Missed any of the first five installments?  Click the links below to read them:

Instalment One - Beginnings
Instalment Two - The Early Years
Instalment Three - Finding a Home
Instalment Four - First Hints of Huntingdale
Instalment Five - The War Years

*Note - hole references are to hole numbers pre-OCM redevelopment unless otherwise stated

So, back to the continuing story. At the conclusion of the war new plans were considered for both the course and the clubhouse. Of prime importance though, was the decision to accumulate funds that ultimately would be used to liquidate Huntingdale’s capital liabilities.

Towards the end of the 1940’s the course really began to establish itself, but rising costs placed severe limitations on expenditure, and it became apparent that even just the normal upkeep and improvement of the course was being adversely affected by such a stringent economic policy.

The financial shortages notwithstanding, it seems Huntingdale’s greatest problem during this time was a lack of members. During the war years the membership was reduced by almost two thirds, and although it recovered to an extent when the war ended, there was a constant need to add to it, not the easiest thing to do in a highly competitive market.

A post-war boom in Australian golf had increased public awareness of the game, but being a relative newcomer to the scene Huntingdale was the least known among the many superb, world class golf courses that graced Melbourne’s sandbelt.

It needed to publicize itself, and it was decided that one really good way of doing that would be to become involved with professional golf.

Late in 1946 the sandbelt’s ‘Crown Prince’, Royal Melbourne, put up 150 guineas (about £157) for a 36-hole professional event, making it the richest tournament held in Australia since such fixtures were suspended at the beginning of the war.

A month later Huntingdale announced a prize of £300 for a 72-hole tournament, and just the fact that it had, in effect, upstaged Australia’s most prestigious golf club, ensured wide spread publicity.

It certainly caught the interest of the best pro golfers in the country, and they turned up in droves, including the reigning Australian Open champion Ossie Pickworth, making his first Melbourne appearance. The winner was talented Melbourne professional, Ted Naismith.

A couple of years later Pickworth returned to Huntingdale to take on big Jim Ferrier, Australia's 1947 US PGA winner in a 72-hole matchplay event (Ferrier won), and when in 1950, feisty Aussie Norman Von Nida beat the reigning British Open champion (also the 1949 winner), the great Bobby Locke in a 36-hole match around the ‘new’ course, the ‘newcomer’ tag had all but disappeared.

From a more local point of view an awareness of Huntingdale had taken a giant leap forward a year earlier, when the club hosted its first significant amateur tournament, the Victorian Ladies Championship.

That in itself was a milestone, but it gained even more significance due to the towering performance of the winner (she won the final 10 up), and the fact that she was a Huntingdale member. And not just any old member either.

Burtta Cheney’s name is synonymous with Huntingdale and indeed with women’s golf throughout Australia. She was a wonderful player, and over time became one of the most popular and influential people to have ever graced women’s golf.

She won another two Victorian Championships, the Australian Ladies Championship (1957), captained a number of Australian teams, and was a leading administrator in Australian golf at both state and national level for many years.

She and her close friend, Nell Smithett (later Hutton), who also made an indelible mark as a player and an administrator – she once captained Australia’s Tasman Cup team - grew up playing golf at Eastern, and were founding Associate members at Huntingdale.

The pair of them, in fact, helped Sam Berriman build the new course, who consulted with them on the positioning of the ladies tees, upon realising that Alison had omitted to include them (surprising?) on his master plan.

And just to explain, lady members at Huntingdale (and private golf clubs generally) were called Associates, and this only changed in 1986, following the passing of 1984 Equal Opportunity Act.

Another founding Associate member was Ellie Hinton, a fine golfer but also a classy tennis player, who represented Victoria in interstate tennis. She was a wonderful administrator, and was Women’s Club Captain from 1945 to 1952, and president from 1952 to 1958.

There is little doubt that when golf resumed after the war the exploits of the Associates did much to spread the Huntingdale name. Cheny, Smithett and Hinton led the charge, but others gained recognition, and by 1956 the Huntingdale associates boasted more single figure markers than any other Victorian club.

