History

By Keith Jackson -  1998

At a meeting chaired by Mr Clive Rudder in October 1924, it was moved by Mr C H Lloyd, seconded by Mr J Jones "that a golf club be formed in Coffs Harbour" , and that it be known as Coffs Harbour and District Golf Club".  Others present at the meeting were Mesdames Jones, Waugh and Makinson; Miss Jones, Messer's A M Foster, C A Finch, WHT Riding, VC Smith, TA Waddell, Drinkwater, RH Bartlett and Dr Hawke. [Advocate 15/10/1924]

VC Smith was elected President, J Jones Secretary, and Dr Hawke Treasurer.  Messer's Waddell and Bartlett were also appointed to the committee the fees were set at:

½ a guinea for members
½ a crown for associates

At a meeting reported in the Advocate 01/11/1924 members were told that the showground was being prepared for the show but they could form practice links at Brelsford Park .

On 29 November 1924 it was reported that "the Trustees of Brelsford Park have been busy clearing greens, and golf playing is expected to start on Saturday."  It was also advised that clubs were now available locally from Mr S Bice, agent for Macarthur & Co, Grafton.

After the first year, it was decided to reduce the number of greens from nine to six and to turf them.  It is believed that the above decisions referred to the new course at the showground as the Brelsford Park course was abandoned in 1925 or 1926.

OFFICIAL OPENING

The Official Opening of the Coffs Harbour Golf Club took place in December 1926 at a six hole course at the showground site.  The first competition consisted of 24 players and the winners were Mr Baxter and Miss Jones.

The Advocate [25/03/1927] reported on a presentation to Mr Jones who had "done so much to get the club started and who had helped new golfers with their strokes".  In responding Mr Jones traced the clubs struggles, stating how "without success" they had tried to establish the links at the park along Jetty road, but were "much more successful" in setting up practise links at the Showground.

The committee continued to look for a more permanent site, firstly looking at Mr Foaster's land then Firths paddock of " over 40 acres, very pretty, with creeks, not far from the Showground" was declared to be ideal. [Advocate 06/07/1927]

Club members Jones, Jackson, Hill Smith and Bursill spent a weekend "cutting down about seven chains of brush, defining fairways and marking trees and stumps for removal. [Advocate 27/07/1927], the clearing proved too great an impediment.

In March 1927 Dr Hawke became President as Mr Smith had left the district.

At a special meeting called, three options for the whereabouts of the course were presented to members.  These were:

Unfortunately, after about one year, disputes arose between the club and Mr Smith and he pulled down club signs and allowed his cattle to roam across the greens.

The club returned to the Showground briefly and then to the Korora property of Mr Norman J Hill.  This remained the home of golf in Coffs Harbour until 1938.

At the AGM February 1931, the retiring President Mr R G Jackson spoke of a record year with 23 members and 32 associates.  A green fee of 6d was imposed per player for play on Wednesdays, Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays.  The new President was Mr W McDonald and Captain Mr N Hill and the Advocate 04/09/1931 reported on the beauty of the links, with their natural water hazards and ocean views, Mrs Hawke, wife of Dr Hawke became the first member to record a hole in one.

The 1932 AGM continued its agreement with Mr Hill for the use of the Korora course and also paid out one guinea for the continued annual lease of the Showground course which was used by many members for practice due to its nearness to town.

In 1933 the clubhouse was renovated by laying bitumen mix on the floor, painting the walls and putting blinds on an open verandah.

In July 1938 acquisition of new ground "behind the Public School, on the site of the old tick dip" reached a satisfactory stage.  Dr Hawke had surveyed the land and was advised by Mr Vincent MLA that it had been granted as a reserve for a golf course.  The next month at the annual meeting it was advised that membership had sunk to 14 men and 7 associates and Mr Hill had not prepared the Korora course due to lack of member interest.  In October 1938 the new land was secured due to the co-operation of Mr A J Fogarty and Mrs W Tickle who forfeited special leases over part of the area.

