PDGA - HISTORY

The PDGA was formed in 1952 to promote golf in the region and to encourage membership of PDGA clubs. The district has over a 59 years period continued to promote golf in general and to provide an extensive program for its club golfers. This includes a vibrant pennant competition which has in turn led to the development of many outstanding young golfers and the development of life-long friendships in the golfing community.

Competition between clubs and its extension into fellowship with golfers throughout the state has long been the aim of the PDGA. The PDGA boasts not only an outstanding record in the inter-district Country Week competition (having won eight of the last ten Country Week Sheilds), but it also has an extensive promotional and practice program which has included reciprocal visits to regional teams from North Eastern, Geelong, Bendigo and Gippsland.

PDGA PRESIDENTS

PDGA SECRETARIES

PDGA LIFE MEMBERS

PDGA Presidents since 1952.

1952 to 1953 - J.H.Beckwith
1953 to 1970 - J.S.Watson
1971 - P.Bartlett
1972 to 1973 - G.N.Bloomfield
1974 to 1976 - C.M.Fairman
1977 to 1980 - B.J.Balcombe
1981 to 1982 - W.G.H.Wright
1983 to 1985 - R.J.Forsyth
1986 to 1988 - B.A.Clarke
1989 to 1991 - K.Andrew
1992 to 1995 - G. Blampied
1996 to 1997 - R.J.Dennis
1997 to 1999 - B.Le Gassick
2000 to 2005 - S. Thomson
2005 to 2006 - B.A.Clarke
2007 to 2010 - R.J.Bright
2010 - Ron Craven

PDGA Secretaries since 1952.

1952 to 1953 - A.A Webster
1954 to 1958 - A.E.Bolt
1959 to 1973 - C.M.Fairman
1974 to 1979 - H.M.Fisher
1980 to 1981 - R.J.Forsyth
1982 to 1986 - R.R.Pinkstone
1987 - N.Condor
1988 to 1991 - J.Preston
1992 to 1994 - R.J.Dennis
1995 to 2000 - R.C.Henderson
2001 to 2002 - H.Richards
2003 - P.Molloy

PDGA Life Members since 1952.

1959        A.E.Bolt
1963        J.S.Watson
1967        A.A.Webster
1972        P. Bartlett
1975        Geoff N.Blomfield
1975        C.M.Fairman
1980        H.H.Fisher
1981         B.J.Balcombe
1982         R.T.Gill
1983         W.G.H. Wright
1986-      -R.R.Pinkstone
1988         Eric Lucas
1989         B.A.(Tony)Clarke
1991         N.Condor
1992         Ken Andrew
1995         J. Preston
1996         Gerry Blampied
1999         Barry Le Gassick
2001         Ron Henderson
2005         Syd Thomson
2006-------Jim Alexander
2008-------Ray Ousley
2010-------Bob Bright

GOLF ON THE PENINSULA
(courtesy of Mornington Peninsula District Women's Golf (MPDWG) website)

Flinders Golf Club is the oldest on the Mornington Peninsula; indeed it claims to be the oldest club in Australia on its original site. It was formed in 1903 with the first subscription two shillings and sixpence per annum, and by 1905 it had 155 members. Most of them were probably men, but the excellent history page of the Flinders Golf Club website www.flindersgolfclub.com.au does include some women in the early photos.

Golf on the Port Phillip side of the Peninsula was established with the birth of the Mornington Country Golf Club in 1904, followed in 1907 by the Sorrento and Portsea Golf Club which changed its name to the Sorrento Golf Club two years later. Portsea Golf Club was established in 1925. That was probably all the golf course development until after the Depression, World War II and post-war reconstruction of the 1930s, 40s and 50s. Since the early 1960s the number of courses and clubs has increased steadily.

The member-owned Rosebud Country Club began in 1962. Local Shire Councils established courses at Rosebud Park (now Carrington Park) in 1960, at Devilbend and in 1975 and at Mount Martha. The Navy built a 9-hole course at HMAS Cerberus (now Cerberus Golf Club). Privately-owned courses such as Carlogie (now Eagle Ridge), and Limestone Valley (now The Dunes) combined club memberships with green fee availability. Some like Sorrento Downs have come and gone - the members formed the basis of The Rye Dunes Golf Club - now The Dunes Golf Club). Courses built on housing developments began with The National Golf Club, Cape Schanck Resort (now RACV) and Mount Martha Valley (now Safety Beach GC) in the late 1980s. The newest courses have been Moonah Links in 2003 and St Andrews Beach in 2005. (In 2008 St Andrews Beach was no longer operating with financial problems and was subject to possible new ownership. The course re-opened in 2010 after being idle for 16 months under a new combined ownership and now big things are expected)

GOLF IN THE HILLS
Privately owned golf courses were established in the 1920s and 1930s in the northern part of what have become Mornington Peninsula District Women’s Golf Incorporated (MPDWG) and the men’s Peninsula District Golf Association (PDGA). Courses at The Lakes, Montuna, Warburton and Emerald were played by local golfers, and in 1946 the Beacon Hills and Montuna Golf Clubs were set up, the latter adding Berwick to its name in 1998.