Marrickville Golf Course may be shared with footballers
Burgeoning numbers of footballers needing more fields has prompted a Sydney council to propose reducing a popular golf course to nine holes — and golfers are furious.
Burgeoning numbers of footballers needing more fields has prompted Inner West Council to propose reducing Marrickville Golf Course to nine holes, and golfers are furious.
Council representatives visited Marrickville Golf Club committee members earlier this month as part of devising a new plan of management for the course and nearby Dibble Avenue Waterhole, which provides irrigation.
The club leases the 20ha course from the council.
Marrickville Golf Club president Eddie Lakiss said the council representatives put two options to members.
One was to retain the 18 holes and provide picnic areas and bike paths around the site.
Mr Lakiss said committee members disliked the picnic areas suggestion for safety reasons.
The other option was to reduce the course to nine holes.
Mr Lakiss said playing fields would replace the remainder of the course.
“We reject that idea completely,” he said.
Mr Lakiss said a reduced course would kill the club, which was established in 1941.
He said people came from across Sydney to play at Marrickville, and about 20,000 rounds were played there last year.
The club has 440 members, and made a profit of nearly $100,000 last year, he said.
“We’re one of the stronger clubs, financially and in membership,” Mr Lakiss said.
Council officials say the process will investigate better sharing the public space with the wider community.
High participation rates in football codes such as soccer and Australian rules is driving demand.
Canterbury District Soccer Football Association chief executive Ian Holmes said females were responsible for much of the game’s growth.
About 16,700 players have registered for the upcoming season, and finding enough fields will again be a problem.
“We no longer have sufficient grounds to take any more teams to play on Saturday afternoons,” Mr Holmes said.
Mr Lakiss said the golf course was already shared.
People often walked dogs along the edge of the course, he said, and the clubhouse hired for parties and events.
This is not the first time the council has suggested shortening the course.
In 2012, the golfers staved off a similar attempt.
Sydney councils are under pressure to provide more open space to a growing population.
Strathfield Council has decided to turn Hudson Park Golf Course into a park, while the Northern Beaches Council recently canvassed other uses for the Warringah Golf Course.
A spokeswoman for the Inner West Council said the growing number of footballers needing more playing fields was one of the many considerations taken into account.
The golfers are having a community rally at the club on Sunday April 7 at 1pm.
The council is yet to complete its draft plan of management.
A spokeswoman for the council said it first consulted the public about the course last year.
Everyone would be invited to have their say on the plan once it was devised later this year, she said.
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