The club used a tent as a clubhouse, until eventually an
old ambulance station on the corner of Pittwater and
Barrenjoey Roads was obtained and moved to the course to
become the first clubhouse. Over the years the clubhouse
was expanded. When World War II broke out many club
members enlisted and the Commonwealth exercised its
right to establish a camp on part of the course. To prevent
or stall a feared invasion by Japanese forces, a tank trap
was built across the course from Turimetta to Mona Vale
heads and barbed wire entanglements erected next to
the beach. Although the influx of defence forces to the
area briefly lifted the club’s bar sales, the clubhouse was
later commandeered for use as administration offices and
officers’ mess for the nearby army camp.
When the war ended, the tank trap was filled in, the
barbed wire entanglements removed and the club resumed
its place in local life, but the course had been damaged
and downgraded by the military activities and was not
reopened until 1947.
With the return of enlisted men and with new members
swelling its ranks, the club was able to extend its clubhouse in
stages and permission was sought to increase the boundaries
of the course and enlarge it to one of 18 holes. In 1956, the
club signed a lease with Warringah Council for additional land
and an extra nine holes were laid out. The new 18-hole golf
course was officially opened in August 1960. But the euphoria
of the new 18-hole layout was soured when the clubhouse
was destroyed by fire in September 1961.
Along with the clubhouse, almost all the club’s records were
destroyed. An igloo-type corrugated iron shed was obtained
and used as a temporary clubhouse and, after two years of
hard effort, a new clubhouse was built and officially opened
in November 1963. The igloo hut was removed and is still
used as an equipment shed.
Since then, the club has invested much effort to improve the
layout of the course, upgrade the drainage and to beautify
the course.
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