Building a champion dynasty

Bob Dixon has held up the trophy 11 times, eldest son Dean has four to his name and Luke was the most recent champion in 2013.

The trio also have their names on golf club champion boards throughout the state.

Dean, 42, has won three titles at the prestigious Victorian Golf Club, while Luke has four at the Eastern Golf Club.

Bob, 75, achieved his first taste of being crowned a club’s greatest player in his home town of Yarrawonga.

In his first full year of golf, Bob took home the club championship aged just 28.

Achieving so much early in his golfing career was not something Bob was aiming for so soon after starting the sport.

‘‘I was surprised, I didn’t expect it,’’ he said.

‘‘The two guys I had to play with were extremely good players and I just went out there to play.

‘‘I remember I had an FE Holden two-tone and I was sitting on the bumper bar taking my shoes off — this is 1968 — and it dawned on me that I was club champion of my home town.’’

Being named his club’s best player was not even something Bob had considered.

But he received encouragement from Joe Murphy, known as the ‘‘ice man’’, who used to deliver ice to ice boxes before the days of refrigeration.

‘‘He said to me one day, ‘You’re good enough to be club champion’ and it never dawned on me (previously),’’ Bob said.

‘‘That sort of got my brain ticking over and no-one ever said to me other than him that you could be club champion.

‘‘He was my first sort of inspiration.’’

A lot happened between Bob’s first win at Yarrawonga and his subsequent titles in Shepparton.

He combined golf with football in his youth, playing under former Fitzroy and Essendon coach Bill Stephen.

He remembers the 162-gamer from the Lions as a brilliant footballer, but the two had clashing personalities and as a result Bob decided to play football in Shepparton.

Moving cities for the sole purpose of playing footy, he has stayed put for the past 50 years.

Pulling on the Shepparton jumper, Bob has fond memories of winning two premierships under Richmond legend Tom Hafey.

He laughs when recalling that Hafey lived up to his fitness-fanatic reputation.

‘‘He was crazy on fitness,’’ Bob said.

‘‘Back then he would have been say 34, 35 or something and I was 25 and he did all the training like everyone else, harder than anyone else.

‘‘Then he’d come into the club rooms and if there was a kid there about 10 or 12 he’d do press-ups with the kid sitting on his shoulders, all after training.

‘‘He was a fantastic playing coach because he was very inspirational in the way he played.’’

But despite being a handy footballer, Bob always made his way back to the greens.

‘‘I used to play football and tennis and cricket and squash, but this game seemed to suit me and my temperament,’’ he said of golf.

The first of Bob’s 11 titles at Shepparton Golf Club came in 1973.

It would be the start of dominant era for the golfing talent as he notched up eight in a row.

The final three wins would come in 1984-85 and 1988. But Bob said he learnt later that during a period of sustained success people are willing you to fail.

‘‘When you’re winning eight in a row you don’t realise people want you to lose. It doesn’t dawn on you that people want someone else to win,’’ he said.

Holding the most titles at the club, he said he had seen a few players who had the potential to win more.

But with that much talent, Bob saw them move on to bigger and better things.

‘‘This is why I won more than anybody else,’’ he said.

‘‘I was married and working here and playing golf here and I had no aspirations to do anything else.

‘‘But when you get somebody as good as Jarrod Lyle or Leighton Lyle, then they move on and they turn pro.

‘‘Someone like Kyle Michel is another one that won’t win too many because he won’t be here — he’ll go on to be a pro.

‘‘I did very well for a battler, but I was a bloke that just worked at the cannery and played golf on the weekend.’’

The Dixon family is often seen at the golf club each weekend.

Bob’s wife Paula won the C-grade championship eight years ago in her first year in the sport.

She frantically followed Luke and Bob around the greens on club championship day in 2013, tracking Luke who took home the A-grade title as Bob won the B-grade on the same day.

Bob tried to convince his three boys to appreciate the sport from a young age, taking Luke, Dean and Scott out to the greens each year.

While Scott played baseball and never picked up golf, Luke and Dean also did not initially develop a passion for the sport.

‘‘When they were young about twice a year I would bring them up and get them to hit 10 balls and get them to check their grips,’’ Bob said.

‘‘After 10 balls they didn’t want to hit any more. They wanted to go play in the sand.’’

Bob said it was a shock when, at age 16, Dean decided to take up golf, becoming C-grade club champion in his first year and taking out the top title not long after.

Bob and his sons are the only father-son combination to win club championships at Shepparton Golf Club.

And the Dixons take their versatility into tennis.

Both Luke and Dean are superb talents in the sport, with Luke a well-known tennis coach in the region.

Bob said Luke did not need any lessons, playing golf to a high standard by teaching himself.

‘‘I taught Dean to play, but I didn’t teach Luke,’’ he said.

‘‘Luke’s just a natural, just do it yourself. He’s a magnificent golfer. Any chance we get (we play together).

‘‘But he’s too good for me. He’ll give me a 15, 16, 17-shot start and still beat me. He’s too good.’’

Bob has ticked off a hole-in-one, but says beating his age is something he would love to achieve.

He marked for Denis Kelleher when the Shepparton golfer achieved the feat last year, and is hopeful he can do the same.

‘‘I’d love to. This year that is my wish,’’ Bob said.

‘‘I’m 75 and I can’t sort of wait until I’m 80, I’ve got to try and do it now.

‘‘I want to do it, but I can’t see myself doing it. It’s a bit out of my reach — Denis is a beautiful golfer — but that’s something I’d like to do.’’

While Scott and Dean are based in Melbourne, Luke still has aims of being crowned A-grade club champion again at Shepparton Golf Club.

Now it’s just a question of whether he can secure 10 more to break even with his dad.

Published in the News on January 27, 2017.