Historic day as golf club converts

THE members of Bannockburn Golf Club marked the end of an era last Saturday, playing their last eighteen holes on the current sandscrape course.

President Dick Van Den Bosch said more than 100 players were part of the historic competition; the last of its kind before the club starts works to convert the sandscrapes to grass greens.

“We’ve been at the course for 51 years, and this is now the next step in the development of the golf course,” he said.

“Not only members, but many visitors that played the course over the years, were part of the final day of sandscrapes, and it was a really great event.”

Life member Bill Hughes had glass trophies made for the day’s men’s and women’s competitions, which he donated. These were won by Ben Rolton and Alison Pfarrer.

“It was a very happy atmosphere. People are excited to see the next developments.

“Hopefully in nine months’ time we’ll have nine new grass greens we can play on, and in about 20 months’ time, we’ll have 18 new greens to play on, and we’ll be a wholly green grass course,” Mr Van Den Bosch said.

“Golfers like to have grass greens to play on. For smaller country courses, they can be expensive to run, but with the growing population in Bannockburn, and an increase in members, we think we can afford to do this and have a course that will match any in the Geelong area.”

Bannockburn Golf Club currently has about 180 members, and Mr Van Den Bosch expects the 18-hole grass course will attract more players, and supporters of the organisation into the future.

As part of the day golf equipment and wood were raffled off to generate further funds for the green conversion works.

For the next few months members and visitors will be able to play the back nine holes of the course with the front half the first to be converted to grass greens.