Chapter 1:  History - The Start and First Flood

The Starting Years at Werribee Park - A recollection by Alan Thompson (Life Member WPGC)

The Werribee Park Golf course first opened for play on 4^th December 1976.

“Most things worth doing in the world were declared impossible before they were achieved”.

My memories of the development of an idea through to the actual construction of our golf course seem a bit like a fairy tale.

In 1974, Rupert Hamer (Victorian Premier) acquired 960 acres of land, including the Chirnside

Mansion, from the Catholic Church. This green belt which incorporates, the Mansion and its grounds, Werribee Park Zoo, the Equestrian Centre and of course our golf club is now a great asset to Werribee.

Our first submission for the use of the river flats to develop a golf course was rejected. We were fortunate however to get some voices on the Interim Committee of Management for the green belt in the form of Leo Doolan and Baden Powell. Our local member, Neville Hudson MLA, assisted in the development of a second submission which was successful. Our 130 acres of cow paddock was on the move.

Every approach we made to various Government bodies was headed by our motto that is printed in the opening line above. These Government departments, Werribee Council and the Department of Youth Sport and Recreation all were instrumental in seeing the course come to fruition.

A Werribee Golf Co-operative was formed with 400 members and the Co-op raised enough funds to start the earthworks. A grant of $90,000 from Youth Sport and Recreation was spent on an automatic watering system.

 

After the Design for our new course was completed by Keogh, Woods and Associates, Kevin Hartley assisted our committee with the pegging out of the holes and acted as general overseer of the project.

A massive and daunting task was undertaken to clean up the area. Old fence posts, disused barbed wire, box thorns, thousands of stones and plenty of junk had to be removed. The member volunteers who participated in the weekend working bees showed how keen the club was to have a championship golf course.

The challenge to achieve the dream was the driving force pushing us forward. Without the help of utilities, borrowed equipment and manpower the job would have stalled.

The Course layout as it is today is not complete. The original design included many more bunkers and water flowing through the natural water course. (Think—water down the left of ninth and seventh fairways, and all those annoying grassed mounds at the edge of fairways being bunkers).

This brings me to a true story from those days. At the working bees, tasks were assigned and on one particular day groups were directed to areas where they were to plant trees that were in pots or tubes. About two years on, some of the trees looked stunted and appeared like bonsai. On investigation, some 20 or 30 trees were found to be still in their original pots or tubes. The instructions that had been given were, “Dig holes and plant your trees.” It appears some took this very literally

As the weeks rolled on, the contract for the earthworks for the course was let to Preston Brothers. The large borrow area on the east side of the 11th fairway supplied most of the fill (base) for the greens and tees. Most of the bunkers were formed by working bees using  orrowed equipment.

The site of the dam was chosen after consultation with water and soil expert, State Research Farm representative Jim Murphy. A seam of clay some metres was stockpiled and relocated to assist the sealing of the dam. (It’s good to see Jim, a non-golfer at the club for a putt and a  chat most Saturday mornings.) Sheepsfoot rolling was necessary to finish the bottom and sides. The pump house which was to supply the water for the watering system was separated from the dam wall by a well of concrete.

On inspection before testing the system, it was apparent that a crack in the dam wall could flood the pump house with all the new gear. It was decided to lower the dam water level that evening. Pumps were borrowed from the MMBW and Werribee Park. It was all hands on deck to push the water over the cliff above the 15th green. Drains were dug to the cliff top to help the flow and gradually the water level was lowered. ‘All’s well that ends well’ and the dam has stood the test of time.

On a lighter note, the weekend working bees were now mowing target areas on the river floodplain, mostly couch grass on a hard rough surface. Our then secretary, Brian Candy, decided he could be of help if taught to drive a tractor. Being a warm afternoon and Brian a raw recruit, Ian Bryant decided to give Brian some shade by tying his golf umbrella to the tractor seat. Brian was as pleased as punch and was away, doing fine, low gear and mowing well. On his third pass, he noticed the shade was gone. Eventually he returned with some pieces of wire, a broken handle, and some coloured cloth. It looked nothing like a golf umbrella after passing through the chain slasher. Ian was not amused! There was many a laugh during that twelve months of working together.