Mr Carnegie Clarke of Rose Bay was engaged to design a nine hole course and a committee consisting of Dr Hawke, Captain Cockle, Messer's T J Newman, N J Hill and A R Forsyth was elected to pursue the aim of creating the new course.

The club had raised 500 pound by May 1939, and since the Shire Council had approved diversion of the stock route, Mr Don Anderson was engaged to prepare the course according to Carnegie Clark's plan.  The opening took place at the temporary clubhouse on 2nd June 1940 with Cr P Bourke hitting off the first ball.  Dr Hawke announced the club had a 25 year lease of the Crown Land and that every penny spent on the course had been put up by the people of Coffs Harbour and district.  Twenty four people hit off that morning and 20 couples in the afternoon.

Dr Hawke remained President right through until 1950 and among the many helpers not previously mentioned were GDT Seccombe, Buck Buchanan, Roy Dowling, Reg Wunderlich, Bill O'Reilly and quite a few of the women players.

1947 The club had 172 members, the club champion was Tom Lindsay and Graham Dowling set a new course record of 69.  GDT Seccombe was club Captain.

In 1949 a 10,000 pound loan was approved by the Council to the golf club for the erection of a new clubhouse.  Mr W Mellefont, a local building contractor and keen golfer, was appointed to draw up plans and specifications for the building.  At the same time the idea of extending the course to 18 holes was raised.

By 1950 negotiation were underway with Mr E P Fogarty for the purchase of the additional land.  This move was strongly supported by Mr McRae, Town Planning expert who was quoted in the Advocate [12/05/1950] as saying the enlargement would make Coffs Harbour 's links "one of the most beautiful golf course sin the country".

In June 1950 plans for a proposed two storey brick clubhouse were approved.

In October 1950 Dr Hawke announced his retirement as president and was granted life membership.  At a special presentation he and Mrs Hawke were presented with a solid silver tea and coffee service.  Dr Hawke had been at the original formation meeting of the club in 1924 and had given 26 years continual service to the golf club.

The first Coffs Harbour professional tournament was held in 1951 for prize money of 200pounds and was won by Kel Nagle.   Full details of the Pro Tournament over 25 years are provided separately.

By 1952 the membership totalled 219 and Col Cutmore was the club champion.  Work on the new clubhouse has commenced and Mr Arthur East, course architect, was engaged to lay out the full 18 hole course.

The new clubhouse was officially opened on 3rd May by the Shire President Mr W H Bailey.  Norman Von Nida was paid 50 pounds to attend the opening, play an exhibition round and conduct a golf clinic.  On returning to Brisbane Von Nida was quoted as saying Coffs had £25,000 pound clubhouse but only a 5 bob course.

The membership in 1953 was 322 and in the year was a visit from Billy Bolger, NSW GA and Alice and Marlene Bauer, two American lady professionals.  Col Cutmore was both club and district champion.  Four new holes were opened for play, Malcolm Willis was appointed club professional, and Mr GDT Seccombe was made a life member, joining Messer's Hawke, Newman and Murphy.

In 1954 membership rose to 346 and Coffs Harbour became an 18 hole course.  Four more holes were still to be built, and the four old holes were to revert to Crown Land .  Wages were paid for clerical assistance for the first time and applications were called for a fulltime Secretary Manager.  American trick golfer Joe Kirkwood gave an exhibition and club pro Malcolm Willis resigned.  Ron Hempstead was appointed but also resigned in October.

In July 1955, there was a visit from American professional Miss Jean Donald and Norman Von Nida who played a four-ball with Mrs B L Miller and Tom Lindsay followed by a golf clinic.  In this year the first fixture between Coffs Harbour and Grafton was played for the CH Lovell Memorial Trophy.  A liquor licence was granted to the club and the first Secretary Manager was appointed.  Mr Charlie Kemp was the appointee.

In 1957 membership was 488 and in 1958 worked commenced on four new holes.  It is worth noting that between 1945 and 1958 there were only three club champions, Tom Lindsay, Graham Dowling, and Col Cutmore.

The four new holes were in play by 1959 and negotiations were still underway regarding the subdivision and sale of the Crown Land , the proceeds of which would come to the club.

