Category Archives: History

GSA Golf Club Historians Society Forum

Notice of Forum
Kingston Heath Golf Club, Kingston Road  Heatherton
12 Noon Monday 16TH March 2015
(Sandwiches, tea & coffee will be served from 11.30 am.)

The first forum for the year of the GSA Golf Club Historians Society is scheduled for Monday, 16TH March at Kingston Heath Golf Club. Your assistance in promoting this event to fellow interested golfers would be appreciated.

These forums have now been running for some years and are attracting increasing numbers of participants. Their aim is to help and encourage club representatives and others interested in golf history to preserve, publicise and document club histories or to commence sorting and collating whatever may already be available at their club.

A more recent forum innovation has been to exhibit and discuss the identification, preservation and use of hickories in special events.

The forums also provide an opportunity for fellow golfers interested in the history of the game to exchange views on all matters pertaining to the history of golf in Australia (especially in Victoria) and assists the Society in its endeavours to expand it’s database on early golf in Australia. This database is a resource that is available to all golf historians and researchers.

If you wish to attend or require more information, please phone 0417 560 669 or email the golfsocietyaust@gmail.com by Tuesday 10th March 2015.

The Agenda for the meeting is shown below

Kim Hastie
Convenor, Historians Forums
Golf Society of Australia


Golf Historians Meeting
Kingston Heath Golf Club
12 Noon, Monday, March 16th 2015                                                                        Agenda
(Sandwiches, tea & coffee will be served from 11.30 am.)

Welcome.
Geoff Vincent, President, Golf Society of Australia (GSA).

An Outline of the Role of the Golf Society of Australia and Objectives of Historians Forums
Dick Kirby, Spring Valley, GSA Committee Member,

Kingston Heath Golf Club.. an insight into the clubs  history.
Peter Clark    Kingston Heath Captain

Himmerman and Kirk golf stick makers in 1920’s
Paul Burgess   Woodlands, Past GSA Committee and Historians Convenor.

Hickory Golf and its’ increasing popularity
Peter Gompertz    GSA Committee Member.

What we know about golf in early Victoria
Ian Rennick   Kew, Past GSA President.

Show and Tell.
Attendees are invited to bring along any old golf clubs, golf memorabilia or books for assessment and comment.

General Discussion.

Next meeting
Barwon Heads Golf Club, Monday 15th June 2015

Closure and vote of thanks to Kingston Heath Golf Club
Geoff Vincent

Ref Hist, Agenda KHGC2015

Bonnie Doon Golf Club

SMH 1897-10-01 Marrickville Golf Club Formed2Bonnie Doon Golf Club has changed names once and moved location twice in its history.

Founded as Marrickville Golf Club (1897), the Club’s course was situated on land graciously lent by our founding patron Frederick Gannon.

sydney-airport-1947 (1)The area was situated at Tempe on land bounded by Union St in the
north, the Cooks River in the south, Cooks River Road (Princess Highway) in the east and Unwins Bridge Road in the west. But the land was only ‘on loan’ while development took place.

NewLinks2By 1907, development on our Tempe site had made playing golf a difficult task. A new site, close by in Arncliffe, was identified and the Club took a lease and constructed a new links. The Club later purchased this land.

NameChange2The airport expansion starting in 1948 included a diversion of the Cooks River which substantially reduced the land under our old title.

sydney-airport-1953 (1)The green shading shows the area currently occupied by
Kogarah Golf Club. This area comprises what was left of
Bonnie Doon’s freehold (yellow overlay) and the current leasehold
which was subsequently acquired by Kogarah Council for the Kogarah Golf Club.

Acquisition or Lease by GiddingsMeanwhile, in 1935, Albert John Lancelot Giddings, who was a member of Bonnie Doon Golf Club, acquired a special lease over land in Pagewood with the intenion of constructing a new golf course.

SMH 1937-07-03 New Metropolitan GC Formed2The new golf course initially called The New Metropolitan Golf Club, was laid out by Lance Giddings and constructed by Bill French. The clubhouse was designed by Eric Apperly. It is most likely that Lance and Eric were friends as well as business associates so Eric may well have had some input into the course layout.

