History
In the early half of the 20th century, golf in Drouin was somewhat of a moving feast, having been played on various private properties around town. According to a letter written to the West Gippsland Advertiser in 1910 a Mr. H.T. Robertson is credited with launching the game in Drouin by making a few holes near the railway station. With the help of Major Stephen, he then developed nine holes on land rented from a Mr. McLaclan, which lead to the formation of the Drouin Golf Club in 1902. A year later the club was officially registered with the Victorian Golfing Association.
See club constitution below:
Constitution[2305843009215629223]
An eager group of people used the golf course in those early days, playing either stroke or bogey golf; Dr Stableford didn’t develop his method of scoring until much later. One of the more notable members of the club was the Honourable Michael Scott, who helped found the club and went on to win the first Australian Open Championship, held at Botany Bay in 1904.
The great depression hit the club hard, and when the Second Word War broke out it was forced to close. Following a public meeting, the club was reformed in 1955 on just over 40 hectares of undulating Crown land that was already being used by the race club.
A Committee was formed and work got under way to clear the scrub from the area inside the racetrack. When this was done sand greens were formed and golf restarted in Drouin.
In 1967 the Gas and Fuel board decided to put a pipe line through the course which caused much disruption to play and the need for bridges to be built over the work in order to play the 12th, 14th and 16th fairways.
The next big step (in the 1980’s) was the purchase of land on the town side of the clubhouse. This enabled the club to extend the first and second holes and develop a practice fairway.
Then toward the end of the 1980’s, a 200-acre property became available for purchase to the south of the club. This was bought with profits from the earlier purchase and by raising debentures from the members.
An additional nine holes was laid out in 2002, thus giving the club the distinction of having the only 27-hole course in Gippsland, indeed, one of only a handful in Victoria.