Hamersley Public Golf Course was opened on 1 November 1968. At the same time the Northside Social Golf Club was formed with the original founding members including Stan Box, Bill, Les, Lionel and Tom, the latter four best known asthe ‘Four Wrinklies’. The inaugural President was Tom Monger and for the first few years a Vice President and Vice Captain were not required.
In 1975, Northside Social Golf Club was one of the fifteen original foundation members of the West Australian Golf League (WAGL), with some club members serving on WAGL committees over the years. John Spencer was Vice President in 1978, Brian Leaning was Secretary in 1981 and Jim Wells was Vice President from 2007 to 2009. There have been a number of delegates, but in the early years it was usually the newest club member, who knew little of either the Club or WAGL operations but this changed in 1991 when experienced members were nominated as delegates
There is little information about the Sandgroper Tournament. However, it started as acombined event with Castle Golf Club originally played at Hamersley Public Golf Course before moving to Sun City Golf Course in 1977. Since 2009 the event has been organised solely and successfully by Northside and returned to Hamersley in 2014 as a Stableford event.
Booking games has changed little over the years, but in the early days each booker could only book for two groups from 7:00 am. In the early years this was not a problem but as the membership of all clubs grew competition for booking increased. As many as five bookers per club would start arriving at 4:30 am to book an early Saturday or Sunday start. Eventually in the late eighties, Northside developed a roster system with each member given a designated booking group number from 1-5 and from each group five bookers were selected each week. Members generally booked about six to eight times per year. Since the advent of Saturday shopping, playing numbers decreased such that in the late nineties the City of Stirling relaxed the rule to permit a single booker from each club. This led a booker and a back-up booker to book once or twice a year until recently whereby bookings are arranged by City of Stirling.
In the early days there were very few Perpetual Trophies. The Club Champion was the first trophy but the actual cup did not exist for several years. The original trophy was the Stirrers Pot in 1970, of unknown origin but still very appropriate to this day. The next trophy in 1975 was the President’s trophy (donated by John Spencer and L Green) played over two consecutive Saturdays.
This was followed in 1976 by the Mercedes trophy (donated by the brothers Brian, Don and Stan Box), whereby the winner on the day was only eligible if he had not won a weekly game over the year. The winner won a replica Mercedes Benz and each grade winner won a flagon of woobla (wine) with an indigenous depiction on the label. The tradition of wine still continues but now has changed to a bottle of wine for each grade winner. In 1978 the Wooden Spoon and Most Improved were introduced, the Fork Up in 1988 for the biggest blunder of the year, then in 1991 the Best Putter in Club Championship (Brian Culling and Bernie O’Grady). The Pinjarra Cup (John Wright) and Steve Dreezens trophies were introduced in the eighties but have since been retired, the former due to irregular games being played at Pinjarra and the latter for not being for any particular game. Several new trophies were introduced during the nineties, possibly due to an influx of new members. The Matchplay (Brendon Kenny) and Best at Away Venues (Vern Willis) were introduced in 1992 followed by Summer Cup (Brian Ginbey), Captains Trophy (John and Norm Noack), Winter Cup (Andrew Dudley), Most Consistent Trophy (Theo Hazebroek), Best Over 50’s (Dave Aitchison) and Life Members Trophy (Norm Noack, Dave and Peter Aitchison) and Monthly Medal Trophy (John Burt). The first playing day of each year became a Memorial Trophy day following the passing of Don Box in 1999 and Alan Hunt on Christmas Day 1999. The Best Over 60’s Trophy (Peter Hill) was retired after most of the older players left the Club and only one or two remaining members over 60 were eligible to win it. With so many members now in their 60’s it was revived in 2014.
The last day of the year is traditionally Ambrose Fours,
with such features of club shirts banned for the day, teeing from 18” high hosepipe on 1st and refusal of offered beverages was not permitted, which often prevented some players from completing the game. The last rule was later removed due to drinking and driving laws. There have been many highlights over the years but also a few low lights.
The low lights include a member playing in the Dianella Spring Cup changing his card after the game, thinking he would win. Ironically he was already Runner Up and even after changing his card he remained Runner Upon a countback until caught.
Highlights include playing Pennants from 1999 to 2009 being runner up in Division II in 2000 and Division V in 2009, winner Division II and Division III in 2004 and but the greatest victory was against Castle Golf Club. Each year there were one or two games against Castle with individual Stableford matches which Northside habitually lost.
On this particular day the score of individual matches was tied with only one game, John Bowman and his Castle opponent still out on the course. Legend has it that John lost the match but his opponent had 15 clubs in his bag. The resultant penalty was enough to win the day.
During the period 2013 to 2015, the increase of FIFO work and medical ailments (heart bypass, pacemakers, joint replacements etc.), contributed to low playing attendances with post game meetings looking like an outpatient clinic.
In 2016 the Best Social Player award was renamed the Paul Barnsley Social player award, after his passing in July, in recognition of the way Paul managed himself not only among his peers on the golf course but in facing motor neurone disease.
In 2018 the club celebrated its 50th year. With the sad passing of club stalwart Peter Aitchison in August and Dave winning the Kellerberrin Cup after 35 years of trying, it was the right time to recognise the efforts of Peter and Paddy, Dave and Jan for being on the committee a remarkable 27 times in 31 years but also opening their home for functions over these many years. Consequently the Best Away Games trophy was renamed the Aitchison Cup.
The year 2020 will be remembered for Covid 19 with frequent changes directed by authorities prompted changes to managing overall club and weekly practices in conjunction with bookings arranged by City of Stirling. The year was also notable for induction of our inaugural Honorary Members for services to the club in a non-playing role, Jan and Paddy Aitchison, as well as being the club’s first female members. The paperless era commenced with the development of the club website and a move to MiScore for booking and scoring games.
An historic 'Grand Slam' feat most believed impossible in a single calendar year occurred in 2021 when Ron Cunningham won five trophies ranging from best to worst.
Despite all the restrictions with Covid-19, golf has increased in popularity so much so that during 2022 our first female members joined the club.
Tom Monger kept meticulous records of everything associated with the Club, right down to every ball won. Unfortunately these were destroyed. Fortunately, due to the Perpetual Trophies, most of the important records are contained in this chronicle.
If your name is not on a trophy, there is always next year...
