Golfers fear Darebin Council plan to alter course has hidden agenda

Golfers claim Darebin Council's proposal to change the Northcote Golf Club could have a hidden agenda. Have your say.

Nikolaidis family

A HIDDEN agenda to close the golf course lies behind Darebin Council plans to alter holes to stop errant balls flying into a Northcote retirement village, worried golfers claim.

Northcote Golf Club secretary Phil Goad slammed a proposal to shorten hole seven to direct balls away from Veronica Gardens Retirement Village, with further changes earmarked for holes eight and nine.

"This for golf is the same as it would be for football if someone who didn't know the game said let's save money by only having two sticks at the ends of the ground instead of four,'' Mr Goad said.

"The council has a hidden agenda to close the course down.''

Councillors last month supported Latrobe Ward Cr Gaetano Greco's motion to spend $50,000 to realign hole seven, rather then follow an officers' recommendation to also realign holes five and six to maintain the course's integrity at a cost of $170,000.

Cr Greco said this was a reasonable compromise, while fellow Latrobe Ward Cr Angela Villella said Darebin didn't need two golf courses, given the 18-hole course at Bundoora Park.

Mr Goad said Rucker Ward Cr Trent McCarthy - an advocate for opening up access to parts of the course for the public - was also angling to have the council-managed course closed.

But Cr McCarthy vehemently denied this, saying there was room for greater public access to areas alongside the course which would have no impact on golfers.

He encouragedasked golfers to submit their views before the 2013/14 Darebin Council budget is adopted on June 17.

GOLF is more than a game for Northcote’s Nikolaidis family. It’s a passion three generations share.

Peter Nikolaidis joined Northcote Golf Club 20 years ago and wife Dorothy, son Peter Jnr and grandson Deion followed suit.

Mr and Mrs Nikolaidis told the Leader they were concerned Darebin Council’s recent moves for open access to the course and planned changes to hole seven threatened its viability and showed councillors had underestimated its importance to the local community.

Mrs Nikolaidis, a self-confessed “hard hitter”, said she loved the course because it was challenging and was also one of the cheapest in Victoria ($16 a round), attracting a broad demographic, such as pensioners, youths and people with disabilities.

“When they start chopping into the course we can lose our handicap and would have to go somewhere else or retire,” she said.

Mr Nikolaidis said he feared an anti-golf council could close the course and sell off the land to developers.

He said the golf course had been an important recreational resource for more than 50 years and should remain so in the future.