Celebrating 100 Years

Debbie Rix

The Cobden Golf Club will celebrate its 100 year anniversary in 2008.

A weekend of celebrations will be held on the Anzac Day Weekend.
 

Cobden Golf Club has come a long way in the last 100 years.

And the club’s members, both past and present, have plenty of reason to celebrate.

The nine-hole course in Victoria’s Western District started from humble beginnings and has grown to become one of Victoria’s most vibrant regional golf clubs.

Golf was first played at Cobden on a large common ground area on the northwest edge of town.

Over the years the golf course became condensed onto land that the current layout occupies.

In the early sixties the final move was made when a new clubhouse was built.

The club’s current facility replaced the fifty rear old building which was located on the other side of the road. Until then, the first hole was a par-3 played from beside the clubhouse over the unmade road with a cypress hedge on the course boundary.

The sixties saw a major change on the course when some younger members led by Dr Bill Barrett connected water to some of the greens. This was the start of year round golf at Cobden. With water available, a program to rebuild all nine greens and tees was started.

With excellent greens and tees the next move was an upgrade of the rye grass fairways.

The ninth fairway was graded and prepared for Santa Anna couch. After an anxious wait, in which time the course committees were in hiding, the grass struck and a great result was achieved. Subsequently, there were smiles all round and all fairways now have an excellent cover of couch.

In 1991 the club employed its first qualified groundsman in Adam Collins, a young man from Clifton Springs. Collins has worked long and hard to present the course in the condition it is today.

Building a further nine holes has long been a point of discussion at Cobden Golf Club. And when the chance to purchase an adjoining parcel of land became available some 10 years ago it was too good to miss. This is now an ongoing project and three holes will be opened for play at the 100 year weekend in April 2008.

The design blueprint was undertaken by local architect Andrew Griffiths. Griffiths set about designed a further nine holes that complement the current holes. When complete, he believes Cobden will become one of the district’s best golf courses.

And with 100 years of history under its belt, there’s every chance golfers from around Victoria will be talking about the Cobden Golf Club.