The Spring of 1976

“It is now the spring of 1976. Work is moving ahead at a feverish pace to have the course ready to play in December. The Committee is meeting two or three times a week with many things still to be done. We are still to find our first curator who must be prepared to start and develop our virgin course.

Top soil is arriving by the truck load for the greens and tees. The focus of the working bees is to spread and level the top soil ready for sowing. The old course machinery is not up to standard and needs updating. Another big concern and cost! It is not able to handle the increased workload and land area compared to the old racecourse layout.

Some problems have arisen that require our attention. The first and second fairways on the upper level must be reworked and resown. The dam appears to be leaking at the southern end. We are alerted to the leak by a very wet area appearing around the 15th green and 16th tee at the bottom of the cliff. After much anguish and deliberation, it is decided to try some bentinite clay in the bottom of the dam. This material will fill cracks and swell to many times its own size as it absorbs water. After an anxious month, the leak appears to be fixed.”

September 1976!

Work on the course progressed at a furious pace. Many more members were rolling up to working bees as the new course became a reality. The greens and tees looked good but we were experiencing some difficulties with the watering system electrics. The Pro Shop at the first tee is under construction by a willing band of volunteer members. Artie Bugg and his group of helpers are manning the BBQ and feeding the multitude of members at our working bees.

The selection of the right sand for the bunkers presents some spirited discussions. The sand has to be not too fine so it will blow away and not to coarse as this would pack down and damage golf clubs. We quickly realised that the drainage of our bunkers could be an ongoing problem because the clay soil bases do not drain like the sand belt courses.

George Martini assumes responsibility for measuring each hole. Initially he uses a tape measures but then uses a laser to confirm his measurements. It was surprising how the discrepancies were so small between the two methods. This did not stop the disbelievers voicing their opinions about the measurements on some holes.

One of our next jobs is to plan and produce the first score cards for the new course. This involved deciding on the rating and degree of difficulty of each hole. Of course it was necessary to take account of the changes that would naturally occur as the trees grew and fairway bunkers came into play. Our first attempt at a rating was completed after each committee man submitted his version of the course index. You can imagine the healthy debate that caused. Luckily the Match play index was fixed—it was the same for every golf course.

The course has really taken shape and the view from the clubhouse site is ‘magic’. We are no longer looking at a cow paddock.

The clubs first curator, Peter Partridge, has been appointed and seems to know his job. He will guide us through the next delicate stages of development.

Opening Day is to be Dec, 4th. Invitations were issued to the Governor, Sir Henry Winneke, the Premier, Mr Rupert Hamer, the Minister for Youth Sport and Recreation, Mr Brian Dixon and many other persons of note who have had an interest in our project.

Four notable locals who helped us with expertise in engineering, administration and general support were Alex Bain (Manger Werribee Park Committee of Management), Alan Robbins (MMBW), Roy McLeod (State Research Farm) and Neville Hudson (Local MLA). Neville was later awarded a life membership of the club. Without people like these, our dream would never have been realised.

Our First Flood.

It is October 1976, there is still lots to be done and then the heavy rain made our worst fears a reality. The river overflowed its banks for the first of our many floods. Fortunately this one was minor. The river flooded onto the course beside the fourth green, then across the 4th, 5th and 6th fairways and down the left side of nine. It also broke its banks at the turn of the river at the 11th green. The elevated greens help limit the damage but the front of the 11th green began to roll up like a carpet. Our new curator could not believe it. He stood on high ground with a tear in his eye. All of his recent work looked like being washed away.

However, the following morning he was able to roll back and repair the damage and within two weeks the 11th green was looking great. Another small hiccup had passed by with little damage.

On the subject of floods, records show that the Werribee River will flood on average once in ten years. In the early years at the course, it was not our experience as we were to have another four major floods in the next ten years. One in particular covered the 100 acres of river flats with more than a metre depth of water. The rubbish left by these floods was hard to believe. Tree roots, silt and all sorts of debris took many man hours to clean up once the river subsided. Pumps were also called into use in low areas to rid the course of water.

 

 

Chapter 2: History - Designing the course

A recollection by the Course Architect, Kevin Hartley, July 2006

How I got involved with the design of the course.

1. I had a history of playing in an annual tournament on the racecourse golf site. This led to many friendships.

2. I had recently completed design of the Bacchus Marsh Golf Course.

3. Most importantly – I was not going to be expensive.

The Siting of the Course.

