A whole new range
In Sydney, what was once one man’s quarry is now another
man’s state-of-the-art golfing facility.
By David Newbery
PGA Golf professional Steve Aisbett’s eye for
opportunity has come to fruition with the
recent opening of the two-level, 56 driving hitting bays Thornleigh Golf Centre.
A proactive, entrepreneurial AAA-rated golf
professional, Aisbett has had his eye on the
quarry cum brick works site on Pennant Hills
Road for more than 20 years.
“
“
“we are trying
to make it a
family-friendly
environment”
“I first looked at this site in 1989, but when I
approached the Hornsby Shire Council they
said they wanted to fill it in,” Aisbett said. “It
was an old quarry, which serviced the area
for 90 years. They made bricks for all of the
northern suburbs from this site.”
Aisbett still wanted to acquire the site, but he
needed to earn a living and took on the head
pro’s job at Dubbo Golf Club. “I was there for
15 years and moved back here in 2007,” he
said. “I started negotiating with the council
again and it took me two years to get them
to the tender process. “We went through the
tender process, which I won and then it took
another year to design the complex. “I renegotiated with the council for a better deal and
then there was 18 months of construction.”
In many ways, Aisbett has come full circle.
In the late 1980s, he and Mike Kelly owned
and operated a golf driving range at Cherrybrook in Sydney.
It was a typically older-style driving range that
required hard work, oftentimes in difficult
conditions. “We used to go and pick up golf
balls late at night in the rain and mud,” Aisbett
explained. “One night Mike and I looked at
e