|
Page 2
During World War One Club Secretary JC Fletcher, an employee of the Ballaarat Water Board, changed the club name to the Ballaarat Golf Club. The origin of the name is from the aboriginal meaning of “Balla” – elbow (or resting) and “arat” – place. The first time it appears in club records is in the 1917 Annual Report. In 1994 when preparing for the club’s centenary, the committee decided to officially revert to the original name of ‘Ballarat Golf Club’.
In the 1920s some land was added to the course and holes lengthened. A new clubhouse was built in 1924. During World War Two in 1943 American marine officers used the clubhouse as their Ballarat headquarters and the annual Marines Cup is still a Club event. In the late 1950s ground floor extensions of clubhouse were completed and opened by Victorian Governor Sir Dallas Brooks in November 1960. Poker machines came in 1994 in a separate annex room and then in 2007 a ‘smokers’ area was added outside on the west of the building.
|
 |
|
In 1927 the order of playing the holes was changed so the ninth was in the vicinity of the clubhouse. Under plans from course architect Alex Russell from 1929 a five-year plan brought considerable improvements. From 1927 until 2006 the course layout remained much the same, with the exception that the former “Clarke’s trap” ninth hole was removed in 1973 and in its place a new fifth hole was created. Golf remained a winter game and the fairways in summer were dry and hard. From the 1950s increasing numbers began to play in summer and from 1982 the six monthly medals of May to October were expanded to 12 monthly medals.
Approval to locate 20 tennis courts on part of the 18th fairway was obtained at the 1959 Annual Meeting. It was a controversial issue and some members left the club to join Midlands Golf Club in protest. Nevertheless the integration of the tennis club with the golf club was successful and over the years many members have played in both golf and tennis competitions.
Golf was increasingly popular in the district. Ballarat North commenced in 1919 and was renamed Midlands in 1936, both Creswick and Buninyong began in 1926 and in 1948 Mt Xavier started.
A Country Golf Week played on leading Melbourne golf courses was first held in 1924. Sponsored by the Age newspaper, the trophy for winners of Country Week was known as The Leader Shield. With over 100 country clubs involved, a representative Ballarat District team won the first competition. Six of the seven team members were members of the Ballarat GC. In 1930-32 Ballarat completed a hat-trick of country week wins and again team members mainly came from the Ballarat GC. Further wins came in 1946, 1948, 1949, 1958, 1990 and 1994.
In 1947 the Victorian Ladies Golf Association organized country teams to play for the Alice Coltman Cup in recognition of Mrs Coltman’s sterling administrative work for country golfers. That year the Ballarat district team were the first Cup winners followed by wins in 1949-52, 1956 and 1968. In each of these district teams Associates from Ballarat GC were prominent.
Click Here for Page 3 of the Club History
|
|
