OUR HISTORY
The Highlands Golf Club, as it is now known, was founded on October 2, 1926, as the Mittagong Municipal Golf Links. To get to this historic point, years of hard work, lobbying and decisions had to be made prior to the development of the course and clubhouse that would come to serve the community for many years.
The Mittagong Municipal Council, as it was known at the time, began acquiring land for a sporting and recreational area on the northern outskirts of Mittagong through purchase, lease and resumption in early 1922. Council decided to set aside 25 acres (9 hectares) for a general oval and sports ground and a swimming pool area was purchased from the railways in 1928, with the pool officially opening in 1931. This is one example of the local Council's forward-thinking and community-mindedness at the time.
Since there was a need to purchase land for a proposed golf club as well as the actual cost of course construction, the council prepared and published its estimates for these costs in October 1922. Mr C Murray, a local landholder with a large area of pastoral land and an avid sportsman, including golf, was approached and agreed to provide the required loan of 1000 pounds ($2000).
The work began that year, but the task was enormous given the area's giant eucalypts and dense scrub. In the early days, much of the labour was done on a volunteer basis, which has remained a constant factor throughout the club's long history. Mr W Worner did the majority of the clearing work, using bullock teams to clear the tall timber and scrub. With the clearing and formation of the golf course well underway, it was found in 1925 that an additional 500 pounds ($1000) was required to complete the work. Despite complaints from some ratepayers, the council was given permission to borrow the additional funds, which were once again provided by Mr Murray and his sister Miss Murray.
Carnegie Clark, a well-known Australian golfer at the time (and who later became the club's first professional), designed the original course layout. Clarke was widely regarded as the father of professional golf in Australia. Born in Scotland in 1881, he moved to Australia in 1902 to work for a sports store. He toured the east coast promoting golf, giving lessons, and taking orders for clubs and balls. He turned professional at the Royal Sydney Golf Club in 1904. Carnegie Clark and his colleague Dan Sauter were instrumental in establishing the PGA in Australia, with the first meeting held in the pro shop at Royal Sydney in 1911.
Carnegie's course design continued in Sydney and throughout New South Wales for many years, with his son, Hastings Clark, assisting on numerous occasions. Hastings arrived in Mittagong in 1933 and created the first grass green on the Mittagong course, the 9th green (or the current 18th green now), during a six-month stay. Hastings then went on to work as a golf professional at Bowral Golf Club for over 50 years. Carnegie designed and built clubs and other equipment in his backyard for many years, with another son, Carnegie Junior, carrying on the business after his father died in 1959 and continuing to make them until his mother died in 1980.
The course began to take shape by October 1925, so a meeting was called to form a golf club. Alderman Terry (chair), A L Horniman, C N Lee, C Boswell, A Shimmels, J Kennedy, A N Chew, H D Ferguson, R W Downs, C H Thompson, R W Nichols, A E Boswell, H Hedger, H C Hain, S Downs, and Miss S E Hatherall were among those in attendance. It was proposed at this meeting to ask the council if they could lease the course for a nominal 1 pound, ($2) per year for three years, with annual fees of 2 guineas, ($4:20) for gentlemen and 1 guinea, ($2:10) for associates. C H Thompson was elected president, A N Chew was appointed secretary and C N Lee was appointed treasurer. As an aside, Mr Claude Lee, Treasurer, later hiked from Mittagong to Katoomba in the Blue Mountains and then hiked back!
Following this initial meeting in 1925, the work on completing the course accelerated. The removal of rocky outcrops, stump removal and the overall layout of the tees, fairways and greens were the major items that needed to be improved. Horses were used for the majority of the heavy clearing and rock removal. The control of bracken ferns was an ongoing issue that lasted for many years. All of the above office bearers were re-elected at the first annual general meeting in 1926. The Women Associate golf club was founded in August 1926, with Mrs Dobson (mayoress) elected president, Mrs S Downs vice president and Miss D Thompson secretary.
Shortly before the official opening, Aldermen Boswell and Hedger, along with a volunteer working bee, built a new bridge across Nattai Creek and Mr W H Jones lent a tarpaulin for the women' refreshment booth. Mr Horniman, who had been paid $25 for surveying and laying out the course for the council, returned the money to the club. A ball was held in the School of Arts Hall on the Friday evening (1 October 2, 1926) before the golf course opened, with Mr Beavan's orchestra performing, Mr C Boswell decorating the hall and the women under Mrs Chester Smith preparing food for the nearly 200 attendees. A list of 80 women, as well as a description of the material used in each of their dresses, was published in the local newspaper at the time and a copy was enclosed.
