The Australian Golf Club

The Australian Golf Club is a golf club located in Rosebery, a suburb of Sydney, Australia. Although it survived numerous course location changes, it is arguably the oldest golf club in Australia. To date the course has held 20 Australian Open events and most recently in 2017 the event was won by Australian Cameron Davis. The course has been rated the 9th best in the country.[1]

The Australian Golf Club
Club information
Coordinates33°55′4″S 151°12′54″E
LocationSydney, Australia
Established1882
TypePrivate
Total holes18
Tournaments hostedAustralian Open
Websitewww.australiangolfclub.com
Designed byClark, Hutchison & Martin (1903) / Jack Nicklaus (1976) / Jack Nicklaus (2013)
Par72
Length6610m
Course rating76
Course record61 (Rod Pampling)

Course

Early history

The Australian Golf Club was founded in 1882, which makes it the oldest golf club in Australia followed by Royal Melbourne Golf Club (founded 1891). However, The Australian did not have a golf course between the years of 1888 and 1895, which has led to debate as to which golf club is the oldest.

The club's first golf course was situated in Moore Park, a suburb of Sydney, but due to a new road the course had to be abandoned six years later in 1888. In 1895 a second, eleven-hole course was built in Waverley, which was used until 1898, when the club's lease expired. The course then moved to Botany, Sydney. It was this course that hosted the 1901 Australian Amateur Championship, and the first Australian Open in 1904.

Present day course

The present day location of the course was inspected in 1903, while a year later plans were put forward for the new course by Carnegie Clark, Jock Hutchison and Gilbert Martin. In 1926 Alister MacKenzie, designer of courses such as Royal Melbourne Golf Club and Augusta National Golf Club,[2] was asked to update holes on the course. Due to the popularity of the course, members approved a new layout in 1949 which supplied the club with two starting holes. In 1967 the proposal of a new road threatened the land on which the course was laid out on. As a result, a redesign by Sloane Morpeth was needed, which was completed in 1973. Between 1977 and 1980 Jack Nicklaus made significant alterations to the course, which included adding length and water hazards, which transformed the course into what it is today.[1]

Present works are under way to improve the course, including the re-routing of a number of holes. The changes will create a more contemporary feel. The club has again commissioned Jack Nicklaus to design the changes, and the course is set to re-open in autumn of 2013.

Course scorecard
The Australian Golf Course
Tee Rating/Slope 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Out 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 In Total
Par 53435444436 4344534453672
Championship 76 4551943431865513863824054223324 37817538534951018843139247832866610
Blue 75 4551683431595423863824054053245 37817537034951018838739247832276454
Men's 73 4421623251414923793583923963087 36315535634448717437537146330886175
Ladies 75 4031462911024533663073743052747 30912027832346315535330943027405487

Source[3]

Tournaments

The Australian Golf Club has held 20 Australian Opens,[4] with the most recent being from the 23–26 November 2017, which was won by Cameron Davis with a score of 11 under par. The various winners of Australian Opens at The Australian are as follows:

Year Winner Year Winner
1904 Michael Scott (a) 1977 David Graham
1908 Clyde Pearce 1978 Jack Nicklaus
1920 Joe Kirkwood, Sr. 1982 Bob Shearer
1925 Fred Popplewell 1990 John Morse
1931 Ivo Whitton (a) 1996 Greg Norman
1937 George Naismith 2004 Peter Lonard
1949 Eric Cremin 2007 Craig Parry
1959 Kel Nagle 2014 Jordan Spieth
1975 Jack Nicklaus 2015 Matt Jones
1976 Jack Nicklaus 2017 Cameron Davis

The Australian has also hosted 13 Australian Amateur Championships – the first in 1901, and the most recent in 2015.

gollark: To get.
gollark: That's impossible.
gollark: Hmm, interesting.
gollark: I'll just work on the offline one now. But I need a mildly witty and yet stupid name.
gollark: IncDec doesn't follow the templating standard, so I can't hook that.

References
  1. "The Australian Golf Club at GolfTravel.com.au". GolfTravel.com.au. Archived from the original on 6 September 2007. Retrieved 25 November 2007.
  2. "History of Alister MacKenzie". The Alister MacKenzie Society of Great Britain and Ireland. Archived from the original on 7 October 2007. Retrieved 27 November 2007.
  3. "Course Tour". AustralianGolfClub.com. Archived from the original on 17 November 2007. Retrieved 25 November 2007.
  4. This number is supported on The Australian Golf Club's Archived 31 October 2007 at the Wayback Machine homepage, but on the Golf Australia website it says the club has held 15.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.