NSW Planning Minister Paul Skully delivered a press conference in early May where he was looking for golfers and users of the Moore Park golf course and driving range to celebrate his government’s generous offering.
It was announced that Moore Park was to survive on its current site, but as a 12-hole facility. It was hardly a moment, or a decision around which to break out the champagne.
Moore Park is a club that has lived in the Centennial Park area of Sydney for 100 years this June, come July there will be a dramatic change to the course as we have known it.
Often suggested to be the busiest golfing facility in the state, perhaps in the entire country, Moore Park, the closest course to the Sydney CBD, is busy, very busy and however many holes the course has going forward, it will remain that way.
That said, it is hard to be satisfied with an outcome where six holes will disappear.
In a recap of how it has come to this, state governments past and present, in partnership with property developers, have turned the nearby inner-city suburbs into a maze of high-density housing.
Sydney City Mayor Clover Moore, Premier Chris Minns and their parliamentary cohorts, in a bid to alleviate a lack of housing in and around the city, continued to approve of more development in the area.
Over the years governments have given their approvals without previously offering too much thought to green space or recreation areas. Maybe they thought there was ample already. If so, it seems they have now changed their minds.
Fast forward to May this year and following numerous appeals, alternative plans and community consultation, the decision was handed down to take away a portion of the land occupied by Moore Park golf course, specifically six golf holes, from one of very few public access courses in the eastern suburbs of Sydney.
Moore has remained in the background when it comes to media around the final decision, while Minns and Skully have taken the opportunity to front the cameras and to comment publicly. They believe they are doing golfers a favour by giving the green light to the revamped plan, which involves 12 holes rather than nine which had been originally presented.
For those outside of Sydney or who may not be familiar with the city, Moore Park Golf Club resides in the precinct that includes the Sydney Cricket Ground and its training fields across the road, Allianz Stadium, cricket and sporting fields, tennis courts and the ES Marks Athletic Field near the southeastern corner of the golf course.
That’s not to mention the massive area of green space on the northern boundary of Sydney Boys High School, located between the major arterial roads of South Dowling Street and Anzac Parade.
A couple of drivers and a wedge to the east are the Centennial Parklands comprising approximately 360 hectares (890 acres), lands encompassing Centennial Park, Moore Park and Queens Park.
By anyone’s estimation, that is a lot of green space. The golf course, in the eyes of golfers at least, provided another recreational facility for those in and around the area.
James Sutherland recently presented the Golf Australia’s Big Swings strategy (see page 15), proudly talking about the health of the game, its continued growth and the need for more courses, not less. When specifically referring to Moore Park, that should mean more holes, not less.
And as for Moore Park, it is just the highest profile course in the fight to at least maintain the status quo.
Kogarah Golf Club was another course which boasted a dedicated membership as well as available tee times during any given week for social golfers. In recent times it has been swallowed up for an industrial development adjacent to Sydney Airport and as a compromise, Kogarah members have been ‘relocated’ to Oak Point near Liverpool.
By no means a knock on Oak Point, a quality course in Sydney’s west, but it’s hardly an ideal option for Kogarah members to travel across town, some 45 minutes away from where they previously played their golf. Regular social golfers at Kogarah almost certainly aren’t going to consider the drive to Liverpool. They are more likely to look to play somewhere else. Moore Park isn’t that far away.
In Melbourne, Cranbourne has recently been through similar. An outstanding course, good enough to host an Australian Amateur Championship in January, is now closed, with members either relocated to Huntingdale or looking for a new golfing home.
Demand is outweighing supply, with the need for more courses, certainly in the major cities, however in Sydney at least, it’s hard to remember when or where a new course has been built. Kudos to GolfNSW for the Bingara Gorge venture, but that equates to an update of an existing venue, rather than something new.
No doubt GolfNSW, Golf Australia, the other state bodies and whoever else has been involved with negotiations around course closures or mergers, have done their best, but surely, they, and we as golfers, can’t be satisfied.
Skully, Minns and Moore would like us to celebrate the fact they are providing 12-holes at Moore Park, along with somewhere to spread my rug and break out the picnic basket. I’m not sure golfers in and around Sydney’s eastern suburbs will be thanking them anytime soon.
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