The First 75 Years 

(An excerpt from the 75th Anniversary Celebration booklet written in 1991 by Jim Valli) 

Golf was first played in Queens Park in 1896. Initially, the Park, then known as Victoria Park, was home for the Invercargill Golf Club, which was formed at a meeting on July 11,1896, and which formally took the field on Wednesday, October 7, that year. However, in 1915, the Invercargill Golf club moved to its present site at Otatara. 

Golf continued to be played at Queens Park and was run as New Zealand’s first municipal course until 1916. 

The Queens Park Golf Club was formed at a meeting on February 29, 1916. 

That meeting, held in the council chambers and attended by about 25 people, decided on the motion of Mr Somerset Smith to form a golf club to play on the municipal links, and on the motion of Mr J F Lillicrap it was decided to call it the Queens Park Club. 

The chairman of the meeting, Mr John Cunningham, was elected club captain. 

Subscriptions were fixed at five shillings for men and 2/6 for ladies and youths under 18. 

Opening day was held on Wednesday, April 18, 1916, but this was in the middle of World War I and there were no reports in newspapers of the day of that landmark in the club's history until several weeks later. 

Southland Times golf writer "Cleek" reported the occasion in his column on May 6. 

"On the 18th of last month, the Queens Park Golf Club had its official send-off on what it is hoped will be a prosperous career. His Worship the Mayor addressed the assembled players, congratulated them on their enthusiasm quoted some figures relative to the council's expenditure on the municipal links, stated that still more would be done to improve the playing area, recalled that he had some time ago promised to have the clubhouse improved and had forgotten all about it but would now give this his early attention concluding by wishing the club every success, and declared it open for play in due form.” 

"Three cheers were given for the Mayor and Mayoress (patrons of the club), after which his Worship played the first ball, and succeeded at the second attempt in driving it fully ten yards. An expert Mayor is not necessarily an expert golfer.” 

"I hear about a hundred players and would-be players have either joined or intimated their intention to join the Queens Park club. I would like to see the links crowded every Wednesday and well patronized every day of the week, and if the links are kept in good playing order this is not too much to expect. 

In the early years, the condition of Queens Park in general was of limited quality compared to what is on show today. 

The Southland Times, for instance, reported on April 15,1919: "The presence of sheep at the Queens Park links in their present sodden state is not conductive to the quality of the turf, nor to the quality of the mutton, and it is to be hoped that better quarters will be found for them without loss of time." 

"Cleek" wrote in his column in the Times on April 8 1919: "It is understood the council has agreed, or will agree, to bunker the municipal course in accordance with the recommendation made to it by the committee of the Park club and the advice of the professional, G B Forrest. 

"From the purely golfing point of view, this is unquestionably a step in the right direction. The Park course is at present invaluable for practice purposes but it is hardly a test of golf and there is always the danger that players who are in the habit of doing round about 80 on the Park may be discouraged and disgusted, on getting on to a real golf course, to find they have difficulty in keeping their scores under 100. 

"Most of the holes on the Park course are short, and even when the tee shot is foozled it is possible to get on to or up to, the green with the second. "The only way to get golf on such a course as the Park is to bunker it heavily so as to catch every ball that is short or is sliced or pulled.  

"The proposal to bunker the course is a good one and if carried out will give an interest to play at the Park which it does not at present possess." Up until that time the course was restricted to the 37-acre inner paddock, but a few months later the first moves were made to extend the course into the 46-acre outer paddock to the east. 

A big turning point in the history of the Queens Park club came in March 1922, when the City Council decided that unless the club could operate with profitability to the council then the council would cease to run a municipal golf course. 

The club then suggested that it should lease the course from the council and thus assume financial responsibility for the full operation of the course. This proposal was accepted by the club and an agreement drawn up. The club has been run on that basis ever since. 

The big drawback to Queens Park becoming a "real" golf course was its lack of length, but reconstruction of the outer paddock in 1927 got rid of that problem. That stretched the course from 4,427 yards to 5,729 yards— a difference of 1,302 yards—and bogey (par) was increased from 72 to 78 (85 for women, soon dropped to 83). 

The proposed changes were reported in The Southland Times on July 16,1927: "With the exception of the third, which remains as at present, practically all the fairways in the outer paddock will run north and south instead of east and west." With the lengthening of the course, it said, Queens Park golfers will be able to gain a more accurate estimation of the standard of their game. At present, any Queens Park member playing on full-length courses finds it impossible to play to his handicap. The new course, however, will provide him with a handicap which will permit him to play on foreign courses without the vexation of finding his golf considerably over-estimated." 

The new layout was being played before the start of the 1928 season. 

With increasing membership through to the 1950s, a new clubhouse became the club's No 1 target. The building, built at a cost of £6,963, was officially opened by the Mayor, Mr A L Adamson, on November 9, 1957, and more than 200 played in a special foursomes to mark the occasion.  

The annual meeting in 1961 was told the club was now the second biggest in the South Island. This booming membership meant the new clubhouse had already become too small, and at a special meeting on December 10,1964, R A Harper's tender of £4275 for extensions to the north of the clubhouse was accepted. 

The great golf boom of the 60s was now taking off as illustrated at a committee meeting in April 1966, when 29 new members were admitted. 

With the golf boom continuing and people clamouring to join the club, a waiting list was established in April 1968. In November that year it was decided that those on this list would be offered restricted membership — they could play on weekdays and Sunday, but not on Saturday. 

The 28 on the waiting list at that time were offered restricted membership. By January, there were 43 on this list, and the number had increased to 60 by October 1969, and to 70 in March 1970. 

With the booming membership, the social side of club activities also reached unprecedented heights. Club socials had become so popular that by June 1970, the committee was forced to impose a limit of 70 couples. 

With membership continuing to increase, it was obvious that the size of the clubhouse would have to be increased, and a proposal for extensions at an estimated cost of $25,000 was put to a committee meeting on June 26,1972. 

Plans to expand the clubhouse continued to occupy the committee, and a special meeting on May 8 1973, empowered it to go ahead with a proposal with a financial limit of $45,000. The main feature was a 14ft extension of the lounge area. Stage one cost about $13,000 and the stage two contract was let for $21,764. 

A dinner held in the clubrooms on September 21 1974, to mark the completion of the project was attended by 248 people — and left everyone wondering how the club managed to cope before the extension. 

The Christmas social that year attracted 229. The Christmas mixed foursomes the following year drew a field of 260 and led to the decision to restrict this event to club members. 

However, by the 1980’s, with a changing society, the golf boom was over, and the secretary was able to recommend that new members be offered playing rights on Saturday morning from acceptance. 

A special meeting held before the annual meeting on March 21, 1983, agreed that the 20 members on the restricted list be placed on full membership, clearing the list of restricted players. 

Subscriptions reached $100 for the first time, but with a $10 rebate for prompt payment.