'We need to go forward': New GM to take helm as amalgamation dust settles

The resort's president Henk van de Ven said Simon Osmond would take the helm from acting GM Alannah Cusack, who would return to her role as the club's operations manager.

Mr Osmond, born and bred in Echuca, has previously owned and managed a pub in St Kilda, ran the Balldale Hotel, and has a strong connection with the region.

"I was working at Club Corowa, but I previously played C-grade cricket at Corowa a while ago," Mr Osmond, 41, said.

"The amalgamation (between Club Corowa and Howlong Golf Resort) didn't get over the line but hopefully it's a positive thing in the long run, hopefully, we can turn things around.

"I've been working in operations for Howlong so, while stepping into the general manager's position, I will still be very hands on operationally as well.

"I was owner-operator of a hotel in St Kilda for about 15 years with three other partners, so that's where I got my background in hospitality."

Mr Osmond said there "was work to be done" at the resort but he was confident "things would move forward".

"A lot of money needs to be spent to bring it up to standard I suppose, so my job is to generate that," he said. "That income that will allow us to move forward strategically and fix up what needs to be fixed and then go forward from there."

Mr van de Ven said he believed Mr Osmond's appointment would steer the resort to getting more people signing up.

"The amalgamation seemed to be the really good option for us to to make the club sustainable into the future," he said.

"But on the basis of the fact that that didn't go ahead, we need to move on, we can't dwell on that particular issue, we needed to appoint a general manager, and make sure that the board and the general manager could turn the place around to get more people involved.

"More golfers, more bowlers, more croquet players, the bistro, even the gaming, we need to improve the offering."