On Saturday, October 2, 1926, the Mittagong Municipal Golf Course was officially opened. The Mayor, Alderman Dobson, and the club's President, Mr C H Thompson, welcomed all the guests from the surrounding areas, including a large contingent from Sydney. Mr Murray, who had financed the two loans, was given the honour of officially opening the course. All in attendance applauded his skill when he played the first ball. As a memento of the occasion, he was given a suitably inscribed paperweight made with a base of Joadja shale with a slab of brown country rock on the shale and a sphere of obsidian representing a golf ball on top.
The following year (1927) matches were played against the Bargo, Campbelltown and Kangaroo Valley Clubs, with wins against the Bargo and Kangaroo Valley Clubs. Mr Murray, the club's early benefactor, donated a shield for a yearly knockout competition on behalf of his late father, Judge Murray, and the local chemist, Mr Edgar Browne, donated a silver cup for the club champion. Mr Jack Allen took home both trophies.
Mr H Hedges built the first clubhouse in 1928, near the current clubhouse location. On June 29, 1928, the club's Captain, Arthur L Horniman, who had been heavily involved in the effort to erect the building, performed the opening ceremony. Stone for the St Stephens Anglican Church extensions in Mittagong was quarried on-site from the golf course this year too and transported by local carrier Vince Worner, with the stonework completed by Mr H Hedger. Both of these gentlemen were on the golf club committee at the time. This quarry was located on the then-short par-3 7th hole, near where the current 15th hole is now. For obvious reasons, the deep quarry was also known as the "snake pit" back then! If your ball landed in this area, the ricochet could send a ball anywhere or you could enter the snake habitat.
In 1933/34, a group of club members became dissatisfied with the club's fairways and general course condition and formed a new club in Dave Cupitt's Paddock on Bong Bong Street Mittagong. This 9-hole course was located on the right side of Bong Bong Street, east of Mary Street. The clubhouse was a small stone structure with a verandah around it and all work on the course, like the original course near the highway, was done on a volunteer basis. Coincidently, there was also a hole that went over a quarry which was called the brick pit. Although the grass may have been greener, the effort and support for the breakaway group did not last forever. The old club was known as Mittagong Park Golf Club and the new club was known as Mittagong Golf Club. This situation lasted until 1940 when the breakaway group returned to its original location and the club was renamed Mittagong Golf Club.
In early May 1937, despite the breakaway group, the Mittagong Park Golf Club hosted a major three-day tournament. The Coronation Tournament was named to commemorate King George VI's coronation and the main event was a 36-hole stroke scratch competition for the prestigious Mittagong Championship Cup, which was donated by the Mittagong Municipal Council. This appears to be the forefather of today's well-known and prestigious Mittagong Cup.
The golf club ceased operations during the war years of 1941 to 1945 but resumed operations after the war. The course fairways were ploughed up and sown with new grasses with the assistance of members George Elliot, Carl Dowling, Peter Osbourn, Vince Worner and Len Hawkins in 1946/47, at a cost of about 1000 pounds ($2000). Since the sowing was so successful, the members were unable to keep up with the mowing of the fairways, so the 9 greens were all fenced off and cattle and horses from the Greta Drew Riding School of Bowral were agist on the course to try and keep the grass down.
The following local rules can be found on score cards from that era:
Rule 3: If a ball strikes any part of the Green Fence, the ball must be re-played.
Rule 4: If the Green Fence becomes an impediment to the ball or the player the ball may be removed one club length but not closer to the hole.
Rule 5: Hoof prints, wheel tracks, animal scrapes and manure on the course should all be considered ground under repair (GUR).
In 1950, an officer from the Department of Agriculture discovered some soil deficiencies at the club, including very poor soil and slow grass growth. As a result, the golf club was fortunate to receive some excellent topsoil when the Mittagong Shire Council was doing some work at the foot of Catherine Hill, just north of Mittagong. In 1954, the Council purchased a Gang Mower for the club for 400 pounds ($800), to be paid back over six years.
Despite the membership's valiant efforts, the club's finances deteriorated in the late 1950s. The Council attempted, but failed, to broker a Mittagong RSL takeover of the golf club. Meetings were held in early 1961 between the three parties in an attempt to solve the golf club's problems. The golf club had always relied heavily on volunteer labour to maintain playable fairways and greens, which had been exacerbated by a lack of water. Since there were no licenced establishments, the only sources of income were a £500 Council grant, annual golf fees and green fees. The RSL's inability to "split" its liquor licence posed a significant barrier to the clubs' merger.
With no outcome from the merger proposal, it was decided in mid-1961 to disband the golf club and turn over the assets to the council. This disappointing decision did not last long, as on November 15, 1961, Councilor Bender, Shire President of Mittagong Shire Council, called a meeting to reform the golf club.