By 1960 membership was 583.  In this year the sub-juniors were established by Charles Byrnes, Col Cutmore and Gordon O'Neill.  The first year consisted of 35 boys and 7 girls.

A new road entrance to the club was opened in 1961 which meant the whole of the course was now within one area with no crossing of roads required.  It was decided to convert the couch greens to bent [grass] and this was done on five holes this year with the balance to be completed.  Eddie Emerson was appointed professional.

In 1962 the club continued to play through the normal summer cessation of events for the first time with a series of four ball best ball events.  Six more greens were converted to bent and the sale of the

Raleigh Street

land finally took place, allowing a surplus of funds for further improvements to course and/or clubhouse.

The membership was fairly steady at 565 in 1963.  On the course nearly all the greens were converted to bent and in a particularly wet season major drainage work was carried out.  The clubhouse extensions were virtually completed enabling up to 500 people to attend functions.

In 1964 the Thursday competition became established as a regular 18 hole event for the first time, and Sunday golf also became a regular feature of the club.  Finally 18 greens were completely converted to bent grass.

The membership increased to 734 by 1965 and the club champion was Mr J M Thom, breaking the long standing run of Messer's, Dowling, Lindsay and Cutmore.  Professional Eddie Emerson resigned, Graham Gordon was here for a short while, and then Bill Robertson was appointed, commencing a stay of over 20 years.

In 1966 the club received Group 1 rating from the NSW Golf Association, one of only a very few clubs in the country area to obtain this honour.  This year saw the sad death of long time Secretary Manager Mr C H Kemp.  The new Secretary Manager was Reg Ellery.  Membership took a huge jump to 1041.  Social events, including Dinner Dances, Spring Ball, Pro Tournament functions and New Years Eve Social attracted record crowds and trading results for the year were an all time record.  Over 17,000 competition rounds were played, also a new record.

Reg Ellery resigned in December and Jim Ridd commenced duties in February of 1967.  Pere Cutmore, son of long time club champion Col , was sub junior champion announcing the continuation of the family tradition.

In 1968 membership rose to 1321, and the club purchased an additional 28 acres of land adjacent to the current practice area and first fairway.  Mr Barry Carter was appointed as Assistant tot the Secretary Manager due to the continued growth of the club.

During 1969 the committee adopted a master plan for a new championship 18 hole course together with a third nine holes to allow greater flexibility of play.  It was pointed out that the club went out of its way to attract visitors this year by erecting new road signs to the north and south on the highway, distributing some 12,000 pamphlets through tourist offices in five states and continued use of the Advocate newspaper and a weekly radio program on 2KM.

By 1970 membership was 1416 with sub-juniors numbering 85.  Preliminary earthworks for stage one of the new course were completed and the remainder of the work required to bring the new seven holes into play will be carried out by our own greens staff.  The club saw its youngest ever club champion when junior Tony Howard defeated Col Cutmors at the 36th hole.  After a number of years as a 72 hole stroke event the club championships were changed to match play.  This was generally regarded as highly successful.

Such was the size and success of the Open Day, the club received permission to run separate A and B grade Open Days in 1971.  In 1971, for the second year in a row, the club's junior champion was also the club champion, this time it was Mike Ridd, who also had won the amateur section of the North Coast Open in 1970.  The advent of daylight saving greatly increased popularity of the newly created Tuesday and Friday 9 hole chicken runs.  The new section of the course had four fairways brought top playable condition, most tees were ready for use, and work was proceeding on the construction of the other fairways and greens.

1972 saw membership rise to 1520 and also saw the purchase of a parcel of land adjacent to the southern boundary of the existing course.  The club championship was won by Peter Cutmore, second in the family line following father   Sub junior girls commenced play in June with 16 playing regular by December.

Some course alteration took place in 1973 with the ling range view including the Western Lakes holes into an 18 hole course.  Junior champion Paul Gallagher was selected in the state training squad and the club championship was returned to 72 hole stroke with 508 players nominating in the four rounds.  This event was won by Monte Fairhall.