History

 

When young Harris Woods brought a newly-acquired golf club home to Fairlight in 1901, he and his brother Cam started hitting golf balls in the fields surrounding Fairlight House...

 

Their developing enthusiasm for the game led them to map out three golf holes, and then to suggest their friends George J Wilkinson and Arthur Hilliard join them. Watched by bemused cows and curious neighbours, the four would play their golf with much laughter and argument, using their own golf balls but sharing the one club.

After a year or two the group had grown to 12. They moved one mile north to Farrell's paddock and continued to play regularly on a six hole layout.

On 6 May 1903, the golfing group held a meeting to form a club of 12 members and named themselves -the Manly Golfers.

November 1905:  The Australian Golf Union accepted the application from the Manly Golfers to become affiliated with the ACU.

May 1906: A meeting of the Manly Golfers changed their name to "The Manly Golf Club"

August 1906: It was agreed that women be admitted to playing membership of the Club, and in September that year 16 ladies were duly elected.

The two men now known as the club's Founder Members, Dr Rowley Pope and his brother Norman Pope, acquired land to the west of Farrell's paddock, and in May 1908 the first 18 holes layout on the present site was opened.

November 1924: A new clubhouse, designed by member Eric Apperly and Arthur Wright, was opened. It forms the central core of today's clubhouse.   

Some of the greatest golfers to walk the Manly fairways were playing their finest golf in the years between the First and Second World Wars. They included Jim Ferrier, Eric Apperly, Harry Hattersley, Winifred Tregloan and Enid Clements. Manly teams were enjoying success in inter-club competitions.

In the years that followed, membership numbers increased. The club developed in all aspects, but especially in course improvement and social life. Manly continued its long-held reputation as a very friendly club.

In January 2003 Stage 1 of a major refurbishment of the Clubhouse to its original Georgian, Mediterranean grandeur and retaining the unique heritage features was completed.

Those early forefathers, linked in a passion for golf, could never have imagined that those first tentative games would lead to the flourishing club of today.