Flinders

Located on the southeast tip of the Mornington Peninsula, Flinders Gold Club dates back to 1902, when Scotsman David Myles Maxwell – the inaugural club champion at Royal Melbourne – helped organize volunteers to add a couple of holes to a rudimentary 4-hole layout that had been fashioned by immigrant workers from the nearby clifftop cable station.

Within a very short space of time, eighteen holes were up and running, the annual subscription was set at two shillings and sixpence, and an application made for affiliation to the Victorian Golf Association. Starting out with a membership of 22, the club had 155 golfers on its books by 1905.

Alister MacKenzie visited the club in November of 1926 as part of his tour of Australian clubs. Royal Melbourne had invited him to design their new Sandringham links and to offset the cost a number of other clubs were offered his services for a nominal fee.

He advised on the closing two holes (Spion Kop and Niagara), altering another hole (The Coffin), and adding another two holes in the “top paddock,” as well as proposing green changes and bunker improvements.

It’s not known exactly when MacKenzie’s recommendations were implemented but his plan to improve the 6th hole (now the 4th) proved to be the most significant, with The Coffin extended from a par three to a par four by moving the tees back and constructing a new green.