When Henley Had a Golf Course!

A purpose-built clubhouse was quickly judged too expensive, so the committee purchased a condemned railway carriage in 1930 for under £30 including delivery. The carriage was painted, lit with electricity arranged by Cyril Stobie (of “Stobie pole” fame), and fitted with duckboard paths, cyclone gates, and modest conveniences built at a cost of £10.

The clubhouse is the railway carriage in the background of the photograph above.

By the time of the official opening on 12 April 1930, the Henley Beach Golf Club had truly come to life. The Mayor of Henley and Grange, Mr. E.W. Mitton, drove the first ball before a crowd of 300 spectators. The day’s highlight was an exhibition match between Rymill and club captain G. Howard, with Rymill comfortably winning with a score of 37. The fledgling club had achieved something remarkable in less than a year.

‘The Advertiser‘ newspaper described the opening:

Trove http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article128989263

 

The biggest ongoing cost was rent for the land, and the committee looked for ways to offset it. One solution was subletting the paddocks for grazing. At first, former Mayor D.J. Beck grazed cattle during weekdays, paying a fee per head, while golfers had the ground on weekends. Later, leaseholder Alfred Stanford took over, halving the club’s rental payments in exchange for grazing rights.

Image source: H&GHS Collection

This arrangement brought in much-needed revenue but created obvious difficulties. Fairways were often shared with livestock, and golfers had to contend with cows, fences, and droppings as part of play. Despite this, optimism was high. In 1930, the club ambitiously laid out an 18-hole course, extending into new areas of the paddocks. Yet, the decision backfired, as the low-lying ground proved unsuitable and was frequently waterlogged.

The coexistence of grazing animals and golf had its limits.

Flooding soon became the club’s greatest enemy. The distributary of the Torrens regularly burst its banks after spring rains, leaving sections of the course unplayable.

Flooding at Grange c. 1935, Image source: State Library of South Australia B 70378/30

At one point, holes 14, 15, and 16 were abandoned, leaving the club with an awkward 15-hole layout. Eventually, the decision was made to relocate the course further north, onto two pieces of land straddling Grange (formally Kirkcaldy) Road near the junction with Frederick Road.

New location of the golf course (Kirkcaldy Rd. is now Grange Rd.)
Image source: H&GHS Collection

The clubhouse carriage was shifted from near Victoria Street to a position on the south side of Grange Road, just east of the T-junction with Frederick Rd. where there was a small red-tiled jarrah cottage that became a meeting place for the women.

Associates Meeting Hall – Image source: H&GHS Collection

Members launched more working bees to clear boxthorn, reeds, and thistles, plant couch grass, and even build a flood bank in 1932 to protect part of the course. Grazing of animals to keep the grass levels down but the incomplete removal of goats, sheep, horses and cows manure deposits from fairways before matches added nuisance value to the players.

Goats posed the most problems!

The Associates — the women’s section of the club — played a vital but often underappreciated role. They organised bridge evenings, dances, and other social events to raise funds, contributing substantially to the club’s survival. Yet their work was sometimes taken for granted. In 1935, sports reporter and committee member Arch Bell raised the issue, pointing out that the Associates’ funds had been absorbed by the main committee, leaving the women without even petty cash. When his motion for prize money support was rejected, he resigned in protest, though later withdrew after a compromise was reached.

 State Library of South Australia B 7798/285

Relations improved, and in 1936 the Associates were recognised with their own championship cup. The women also responded to practical requests — such as refraining from wearing high heels on the course and carefully smoothing footprints in bunkers. Over time, their enthusiasm for the game grew, and women golfers became an increasingly important part of the club’s identity.

Trove: http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article129924575

The Depression of the 1930s brought lean years, with many members unable to pay their subscriptions. Yet by the end of the decade the club was recovering, with numbers boosted in part by the growing popularity of women’s golf. Optimism returned, and it seemed Henley Beach Golf Club had secured a future.

World War II changed everything. By 1940 the committee had suspended championships, instead using competitions to raise money for the Fighting Forces Fund. Landlords agreed to reduce rent for the duration of the war, but the difficulties of maintaining the course and keeping members engaged became overwhelming. In February 1942 the club decided to go into recess, paying rent until July but suspending activities. Hopes of re-forming in 1943 were dashed when the land was sold, and the new owner required the club to vacate. Arrangements were made to wind up its affairs.

After just 13 years, the the short history of the Henley Beach Golf Club ended. Its short life left behind only memories of improvised sandhill courses, railway carriages, grazing cows, determined working bees, and the community spirit of those who kept it going against the odds, only to vanish under the pressures of floods, finances, and finally war.

Ron Jones was a local identity of Henley and Grange and played at the Henley Beach Golf Club in the 1930s.

In this (edited) 1988 audio podcast below he talks with George Willoughby from the H&GHS about those times.

The Minute Book and other records of the Henley Beach Golf Club were presented to the Henley & Grange Historical Society in 1994 and were the main source of information for the original article on the Club published in the 1996 H&GHS Journal 17.

This 2025 website story is an abridged version of the text from that article with embedded multimedia from HBGC records and the H&GHS Collection.