The History of the Club...

Chapters in Royal Melbourne Golf Club's History The original club-house, 1891-1901 Golf was played in Australia during the 19th Century, for example in Tasmania in the 1820’s, in Melbourne 1847, Adelaide 1870 and Sydney 1882. Clubs were formed but disbanded at least for a period. The Melbourne Golf Club, which has existed continuously from 1891, is regarded as the oldest golf club in Australia.  ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................   CAULFIELD  1891 - 1901  A group outside the clubhouse at Caulfield. (L to R) Mark Anderson, Tom. Brentnall, T.J. Finlay, R.A.A. Balfour-Melville, W. McIntyre Group of associates outside their clubhouse, June 1900. The formation of this Club was organised by men, mainly from Scotland, such as John Bruce, Tom Finlay and Hugh Playfair, from St. Andrews, and William Knox and Tom Brentnall who played golf at Musselburgh, Edinburgh. After a number of discussions and collection of a list of enthusiasts a formal meeting was held at Scott’s Hotel in Melbourne on 22nd May 1891. The Melbourne Golf Club was duly constituted. Sir James McBain was made President, John Bruce Captain and 73 men were made foundation Members. By the end of June a suitable area for an 18 holes course was found close to the Caulfield Railway Station. Tom Finlay laid out the course of 4,750 yards and bogey 87.   On 4th July 1891, that is six weeks after foundation, the Caulfield course was opened. After a good lunch attended by the Premier, the Hon. James Munro, and many distinguished guests, John Bruce drove the first ball to open the course. He played and won a match against Hugh Playfair.   The privilege of adding the term "Royal" to the Club’s name was granted by Queen Victoria in 1895. Women appeared on the links during 1892 and in September of that year they were admitted as Associates of the Club. The first annual meeting was held at the Caufield Clubhouse in June 1893 and the first competition was held in August 1893. The prize of three custom-made balls, donated by Mary Orme Masson, was won by Mrs Maudsley with two holes up. Plan of Caulfield Course, to be opened 4th July 1891. Lady Clarke, First President of the Associates. ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................   Sandringham  (1901 - 1931) The Lieutenant-Governor, Sir John Madden plays the official opening shot - and misses!   Richard Taylor, the club's first professional By 1896 housing was encroaching on the Caulfield Course. The Royal Melbourne Council decided it would be sensible to move.  One day in May 1898 the Council travelled south from Caulfield in a dray, a horse drawn vehicle. They had a good picnic lunch on a hill in Black Rock about eight miles from Caulfield.   Many speeches were made and it was declared "this will be site for a golf links." In fact, they built the Clubhouse at Sandringham, two miles north west of this spot. The course was opened in July 1901 by Sir John Madden, the Lieutenant-Governor of Victoria. After a fine speech he attempted to drive a ball to open the course. His first swing left the ball unscathed, but scattered turf in all directions. With a wild second swing, he moved the ball a few feet.   The original Sandringham course was extended in 1905 and again in 1909 reaching by then a length of 6,166 yards and a bogey of 80. The Australian Open Championship started in 1904, was held at Royal Melbourne's Sandringham course on nine occasions and the Australian Ladies Amateur Championship was held there on nine occasions. When a majority of Members moved to Sandringham, a proportion of them, to whom the Caulfield links were more accessible, preferred to continue playing there. They formed the Caulfield Golf Club, which moved to Oakleigh in 1906 and became the Metropolitan Golf Club. Clubhouse at Sandringham Alex Russell Mackenzie only remained in Australia for three months. During that time he gave advice to a number of other golf clubs in Victoria, South Australia, New South Wales and Queensland. He was obviously impressed with Alex Russell, making him a partner, and with Mick Morcom who he described as "the best Greenkeeper I have come across in Britain, America or Australia." When he departed he left the supervision of the Royal Melbourne West Course to these two men. In 1931 the Club moved to Black Rock and the West Course was opened for play. From 1928 consideration was being given to the building of a clubhouse on the site now occupied by the 7th West. Some Members did not like this idea and suggested it would be much better to buy land for a second course. In 1929 it was decided to do this and two large blocks of land were purchased to the East of the Black Rock site. Above: Mick Morcom   Canada Cup With Alex Russell as architect and Mick Morcom in charge of construction, the East Course was laid out during 1930-31 and was ready for play late in 1932.  In 1935 Mick Morcom retired after 30 years as Head Greenkeeper. He trained Claude Crockford who remained in this position for 40 years. Morcom spent a great deal of time with Alister Mackenzie and obviously passed onto Crockford the Mackenzie philosophy. It is clear that Morcom and Crockford made a major contribution to the excellence of these two courses. In 1959 when Royal Melbourne was asked to hold the Canada Cup (now the World Cup) and galleries of up to 20,000 were expected, it was decided to use 18 holes in the home paddock. So the Composite Course was developed involving 12 West Course and 6 East Course holes. This course has been regularly rated in the top 10 of the world's best courses. Claude Crockford   The Eisenhower Cup was held on the Composite Course in 1968. Amateur golfers from 27 nations played in this event.   The Open Championship has been played on the West Course twice, on the East Course twice and on the Composite Course five times. There have been approximately twenty major events on the Composite Course and most of the world's greatest players have competed on it. Above: Greg Norman hits for the green on the 17th hole, in the 1984 Australian Open. ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................   The club's wider influence Leon Thompson (left), Bruce Scott (next to him), and Michael Franck at St Andrews, 1989. Royal Melbourne's founding in 1891 was followed soon afterwards by that of a number of other great Australian golf clubs, including in particular Royal Adelaide (in 1892) and Royal Sydney (in 1893). In 1894 the Melbourne Golf Club gave a cup called The Victorian Golf Cup for competition by amateur golfers. This event subsequently became the "Amateur Championship of Australia." Adelaide, Sydney and Melbourne officials held discussions during the 1897 Amateur Championship resulting in Royal Melbourne being asked to formulate a plan for a national Golf Union. This was duly done and during the 1898 Championship the Australian Golf Union was formed by the Royal Melbourne, Royal Sydney and Royal Adelaide clubs, with provision for other clubs subsequently to become Members. Other clubs progressively joined the Union; ultimately the body came to comprise, as it does today, delegates of the various State Golf Associations. In the early days, Royal Melbourne players - both amateur and professional - played a significant role on the course as the Club itself did in the various ways mentioned earlier.   The Honourable Michael Scott won the inaugural Australian Open Championship in 1904. Other Club Members who won the Championship were Claude Felstead, Alex Russell (the architect of the Club’s East Course) and Ivo Whitton. Even though his career was interrupted by the First World War, Ivo Whitton won the Open no less than five times. Two Club Professionals also won the Open. Arthur Le Fevre won it in 1921 and Ossie Pickworth won the Championship in three successive years, 1946 to 1948. Ivo Whitton ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................   THe Centenary   1991 was the Club's Centenary year which it celebrated in style. With a perception of its history in Australian golf and, at the same time, a desire simply to enjoy itself at that special time, the Club held over the year a memorable range of events and activities which paid regard to both of those elements.  In March, the Club held the major event of its Centenary celebrations, consisting of a week of golfing and social activities for representatives from some 25 Australian golf clubs and 55 overseas clubs. The then Captain of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews headed the overseas contingent of 108 people, comprising representatives from senior golf clubs from nine countries.  And so the Club has embarked on the second centenary of its history, with pride in what was achieved in the first one hundred years and an awareness of its position and responsibilities in the wider golfing world.