EP.164 Aussie Golf History - Avondale Golf Club Part 1

Avondale Golf Club is celebrating 100 years in 2026!

Avondale Golf Club in Sydney began life during a boom of golf after WWI. Started by a group of well to do businessmen of the Upper North Shore, Avondale was one of many golf courses that were being hastily built during this time.

Folklore has always held that the Avondale club was a frustrated breakaway of members from the nearby Killara Golf Club, but extensive new research into the origins of Avondale's story, not only showed folklore to be a fallacy, but also opened up an entire new understanding of Avondale's origins. A strong Scottish connection between the club's pioneers and the earliest golf experts at its beginning is arguably larger than any other in Australia. And when coupled with previously unknown information of Dan Soutar's involvement, you know there is a distinct recipe and drive for success!

Part 1 of Avondale Golf Club's earliest history explores the extent of its Scottish background, exactly how this golf club would go on to choose one of the most inhospitable sites for a golf course in Sydney's unique bush landscape, and tell the story of its path to being Eric Apperly's first ever golf course design.

Join me for an amazing journey through the life of one of Sydney's hidden treasures in a way never heard before, to a depth the club itself never knew they had!

You hit 'em clean and we'll keep 'em green!

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Send me an email to - thegolfinggreenkeeper@gmail.com

People and places mentioned in this podcast:

Avondale Golf Club (avondalegolfclub.com.au/cms)

Sir Robert Gillespie - Australian Dictionary of Biography (adb.anu.edu.au/biography/gillespie-sir-robert-winton-6385)

Dan Soutar - Wiki (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dan_Soutar)

Dan Soutar's first article describing the site for the future Avondale Golf Club - The Sun (newspaper) 17th February 1925 (trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/222941054)

Eric Apperly - Top100golfcourses.com (top100golfcourses.com/architects/eric-apperly)

Eric Apperly's lost pro shop architectural drawings (mhnsw.au/stories/general/the-alexander-mackintosh-archive-revealing-records-of-a-master-builder)

Dame Joan Hammond - Wiki (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joan_Hammond)

Killara Golf Club (kgc.com.au/cms)

Concord Golf Club (concordgolfclub.com.au/cms)

Manly Golf Club (manlygolf.com.au)

Goulburn Golf Club (goulburngolfclub.com.au)

The Australian Golf Club (australiangolfclub.com/cms)

The Lakes Golf Club (thelakesgolfclub.com.au/cms)

Eastlake Golf Club (eastlakegolfclub.com.au/cms)

Pymble Golf Club (pymblegolf.com.au/cms)

Australian Golf Heritage Society (australiangolfheritage.org.au/index.html)

EP.93 Aussie Golf History Killara Golf Club (open.spotify.com/episode/47KCd62h4ZZn5Q0aqnTu6l)