The men, too, did their bit. At the forefront were two outstanding players, Bob Bull and Barry West.

Bull, who served in the Royal Australian Navy during the World War Two, joined Huntingdale in 1944, and won six club championships between 1947 and 1960. He was the Victorian Amateur Champion in 1954, and was a regular member of Victoria’s state team.

Also a member of the state team was Barry West, twice a club champion,who at one point during the mid-1950’s was considered the best amateur golfer in Australia. In 1957, playing in the series which is now the Ivo Whitten Trophy, he won 13 of the 15 events, and capped the year off by winning the Victorian Amateur Championship.

Some months later West, 27, turned professional, but despite winning at his first start as a pro, didn’t enjoy the lifestyle and only ever played six tournaments. Sadly, under the draconian amateur rules which existed back then, he had to stand out of golf for five years before again being allowed to play amateur golf.

Another fine golfer Huntingdale during this time was Ray Wartman, who also played VFL football for Melbourne. He featured for the Demons when they won successive premierships, in 1939-40-41.

Those in charge at Huntingdale eyed the Victorian Golf Association’s pennant competition (then played in just two divisions, A and B grade), as yet another way to push the club’s name to the forefront and immediately after the war set about building a formidable pennant squad.

With Bull, West and Wartman at its core, the team went from strength to strength, winning the B Grade pennant in 1947, and winning A Grade pennants in 1951 (beating Kingswood), and in 1954 (downing Commonwealth). 

Still, achieving recognition was one thing, but trying to come to grips with the unavoidable, such as increases in wages and rates, and the costs of goods and services, was a constant headache. In March, 1951, the Club called an Extraordinary General Meeting to inform members of initiatives aimed at dealing with the situation.

As it had in the beginning, the Club once again turned to debentures as a way of raising funds. To raise £20,000, in 1953 a new £5 debenture issue was proposed, to be redeemable in May,1968. The original debenture, issued in 1938, became redeemable around the same time, but holders were encouraged to convert their holding into a new debenture.

It was a demonstration of faith and confidence in the fledgling golf club that the new debenture issue was oversubscribed, which in turn convinced the committee to formulate a long-range and extensive course development plan.

In 1958, as part of this plan, the club purchased 3.4 hectares of land in the south-western corner of the course, around the site of the current 4th green (which didn’t exist in the original layout, as will be explained later) and the machinery shed. To help finance this acquisition a parcel of land owned by club on the southern boundary was subdivided, to produce 24 building blocks.

Unfortunately the sale of the blocks was delayed for some time by Government ‘red tape’, during which the club was forced to carry an overdraft of more than £36,000.

To help offset this figure the members voted to subdivide and sell a portion of the club’s property on the northern boundary, which is now Old Eastern Court. Eventually 15 blocks went to public auction, the most expensive of them selling for £2350.

About this time a new threat appeared upon the horizon, one that had it not been overcome, would have rendered today’s proposed merger of Huntingdale with Metropolitan redundant, simply for the fact that neither club would still be in existence.

It so happened that in the mid-1950’s the Victorian Government realised the University of Melbourne was struggling to cope with the increasing demands for education of the post-war population. A new university was required, and it was decreed its site should be east of Caulfield, to cater for rapidly expanding populations in the eastern suburbs, and the Latrobe Valley.

By mid-1958 it became apparent an Interim Council directed by the Government to investigate possible sites was leaning very strongly to the tract of land occupied by the Huntingdale, and to a slightly lesser extent that of, Metropolitan.

Immediately both clubs joined forces and began to mount strong arguments as to why the golf courses should be spared. Huntingdale set up a special sub-committee to deal with the threat, and club president Frank Murdoch wrote an an eight page letter to the chairman of the Interim Council, listing eight reasons why any golf course, but in particular Huntingdale, should be preserved, six reasons why there should be an alternative site, and a list of five specific alternatives.

