Secretary Jan Lampard said they received the good news just after Christmas last year.

“The Club and former secretary Therese Burgess showed great foresight in applying for this grant last September, and we’re grateful to receive it,” Ms Lampard said.

“We have had trouble maintaining the water supply for the course, and we need to run pumps and bores to maintain this,” she said.

“As you can imagine the power bills we have trying to keep these going are very high, so these panels will be a fantastic help.”

Ms Lampard said the government funding came at an important time for the club.

“Like all small sports clubs it’s a tight exercise paying for everything: Member numbers are below 50 and decreasing each year. We will continue trying to keep everything going.”

The investment is part of the Move It Aus Community Sport Infrastructure Grant program, and was announced by Mallee MP Andrew Broad.

“It is a key priority of our government to promote the social and health benefits of physical activity and sport and our investment to upgrade facilities and infrastructure will provide real encouragement for those local residents not currently active,” Mr Broad said.

Mr Broad’s office said the number of applications received nationally - 2,053 - was far more than anticipated.

The Mallee MP said the government has plans to allocate an additional $30 million for more projects in the existing pool of applications early this year.