Specialist advisory for golf clubs, registered clubs, and hospitality developers. Founded by Leigh Hingston after fifteen years at the sharp end.
Start a conversationWhat we deliver
Board-endorsed 3–5 year Strategic Frameworks, Annual Business Plans, and monthly RAG reporting embedded into governance. Built to outlast leadership change.
Active clients — Mollymook GC · Bowral GC
Client-side advisory from feasibility through to opening. Operator selection, HMA negotiation, design review, and delivery oversight. We represent the client, always.
Active — Young Street Hotel, Wollongong (96 rooms)
End-to-end advisory on club amalgamations — entity structuring, gaming entitlement strategy, regulatory navigation, and integration.
98 entitlements unlocked · $7M assets · $230M development facilitated
Independent advisory for developers, investors, and lenders on feasibility, benchmarking, operator risk, and transaction due diligence.
2 advisory clients retained
Selected engagements
96-Room Mixed-Use Development
A significant mixed-use development delivering 96 hotel rooms, two hospitality levels, and 48 residential apartments. VenueWorks engaged as client-side consultant across all hotel and hospitality operational, design, and commercial workstreams through to opening.
Design optimisation across all hotel areas (rooms, corridors, lobby, BOH, wellness), FF&E/OS&E rationalisation, F&B operator identification, liquor licensing strategy, pre-opening task register, room rate benchmarking, staffing model advisory, and operator/branding shortlist.
Wollongong CBD Mixed-Use
A landmark $230M mixed-use CBD redevelopment on the former City Diggers site. Facilitating the development required a member vote to approve the sale of core club property, execution of a hotel management agreement, and a structured land sale.
Secured the member vote. Negotiated and executed the hotel management agreement. Structured the land sale to facilitate the development — representing the club throughout.
Two-Entity Merger · Gaming Capital Program
The amalgamation of Wollongong Golf Club and City Diggers Club — two legal entities, two licence structures, two operating cultures. Running concurrently: The Nineteenth, a sustained $10M gaming capital investment program.
Led the full amalgamation from structuring and board alignment through a 260-member vote, regulatory approval, and integration. Managed The Nineteenth gaming capital program leading to gaming uplift $220k ~ $5.5M.
Golf Clubs across NSW
Structured strategic planning for golf and registered clubs across NSW. Each engagement produces a board-endorsed Strategic Framework, Annual Business Plan, and monthly RAG performance reporting — embedded so the plan outlasts leadership change.
Board survey and data collection, facilitated strategic workshops with Board and CEO, development of Strategic Framework and Business Plan with KPIs, and establishment of monthly scorecard reporting embedded into the governance calendar.
Our Director
Founding Director, VenueWorks
The advisory I provide is grounded in fifteen years of being accountable for the outcome — not just advising on it. That changes the conversation with a board entirely.
As CEO of Wollongong Golf Club — a $16M operation with six revenue streams, two venues, 150 staff, and full board accountability across every financial, people, compliance, and capital outcome in a licensed environment — I built the experience that VenueWorks is now built on.
During that tenure I delivered $10M+ in capital projects without a single programme late or over budget, led a two-entity merger that unlocked 98 gaming entitlements and $7M in assets with 260 members voting in favour, and negotiated the club's role in The Globe Way — enabling a $230M CBD mixed-use development.
I also co-founded Clubernance — purpose-built governance and compliance software for Australian registered clubs.
Speaking at the GMA Golf Managers Conference, Melbourne — June 2026.
Profile photo — upload via admin panel
Industry commentary
Articles coming soon. Follow Leigh on LinkedIn for the latest industry commentary.
Also from VenueWorks
Purpose-built governance and compliance software for Australian registered clubs — the only platform of its kind. Board packs in one click. Compliance calendar pre-loaded with 250+ regulatory obligations. AI-assisted minutes.
Visit Clubernance →Get in touch
Phone
Location
Albion Park, NSW