History

BOWRAL GOLF CLUB

BRIEF HISTORY

‘Bowral Golf club is one of the oldest golf clubs in NSW. In 1901, when the club was established, Bowral was a post town with a population of 2000. This number increased significantly in the summer months as many visitors were attracted to the area as a resort and holiday destination. Bowral was easily accessible being only 80 miles from Sydney with excursion trains on Saturdays at a rate of 1d per mile.The first meeting of enthusiasts, all golfers, was held on February 4th 1901 when it was agreed to form a golf club and to hold an inaugural meeting on March 18th, at which a committee was elected with T H Keigwin as President. With no course of its own, arrangements were made to play on the Church of England Glebe land which extended from Bendooley Street to Mittagong Rivulet and bordered by Bowral and Shepherd Streets. Use was also made of a private 9 hole course at Annerley in Eridge Park Road owned by Mr. and Mrs. C J Royle.

From the outset the club adopted an inclusive approach to membership. Women golfers were accepted without question. Accommodating visiting and non playing members was also recognised as important. The initial fee structure is confirmation of this: gentlemen 10 shillings; youths under 18 years of age 5 shillings; visitors not resident 1 shilling and 6 pence per week or 2 shillings and 6 pence per month (ladies half rate); non playing members 5 shillings per annum. In the first year there were 65 members and the first available handicap list included 24 men and 30 women including several family groups.

It was not long before the Committee was successful in arranging the lease of some land which was part of the Merilbah estate in Centennial Road, a short distance from the railway station. Mr. Carnegie Clark, newly arrived from Scotland, was engaged to design a 9 hole course which the Club controlled for 17 years. Two cottages close to the first tee were leased as clubrooms.

In 1917, and with the lease of the Merilbah course seeming unlikely to be renewed, a search for a new site began. With the gift of some 8 acres of land, bordering Kangaloon road and David Street, by Sir Samuel Hordern, a new company was formed, the Bowral Golf Company with the land to be available for use by Bowral Golf Club which was agreed. At the same time the Company obtained the lease of a further 35 acres enabling the construction of a 9 hole golf course. This was to the design of the legendary Dan Soutar.

The present clubhouse was built at a cost of £3,815 and in time for the move from the Merilbah site in 1919. It was not long before a further 49 acres adjoining land was acquired by the Company and in 1928 play began on the 18 hole course. The layout of the first 9 holes (later renumbered) was unchanged and the new holes, on all available evidence, were the work of both Dan Soutar and Carnegie Clark. With the exception of the redesign of two or three holes and other minor alterations, the layout has remained as envisaged by those two professional and champion golfers Soutar and Clark.

The Bowral Golf Company and the Bowral Golf Club continued in tandem until 1939 when the Company was liquidated and the assets transferred to the Bowral Golf Club. The Club was incorporated in 2001.

The Club has had a fascinating history of survival through difficult times, the Great Depression, two World Wars and post war inflation. As was the case at the outset, the Club continues to be an important and integral institution in the town of Bowral with the course continually improved and serving as a social venue for visitors and non playing members as well.

These brief historical notes are based on the substantial history of the club in the book ‘Bowral Golf Club 1901-2001’ by Douglas Stalley, a former President, first published in 2001, the Clubs Centenary year’.

Douglas Stalley