Cooma Golf Club succeeds through adversity Golf was first played on the Monaro in 1895 on a private property now known as ‘Bulong’. The property was owned by the Crisp family and they set up a private nine-hole golf course. as The Cooma Golf Club was d officially opened in 1903 and h was situated along Church d Rd towards Wren’s Nest and followed the course of thee Cooma Back Creek. The first president was J. C. Ryrie of Maffra Station and he held the position until his death in 1927. Land was purchased in order to build a clubhouse, which was opened on May 16, 1906. It quickly became well established and membership was growing. Today, Daisy’s Preschool is the original clubhouse. In 1927 it was decided to add three more holes to the layout and more land was purchased. Three tennis courts were built on the gold club land and golf and tennis operated on a combined basis until 1940. In 1941, the Cooma Golf Club Ltd came in to being as a registered company and all assets of land and buildings of Cooma were transferred to the ownership of the company. There was no golf played during World War Two, however, after the war interest in the game increased and the committee decided to find a better venue. After all, there were six creek crossings to be made! J. H. Scott recommended a site along the Dry Plains Rd. This site, with the Brindabella’s as a backdrop proved ide-d al and the land was purchased 0 from Mr. Herbert Hain for 2400 pounds. n The land had many trees on d it and needed to be cleared and rrocks were raked from the fairways. The end result was an 18-hole golf course constructed with sand greens. The first clubhouse was erected in 1948. What is worth noting is that all the work was carried out by voluntary labour. In 1949 the 66
club was registered under the Liquor Act. The Snowy Mountains Hydro Electric Scheme began in 1949 and brought many people from around the world.
The population of Cooma was stable at around 2,500 people, but this grew to approximately 10,000 during Snowy years. Needless to say, the membership of the golf club grew tremendously during these years.
During the 1950s and 60s, a regular water supply to the golf club was installed and grassing of the greens became a regular topic of conversation. The 18th green was the first to be sown with bent grass and bent-grass
proved to be successful, so then eight more greens were sown. In addition to this, couch grass was planted throughout the course, mainly on the fairways. The official opening of the grass greens was held on February 28,
1976, with Mr. Eric Lusk, president of the NSW Golf Association, performing the opening ceremony. As a special honour to past members, Mr Nash Crisp and Miss Nan Quodling were invited to drive the first balls. During the late seventies and eighties, the golf club was progressing, and in those days the gold club used to be the thriving entertainment venue. This was excellent ffor the club, but the inttroduction of Random B Breath Testing and the oout of town location of th the club began to have a detrimental impact on th the club as a venue. Sadly, the clubhouse bu burnt down in 1990. Trophies, honour boards and many club records were lost. Following the fire, a machinery shed was set up and used as a temporary clubhouse until the current clubhouse was opened on September 28, 1991, by Mr. Lindsay Hain, a patron of the club. In 2003 the club celebrated its 100th anniversary, with a week of golf taking place in September. A celebratory dinner as well as the burying of a time capsu sule also helped mark this ooccasion. Since then the club has bbeen running smoothly. We nnow have a computerised ssystem for the watering. In ssaying that, we also have many needs and desires. Our membership base has fallen as natural attrition takes its toll. Through our junior programmes we have done our best to encourage juniors to take up this fantastic game. But most importantly, sti have a wonderful group we still of people who volunteer their time and energy in to seeing that Cooma continues to offer a wonderful country golf club.