Club History
A meeting on March 9, 1960, established the Mandurah Country Club with the first office bearers and committee members elected.
At that time Mandurah was a small town with a permanent population of about 2,000, a number that grew during school holiday times thanks to the numerous holiday homes.
To raise the seed capital for the club debentures were issued at 10 pounds (about $300 in 2021 money) for men and five pounds for women. In a break from the tradition in golf at that time women were to be full members and not Associates as was the case at most other clubs.
Some four months later seventy-five men and seventy-one women had purchased debentures to become Foundation Members of the club.
To build the course 50 acres (20.2 hectares) of land was purchased from the Sutton brothers. The brothers also transferred a further 50 acres to the Mandurah Council to be used for the golf course. This was designated as public open space to meet Town Planning requirements.
With limited capital available to the fledgling club the course was established in stages with the first nine holes opening in August 1961 becoming the first golf course in Mandurah. The second nine was brought into play in 1964.
Murray Dawson designed the course, which remained in that form aside from the sand greens being grassed in 1966 and 1967, for the next 30 years.
In 1994 it was decided to upgrade and redesign several holes. Between 1995 and 2001, under the guidance of Course Architect, Greg Simmonds, the grass on all fairways was replaced with Santa Ana couch and over forty fairway and greenside bunkers were added. Most of the greens were also replaced.
The first permanent Clubhouse was completed by the end of 1963 at a cost of twenty thousand pounds (about $570,000 in 2021). Extensions constructed in 1968 completed the footprint of the current building. The Clubhouse was officially opened on 22 February 1969 by the Hon. Leslie A. Logan, MLC, Minister for Local Government.
A major refurbishment of the clubhouse was completed in November 2019.
Photos Above: Mandurah Country Club, 10 May 1981 – Archived photos at the State Library of Western Australia.
The Mandurah Country Club acknowledges and pays respect to the Bindjareb people, who are the Traditional Owners and First Peoples of this land
