Royal Park Golf Course welcomes golfers of all levels to visit us.
About Royal Park Golf Course
If you're looking to enjoy the great outdoors and swing those golf clubs in a beautiful location, Royal Park Golf Course is the place to go.
Our history
- 1903: The golf club was formed. A group of golf enthusiasts gathered at the Parkville Hotel to discuss forming a golf club, after which they leased the land from the Royal Park Trustees. An 18 hole members golf course was built and maintained by club members and volunteers. The first hole started near the cairn for Bourke and Wills.
- 1911: The then 18 hole golf course was shortened to nine holes.
- 1923: The now number 58 tram line was built, altering the course layout. We still remain the only golf course on the planet to have both a tram line and train line running through it.
- 1932: Mick Ryan won the Australian Open. He started playing here.
- 1934: Control of Royal Park changed from the Royal Park Trustees to the City of Melbourne council. Immediate improvements to the course were made, with permission given for extra bunkers and mounds and the mowing of the fairways (all paid for by the club and members).
- 1942: Five-time British Open winner Peter Thomson (a Brunswick resident) was admitted to the club as a junior member (aged 13). Peter went on to win over 100 national and international tournaments and said of the course (in 2003), "it didn't exactly prosper, but it did the next best thing - it endured."
- 1946: Having learnt to play at Royal Park Golf Course, five-time British Open winner Peter Thomson won the club championship (aged 16).
- 1950s: The club encouraged juniors who started playing because of the publicity generated by Peter Thomson's career.
- 1963: £5,000 was spent on improvements to the clubhouse, including installation of a sewerage system. This also benefited the green fee players (who had always been allowed to play on the privately run course, when the 440 members were not holding competitions).
- 1970: The clubhouse burnt down. Ashes from the briquette dust heap at the rear of the building started a fire and the weatherboard clubhouse was partially destroyed - with club records, trophies and member's property lost in the fire.
- 1971: The golf course changed from a private, members-only course to a public course, following the fire and negotiations with the council. It was then operated and maintained by the Parks, Gardens and Recreation Department department within the City of Melbourne council. The club lost its membership of the Victorian Golf Association and members voted to merge with Keilor Golf Club to form 'Tullamarine Golf Club'.
- 1973: The council built the current brick club rooms and pro shop (a veranda was also later installed in 2002).
- 1994: Major changes were made to part of the course due to the redevelopment of the Melbourne Zoo car parking areas. Peter Thomson's golf architecture firm were asked to redesign the course, but this was later put on indefinite hold by the council.
- 2002: Peter Thomson and Mick Ryan (the latter of whom joined the club in 1925) were both selected in the Victorian Golf Association's Team of the Century in 2002.
- 2003: Royal Park Golf Course became 100 years old.
- 2022: The course continues to be owned by the City of Melbourne. It is much loved by local residents and visitors who love to walk around this lovely part of Royal Park, listening to lions roaring and siamang gibbons barking from the nearby zoo, as well as finding it therapeutic to play a round of golf.
Find out more about the history of Royal Park Golf Club.
Facilities and golf shop
Royal Park Golf Course includes nine holes, a short game practice area and a golf shop. In the world of golf, Royal Park is certainly amongst the world's quirkiest golf courses (being the only course in the world to have a train line and a tram line running through it)!
Under a unique arrangement with the Trin Warren Tam-boore wetlands next door to the course, storm water is filtered through the treatment pond at the wetlands and is used to irrigate the golf course and ovals.
Find out more about our facilities.
Location and opening hours
Royal Park Golf Course is located at 11 Old Poplar Rd, Parkville, VIC 3052, on the edge of Melbourne's CBD. Visit us during our opening hours. You can also contact us.
Partnership
Royal Park Golf Course is owned by the City of Melbourne and managed by GreenSpace Management. This website is run by YMCA Victoria, who are working in partnership with City of Melbourne.
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