Golf Vic Vol 60 No 3 2019

There is a lot to be said for playing important championships on the best courses no matter which state they are in and the PGA was never better than when it was at Royal Melbourne and Severiano Ballesteros was a regular attendee. If ever a course and a man were meant to be together, it was Royal Melbourne and Ballesteros. The Australian Masters rose in the early 1980s, eventually overtaking the Vic Open in importance through a lucrative deal with Channel 7 and the backing of IMG. It flourished for years before losing its lustre and whilst many yearn for its return, the mixed-field Open at 13th Beach has reclaimed its position as the most important event in the state. Charlton had introduced the concept of women playing the event in the mid-1970s and it worked, with some reservations, but this is a whole different level and it’s clearly one of golf’s most innovative and popular tournaments. Grass changed too. In the 1970s courses were a mix of cool-season winter grasses (mostly poa annua) and a common couch in the warmer months. It was hard to keep poa out of the greens and the transition periods weren’t easy but the poa meant you took a proper divot (something you could replace instead of filling the hole with sand) and no- one had the chipping yips because chipping off soft grass with no grain was much more forgiving than chipping off short surrounds of couch grass, especially when you were over the back of a green and chipping back into the grain. Some time in the 1980s many courses, both on the sandbelt and not, moved to a year-round regimen of couch grass, sand buckets, more poa-free greens and, in a reverse of the old way, courses being better in the summer than the winter. Courses and clubs changed too. Southern, previously bisected by a road, moved everything to the clubhouse side and made nine new holes. Sorrento Downs, a 12-holer just before you got to Sorrento’s main street was sold for houses but not long after, Colin Campbell, a man years ahead of his time, made Cape Schanck and then The Dunes. The National, a part of it on land Campbell had used for his course, opened in the mid- 1980s and set on its path to being one of the most successful clubs in the country. Croydon sold up and moved to the Yarra Valley. A decade later Eastern, the place I learned the game, did the same. The RACV invested fortunes in out-of-town golf and accommodation at Healesville, Torquay and Cape Schanck. Point Lonsdale sold four holes and their clubhouse for housing, bought some adjoining farmland on which they are replacing the lost holes, and are reinventing themselves by making what is essentially a new course. Kingswood, a terrific course in the late 1970s, was forcibly altered by neighbours complaining about the odd errant ball and so much had it changed by 2012, the committee determined there was a better future to be had by merging with Peninsula and investing in what is arguably one of the best 36-hole sites for golf in the world. For the neighbours and their disappearing backyard golf course, it was perhaps a case of being careful what you wish for. On either side geographically of the reinvented Peninsula Kingswood club are Royal Melbourne and The National, so Melbourne (including the Mornington Peninsula) can now legitimately claim to show off the three finest multi-course clubs in close proximity in the world. London’s Walton Heath, Berkshire and Sunningdale are close but Victoria might just be good enough now to claim the edge. Throw in 36 holes at Barnbougle, the rest on the sandbelt and for any traveller it’s a world-class trip. Kingston Heath in the very early 1980s showed the way for others as the committee boldly reimagined their course, including restoring dramatic and beautiful lost features, and their daring has earned the course a place amongst the top 30 in the world. A dozen years later, Victoria, led by Ian Meckiff’s committee, set off down the same path and with the newly rebuilt greens is close to being its equal. David Graham, a man who grew up playing at Wattle Park, went on to win the 1979 PGA Championship and the 1981 US Open. Geoff Ogilvy, a Royal Melbourne caddy and, before he joined Victoria, a member at Cheltenham, won the US Open 25 years after Graham, becoming the second Victorian to win the most important championship in the United States. Clearly there is a role for rudimentary nine-hole public golf. Ogilvy has recently chosen to live back in Melbourne and the late and great Peter Thomson couldn’t have wished for a better replacement as the voice of golf in this state and this country. Articulate, wise, respected and with a high golf IQ, Ogilvy will be an important part of golf here at a time when it needs wise and considered leadership, especially if the next 60 years are as tumultuous as the last 60. “WE PLAYED WITH THE SMALL ‘BRITISH’ BALL AND THE BIG THREE – ARNOLD PALMER, GARY PLAYER AND JACK NICKLAUS – CAME TO PLAY OUR BIGGEST EVENTS WITH REGULARITY. THEY PLAYED WITH LOCALLY MADE SLAZENGER CLUBS AT A TIME WHEN AUSTRALIAN COMPANIES WERE MAKING SOME OF THE BEST CLUBS IN THE WORLD.” Golf Victoria 15