Albert Park Master Plan – Opinion Piece

Australian Golf Digest Guest Editorial by Darius Oliver

In a devastating blow for public course golfers in Melbourne, late last year Parks Victoria and the Victorian Government released a draft Master Plan for the popular Albert Park precinct. The plan included a proposal to reduce the size of the existing Albert Park golf course by half, and to relocate the driving range from the opposite side of the lake to within the abbreviated golf area. A busy public access 18-hole golf course would essentially be reduced to a 9-hole pitch and putt.

Albert Park’s history as a golf venue stretches back as far as 1899, when the current Keysborough Golf Club was founded on leased ground barely 2km from the Melbourne CBD. Keysborough members played at Albert Park until the 1940s, when they relocated because of the Albert Park Trust’s refusal to renew their right of occupancy. Thereafter golf in the park was fully public. Last year more than 60,000 rounds of public access golf were played at Albert Park, and forecasts suggest this year will approach 80,000.

According to local Labor Party MP Martin Foley, the Albert Park Master Plan was produced to help government ensure the park meets the long-term needs of Melbournians and visitors. The fact those needs apparently exclude our great game is a sad reflection of how far we have fallen. From a mainstream sport in the 1980s and 90s, we are now a political lightweight that has limited external support. There are no other golf courses within the populous city of Port Phillip, and losing a full course at Albert Park would be a devastating blow for Melbourne golf.

Unfortunately, golf has become a hard game to champion from the outside. Part of the problem lies with our own messaging, about declining participation and the challenges of a time-poor(er) consumer base. Sound-bite style ‘solutions’ like shorter format golf and 9-hole courses add fuel to the non-golfer argument that our game’s footprint should, and can, be reduced. Councils looking to add amenities and reclaim public golf land can easily find beautifully written prose on the benefits of, and trend towards, shorter courses, and usually from golf bodies, golf architects or in magazines like this one.

Despite the obvious appeal of Albert Park’s full course, the Parks Victoria Master Plan suggests that a, “reduced course, retaining some of the original fairway layout, could appeal to a broader visitor market.” Appealing to a “broader visitor market” clearly means appealing to non-golfers, because of the 60,000 plus rounds played at Albert Park last year, less than 5% of them were 9 holes. Par three courses have their place, and certainly 9 holes are better than none, but serious resident and visitor golfers to Albert Park overwhelmingly prefer to play the full 18 holes.

Albert Park is a popular, successful and affordable public golf course that over the years has proven an ideal introduction to the game for thousands of golfers within Melbourne’s inner-city. We aren’t talking about a marginal business here or a drain on government resources, but rather a course that makes money for Parks Victoria and is well loved by those who use it. Green fee golfers Australia wide should be concerned about the situation at Albert Park, and outraged by the prospect of its closure. There are few public courses in Australia that are busier, more visible or more profitable. If our game can’t protect these 18 holes then we probably can’t protect your patch of turf much longer either.

Public golf courses are precious for the game to thrive and survive, and inner-city public golf even more so. I urge all readers outraged by this proposal to voice their displeasure via the Albert Park Master Plan website – www.albertparkmasterplan.com.au.

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