NewMetropolitan1937 NewMetropolitan1937OL

New Metropolitan was a brave venture. The Club worked hard
at making it work on its own but it must have seemed a natural
outcome for Bonnie Doon and The New Metropolitan to merge. There was a strong association between Lance Giddings and Bonnie Doon and Bonnie Doon would need alternative accommodation when their land was resumed.

Eric Apperly and Prosper de George Ellis, two people whose names are prominent in golf history in Australia, played a significant role in the development of Bonnie Doon and have not received nearly enough credit in our history.

Eric Apperly was commissioned to design and construct two club houses for Bonnie Doon. The first one on the Arncliffe site (1928) and by coincidence, our current clubhouse which was commissioned by Lance Giddings for New Metropolitan Golf Club at Pagewood (1937). He was also possibly involved with Lance Giddings in laying out Lance’s new course at Pagewood (1935). Finally, he was commissioned by Richardson & Wrench to provide a valuation of the Arncliffe course for the purpose of negotiation of resumption (1948).

Prosper de George Ellis joined Boonie Doon as a schoolboy while attending Newington College. At the age of 17 (1912), he won the LE Gannon Trophy, a stroke event. His golf course design work throughout NSW is extensive and included remodelling The New Metropolitan prior to the amalgamation with Bonnie Doon. He shared Secretary Manager duties with Norm Calder during the amalgation and wrote a column for the Sydney Morning Herald – On the Fairways. He was three times Pymble Club Champion and in one year both he and his wife held their championships together. It is a shame that he unfortunately never won the Club Championship at Bonnie Doon and thus never left his name on our Honour Boards. But he did present the Club with a perpetual trophy for a 4 Ball competition which was played for some time.

D. G. Soutar Wins Australian Golf Championship

Daniel Gordon (Dan) Soutar was born in Carmyllie, Scotland on December 3, 1882. In 1888, his family moved to the nearby seaside resort town of Carnoustie where – over the next 15 or so years – he received a thorough grounding in the game of golf. Starting out as a caddie at ninepence per round, he developed a sound swing and game to the point where he won a number of trophies as a member of the Carnoustie club.

He emigrated to Australia in 1903, and made an immediate mark by joining Bonnie Doon Golf Club (nee Marrickville Golf Club) and winning their Club Championships 1903 and ’04. He also won the 1903 Australian Amateur Championship at the old Glenelg course. In 1905, he turned professional and went into partnership with Carnegie Clark making clubs at Rose Bay in Sydney. That same year he won his only Australian Open Championship at Royal Melbourne, beating the defending champion, the Hon. Michael Scott, by ten strokes.

His victory was reported in the Sydney Morning Herald of Saturday, 28 October 1905 in the following fashion . . . .

AUSTRALIAN GOLF CHAMPIONSHIP.
SOUTAR OPEN CHAMPION, SCOTT AMATEUR CHAMPION.
MELBOURNE, Friday.

There was a large gathering of spectators on the Sandringham links to-day, to watch the final rounds for the open and the amateur championships of Australia. The weather was somewhat unfavourable, as a stiff breeze interfered considerably with correct play.

Although there were several men left with a winning chance after the first two rounds, few doubted that the finish would lie between Scott and Soutar, the latter having a lead of three points upon the completion of the second round. They were drawn together for both rounds to-day.

The third round was intensely interesting, for beginning well Scott had wiped off two of his deficiency when they reached the fourth hole. At the fifth hole Soutar drove into the rough and reedy grass, and Scott gained a stroke, and a failure to hole a short put on the seventh green – a sort of switchback bit of turf, and one of the trickiest greens on the links – just prevented him gaining another.

At the eighth he got into a pool of water on the green, but finished the first half with a lead of two strokes, going out in 39 as against Soutar’s 41. At this stage Soutar was a bit weak in his putting. As usual his approaches were almost perfect, and he showed the finest judgment in estimating the strength of these shots, but whether from bad luck or bad play, he lost ground on the putting greens. The fact that his ball was lying frequently just at the edge of the hole suggested that Soutar’s failures were due, however, as much to bad luck as bad play.

