Royal Sydney Golf Club is golf club in

Rose Bay, New South Wales Rose Bay is a harbourside Eastern Suburbs (Sydney), eastern suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Rose Bay is located seven kilometres east of the Sydney central business district, in the Local government in Australia, lo ...

, Australia, a suburb of

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

. Founded in 1893, Royal Sydney is one of Australia's premier sporting and social clubs. It features an 18-hole Championship Course, a 9-hole Centenary Course, two golf practice areas, a golf teaching studio, 18 tennis courts, two bowling greens, two croquet lawns, a squash court, a Fitness Centre as well as an elegant Clubhouse. It has hosted the

Australian Open The Australian Open (stylized ΛO) is a tennis tournament organised by Tennis Australia annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia. It is chronologically the first of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Sl ...

on 15 occasions between 1906 and 2016.

History

Royal Sydney was one of the earliest golf clubs founded in Australia, initially as 'Sydney Golf Club' in 1893, in

Concord, New South Wales Concord is a suburb in the Inner West of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is west of the Sydney central business district, in the Local government in Australia, local government area of the City of Canada Bay. Concord West ...

. Four years later, in 1897,

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in January 1901. Her reign of 63 year ...

granted the Club its ‘Royal’ prefix. Tennis, billiards and croquet have been played since 1905 and bowls was introduced in 1929. The current Clubhouse was built in 1922 and, in 2003, was extensively renovated. In 2011, a fitness centre and swimming pool was built.

Golf Courses

Championship Course

The Championship Course has been accurately described as "an ‘old-fashioned’, traditional, heavily bunkered, tough test of golf, especially in any wind. There are no gimmicks, no tricks, chasms or watery caverns". Its undulating fairways and treacherous

bunkers A bunker is a defensive military fortification designed to protect people and valued materials from falling bombs, artillery, or other attacks. Bunkers are almost always underground, in contrast to blockhouses which are mostly above ground. T ...

(of which there are more than 120) ensure that the Championship Course is a challenge, even for the most avid golfer.

Centenary Course

Royal Sydney also offers a 9-hole course called the Centenary Course. It was completely rebuilt to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Club in 1997. The course was designed to utilise every golf club in the bag for the competent golfer with dynamic terrain, featuring tight fairways and small contoured greens. Water comes into play on six of the nine holes, presenting a further challenge for golfers.

Australian Open Championships

Royal Sydney has hosted the

on 15 occasions. SLNSW 28591 Golf championship Royal Sydney

*2016

Jordan Spieth Jordan Alexander Spieth (; born July 27, 1993) is an American professional golfer on the PGA Tour and former world number one in the Official World Golf Ranking. He is a three-time major winner and the 2015 FedEx Cup champion. Spieth's first m ...

*2013

Rory McIlroy Rory Daniel McIlroy (born 4 May 1989) is a Northern Irish professional golfer who plays on the European Tour and the PGA Tour. He is a former world number one in the Official World Golf Ranking and has spent over 100 weeks in that position du ...

- *2008 Tim Clark – *2006 John Senden - *1999 Aaron Baddeley – *1994 Robert Allenby – *1988 Mark Calcavecchia – *1969

Gary Player Gary James Player (born 1 November 1935) is a South African retired professional golfer who is widely considered to be one of the greatest golfers of all time. During his career, Player won nine major championships on the regular tour and nine ...

– *1956

Bruce Crampton Bruce Crampton (born 28 September 1935) is an Australian professional golfer. Early life and amateur career Crampton was born in Sydney, New South Wales, and attended Kogarah High School from 1948 to 1950. In August 1953 he reached final of th ...

– *1946 Ossie Pickworth – *1934 Billy Bolger – *1928

Fred Popplewell Frederick Popplewell (12 June 1887 – 5 July 1966) was an Australian professional golfer. He won the Australian Open twice, in 1925 and 1928. Early life Popplewell became as assistant at Royal Sydney Golf Club in about 1903. He was briefly em ...

