Grassroots of golf in Gunnedah

The royal and ancient game of golf was a relatively late starter on the Gunnedah sporting scene. Although a few people played golf in a desultory way, there was no move to formally establish a golf club until the early 1920s.

It is generally regarded that a Gunnedah solicitor and parliamentarian, Hugh Moffat Wragge, and a local banker, D’Arcy Rotton, were the instigators of the first efforts to establish the sport, laying out a course on the old Gunnedah racecourse, showground and recreation reserve in 1925.

D’Arcy Rotton was a fine golfer, playing off a handicap of plus one. He was the driving force in the development of the game and was the club’s first secretary, organising working bees on the Showground area to establish the course and then introducing competitions. The first clubhouse was built in 1927, largely by voluntary labour.

In memories recorded by a former player, the original course on the showground site began with nine sand greens. On the corner near Marquis Street was Pike’s Dam, with 3-4 tennis courts nearby. The first tee was in front of the tiny weatherboard clubhouse and the No 1 hole ran beside Marquis Street towards the Tech College, The golf course continued right around the fence with the No 2 Par 3 hole on the corner of Marquis and Hunter Streets, continuing down the opposite side towards the cemetery and on through what is now Longmuir Playing Fields to the corner near the Mullaley Road where the caravan park now operates when it consisted of a dam and cattle yards. There was another Par 3 in this corner and the players would hit over the dam to the green. Nancy recalled that the next hole required players to hit over the cattle yards and then up the middle across the centre to the 9th hole which finished near the first tee.

The game grew quickly in popularity and in 1935 golf enthusiasts took out an interest-free loan for 800 pounds to re-establish the new course on land a few blocks south of the Showground on what was then called Bacon’s Paddock.

The original clubhouse was snigged on electricity poles to the new location facing George Street in 1936 and the first nine holes, with sand greens, were completed for play in 1937, though it wasn’t until 1953 that the remaining nine holes were opened. By the end of 1964 nine holes had been converted to grass greens with the remaining nine grass greens ready for play in 1966.

Golfers pictured outside Gunnedah Golf Club prior to the annual President’s versus Secretary’s match on November 5, 1955. Committee members were
seated in the front row. From left, C. Druitt, E. Bartle, A. Mettam, M. Ogilvie, T. Harrigan, T. Boshier (captain), C. Pritchard (Patron), I. Mitchell (President), M.
Winder (secretary/treasurer), J. Weston, C. Barnett, E. Bleach, R. Broun, E. Stone. The clubhouse burnt down the following year (1956).

A major setback for the club was a disastrous fire in June 1956 which almost completely destroyed the clubhouse. The fire apparently started in the main hall section of the clubhouse around 11pm and quickly took hold. The caretaker, Alf Boyd and his wife Yvonne and family were asleep in the cottage adjoining the club- house and barely escaped with their lives. With the assistance of a few nearby residents, they were only able to remove a refrigerator, a lowboy and a few clothes before the flames engulfed the building. The only portion of the building left standing was the ladies’ locker room, which was extensively damaged.

Many golfers lost their clubs in the fire, which also destroyed new furnishings and amusement machines, including two which had been left there for demonstration purposes. Ironically, the fire occurred during heavy rain, which had no effect on the flames and, if anything, hampered firefighters in their efforts to extinguish the blaze.

The building was insured for 14,000 pounds but the President, Mr E. Hills, estimated the next day that it would cost at least 25,000 pounds to

re-establish the clubhouse. The offer of Gunnedah Sawmilling Co. to erect a temporary prefabricated clubhouse free of charge was gratefully accepted by the members. The building measuring 40ft by 8ft allowed the club to keep functioning.

The first stage of improvements to the clubhouse were completed in 1957, the second stage in 1967 and the final stage of an investment totalling $200,000, in November 1971.

An exciting event in the club’s early history was held in 1956 when Australian open champion Bruce Crampton and fellow international Les Wilson played South Africans Gary Player and Trevor Wilkes in an international professional golf match. A large gallery of golfing enthusiasts followed the players around the course.

Another feature of golf over the years has been the association of Gunnedah and Wauchope clubs, which have been exchanging visits twice a year since 1965 when they travelled on the East West Airlines DC3.

The event is still popular, with Wauchope due to visit Gunnedah on the weekend of October 18-19. The reciprocal visit to Wauchope set down for earlier in the year had to be cancelled due to ongoing flooding and road closures.

On the corner of the golf course carpark an eye-catching sculpture created by John Wimnterton appeared in the early 1980s – a giant golf ball manufactured from plough discs balancing on a giant tee.