By the time they reached the fourteenth hole Scott was leading by two strokes, and he kept that advantage to the end. Everything promised well for a sensational gamebetween the pair. For the final round Carnegie Clark, the New South Wales professional, who was third at the end of the second round, still stuck to the leaders, J. D. Howden was fourth, six strokes further back. The best of the cards for the morning round were as follows:-

D. G. Soutar out 3 5 5 4 4 4 7 5 4 41
home 4 6 6 5 4 5 5 6 5 46 Total
87
M. Scott out 3 5 4 5 3 5 5 6 3 39
home 5 5 5 4 3 5 5 7 4 43 Total
82

A glance at the detail will show that both Soutar and Scott had one bad hole each in the forenoon. Soutar drove into rough country at the seventh, while at the seventeenth Scott made one of the few mistakes in his round by getting into the most formidable bunker on the course, and it cost him two to get out of it. But for that mistake he had a fair chance of making the best round of the tournament, and being the first player to got under 80.

This fine round by Scott, which gave him a lead of two on the match, promised well for the final between him and Soutar in the afternoon, but expectations were not realised. Scott went right off his game. They began well with three each, and were both in bad positions at the second hole. Soutar picked up a stroke at the second and the fourth holes, which made them even again for whole game.

From the sixth hole Scott’s difficulties commenced, and he did not afterwards do himself justice. Soutar went out with the fine score of 37 to Scott’s 43, and from this on the result of the match was never in doubt. Soutar played well, with his eye ever on the side of safety, and at one stage Scott was playing so badly it seemed likely he would be beaten for amateur as well as for the open championship.

Scott’s worst hole was the seventeenth, where he was in every difficulty that the hole presented, and it took him nine strokes to the hole, which is a six for bogey. Soutarcame home with a good round of 82. The steadiness of his play is indicated by his four rounds of 85, 83, 87, and 82; his approaches were again the best feature of his golf,and his putting is perhaps the worst. On the aggregate he beat Scott by 10 strokes.

Though Scott was beaten for the open event, no one was able to catch him for the amateur championship, which he won by six strokes from J. D. Howden, who won it inSydney last year. Howden had not a good round in the afternoon. The crowd of sightseers following Scott and Soutar were always in his way.

In both events played to-day the leaders got so far away from the ruck that many of the competitors, finding they had no chance, tore up their cards. The following are the results:

                   1st & 2nd      3rd        4th
                     Round.      Round.     Round.       Total

D. G. Soutar ........ 168 .. .. .. 87 .. .. .. 82 .. .. .. 337 
M. Scott ............ 171 .. .. .. 82 .. .. .. 94 .. .. .. 347 
Carnegie Clark ...... 172 .. .. .. 85 .. .. .. 92 .. .. .. 349 
J. D. Howden ........ 175 .. .. .. 88 .. .. .. 90 .. .. .. 353 
V. East ............. 178 .. .. .. 94 .. .. .. 84 .. .. .. 356 
H. N. Giblin ........ 177 .. .. .. 88 .. .. .. 95 .. .. .. 360 
L. H. Harper ........ 180 .. .. .. 91 .. .. .. 90 .. .. .. 361   
A. McLaren .......... 183 .. .. .. 90 .. .. .. 91 .. .. .. 364 
O. H. O'Brien........ 190 .. .. .. 91 .. .. .. 85 .. .. .. 366 
W. McIntyre ......... 179 .. .. .. 88 .. .. ..101 .. .. .. 368 
F. W. Fairbairn ..... 187 .. .. .. 91 .. .. .. 96 .. .. .. 374 
F. Popplewell ....... 189 .. .. .. 87 .. .. .. 98 .. .. .. 374 
W. D. Clarke ........ 190 .. .. .. 92 .. .. .. 92 .. .. .. 374 
A. W. Mitchell ...... 188 .. .. .. 94 .. .. .. 94 .. .. .. 376 
W. Meader ........... 186 .. .. .. 98 .. .. .. 95 .. .. .. 379 
L. A. Whyte ......... 187 .. .. .. 94 .. .. .. 98 .. .. .. 379 
W. J. Gunson ........ 188 .. .. .. 91 .. .. ..101 .. .. .. 380 
W. M. Bell .......... 187 .. .. .. 97 .. .. ..100 .. .. .. 384 
F. R. Stuart ........ 195 .. .. .. 95 .. .. .. 98 .. .. .. 388 
M. G. B. Jefferson .. 195 .. .. ..101 .. .. .. 96 .. .. .. 392