MIDLANDS Gold Club will celebrate its centenary this weekend while at the same time making a major move towards ensuring the club exists for 100 more years.
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The club has started selling lots of Drew's Paddock land in Invermay Park with more than 100 more lots set to be released. Development works will also include a revamp to the club house, improving facilities for golf and bowls members.
Midlands chairman Darren Bandy said it was exciting to build on a long and proud history.
"As a board, we all feel very privileged to be able to help celebrate 100 years of Midlands, and we're excited to be part of implementing a strategy to help sustain Midlands into the future," Mr Bandy said.
- READ MORE: Details on Midlands Golf Club housing estate
A look at Midlands Golf Club history
Courtesy of Midlands Golf Club
The club was formed by members not short on dedication who constructed a course without water, using unsuitable tools and with limited finance.
The club was founded in 1919, but the motivation to establish a golf club in Ballarat North occurred during World War I. Several residents of the north were members of Ballarat Golf Club but they found it difficult to travel the return trip of some 16 kilometers riding bicycles and carrying golf clubs, often through rain, hail or snow.
The initiative was driven by John Dearden, and when the war ended in November 1918 he thought it an opportune time to put his idea into effect. He called for a meeting at the Ballarat North Bowling Club on April 7, 1919 and a packed house decided to form the Ballarat North Golf Club.
Dave Ronaldson offered the use of his paddock at the corner of Doveton and Norman Streets and owners of adjacent land did the same.
A nine-hole sand scrape course was officially opened on May 5, 1919. The first clubhouse, a small wooden structure, was destroyed by fire. In 1926 an impressive two-story brick building was constructed using bricks donated by the president James Selkirk.
The name of the club was changed from Ballarat North Golf Club to Midlands Golf Club in 1936, a name selected because of Creswick Road, which ran parallel to the western boundary of the course becoming part of the Midland Highway.
Yet another change was made to the course when 30 acres of undulating land north of Norman Street was bought. In 1956 the club purchased a further 48 acres adjoining this property giving the club 120 acres of freehold land on which to establish a new course and clubhouse.
In 1969, having laid down an eight-rink bowling green, it entered a team of eight in the lowest division of the Ballarat Regional Bowls Association's pennant competition, under the name Midlands Golf.
Although most of its members had little or no previous experience in the sport it won the premiership and was promoted to division eight needing 16 players. In the ensuing 10 years it won seven pennants and a second eight-rink green was constructed.
In 1970, the committee began to consider the future of the golf course because of the impending termination of the lease of the Selkirk property. It was decided to construct a new course and clubhouse and engaged golf course architects Harris, Thomson and Wolveridge who submitted a plan that involved the purchase of 60 acres of land on the north side of Heinz Lane.
In the late 1990s the club decided to add a function room to the clubhouse, which would be suitable for wedding receptions, birthday parties, conferences, meetings and as well as being capable of accommodating indoor bowls.
An announcement was made in October 2016 that the Ballarat sub-branch of the RSL would be calling the Midlands Golf Club home. After some alterations to the clubhouse the branch formally took up residence at Midlands in June 2017.
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