The convoluted situation at Melbourne’s Northcote Golf Course served to highlight the ongoing struggle public golf faces
Golf claimed this battle but the war rages on.
By the smallest of margins, Melbourne’s besieged Northcote Golf Course ‘won’ the right to remain dedicated to golf seven days a week. We say ‘won’ in inverted commas because it was a fight the course shouldn’t have had to take on.
In an impassioned meeting of Darebin City Council on July 25, when several children – representing both sides of the debate – were called upon to give their viewpoints, the public question and submission period lasted more than two hours before most councillors spoke publicly then voted.
The result was far from unanimous, with the proposal to remain golf-focused gaining approval by five votes to four.
Call it a win for golf, a win for common sense or both, after the course in the city’s north became the target for a vocal local community that wanted to see the Northcote course become a shared space. Residents got a taste of using the fairways as a recreational area when golf was not permitted during Melbourne’s extensive COVID lockdowns, and liked what they sampled.
It’s a now too-familiar scenario: golf course occupies generous urban space, non-golf-playing residents see course and erroneously label it under-utilised, they campaign to have golf become just one activity for the site – conveniently ignoring any associated logistical, financial, safety or moral concerns – and a wrangle ensues.
Three primary options were on the table for Northcote, the choices announced at Darebin Council’s May meeting ahead of a lengthy community consultation period.
Option A, which ultimately was successful, called for the retention of nine-hole golf along with the ‘unlocking’ of 5.72 hectares of the Northcote land for non-golf recreational use. A section currently occupied by the fifth hole will become open space from January 2023, necessitating a partial redesign of the course in order to remain nine holes.
Option B, which attracted plenty of attention but was viewed even by the council as unlikely, suggested a daily 3pm closure of the golf course to allow for other recreational use for the remainder of each day.
Option C, which received significant support from the local non-golf-playing community, was to disallow golf for one full day per week, most likely on Sundays. Comparisons to the Home of Golf were drawn by several supporters of this option, as the Old Course at St Andrews is famously closed to golfers on Sundays.
Regardless of which side of the argument community members and Darebin councillors sat – and any anti-golf sentiments felt, whether perceived or real – financial realities were a critical factor in the decision. A report outlining the likelihood of rising operational costs by opening the space to wider community use recommended retaining the space for golf, citing the time and cost of cleaning up the course after public use – littering that was evident when the course was open to recreational use during the lockdowns.
Darebin mayor Cr Lina Messina called the result a successful one for the community, while hosing down the furore created by the 3pm closure option.
“The 3pm curfew amendment in May was to address a briefing only,” Cr Messina said. “It was not something that was going to be considered further in this chamber.
“Option A [to keep the course for golf seven days a week] is a win. It is a middle ground, it’s a win for all – and a win for all is success.
“We’ve worked hard to balance our passionate community’s wide range of views with this decision. Despite some people wanting to see this important space used purely for golf or as a park, tonight’s outcome meets everyone in the middle.”
The dispute drew passionate remarks from the public gallery and within council. One councillor was cautioned for her tone in the meeting, while Cr Messina noted the debate had turned neighbours against one another. A petition to keep Northcote for golfers passed 10,000 signatures, while an opposing ledger garnered similar numbers.
The result is a key victory in the war on public golf courses across Australia. Since the plight of the Northcote course first emerged, there was a sense that had any restrictions on playing golf there been approved, it would open the floodgates for similar rulings at other public courses in what is an embattled space within the game. It’s a sentiment felt all the way to the top of our sport, with Golf Australia chief executive James Sutherland confirming the decision had broader ramifications than just one golf course.
“Northcote is a public facility which welcomes anyone to play, and we’ve seen and heard a lot of stories over the journey from people who use a facility that is hugely popular at a time when the game of golf is booming,” Sutherland said, adding that Northcote hosts 25,000 rounds a year.
“We want to see solutions for shared public space, and this is a common-sense approach to Northcote. It provides a solution for golfers and for accessible golf, which is what it’s all about. Golf is a fun sport for everyone. But it also provides a win for the broader community in the sense that some space is created for parkland.”
Julie Williams, a spokesperson for the Northcote Golf and Community Hub, said golfers were anxious to move forward: “We’re very relieved. It’s been a long battle to get to this point – and divisive at times – and we’re glad it’s over.
“We felt that Option A was the only solution that gave everyone a truly shared space and made sure that the golf course remained viable. So we couldn’t be happier that it’s the way that the council has gone. It’s the best way to maintain the biodiversity of the land and the environmental corridor.”
Heart and soul
The day after the council’s decision, I ventured to Northcote for a game. It was a typical mid-winter’s day in Melbourne: cloudy, 12 degrees with a few passing showers but not enough to worry about.
Northcote won’t win any architectural awards in the same way not every human is likely to win a modelling contest. The hearts and souls of golf courses – like people – are far more revealing. Its value comes in its accessibility and affordability (the peak green fee is $22).
However, the course is anything but ordinary. Yes, it has all the hallmarks of a council-run facility – a fence to screen the adjoining road from errant shots from the first tee, overhead powerlines at the fourth and fifth, two cups cut into each green with a cap placed over the one not in use, a spot of graffiti on some of the tee signage – but there’s a generous amount of undulation to the layout.
I had travelled to Melbourne without clubs so took out a 12-club hire set and used all but one club during the nine holes. I was pleasantly surprised by the holes and variety of shots required to play them, especially the contouring of several greens. The layout is split by Merri Creek, which meanders through the property and comes into play several times, and overall it is a thoroughly pleasant environment in which to play.
No more than 10 minutes after tapping in on the ninth green, I found myself at A.H. Capp Reserve, a parkland only a few hundred metres away that shares the same physical characteristics as the Northcote course, including the creek. I saw joggers, dog-walkers and people just sitting and enjoying the sunshine as it poked through the clouds just after 4pm. About the same number of people were in the reserve as on the golf course.
Even just a cursory search of the area on Google Maps reveals a lengthy swathe of similar parkland near Northcote Golf Course. The good people of Darebin are not short on green space, which begs the questions: why Northcote and why golf?
Are those seeking shared recreational areas also targeting ovals, tennis courts, basketball stadia or other sporting facilities in the same manner? Granted, the respective footprints are far different in size, but if the concept of sharing is the prevailing argument, the extent of the physical space shouldn’t matter.
We’re fully aware that pleading the case for a course like Northcote and public golf in general inside a golf magazine is, in essence, preaching to the converted. But this is an issue for all golfers to worry about, and to loudly share their voice…
Northcote has been running competitions since 1963 and is a vital community asset. In an area blessed with ample parkland, golf should not have had to defend itself in this way.