Following much good work by notable club members, the State Government allocated the southern portion of the 960 acres of the Werribee Park property to the golf club. With much of this portion being flood prone it was the best arrangement for them.

It was also the best piece of the property for a golf course and the area made available was more than adequate. One important restriction however was that the golf course could not come within 30 metres of the river.

Developing the Course Layout.

As is always the case, the clubhouse location must be chosen first. Here it was clear that anywhere along the ridge line would be fine, but in its present location, it would be perfect. The advantages of river overview and proximity to the road sealed the siting.

In regard to the effect of the arrangement of the holes, the clubhouse location meant that it would not be possible to get both nines starting and finishing on the same level as the clubhouse.

This led to hole 1 on the top, holes 9 and 10 on the flat but close to the clubhouse, hole 17 progressing up a modest slope with hole 18 on the top returning to the clubhouse.

While various hole arrangements were considered, the best in my view was the one that exists today. The only arguable shortcoming is that hole 18 is short, purists favouring a tough finishing hole.

The only arguable shortcoming is that hole 18 is short, purists favouring a tough finishing hole. It is easy to argue that its location on the edge of the cliff face adds more than adequate interest to the hole.

Generally the advantages of the existing course layout were seen to be

1. A course that was one of the longest of its time

2. A spacious course allowing for good hole separation

3. Brilliant clubhouse location

4. Hole 15, Par 3, directly below the clubhouse

5. With a few exceptions, the fairways avoided flood run-off waterways

6. Few established trees had to be removed.

Cost restraints on the design features.

With a rock bottom budget only the bare minimum of earth could be moved. Fortunately the property was blessed with features that allowed landscaping shortcuts without seriously diminishing the end result.

Today it would be easy to imagine some modern day designers wanting to spend $millions on lumps and bumps to justify their involvement.

Pegging the layout.

This activity provided a funny incident. A member, George Martini, was a surveyor and offered to lead the pegging team. With his various instruments and prior work on taking bearings and dimensions from the plan, the pegging of the greens and tee locations was going to be perfect.

All went well until he got to the centre point of the green at hole 15. George carefully positioned the exact location and had it pegged. I walked over, pulled out the peg and repositioned it 5-6 metres away. George and the group were dumbfounded. George clearly thinking he must be wasting his time being so accurate. When I explained that the greens were yet to be designed and I thought the peg was too close to the cliff face, peace was restored.

Preliminary Site work.

Working bees were organised to get a lot of the debris off the site. Tree limbs, boxthorn bushes and loose rocks were removed. On one occasion this led to a snake being disaquainted with its home which in turn slowed the pace of work.

Green Design.

At about this time I had been permitted to survey the greens at Royal Melbourne GC. I had to give them a copy of the surveys for the privilege. As a consequence, all the green surfaces at Werribee Park were influenced by the Royal Melbourne models.

Greens were sized around 550 square metres with relatively large but shallow sand traps. Many years later it greatly pained me to see several sand traps greatly deepened. Why? - because there is only one type of shot that can be played from them. Shallow traps present options – potentially confusing to the golfer. Also how do older folks get in and out of these deep holes?

The Construction.

The earthworks contractors (Preston Brothers) had not previously worked on a golf course but they approached the task with real enthusiasm and did a really good job.

A member, Rick Gilbee, took on the site work or green keeper role and would have been pleased with the outcome. Rick left to pursue this construction work with other course designers.

As indicated earlier only a minimum amount of earth was to be moved and it came to a cut and fill exercise. Major cuts were of course the dam and across holes 3 and 18. Fills were for greens and tees and very little going to fairway mounding.

The End Result.

It could not be denied that the finished course was good. For the dollars spent, it was an incredible result. Apart from the input of the team, the property itself contributed greatly to its ‘cost to excellence’ factor. The land had been graded for farming in earlier times and the flood plain was composed of freely draining material that minimised drainage costs.

While it is fair to say that much more could have been done, it is appropriate to say that the course is attractive and pleasant to play in addition to providing a good test of golf. These attributes pretty much cover the essential requirements of a good golf course.

Where to from here?

