Q Golf - Official online magazine for Golf Queensland Spring 2012 | Page 20

“

“The pro shop in
those days before the
new club house was
built in the 1970’s was
essentially a converted
butcher’s shop,”

“

The original North Queensland Golf Club
was located at Kissing Point to the north
of the current city between 1893 and
1921, then at Aitkenvale in the southwest
until 1924 following which it moved to
its present site at Rosslea only a few
kilometres to the east of the Aitkenvale
layout.
Between then and the early 1970’s the
club and its facilities remained pretty
much the same but the introduction of a
treatment plant in 1971 played a key role
in the improvement of the golf course.
A few years later, the club received
another boost when the clubhouse was
redeveloped.

20 Q Golf Online Spring 2012

John Victorsen is the son of the long
time professional at Townsville Golf
Club, Arnold Victorsen, and he has
fond memories of his early days there
accompanying his Dad to the golf club.

event at the Townsville Golf Club. We
felt at the time they were the best in
Queensland but several would also
become not only the best in Australia but
amongst the best in the world.”

“The pro shop in those days before the
new club house was built in the 1970’s
was essentially a converted butcher’s
shop,” said Victorsen. “I am told that
as a two year old I hit a ball through
the window of the pro shop and hit the
assistant Donnie Johnson in the head.

In 1985 an additional nine holes
was added to the club’s layout with
Queensland architect Ross Watson
engaged to do the work. The new nine
were incorporated into the original layout
creating a nine which is now known as the
‘outside nine’.

“But my first actual recollection was
of going to work with dad. He was
professional from 1948 through to
1980. I left there in 1974 after doing my
traineeship with Dad and headed South
but the memories I had from those early
days are fond and still stay with me.

The latest plans for the golf course are to
revert the layout from its current 27 holes
back to 18 and to utilise the remaining
land for real estate. The quality of the 18
holes would be improved further and the
club could then emerge from the current

“The arrival of the treatment plant turned
a barren wasteland of hard mongrel clay
country into a beautiful oasis of green
trees. It is probably the greatest thing
they have ever done as the membership
soared almost immediately.
“Even before the establishment of the
then Troppo Tour, Townsville Golf Club
held one of the richest one day Pro Ams
in the country but Townsville along with
the Cairns Golf Club, the Mackay Golf Club
and the Innisfail began to build a series of
events through that region.
“Over the years we had many of
Australia’s best players compete in the

www.golfqueensland.org.au

“

turned a barren
wasteland of hard
mongrel clay country
into a beautiful oasis
of green trees

“

The North Queensland Golf Club (later
known as the Townsville Golf Club) was
inaugurated in January of 1893, followed
in August of 1896 by the Toowoomba
Golf Club and three months later by
the Brisbane Golf Club. According to all
available records these three clubs were
the first to be established in Queensland
and amongst the first in Australia.

financial concerns which have constrained
the Townsville Golf Club in recent years
although there have been ongoing delays
in implementing and commencing the
scheme.