– *1922 Charlie Campbell – *1911

Carnegie Clark Carnegie (Neg) Clark (1881–1959) was a champion golfer, golf club manufacturer, a golf course architect and an organiser of professional golf in Australia. Early life Clark was born on 27 July 1881 in Carnoustie, Scotland. He was a member of ...

– *1906

– Royal Sydney has also hosted one Women's Australian Open, in 2007, won by

Karrie Webb Karrie Anne Webb (born 21 December 1974) is an Australian professional golfer. She plays mainly on the U.S.-based LPGA Tour, and also turns out once or twice a year on the ALPG Tour in her home country. She is a member of the World Golf Hall ...

Other Sports

Snooker

The Royal Sydney Golf Club maintains three Championship quality, full-size tables, which are some of the last remaining among Sydney's private clubs. The Club holds annual singles, doubles and handicap tournaments for snooker, along with a monthly "Lightning Snooker" competition, which takes place on the first Thursday of each month. The snooker room enjoys a strong patronage, with a dedicated Women's evening on Wednesdays and is a popular location following a round of golf or as a book-end to a dining reservation.

Tennis

Royal Sydney also possesses 18 tennis courts - 11 lawn courts and seven hard courts. The Club has hosted many tournaments (most recently the 2011 Davis Cup tie between Australia and Switzerland) and produced a number of internationally successful players including Sir Norman Brookes and

Gerald Patterson Gerald Leighton Patterson MC (17 December 1895 – 13 June 1967) was an Australian tennis player. Patterson was active in the decade following World War I. During his career he won three Grand Slam tournaments in the singles event as well as ...

. Although the starting date of tennis at Royal Sydney is unknown, historical records first indicate the existence of courts in 1905. The popularity of tennis grew and in 1913 another nine courts were laid. By 1920 there were twenty-five courts in play. In July 2003, Royal Sydney hosted a ladies Federation Cup tie.

Croquet

The Royal Sydney Golf Club features two

croquet Croquet ( or ) is a sport which involves hitting wooden, plastic, or composite balls with a mallet through hoops (often called Wicket, "wickets" in the United States) embedded in a grass playing court. Variations In all forms of croquet, in ...

lawns which are available for the use of members and their guests all year round. Croquet is a popular sport for many Royal Sydney members with competitions and social days held on a regular basis throughout the year. In March 2009, Royal Sydney hosted the Australian Croquet Championships, and in March 2015 welcomed the Eire Cup (Australian Association Croquet Championships).

Bowls

Bowls Bowls, also known as lawn bowls or lawn bowling, is a sport in which players try to roll their ball (called a bowl) closest to a smaller ball (known as a "jack" or sometimes a "kitty"). The bowls are shaped (biased), so that they follow a curve ...

has been played at Royal Sydney since 1929. The Club currently has two

bowling green A bowling green is a finely laid, close-mown and rolled stretch of turf for playing the game of bowls. Before 1830, when Edwin Beard Budding of Thrupp, near Stroud, UK, invented the lawnmower, lawns were often kept cropped by grazing sheep ...

s which are available for the use of members and their guests all year round. The greens are used both for competitive and social play.

Squash

Squash courts were first constructed at Royal Sydney in 1912. The Club was host to the New South Wales and Australian Championships several times during the 1930s when the game was riding a wave of popularity. Although the popularity of squash waned slightly in the latter part of the 1980s and 1990s, the Club still has a squash court for use by members all year round.

References

External links

* *{{commonscat-inline, Royal Sydney Golf Club
The Royal Sydney Golf Club Profile, Golf Australia
1893 establishments in Australia Sports clubs and teams established in 1893 Sports venues completed in 1893 Golf clubs and courses in New South Wales Sports clubs and teams in Sydney Organisations based in Australia with royal patronage Sports venues in Sydney Rose Bay, New South Wales Royal golf clubs Bowls in Australia Bowls clubs Croquet clubs Tennis clubs in Australia Croquet in Australia