From the Archives: The Course Part 7: 1929 and 18 Holes at Last

As the 1920s elapsed the Club was under increasing pressure to produce an eighteen-hole course. This came from three sources; growing membership increasing congestion on the two shared holes; the Club’s desire to host men’s and women’s State Championship meetings (hitherto the sole domain of Fremantle GC as the only eighteen-hole metropolitan course); and the prospect of new eighteen-hole layouts being planned for Perth’s north (Mt Lawley, Mt Yokine and Lake Karrinyup) attracting members at the expense of Perth GC.

As a prelude to upgrading to eighteen-holes, the Club made a final approach to the South Perth Road Board in October 1927 for more land. The request was for an additional ‘two chains’ (44 yards) running the length of the western boundary. This would have provided five additional acres and extended the course almost to the beachfront at some points (this land was later used for the extension of Melville Parade north of South Terrace).

This request was quickly rejected by the Road Board, but the Club pushed-on, and over the summer of 1927-‘28 commenced the work needed to complete an eighteen hole course. In April 1928 the Daily News reported that “after subjecting summer players to a great deal of wonder, astonishment, and occasional misery, [Perth GC] has succeeded in transforming the course into a fairly accurate representation of a shell-stricken battlefield … A great deal of the natural beauty has been destroyed by the removal of hedges, trees, and scrub, but we must take the bitter with the sweet” (April 19^th, p. 4).

As the work neared completion in February 1929, the Club successfully applied to the WA Golf Association to host the State Championship meeting later that year. The eighteen-hole course was in play by the end of March 1929, and used in competition for the first time on April 20^th. It measured 6006 yards—only just surpassing the self-imposed 6,000 yards benchmark.

The extension from sixteen to eighteen holes was achieved by adding three new holes and abandoning one. The ‘lost’ hole was the previous short 4^th, which had been in play since 1911. This provided space for two new holes of moderate length in the south-east portion of the course. These were a new 4^th (a shorter version of the current 11^th) and a new 5^th (shorter version of current 10^th). So these two holes that present members have always played as part of the second nine were originally included in the first nine.

In addition, a new 17^th hole was created. This was on the same alignment as the current 9^th but was a shorter hole (340 yards) with the green located just short of the existing service road.

In addition to these new holes more length was also achieved by extending the 2^nd hole from 215 to 250 yards, which placed the green at the site of the current 9^th green.

In conjunction with these changes the course also underwent yet another major re-routing. A feature of this new layout was that the course became a loop of eighteen holes, with only the 16^th and 18^th finishing at the clubhouse. It also created two nines that were very unequal in terms of length, with a short first nine (2,689 yards, par 35) and a considerably longer second nine (3,317 yards, par 39).

This new ‘complete’ course was welcomed by members. The West Australian (April 24, 1929, p. 7) reported that there was “no congestion”, and that “with the exception of a few disgruntled competitors, nothing but expressions of satisfaction were heard from the players”.

At the March 1929 AGM the Club’s pride was apparent—at both having finally achieved an eighteen-hole course of adequate length, and with the opportunity to host the State Championship meeting for the first time. The AGM was, however, a bittersweet occasion. Farewells were given to several key figures from the generation which had worked so hard to finally bring the eighteen-hole course into being but who were now on the verge of departing for the new Clubs that had spurred Perth GC’s own endeavours. The incoming Committee it was noted, would be without “familiar and popular names.”

In late August 1929 the course was tested by the State’s best golfers at the men’s Championship meeting. The outcome would have pleased both the Club and the WAGA. In summarising the event for the West Australian (September 4, 1929, p. 5) ‘Hazard’ noted that “At the beginning of the season there was a good deal of speculation as to where this year’s championship should be played, some supporters of other clubs alleging that the course of the Perth Club was unsuitable. These croakers, however, have been silenced completely, as the course was laid out in championship style, and … the meeting was in every way successful”.

The women followed with their State Championship played over the new layout in late September. Unfortunately, no record has yet been found of the length of the course from the women’s tees.

 

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