Developer Gary Evans, as part of his partnership with the club, has also offered to pay the memberships of Parkland Golf Club’s 29 members who are 80 years or older and, according to captain Les Mitchell, there quite a few others getting close to hitting the mark.
Each of those memberships is worth $195.
The club’s exciting new era is occurring while works on the interior of the clubhouse are continuing and the club prepares to start operating out of its new building.
Peter Fraser, secretary of the club for the past 51 years and one of 11 living life members (the club sadly lost another life member Beryl Timms recently), was a member of the old Kyabram Golf Club in 1956 — which occupied the same site.
Peter, who turned 80 just before Christmas, and his parents were involved in developing a new club on the site once the Kyabram Golf Club was disbanded.
He is somewhat of a “youngster’’ in comparison to the club’s oldest golfer, Col McDougall, who has just turned 93 and still plays regularly with the club.
The new residential development, called Kyabram Greens, will front onto the sixth green and seventh tee, along with the 12th and 13th holes, then continues further north the lengh of the 16th hole.
The land adjoining the golf course was owned for many years by the Pell family, originally by Reg Pell.
The crown land, which is now home to the Parkland club, was not always the site of a golf course, in fact Peter Fraser said the original half dozen holes was on the current site of the Kyabram hospital, way back in 1911.
An old tin shed used to be the golf clubhouse, with possums running along the rafters. The new facility will be a far cry from those humble beginnings.
Kyabram’s golfing history also includes a stint on Graham Rd, at the old Kyabram tip site, where there used to be nine holes located.
The current Parkland site was re commissioned in 1949 and the first president was Major Alf Watson, whose home still stands on Everard Rd.
The course became a par three sandscrape course in 1961, known as Kyabram Reserve Golf Club, then it turned into a par three sandscrape and became Kyabram Parkland Golf Club the 1970s.
Golf Victoria wouldn’t recognise the course for many years because it wasn’t long enough, but when Peter Fraser joined the Goulburn Valley Golf board in 1986 they eventually became a partner club.
The first green at the club was developed 1992 and it took 10 years to establish the remaining 17 greens on the course.
