The two-day IMS Moranbah Pro-Am tees off at Moranbah Golf Club on Tuesday morning, marking the start of a six-event Series worth a total of $135,000 in prize money and the lure of a $6,500 bonus for the overall winner.

For the past five years that has been Hart, who since making his Mining Towns Series debut 10 years ago has four wins at Moranbah, three at both Emerald and Middlemount and two each at Blackwater and Tieri.

While he has enjoyed success at each stop along the Mining Towns schedule, Hart admits he has a special affinity for Moranbah having won each of the past four tournaments dating back to 2019.

“For some reason, every year there I always just tear it up and I think I’ve won the last four at Moranbah,” Hart said.

“I guess it’s like anywhere you go back and you have good memories. Even if you’re not playing too well or striking it too well, if you go back to a course you’ve done well in the past, you always seem to find something there.

“For me, when I’m hitting driver well, I can take advantage and when I’m not hitting it so well around those sort of courses you get away with a lot.

“You can just aim one side of the course and you’re always going to have a shot or you can manoeuvre something.”

The Mining Towns Series takes on special significance for Brendan Smith, who splits his time playing events on the Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia and the adidas PGA Pro-Am Series with a full-time job working as a warehouse supervisor for the Oaky Creek coal mine outside Tieri.

When golf’s travelling circus rolls into Tieri, Smith serves a number of roles, serving as a player liaison, working to prepare the golf course each day and then teeing it up in his home event.

“You sort of blow them away a little bit with what the clubs produce, what they put on for them,” said Smith, who met his current employers while playing the Middlemount Pro-Am and is the defending champion at Blackwater.

“We try and treat them like kings and queens really because we want them to come back. If they don’t come back, we’ll still have an event, but it wouldn’t be the same.”

2024 Mining Towns Series

June 11-12

IMS Moranbah Pro-Am            $26,500

June 15

Foxleigh Mine Middlemount Pro-Am   $14,000

June 19-20

JET Group Tieri Pro-Am            $29,000

June 22-23

Lunar Mining Emerald Pro-Am $26,500

June 26

JET Group Clermont Pro-Am    $13,000

June 29-30

Blackwater Pro-Am                  $26,500