Identifying a photo of a Melbourne course ca1930s

[Neil_Crafter]

Can anyone help me identify this photograph which is framed but not titled? It is a Victorian course, that much I know. Guess its from the 30s or so. If I had to take a stab I'd say the 15th at Kingston Heath, but I'm far from positive on that. Any guesses or ideas? And this is not a quiz where I know the answer either.

[Matthew Mollica]

Neil, my immediate thought was KH #15 too.

The green dimensions look right, as well as the sandy expanse short of the green, and the 2 left side traps, with the more numerous bunkers on the right. The vegetation would match too, one would think, as the picture pre-dates the bush fire which swept through KH in the 1940s.

MM

[Chris Kane]

I may be shouted down for this, but it looks so much better in the photo than it does today!

[Mike_Clayton]

Neil,

It is 15 at Kingston Heath. It looks almost as good now but all of that sandy waste was lost for many years and was only 'restored' in the 1980s

[Neil_Crafter]

Matthew, Chris and Mike
Appreciate your input guys and confirmation of my 'stab'. The photos from today show a number of large gums beyond the green and I can't see even a hint in the early photo of these, and this threw me a little. But I suppose 70 years or so is enough to grow a decent tree. I couldn't think of any other hole it could be.

And it does look pretty good in that shot.

There is one more of these that I will post in a little while and will look forward to your identification. I think it is also from KH.

Neil

[Matthew Delahunty]

I may be shouted down for this, but it looks so much better in the photo than it does today!

Chris,

I think I'm inclined to agree with you.

It may be just the angle on the photo, but the entrance to the green looks to have narrowed substantially over the years.

[Tom_Doak]

Neil:

The gum trees were probably planted after Dr. MacKenzie shortened the hole from a par-4 to a par-3 ... there used to be fairway back behind the green, and it would have taken quite a few years for those trees to get up to where you could see them.

[RichMacafee]

I may be shouted down for this, but it looks so much better in the photo than it does today!

Chris,

I think I'm inclined to agree with you.

It may be just the angle on the photo, but the entrance to the green looks to have narrowed substantially over the years.

Matt,

It's not just the angle, the entrance is definitely narrower now than it was, and both front bunkers have pushed into the green (due to erosion over the years) - not only narrowing the gap but increasing the slope also.

The vegetation you see on Neil's photo left of the hole would have protected the left bunker especially from erosion. Now that a lot of the vegetation up near the green is gone, erosion is more of an issue.

The gap, erosion and slope were even more noticable a few years ago before Mike did some subtle restoration work on the front left bunker to restore the face and reduce some of the slope off the bunker edge.

Interestingly, the green size in 1963 was 585 sq.m, compared to 481 sq.m in 2004. The main 3 areas where some green was lost were the front (used to come further back toward the tee, as well as gap being larger), back (while the contours are similar, there used to be more green at the back) and over the left bunker (where the bunker has eroded into the green).

[Neil_Crafter]

Interesting stuff Rich.
By the way, does the Club have this photo?
I was sent the digital shot of it by a private collector.
Neil

[RichMacafee]

Interesting stuff Rich.
By the way, does the Club have this photo?
I was sent the digital shot of it by a private collector.
Neil

I will check Neil and let you know. I have definitely seen a shot of the hole from this era, but I think the one I have seen is an overhead

[Paul_Daley]

It's definitely the 15th at Kingston Heath, and the entrance has since almost halved.

The front, left-hand bunker is also considerably deeper now.