To reach its potential as a truly great golf course, more work is obviously required. Anyone with knowledge of golf could point to a number of areas where improvements could be made. In this regard, I would be pleased to assist, if asked, at no cost.

What is really required is for the club membership as a whole to have the great course objective. The attitudes of apathy and of leaving the work to others are the killers of progress. Regrettably these attitudes are generally typical of golf club members.

Developing a ‘Great Course Objective’ with members is not an easy task, but one proven component is consistently great leadership. Here I can note that at Yarra Yarra GC where the great course objective has been fostered for years and years, that up to 100 members turned out for recent working bees. At Yarra Yarra GC, members pay in excess of $2500 pa in fees but the group still wanted to do more for their club.

 

Chapter 3: History - A vision for a new course.

A recollection by Leo Doolan, Last President of Werribee Golf Club and inaugural Preident of WPGC, Dececmber 2006 - extracts from a speech Leo gave as the WPGC celebrated 30 years of operation.

 

“ Our vision was to have a championship golf course in Werribee. Before we could achieve this, we had to prove that we were able to play golf 12 months of the year at our racecourse site. We began by upgrading the nine greens inside the running rail to grass greens. This was achieved by working bees. To maintain the fairways and greens watering was required. A roster of willing volunteers was drawn up that allowed the installation of a 24 hour watering system during the summer of 1974-75. Bore water on the racecourse was used for this endeavour. It was necessary to appoint a green fee supervisor to cope with the extra players we were attracting. Werribee was at the beginning of its growth spurt from country town to suburb of Melbourne.

The club-house (a tin shed) was a hot house in summer and we managed to install an evaporative cooler to gain some comfort. We held a most successful presentation night in the form of a cabaret in the old Mechanics Hall (where the Centenary Hall Arts Centre now stands).

All of these things were part of the build up to the formation of a committee to drive forward our vision to create our dream course.

During 1974-75 we achieved a lot of our aims at the racecourse golf course. A full time curator was appointed and a ‘proper’ drinks licence and an approved bar became a reality. But we were also working furiously to set up a new 18 hole golf course in Werribee.

The need existed to find a new course site and itemise the necessary projects we had to accomplish. Our committee researched various potential sites. Werribee Park was our No 1 preference. Another option was land owned by golf member Frank Robinson who had a farming property on the river north of Werribee. Cambridge Credit had an option to subdivide this site with land available for an 18 hole golf course. We also looked at the possibility of joining forces with Sunshine Golf Club.

In this 12 month period, submissions were made to the Werribee Park Interim Committee of Management o obtain tenure of our existing site as it was considered the best and most suitable in the district. The Golf Club received approval to develop the site in October 1975.

The Werribee Park Cooperative was formed to raise finance for the development. 400 plus members of the cooperative contributed up to $1000 each raising in excess of $100,000.

In expectation of the availability of capital, the committee had plans well advanced to commence the construction program. The following list outlines some of the many contracts negotiated and managed during the months leading up to the official opening day.

* Clear the property of surplus rural fencing, box thorns, and the old brick slaughterhouse building (achieved by working bees)

* Survey and peg out the course layout (Kevin Hartley)

* Detailed earth works contract including construction of the dam (Preston Brothers)

* Pump station design and construction

* Build switch room and install underground electrical power lines to the pump station (working bees and Brian ‘Spud’ Nutter)

* Research and select automatic watering system (Southern Cross)

* Research, select and purchase the full range of new mower equipment

* Research and select soil for greens and sand for bunkers

The weather was favourable during the period of development and the final green was sown in May, 1976 at the 17^th hole.

There were many professional people who gave their time and experience freely in the following activities:

Surveying,   Electrical layout,  Earthworks,  Watering system,  Dam Design ,  Seed and soil types, Building Design,  and  Equipment loans (trucks, front end loaders, etc)

The old course operated normally through this period. The racecourse site became unplayable one week prior to the opening of Werribee Park Golf course when the nine greens inside the racetrack were lifted and the grass used to face the bunkers on the new course.

Now 30 years on it is great to be able to return and see the fruits of our labours in the middle 1970’s. Congratulations to all who continue to make our dream live on. Your old committee looks forward to your December celebrations. Further developments and improvements will become a reality in time. Thirty years is young in terms of the life of a golf course."