During its 100 year history, Wyong Golf Club it has become known as the club with the good spirit – a type of motto for the club – because right from the start there’s been a friendly welcome for all-comers.
There was a special gathering on Saturday, November 25, of past and present Board members, presidents, captains, club champions and many members to celebrate the club’s centenary.
Wyong Golf Club General Manager Anthony Dignan said it was a celebration of the club’s great history with one of the highlights being the presence of “legends” John Elder, Robyn Murray and Ian Spielvogel, who between them have a combined total of 147 years’ membership.
MC Andrew Daddo interviewing a panel of VIPs John Elder, Robyn Murray and Ian Spielvogel, who between them have a combined total of 147 years’ membership
Several members were presented with certificates in recognition of their 50 or more years of membership.
“It was also a celebration of the great sense of camaraderie and belonging to a family that exists at our club,” Dignan said.
“Thank you to everyone who attended the celebrations and everyone who has contributed to making Wyong Golf Club what it is today.”
The first organised efforts to play golf at Wyong took place in 1923 when a small group formed a club.
Under the elected presidency of Sam McKimm, a local schoolmaster, these golfing pioneers with the co-operation from the Race Club committee, laid out a nine-hole “links” on the Wyong Racecourse.
Prolonged wet weather towards the end of the 1920s prompted a shift to higher ground and the club was moved in 1930 to a new nine-hole layout on Jensen Rd, called Gaha’s Paddock.
Although he leased the property to the club, Gaha continued to run his cattle there so all the greens had to be fenced.
There was a local rule giving a free drop from cow pats and the right to replay your shot if you got an unfavourable bounce off the fences surrounding the greens.
Even though it was only used for five years, Gaha’s Paddock was famous for the fact that Sam McKimm hit off on the first hole and holed out on the ninth hole with the one shot – he claimed it as a “world record”.
Also, in 1933, Don Bradman played an exhibition match against local champ Will Corey, and local pro Bill Campbell.
Noel Davidson, who joined in November 1964, is the second-longest serving member
On the ninth hole, Bradman is reputed to have “driven the green” 250m, which is not bad considering the equipment of the day and the “cow paddock” on which he was playing.
In 1934 an opportunity arose to lease a portion of the current site and a shift from Gaha’s paddock was quickly made.
The new nine-hole course with grass greens opened on May 9, 1936, and the property was eventually purchased by the club in 1947 for $2,000.
Between 1953 and 1956 the club was expanded into 18 holes, boasting the longest par five in NSW at the time – 613 yards.
Since then the course has undergone a series of alterations, the most notable brought about by the Cooper-Nagle Plan in the mid-1990s where four of the front nine holes were remodelled and a significant increase in water storage was introduced.
The current course has matured from these alterations and is now considered by many to be the best laid out and one of the best presented courses on the Central Coast.
The quality of the par 72 championship course and the standard of the clubhouse prompted NSW Golf to grant the club Group One status in 1966 and the club has lived-up to this status ever since.
Sue Murray