Championship records for the Gunnedah Golf Club are only available from the move to the new course in 1937. The club champion that year was Charles Stanley Percy, who had the distinction of being the last champion on the original course and the first on the new. In the match play final in 1937 he defeated local stock and station agent WR Hewitt, who went on to win the title the following year.

Geoff Flett has won the most championships (8), his successes coming between 1969 and 1983. In one of the years that he failed to win (1972), the title went to his father Keith. State player Noel Groth won six times between 1955 and 1967 but had to concede to Doug Witham, another state player, four years in a row (1961-64) in that period. Schoolteacher Ian Vidler won five years in a row from 1978 to 1982.

Cyril (Norm) Smallpiece won the title in 1950 and then three years in a row from 1952 to 1954. He might have made it five times in succession but was unable to play in 1951 because he had injured his hand at work – he was a tank-sinker.

Other four-times winners were Aaron Byrnes (1989-92), Monte Fairhall (1993, 1995, 1997 and 1999) and Kodi Louis (1998, 2000-02).

The youngest club champion was Phil Winterton, who was 15 when he won in 1988. He won again in 1994.

Associates played their inaugural championship in 1938 when the winner was Una Faulkner, followed by Greta Wallace and Nancy Kramer.

The most successful associate was Betty Brown, who won the championship 10 times between 1958 and 1970. The years she failed to win, she was runner-up.

Wendy Allison (formerly Nicholas) won seven years in a row (1973-79) and Janet Wilkinson was the dominant player of the 1980s, winning every year from 1981 to 1986. Sally Toppin won her first title in 2000, adding another five in a row between 2002 and 2006.

The course record of 63 was shared by Aaron Byrnes and Central Coast professional Andre Stolz.

The club has also conducted a pro-am tournament each year where winners who have gone on to qualify for the USPGA tour, including John Clifford, who won in 1990 and 2004, Andrew Stolz, who won in 1997 and 1999, and Gavin Coles (2000).

Gunnedah was home base for more than 10 years for professional Anthony Painter, who played the major Australian and Asian circuits and the USPGA main tour and Nationwide tour. Painter won the Perak Masters in Malaysia in 1992, the Coolum Classic in Queensland in 1996 and the Nike Ozark Open on the nation-wide tour in the US in 1998.

Gunnedah’s Aaron Byrnes also had a fine career in professional golf. The talented local turned professional in 1993 after winning the Gunnedah club championship four years in a row and went on to win more than 40 pro-am tournaments across NSW, as well as qualifying for major tournaments on the Australian PGA circuit. Byrnes was joint winner of the Gunnedah Pro-Am, with Gavin Coles, in 2000 and won it outright in 2006, with a five-under score of 67. He also won the NSW Order of Merit (1999- 2000 and 2000-01).

His professional resume includes five appearances in the Australian Open, with a best finish of equal 32nd, four appearances in the Australian PGA (best a tie for 26th) and two in the Australian Masters (best a tie for 29th).

In his career he recorded 10 holes-in-one, one in the Australian Open at Victoria GC in 2002 and another in the New Zealand Open at The Grange in 1995.

Article extracted from Gunnedah’s Sesquicentenary Book, The Way We Were, published in 2006.

Club presidents since 1937:

M. Tweedie (1937-1944); W. Hewitt (1945-46); J. Pritchard (1947-48); M. Wane (1949-50); J. Pritchard (151-52); I. Mitchell (1953-55); E. Hills (1956-57); M. Winder (1958-61); T. Boshier (1962-64); M. George (1965); T. Boshier OAM (1966-1974); D. Bown (1975-80), J. Winterton (1981-88); R. Wilson OAM (1989-2012); PJ Spackman (201302023); G. Doubleday (2023-24); K. Renton (2024-).

Women’s club presidents:

M. Tweedie (1939-430); M. Hewitt (1944-45); G. Wallace (1946-50); N. O’Keefe (1951-52); N. Cramer (1953-57); E. Aylen (1958-59); C. Winder (1960-62); F. Flett (1963-65); D. Perrett (1966-68); E. Worms (1969); I. Russell (1970-72); P. Masman (1973-75); M. Bailey (1976-77); N. Donaldson (1978-80); S. Jones (1981-83); D. Chalkley (1984-86); M. Tydd (1987); F. Reading (1988-89); P. Clarke (1990-91); J. Doubleday (1992-94); J. Palmer (1995-97); S. Jones (1998-99; M. Clift (2003-05); H. Baker (2006-08), M. Tydd (2009-11); W. Brady (2012-14).J. Bray (2015-17); C, Lorimer (2017-20); S. Toppin ((2021-23); C. Lorimer (2024-)

Article extracted from Gunnedah’s Sesquicentenary Book, The Way We Were, published in 2006.