Foundation.
4. Finished Top 5 in a WAGR ranking event in the any of the three years prior to the application to the Foundation.
5. Represented Southern in Golf Australia Pennant in the season prior to application to the Foundation.
6. Winner of Club Championship at Southern.

Trainee Professionals
1. Successful completion of academic component of Traineeship.
2. Playing handicap of +4 or lower.
3. National Ranking in Year 3 of 10 or higher.
4. Won a minimum of three Trainee Tournaments during Traineeship.
5. Finished Top 5 in National Trainee Tournament during Traineeship.
6. Finished Top 5 in a PGA Pro AM.

BOB SHEARER OAM

Bob Shearer won the Australian Amateur Championship in 1969 before embarking on a professional career that spanned over 40 years. Bob won 28 professional tournaments all over the world with his most notable wins coming in the 1982 Australian Open (beating Jack Nicklaus) and the 1982 Tallahassee Open on the PGA Tour.

Bob played in 22 Major tournaments with his best result coming in the 1978 Open Championship held at the home of golf, St Andrews. Bob was a homegrown product of Southern and epitomized what it took to make it as a professional golfer. In recognition of his career and everything he contributed to Southern over a long period of time, Bob was in 2024 immortalized in bronze with a statue that proudly stands in his familiar rounded pose looking straight down the 1st fairway of what he considered his second home, Southern Golf Club.