History
Click here to download Race Course to fairways Document.
- Opening Day: October 1938
- Course Architect: Gordon Bernard Oliver
- Men's Course Record: 63 Michael Barry 13/4/1999
- Ladies Course Record: 73 Miss M. Fraser 25/11/1998
Long Island Country Club was officially opened in October 1938. The Club's history dates back to November 1924 when the company, Long Island Estates Pty. Ltd. was born and some 10 years later, began to plan and build the golf course that would take its name from that company.
In December 1933 Mr. Gordon Bernard Oliver was commissioned as the course architect, for the princely sum of 35 guineas, to lay out the links, including bunkers, on the land which had, for many years, been the site of the Frankston Racecourse.
On 22nd December Mr. Oliver wrote the following report:
Subsequent to my inspection of your property adjacent to the Peninsula Country Club, situated between Skye and Dandenong Roads, I have much pleasure in certifying that the same is of a very high order as the proposed site of a golf course.
Golf at its best requires sandy undulating territory in a pleasant locality amid pleasing surroundings. Not only do these characteristics abound, but the questions of cultivation, drainage, etc., from the turf production point of view, are distinctly favourable.
In my opinion it is simply a matter of effective design and construction to very successfully rival other very popular links.
And so by early 1937 the course was completed. In October 1937 plans for a two-storey building, proposing an Australian adaptation of two traditional English styles, Tudor and Elizabethan, were approved and construction of the new Clubhouse was commenced.
Over the ensuing years many changes to both the course and Clubhouse have been undertaken in an effort to improve the playing quality of the course and to ensure that the Clubhouse amenities are complimentary to it.
Since 2001 course improvements made under the careful and professional management of the current course superintendent, Mr. Shane Stuart, have enhanced the playing quality to the point where Long Island now enjoys a ranking alongside the best courses in Victoria and Australia.
Long Island Country Club has staged many major men's and ladies amateur and professional tournaments with the most recent being the 2003 Australian Amateur Foursomes Championship and the 2003 Australasian PGA Tour School.
Long Island Country Club has a proud reputation for producing fine golfing talent. Among the many fine amateur and professional golfers that have emerged from Long Island, the Club has been home to two Australian Amateur Champions, Bill Britten (1966) and Sandra McCaw (1972). Long Island Country Club's Men's Pennant Team is currently competing in Division 1 with an outstanding group of younger players taking the club forward.
Today Long Island Country Club has over 1200 Members who enjoy a world class golf and bowls facility. The Club has truly stood the test of time and looks to continue its growth in the years to come.