reimagine its possibilities.
Elsternwick was a little suburban nine-hole
course in the midst of a densely populated and
easily accessed part of the city yet the course
closed about a year ago. Driving by, one assumes
it will lie fallow until someone decides what
other use there might be for the land. In fairness
it was a very basic golf course, no more than a
place to “sock a ball around” as MacKenzie once
called rudimentary golf.
Maybe a Himalayas putting green would
work there and maybe it wouldn’t but perhaps
a decent compromise to losing golf altogether
from Elsternwick would be something of the
scale of the original Himalayas at St Andrews?
Add a small coffee shop, hire out balls and
putters, make it fun and see how it goes. It’s
a risk but my best guess is it’d be more than
successful because knocking the ball across
undulating ground on beautiful, smooth and
fine turf isn’t the worst way to spend half an
hour with a few friends. Or two hours even –
and you don’t need to be a ‘golfer’ to partake.
In Brisbane, Victoria Park, one of the very few
public courses in the city, is under threat and
maybe that’s a good idea and maybe not. Either
way if councils want to use what is incredibly
valuable and sought after public space for
something other than golf then perhaps they
should at least commit to making great ‘small
golf’ even if that means a Himalayas green or
some other form of reduced golf.
Just make it good golf.
In Sydney, the anti-golf faction apparently
want to reduce 18-hole courses to 9 holes or get
rid of them entirely because they see a better
way (and politically easy to sell to the 95 percent
of the population who don’t play golf) to use
the land. Golf, of course, is an easy target for
those who think it both elitist and reducing
in popularity and participation, which always
seem to be the arguments presented by clueless
newspaper writers who know nothing about
the game.
And, golf does a lousy job of selling the
health benefits of walking and socialising. A
century ago MacKenzie, a practicing doctor,
understood the benefits of golf when he wrote
in The Spirit of St Andrews: “The only reason
for the existence of golf and other games is thatthey promote health, happiness, pleasure and
even prosperity of the community. It is surprising
how few politicians and others realise the extent
that golf courses and other playing fi elds do this;
they appear to think that anything that promotes
happiness is an evil and should be taxed out of
existence. How frequently have I, with great
di culty, persuaded patients who were never o
my doorstep to take up golf, and how rarely, if ever,
have I seen them in my consulting room again.”
Either way, the ‘golf’ MacKenzie was talking
about didn’t, and doesn’t, need to be traditional 18
holes. Five-thousand metres can be as interesting
and as fun as 6,500. There are great nine-hole
courses around the world but there are a lot more
bad 18-hole courses because of an insistence on
jamming 18 holes onto land best suited to 12 holes
and an amazing practice fairway.
Most would suggest a compromised 18 with a
few bad holes is preferable to better golf but only
two thirds of it.
Maybe so but if anyone told me the only
golf I could play for the rest of my life was
the opening six holes back to the clubhouse at
Royal Melbourne that’d be just about perfect.IN THE NAME OF FUN
The St Andrews Ladies’ Putting
Club is better known to visitors
as The Himalayas, which is an
apt description for this wild putting
green at the home of golf,
St Andrews.
The Himalayas lie between the
famous Old Course and the spectacular
West Sands, only a 10-minute walk
from the town centre.
A private club founded in 1867,
the St Andrews Ladies’ Putting Club
course is open to the public daily from
April to September (and in March and
October, weather permitting) with a few
closed periods when it is reserved for
members’ use.
All standards of putters of any age
can play. There is a nine-hole course
and an 18-hole layout, both of which
are challenging even to the most
experienced golfer.
Equipment hire is included in the
green fee of £3 (adult), £1 (child under
12) and £1 (senior).golf australia | AUGUST 2019 91