Course Opening
The New Course at Royal Queensland Golf Club was officially opened on Sunday 9th December 2007 by the Governor General of Australia, His Excellency Major General Michael Jeffery.
In fact, the official opening on the Sunday was just one day of a three day celebration! A capacity field played the full new course for the first time in the “President’s versus Captain’s” teams match on Saturday 8th December. Most Members got into the spirit by wearing team colours. It was a great fun day, combined with some serious match play, with the Captain’s team being successful. That evening over 100 Members attended the Annual Dinner and Trophy presentation enjoying great food and wine and humorous stories – a wonderful night!
On Sunday 9th December the official opening shot was struck by His Excellency from the 1st tee at 12pm, an excellent shot – well down the middle of the fairway. The ball was retrieved by Junior Member Scott Vanderwolf. Young Scott received a commemorative medal from His Excellency and the ball was mounted to take pride of place in the Club museum.
His Excellency and Mrs Jeffery then proceeded to play 18 holes on the new course with Club President Ron Sleet and Associates’ President, Heather Monks. We welcomed their Excellencies back to the Club at 7.15pm to pre-Dinner drinks, followed by the formal Dinner to celebrate the new Course. Two hundred and fifty Members and Associates enjoyed wonderful hospitality under a marquee on the Club lawns.
On the third day, Monday 10th December, the Club hosted a wonderful exhibition match featuring Adam Scott, Andrew Buckle, Rachel Hetherington and 2007 Club Champion, Dean Collins. Those who attended were able to walk the fairway and stand 2 – 3 metres away as these wonderful young golfers played beautiful golf on our new course. Adam had the best of the day with 68, (a new course record) and to see the 2 iron shot he played to within 3 metres of the pin on the 15th hole, setting up an eagle, was alone worth the price of admission. All players provided great encouragement to the many Juniors present. The Club then presented each player with a framed miniature of the new Club flags.
This weekend of celebrations was one of the iconic moments in the Club’s history with Club President Ron Sleet stating “the events of the course opening weekend were an outstanding success”.
And the course has only continued to mature and improve since that special day in late 2007.
PHOTO GALLERY
