Mount Lawley Golf Club - The first fifty years (1928 - 1978)

The following chapters are excerpts from Mount Lawleys Book 'Mount Lawley Golf Club - The first fifty years (1928 - 1978)'. Click on the chapter title to view the text.

Chapter Four : The Golden Years

The years from 1960 on, have been by comparison with the preceding times, a period of problem-free prosperity and growth for Mount Lawley. Membership boomed - to the point where a long waiting list exists - and the course has been developed to the extent that is has become of the most respected tests of golf in the State. The early 1960s saw the introduction of television, and largely as a result of the coverage and publicity it received on this new media, golf "took off" as a sport in this State.

From the fairly static situation of the 1950s (indeed, there had been some concern voiced over the slow rate of membership increase), within a few years the Club was inundated with would-be members. A combination of this sudden rise in the popularity of golf, together with restrictions imposed by the Licensing Court resulted in the introduction of yet another class of membership - provisional members. The court ruled that full membership be limited to those who could reasonably be accommodated on the course on a Saturday or Sunday, in order to prevent the appearance of a whole class of "drinking members". Provisional membership was therefore introduced, with strict limitations on the times at which such members were allowed on the course. Provisional members were (and are) allowed to graduate to ordinary membership, as vacancies occurred, although such is the current popularity of the Club that this now takes about seven years.

As pointed out above, the course itself has been steadily developed and improved throughout this period, for many years by the Grounds Committee under the dedicated Chairmanship of Lionel Sangster. The extent to which the excellent condition of the course has been taken for granted by thousands of golfers during these years is a tribute to his efforts and care.

Some alterations were made to the course during the 1960s, largely on the advice of the W.A.G.A. in the hope of achieving Championship status for Mount Lawley. Although this latter has as yet been elusive. The fairways were narrowed  and generally lengthened (adding about 600 metres to the overall length of the course) while several bunkers were altered in shape and depth.

In 1973 the 9th green was greatly enlarged to become one of the biggest and most interesting greens in W.A., and a feature often commented upon, by visitors to the Club.

With the final solution of the water problem in the late 1950s, the greatest difficulty facing Grounds Committees was resolved, but in more recent years battles  have been fought and (hopefully) won against kikuyu grass, which had at one stage almost taken over the fairways, and black beetle infestation of the greens.

The pressure of an increasing membership has also resulted in the further extension of the Clubhouse, the new sections of bar, locker rooms, cool room, freezer room and renovations to the caretaker's flat being opened in March 1969. Mount Lawley's ''public face'' was also improved in 1962 with the addition of the handsome Toodyay stone wall at the entrance to the course.

When this was proposed as a replacement for the rather rickety wire fence then existing, it apparently caught the imagination of an anonymous poet, who wrote: