Royal Park Golf Club Peter Thomson

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
P. W. (Peter) Thomson
1929 -

P.W. Thomson, 1946
Photograph reproduced with permission from the Herald and Weekly Times.

Junior members with P.W. Thomson, 2003
Alex Austin, Stephen Lucas and James Holmes (2003 Club champion at the age of 17) , members of the Royal Park Junior Pennant team, with Peter Thomson, during the Centenary Tournament held on March 29th and 30th, 2003.

Thomson joined Royal Park Golf Club in 1942 at the age of 13, although he had been sneaking in a few holes on the fairways bordering Park Street, West Brunswick for a number of years before that. Official membership was arranged after the Club committee changed the age rules for juniors from 15 to 13, once Club officials spotted his natural talent. He started at the Club with a handicap of 20, and went on to win the Club championship in 1945 at the age of 16, playing off scratch. The next year he joined Victoria Golf Club and played pennant golf with that club, but still retained membership at Royal Park.

In 1948, the Royal Park Golf Club held a presentation at the Shell Theatrette, with 200 attendees to recognise his success in the Amateur Championship. In 1949 he turned professional and went on to win many tournaments including:

1950 ~ New Zealand Open
1951 ~ Australian Open, NZ Open
1953 ~ NZ Open, NZ PGA
1954 ~ British Open, British PGA, Canada Cup (now World Cup with Kel Nagle)
1955 ~ British Open, NZ Open
1956 ~ British Open
1958 ~ British Open
1959 ~ Canada Cup (with Kel Nagle). NZ Open, Italian Open, Spanish Open
1960 ~ NZ Open, German Open, Hong Kong Open
1961 ~ British PGA Match Play, NZ Open
1963 ~ India Open
1964 ~ Philippines Open
1965 ~ British Open, Hong Kong Open, NZ Open
1966 ~ British PGA Match Play
1967 ~ British PGA Match Play, Australian PGA, Australian Open
1972 ~ Australian Open
1973 ~ Victorian Open
1976 ~ India Open
1985 ~ PGA Seniors Tour, winning 9 tournaments
1988 ~ British PGA Senior title

and many more ~ he has won 100 tournaments around the world, in a playing career spanning 40 years.

Thomson's involvement in Royal Park was rekindled after the Melbourne City Council took over the management of the course in 1971. His firm of golf course architects was engaged by the Council to help improve the course layout in the early 1970s, and again in the 1980s. He was asked to do a revised course layout in the mid 1990s, but Council put these plans on indefinite hold.

He graciously accepted an invitation by the Club to be present at the Centenary Weekend of Golf held on Saturday 29th and Sunday 30th of March 2003. Thomson handed out prizes to the winners of Sunday's events, and reminisced on his time at the Club, and spoke with members of the Club in attendance on that day. He then agreed to write the foreword to the Club history, (A Centenary in the Park: The History of the Royal Park Golf Club) for which the Club is very grateful.