Moore Park Golf Course petitions to stop Clover Moore cutting holes
Sydney golfers have launched a petition to stop Lord Mayor Clover Moore chopping their public course in half.
NSW
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Golfers have taken a nine iron to suggestions Sydney’s Moore Park Golf Course should be chopped in half to make way for more parkland in a plan endorsed by Lord Mayor Clover Moore.
Golfers on Wednesday described the plan as “outrageous’’ and smashed Ms Moore’s assertion that the 18-hole championship course should be cut to nine holes because hardly anyone uses it.
“We are launching a petition to all our members to try to stop this,” Moore Park Golf Course vice-president John Janik said.
Mr Janik said the public course was used by hundreds of thousands of golfers who played 90,000 rounds a year on land that was also open to the public to walk on.
“This course was opened 100 years ago for Aussie battlers to be able to play golf at a top level,” Mr Janik said.
“Any suggestion from Clover that this is a haven for the elite is wrong. We are the only course in Sydney that is owned by the public.”
There is no requirement to be a member to book and play at the course, but those who do choose to join the club pay $2000 instead of $30,000 at some private clubs.
A typical round costs $45 instead of $150.
Current club champion Lucie Quilliam said: “This course makes golf affordable to a whole range of people from baggage handlers to brick layers. Suggesting it be cut in half is like telling a tennis player that they need to play six sets on half a court. Clearly she is not a golfer.”
Sydney City councillor Dr Kerryn Phelps said the Lord Mayor’s proposal was “a very divisive tactic, trying to pit golfers against non-golfers when the reality is we need a range of sporting facilities”.
“This course is open to the public and to remove it would be to take away a public asset,” she said.
The NSW Department of Planning has said Moore Park is the third most used public golf course in the country.
Last year it delivered $4 million into the coffers of the Centennial and Moore Park Trust.
But Ms Moore said an increase in housing quotas nearby meant an additional 90,000 people would be living within 2km of Moore Park by 2040.
The Lord Mayor is now spending $50,000 on a community consultation plan even though the final decision on the future of the golf course rests with the newly formed Greater Sydney Parklands Trust.
“In the face of increasing need for open space, the City is asking whether the golf course remains the best use of our precious parkland,” she said.
The Lord Mayor said the City’s Open Space, Sport and Recreational Needs Study had recommended the Centennial Parklands Trust cut the course to make more land available for other uses.
“Moore Park Golf Course should not be fenced off for the benefit of just one group,” she said.
“It is a fair proposal as the Golf Course would retain the larger area of land, its clubhouse, depots, carparking and the popular driving range.
“Within a 10km radius of Moore Park there are 12 18-hole golf courses, including six that are accessible to the general public,” Ms Moore said.
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Originally published as Moore Park Golf Course petitions to stop Clover Moore cutting holes