Formation
Prior to 1891
there had been attempts to form golf clubs in Melbourne and the other
capital
cities in Australia. None of these
continued hence Royal Melbourne Golf Club is the oldest golf club in
Australia
without interruption. A group of men, many of them with
Scottish roots, gathered together and
after a series of informal meetings of which there are no records, a
circular
was sent out inviting those who were interested to attend a meeting, on
Friday
22 May 1891, at Scott's Hotel, Collins Street. It had been
ascertained that 100 members, each prepared to
subscribe fifteen guineas, would be necessary if the club was to be
financially
viable. The 100 men who subscribed
were granted Life Membership and are known as the Founders of the
Melbourne
Golf Club. It is said that J M
Bruce, who was to become the Club's first Captain collected some 80
signatures;
he and the inaugural President William Knox are regarded by early
historians as
the founding fathers of the Club.
Caufield 1891 -
1901
At a meeting of members five weeks later it was reported that the
Club
had been offered land at Caulfield, on the basis of permissive
occupancy
only. This land was close to
Caulfield Railway Station, rail access being essential in that
era. Starting near Waverley Road the land included
the present Central Park and Hedgeley Green Gardens, East
Malvern. A house a short distance from the
course was rented for 30 shillings per week. This house at 16
Turner Street, East Malvern still
exists. The course no longer
exists, as much of it was subdivided for housing as was the original
intention,
something that had been delayed by the financial crash of
1891. In a matter of weeks, the course was
laid out by Thomas Finlay and David Conacher, who had grown up together
in St
Andrews. It was officially opened
on 4 July 1891.
Women were accepted into the Club as
Associates in September 1892.
In 1894, with their
numbers steadily
increasing, and the main clubhouse not large, arrangements were made
for a Clubhouse
opposite at No 9 Turner Street for the use of the
Associates. In 1894, the Melbourne Golf Club instigated the
Victorian Golf Cup,
inviting players from all states and New Zealand to compete.
This event was held for four years. With the formation of the
Australian
Golf Union in 1898, it was replaced by the Australian Amateur
Championship and
winners of the Victorian Golf Cup are recognized as Australian Amateur
champions. In 1895, Queen Victoria granted the Club the
privilege of prefixing its
name with 'Royal'.
Sandringham
1901 to 1930
The Club always knew that its occupancy of the Caulfield site was
temporary, and as the blocks sold off for housing intruded into the
course, the
Club needed another site. Several
sites had been considered, when suitable land at Sandringham was found
in 1898.
By the end of that year, the purchase of the land for the course had
been
successfully negotiated. The
financing of the purchase was achieved by members taking up shares,
with a
limited liability of £10, in The Royal Melbourne Golf Company
Limited. This company leased the land to the
Club at five per cent per annum of the land's purchase
price.
Construction of the course was slow as the
land was largely covered by
scrub and ti-tree, which needed to be cleared. The new course
was officially opened on 27 July 1901. The clubhouse was at
the corner of Fernhill
Avenue and Victoria Street a walk of approximately 3k from Sandringham
Station.
During 1903-1904, 28 more acres were
purchased. In 1905 the course was changed radically
and modernized and earned the reputation as being the best in
Australia. This was the time when the Haskell ball
was replacing the gutty. At that time
the course extended through five 'paddocks'; three were to the
north-west of
the 15 West tee. The eastern
border ran from the current flagpole to half way down 2 East.
In 1911 the Club purchased a further 68
acres located between this eastern boundary and Reserve Road.
The onset of World War 1 delayed
development of that land. Of
importance to the Club was the opening of a tramline running from
Sandringham
Station to Black Rock, in 1919.
The Sandringham era
was one when the course was used for many
championships and Royal Melbourne dominated both men's and women's
pennant. Players associated with
the Club were also prominent in both state and national championships,
amongst
whom the most outstanding were Hon Michael Scott, Ivo Whitton, Mrs
Austin
Gatehouse, and Mona MacLeod.
Black Rock 1930 to current
Since the
tramline also ran down Bluff Road, it opened the possibility of moving the
clubhouse further south and using the land to the east. The Sandringham area was expanding and
the land in the first three blocks of the course was becoming more valuable;
selling these blocks would finance the move and the creation of a new course.
Dr Alister
Mackenzie, a Scot from England, was chosen to design the new course, and after
a few weeks examining the site, he produced a layout, which was accepted by the
members on 10 December 1926. Alex
Russell, a member of the club, 1924 Australian Open winner, and whom Mackenzie
took as his Australian partner, was chosen, along with Hugh Ross, to supervise
the construction of the course. A
number of alterations from the original plan were necessary, but it is almost
certain that these were done in consultation with Mackenzie. This became the West Course one
of Mackenzie's great designs in what was an illustrious career during the "golden
age" of golf architecture. Alex
Russell's input is hard to ascertain after such a long period, but it was
certainly important. The Club was
also fortunate to have as its head greenkeeper M A (Mick) Morcom a master
craftsman when it came to course construction. Apart from the West, he also constructed the East Course
under Alex Russell, and the course of Kingston Heath Golf Club.
Throughout the 1920s, many of the members had been pressing for a second
course. A member, T C Trumble,
obtained options on many small portions of land east of Reserve Road, now
occupied by the East Course; the
land between Reserve Road and Morey Road proving to be the most difficult. At a hastily called Extraordinary General
Meeting, on 1 November 1929, the members enthusiastically endorsed the purchase
of the land. Alex Russell was
chosen to layout the course, and the "Cheltenham Course", now known as the East
Course, was constructed by Morcom under Russell's supervision.
Both the West and the East have stood the test of time, and are continually
rated in the top 100 courses in the world. There has been very little in the way of changes carried out
until recently. However, with
modern golf equipment, sending the ball higher and further, the problem at many
holes of errant golf balls became one that could no longer be ignored. Therefore, since 2003 several holes on
the East have been changed, as have some on the West.
The Black Rock era has seen three Clubhouses. The first was the 'temporary' 1931 Clubhouse which was finally
replaced in 1968 by a low single-storey design of the time. In 2001, after
another series of plans and debates, a two-storey Clubhouse on the site was
agreed to. During the
construction, the Club operated from a marquee on the Bowling Green and the
office in a portable building nearby.
This time of informality is generally agreed to have been a special time
for the membership. The current
Clubhouse was opened in June 2003.
In 1959 the Club
was chosen to host the Canada Cup.
In order to avoid crossing busy roads, 12 holes of the West Course and
six from the East, all in the "main paddock" were chosen, and this became known
as the Composite Course, which for
many years was rated in the top 10 courses in the world. Many important tournaments have been
played over this layout, including the Eisenhower Trophy (1968), World Cup, [previously
the Canada Cup] (1972, 1988), the Australian Open on several occasions, the
1988 Australian Bicentennial Trophy and most recently the Heineken Tournament
for four years between 2002-2005.
In 1998 the Club hosted the Presidents Cup, the first time this was held
outside the USA. The event will
return to Royal Melbourne in 2011.
Publications
Three Club histories have been published, the first in 1941 (50 years), one
in 1976 (75 years) and the Centenary History in 1991. These volumes provide comprehensive accounts of the people
and events that shaped the Club.
ELLIS, AD (1941)The Royal
Melbourne Golf Club
BARNABY, JW (1976) The Royal
Melbourne Golf Club
JOHNSON, Joseph (1991) The Royal
Melbourne Golf Club - A Centenary History
Prepared by Dr John Green on behalf of the History & Archives
Committee