Ironically, while the golf clubs were fighting desperately to save themselves, across Melbourne and all over country Victoria, cities, shires and councils devoted equal attention in trying to convince the Interim Council as to the desirability of building a university in their precincts.

Still the Interim Council leaned towards the compulsory acquisition of the golf courses, and indeed it was this recommendation that was forwarded to Cabinet.

So began intense lobbying of political figures by influential members of both clubs, while at the same time the possibility of losing the battle had some looking at possible alternatives, including....wait for it.....a merger of Huntingdale and Metropolitan that involved building a country club on the Mornington Peninsula.

Fortunately for golf, wiser heads prevailed among the Cabinet, and the golf courses were saved. In November the then premier, Henry (later Sir Henry) Bolte, announced the new university would be built on the corner of Blackburn and Wellington Roads, where it remains today.

The university wrangle wasn’t the only problem facing Huntingdale in the late 1950’s. It and golf clubs across Melbourne were faced with possibility of having to pay huge land tax increases, following the passing of the Valuation Land Act 1960-61.

Rather than be taxed on a percentage of their unimproved value, the act decreed golf clubs could be rated on residential unimproved values, bringing about increases many clubs felt would lead to their financial ruin.

It took a private member’s bill aimed at protecting recreational land, introduced by Labor MP and keen golfer Jack Galbally, and supported by a couple of golf-loving Liberal MPs, Rupert Hamer and Murray Porter, to secure a favourable outcome.

Some 20 years later the Oakleigh Council attempted to force the golf clubs within its boundaries, Huntingdale, Metropolitan and Spring Valley, to accept huge rate increases. That was an issue, but it seemed the left-leaning Council had just a bigger issue with the very existence of the private golf clubs within its boundaries.

Unable to resolve the impasse the three clubs took the very serious step of issuing a Supreme Court writ against the Council, which immediately retreated from its position, and the two parties reached an amicable agreement, very much in favour of the golf clubs.

For a short period of time Huntingdale and its members enjoyed a relatively peaceful existence, but in the early 1960’s the club was forced to confront a new problem.

A spate of long, hot dry summers began to exact a lasting toll on the course, in particular the fairways. Up until then irrigation was largely dependent on annual rainfall, supplemented by water from the Melbourne Metropolitan Board of Works.

The gravity of the situation was apparent in the fact that for three years, beginning in 1961, it became necessary in certain periods for players to tee up en route from tee to green, to try to preserve what was left of the once lush fairways. It was an intolerable situation that required some firm decisions.

Years earlier attempts had been made to seek an underground source of water, but little of any consequence was found, and most of that was rather saline.

Under the direction of Waverley’s city engineer, Claude Vaughan, a Huntingdale committeeman and later Club Captain, a bore was sunk just short of, and to the right of the 16th green, and it struck ‘gold’. Such was the flow another bore was sunk closer to the front gate, and it too produced precious water. .

But what to do with it? It was decided to construct a holding dam in swampy ground to the left of the 13th fairway, in front of the 14th tee. Its capacity was 6.8 million litres, later increased to 9.1 million litres.

Around this time Sam Berriman, the man who’d translated the ideas of course architect Hugh Alison into a championship golf course, retired as course superintendant

His replacement was Roy Judd, who for 22 years had assisted the legendary Claude Crockford at Royal Melbourne GC. He accepted the job despite not having seen the course since the early 1950’s, and was shocked by its condition.

“It was completely run down,” he said. For the next three years he only just coped with the task of bringing the course back up to scratch, but aided by the new water storage, and with the assistance of a an enthusiastic and willing committee, in 1964 he was able to report “that our course is in excellent condition”.

Due mainly to the sales of land referred to earlier, at the southern end of the course, and on the northern extremity, the course layout underwent a number of significant changes,

A minor tee adjustment was made to the 14th hole, but at the southern end major changes were made to the fourth and fifth holes.

In the original design the fourth was a relatively straight par five, starting at current fourth tee and stretching some 439 metres down to an elevated green on the southern boundary.

