golf australia | APRIL 2018 29Hope played there. These days the Australian
Open tennis players unwind on the course and
this year Roger Federer’s kids took lessons and
had a hit.
The great irony of it all is that a Labour
government pushed the private club off the
land in 1947 and another Labour government
was now trying to take back half the course
- from the public golfers. What happened to
those who call Albert Park home? At best,
their opportunities would be halved although
many doubted the viability of nine holes as it
was reported that the course length would be
reduced from 6,000 to 2,000 metres. As well
as the casual players, six clubs – Lakeside,
Lakeside Ladies, City View, Kiwi, Aboriginal
Social and the Dukes of Manchester Social –
are based there and affi liated with the Victorian
Golf League.
Professional David Diaz, who fi rst played
the course 40 years ago while growing up in
St Kilda and now teaches there, felt all along
that the proposal would fail. The only player of
Chilean descent to hold an Australasian PGA
Tour card has a round of 59 to his credit at
Albert Park as an amateur and went on to win
the 1993 Coolum Classic.
“I don’t think it will happen,” he said beforethe Parks Brains Trust bowed to the great and
righteous indignation of golfers and other
users in mid-February. “If it did, it would ruin it.
What they want to change it to is a joke. They
want a fl oodlit driving range. I don’t think they
thought that one through. The residents they
are trying to win over aren’t going to be very
happy with that 100 metres from their homes.”
Albert Park was not broken. In fact, it is
running very well with more than 100,000
rounds played a year and a pennant team
unbeaten for more than a decade. Why did
they want to fi x it? Common sense, that
increasingly rare commodity, prevailed.The picturesque Albert Park
course will remain as 18 holes
... that is for now.