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Est. 1903

Situated in picturesque Royal Park, the course is both attractive and challenging, only 3 kms from the city, with the honour of being possibly the only golf course with a tram and train line running through it. The Club has been the nursery for many golfers who went on to make a mark in the golfing world, including Peter Thomson (club champion at the age of 16, in 1945) who won the British Open 5 times, Gus Jackson and Mick Ryan. Peter and Mick were both included in the VGA's Victorian Team of the Century in 2002.

Club Patron ~ Peter Thomson

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History of the Royal Park Golf Club
1951 - 1960

On the weekend of 13 and 14 February 1952, vandals damaged thirty trees on the course. Click here to read the Age newspaper article. Click here to view the image from the newspaper.

In 1954 the Junior Pennant team, shown below, had the distinction of winning the title without losing a single match in any of the five rounds.All members of the team graduated to other clubs later on.
Members of the 1954 Junior Pennant team
Back row: W. Willoughby, A. Thomson, B. Davis
Front row: J. Munro, J. Firth (President), J. Kellaway (Team Captain),W. Andrew (Club Captain), R. McKeown
Image reproduced with permission of Mr. Bruce Davis.
Click here to see larger image.

Sir Dallas Brookes addressing juniors at Royal Park
Sir Dallas Brookes at a Royal Park youth clinic.
Image reproduced with permission of Mr. Frank Flower.

Sir Dallas Brookes, then Governor of Victoria, attended a youth clinic at the club in the mid to late 1950s, where he raised the question of the right to use Royal in the Club's name. It was pointed out to him that the Park was earlier ordained, and occupiers had the right to the title.
1954 record
On December 11th 1954, four young Royal Park golfers set a world's foursomes record by playing golf continously for 24 hours. Wes Willoughby, John Kellaway, Ian Hill and assistant professional Peter Bradley began playing at 4.00pm Saturday and by 4.00pm Sunday had played 17 rounds or 153 holes. Read the Argus newspaper article about this feat.

1954 record photo
The Marathon men, (left to right) Ian Bradley, Wes Willoughby, Ian Hill and John Kellaway.

In 1956 The Victorian Boys Championship was played at Royal Park and won by Bill Kuhnell of Latrobe who beat Graeme Ball of Spring Valley 1 up in the final.

During this decade, the course was closed to members of the public between 9.00 am and 2.00 pm on Tuesdays for a ladies competition, and between 9.00 am and 3.30 pm on Saturdays for a men's competition. On Sundays, members alternated off the first tee with green fee players.

Green fee charges were 2/- for 9 holes on weekdays and 2/6 for 9 holes of the weekends and public holidays.

1950s scorecard

1950s scorecard
Club card from Russell McNair, 1951.

Russell McNair
Russell McNair on the practice fairway in front of the Clubhouse, late 1940s.

Bob 1952
Bob McKeown, on the practice fairway in front of his house. His father was the Station Master at Royal Park and the house (4 Poplar Road) was next to the Clubhouse.

1956 Bob
Bob on the practice fairway, with Clubhouse in the background.

1956 John
John Munro, on the practice fairway in front of the Clubhouse.

The Club thanks Russell McNair and Bob McKeown for use of these images for our website.

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