From there golfers made a short walk to the fifth tee, to play a slightly uphill par three of some 190 metres, along a similar line-of-sight to what in more recent times has been the 19th hole.

 Using the land bought from the Clements Estate, the fourth became a right hand dog-leg par four, pretty much as it exists today, and fifth also became a par four, with a drive to the about where the fifth green is (and soon won’t be) and a short iron to the what later became the 19th green.

Some 30 years later this hole reverted back to being a par three, and was played as such when the course closed last year. In the new layout the fifth will return to being a short par four.

I accept that many readers might be having some difficulty in trying to work out just what went where, so might I suggest they perhaps go and have a chat to Kenny Chandler, who joined Huntingdale in 1951, and has seen just about everything.

As the 1960’s progressed the drought persisted, but water drawn from the club bore, and from the MMBW in a proportion of about one to three, enabled Roy Judd to maintain superb playing conditions.

In 1967-68 Melbourne’s summer was the driest on record, and in the spring of ’68 the government introduced water restrictions. Claude Vaughan, the driving force behind the building of the storage dam adjacent to Huntingdale Road,  led the push for a second dam to be built in the north west corner of the course, between the 16th and 17th fairways.

For all of the time the course was undergoing subtle changes, to a lesser extent so was the clubhouse which, it should be remembered, was seen by Huntingdale’s founders as being something of a temporary structure, given the shortage of building materials during the War.

In the early 1950’s it became apparent that extensions to the clubhouse, rather than a rebuild, were the way of the future. Much needed additions were built including a new men’s locker room and extensions to the bar lounge, plus an overdue expansion of the ladies locker room, which was described as ‘claustrophobic’.

Still, the upkeep and upgrading of the course remained a priority, and another eight years passed by before any further work on the clubhouse could be implemented, but only after a special clubhouse levy of £10 was struck to help finance it. One of the features of this renovation was the construction of a spike bar in the north-east corner.

It’s interesting to note that around that time there was again talk of building a brand new clubhouse, but not on the site of the existing one. Some believed the high ground in the south east corner of the course was the perfect place for an imposing structure.

The debated move became so heated at times, the committee eventually conducted a forum to gauge the wishes of the majority. “It was a huge meeting,” long time member Len Randall recalled. “It was on for young and old”.

Initially there appeared to be considerable support for relocation, but when the chips were down and the proposal was put to a vote, only a handful of its most fervent subscribers stayed firm, thus it was doomed.

Through the 1970’s the course underwent a number of changes due to various factors, some of them natural, some of them man made. Both the 14th and 15th tees were realigned, to try and prevent errant tee shots landing on Huntingdale Road and Old Eastern Court respectively.

The fairways were originally sown with common couch grass, obtained from land off Bay Road in Sandringham. Most of the plants were healthy and strong, but others were weak, and were subsequently infiltrated by a mixture of cool season grasses. This posed some problems during the summer, and eventually the fairways were restored to new strains of couch.

In the early 1960’s the fairways were being watered by huge, cumbersome fixed sprinklers, and when eventually they were replaced by travelling sprinklers (Rain Mobiles), a new problem popped up.

For some reason they attracted vandals, who were able to access the course off Huntingdale Road, where the fence line in places was quite low, due to ground level changes caused by the surfacing of the road.

It was enough of a problem in 1973 to oblige the club to employ a ranger, but the only way to finance this move was to impose another levy, which raised $9444 to cover those costs.

Back in the safe confines of the clubhouse some missed the cosy warmth of the open fires that had given way to central heating, but everyone was happy when a magnificent honour board was installed above the bar in the lounge, a feature that remained a focal point for many, many years.

In particular it invited close scrutiny in the 1980’s and 1990’s, not just from the members, but that of golf lovers from around Australia, and indeed from around the world.

Well, at least for one a week every year, when Huntingdale played host to an event that for some three score years was viewed as one of the ancient game’s most buoyant celebrations.

But more about that next time.

Brian Meldrum - Commemorative History Update Sub-Committee