Situated on the northern boundary of

Royal Park, Melbourne Royal Park is the largest of Melbourne's inner city parks (). It is located north of the Melbourne CBD, in Victoria, Australia, in the suburb of Parkville. Many sporting facilities are provided including the North Park Tennis Club, Royal P ...

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

, the Royal Park Golf Course is a 9-hole golf course located only 3 km from the city. It has the honour of being possibly the only golf course with both tram and trains running through it: the route 58 tram and

Upfield railway line The Upfield railway line is a commuter rail service operating between Flinders Street in the Melbourne central business district through Melbourne's northern suburbs including West Melbourne, North Melbourne, Parkville, Brunswick, Coburg, Cobu ...

(

Royal Adelaide Golf Club The Royal Adelaide Golf Club (often referred to as Seaton) is a private Australian golf club located in the Adelaide suburb of Seaton, northwest of the city centre. The links at Seaton has been the venue for many international and interstate ...

only has a railway line running through it). The Royal Park Golf Club, formed in 1903, has been the nursery for many golfers who went on to make a mark in the golfing world, including

Peter Thomson Peter Thomson may refer to: * Peter Thomson (golfer) (1929–2018), Australian golfer * Peter Thomson (diplomat) (born 1948), Fiji's Permanent Representative to the United Nations * Peter Thomson (footballer) (born 1977), English footballer * Peter ...

(club champion at the age of 16, in 1945) who won the

Open Championship The Open Championship, often referred to as The Open or the British Open, is the oldest golf tournament in the world, and one of the most prestigious. Founded in 1860, it was originally held annually at Prestwick Golf Club in Scotland. Later th ...

(sometimes known as the British Open) 5 times, as well as Gus Jackson and Mick Ryan.

History

Between the years of 1890 and 1903

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping wi ...

was played in

, but without a proper

golf course A golf course is the grounds on which the sport of golf is played. It consists of a series of holes, each consisting of a tee box, a fairway, the rough and other hazards, and a green with a cylindrical hole in the ground, known as a "cup". Th ...

. It wasn't until 1903 that a group of golf enthusiasts met at the Parkville Hotel to discuss forming a club. For a nominal rent, sufficient land for an 18-hole course was obtained from the Royal Park Trustees and the Royal Park Golf Course was built and maintained by volunteers and club members. Membership numbers had fallen so low by 1911 that members could not afford the upkeep on the 18-hole course and it was reduced to 9 holes. But that didn't stop the junior pennant team winning all its matches 8 years later in 1919 to win the flag. The members made small improvements to the course, with approval from the Royal Park Trustees. In 1934 control of Royal Park changed from the Trustees to the Melbourne City Council (

City of Melbourne The City of Melbourne is a local government area in Victoria, Australia, located in the central city area of Melbourne. In 2018, the city has an area of and had a population of 169,961. Estimated resident population, 30 June 2018. The ci ...

). Immediate improvements to the golf course included mowing of the fairways and bunkers and mounds being added to the course layout. Royal Park has been the mother club for many notable golfers who went on to make their mark in the golfing world. These include: * Gus Jackson (1926 and 1933 Victorian Amateur Championship, amongst other titles), * Mick Ryan (1930 and 1932 Victorian Amateur Championship, 1929 Australian Amateur, 1932 Australian Open, amongst other titles) *

(1948 Victorian Amateur Championship, 1951 Australian Open, and 5

s amongst other titles). The clubhouse, built on land leased from the Victorian Railways Department from 1906 onwards, was renovated and maintained by club members until 1970 when it was destroyed by fire. Permission to rebuild the clubhouse proved difficult with the condition of occupancy offered by the Council being rejected by club members, so after talks with the Keilor Golf Club the club disbanded and the two clubs merged into the Tullamarine Country Club. The council took over the running of the course from March 1971, and in the mid-1980s hired Peter Thomson's firm of Golf Course Architects to improve the course layout. The Club reformed in 1974 with an 18-hole competition played on Saturdays and a 9-hole competition on Sundays. This was reversed in 1976 and by 1989 competitions days were Sundays only. Members were allowed to use part of the restaurant built by council, to be used as a clubhouse. By 2002 a Saturday 9-hole competition was reintroduced and renovations to pro-shop and clubhouse were undertaken by council, including the addition of a

verandah A veranda or verandah is a roofed, open-air gallery or porch, attached to the outside of a building. A veranda is often partly enclosed by a railing and frequently extends across the front and sides of the structure. Although the form ''veran ...

. Membership numbers at the end of 2002 were close to 80, including juniors and 3 women, one being the first committee member in the hundred-year history of the club. The Club celebrated its 100th year in 2003 with a Centenary Weekend of Golf tournament, with

returning to the Club to present prizes to Club winners. Peter also wrote the foreword to the book of the Club's history, written by Club member and first female committee member.

Citations

External links

RPGC website from October 2009 archived at Internet Archive Wayback Machine - archive.org
* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20050508210729/http://www.melbourne.vic.gov.au/info.cfm?top=25&pa=1273&pg=1300 Melbourne City Council - Royal Park {{coord, display=title, -37.779237, 144.953721, type:landmark_region:AU Golf clubs and courses in Victoria (Australia) Sporting clubs in Melbourne Sports venues in Melbourne 1903 establishments in Australia Sports venues completed in 1903 Organisations based in Australia with royal patronage Sport in the City of Melbourne (LGA) Buildings and structures in the City of Melbourne (LGA) Royal golf clubs