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Richard Forsyth leads the team that maintain one of the greatest golf facilities on Earth, The Royal Melbourne Golf Club!

From a farming background on the outskirts of Melbourne, a young Richard took an opportunity as a apprentice greenkeeper at Riversdale Golf Club in Melbourne. He quickly acquired the taste for golf greenkeeping which included the overall landscape of the site and not just the turf.

A couple of appointments at golf resorts along the Murray River, including his first posting as a Superintendent, would set Richard up for the appointment as Superintendent at The Metropolitan Golf Club in Melbourne's famed Sandbelt region.

Richard's experience gained thus far in his career was becoming extensive and he was at home leading the team at Metro. However, when the seat was vacated at Royal Melbourne Golf Club, Richard threw his hat in the ring and ultimately was bestowed the responsibility to hold the keys and lead the team of maintaining the hallowed MacKenzie/Russell designed 36 hole facility just as the 2011 Presidents Cup was knocking on the door!

Join with me as we ride with Richard throughout his greenkeeping journey before things get detailed and interesting as we talk about the inner workings of maintaining the Royal Melbourne golf courses. We discuss history, architecture, green firmness, the art and majesty of non uniform turf surfaces, philosophy of turf maintenance, and vegetation. We also discuss how Royal Melbourne is the sum of greater than its parts, and how, like that famous line out of the great Aussie movie The Castle, sometimes "it's the vibe" that is the indefinable quality of Royal Melbourne!

People and places mentioned in this podcast:

⁠The Royal Melbourne Golf Club⁠

⁠Riversdale Golf Club⁠

⁠Yarrawonga Mulwala Golf Club Resort⁠

⁠Murray Downs Golf & Country Club⁠

⁠The Metropolitan Golf Club⁠

⁠Alister MacKenzie⁠

⁠Mick Morcom & Claude Crockford

Killara Golf Club is celebrating 125 years in 2024!

We pick up the Killara Golf Club story in 1932. This second part of the podcast sees the club navigate their way through the challenging time after the clubhouse has been gutted by fire. The Second World War has an impact on both the club and Australia, and moving into the 1960's the club was looking to upgrade the golf course with architect Commander John Harris.

Along with learning about the continued history of the golf club, this second part of the episode brings in a number of personal insights from the recent history of the golf club with a number of guests joining me throughout the story. These guests allow us to understand and see what goes on deep inside the golf club and just how Killara is functioning as a club and looking to move forward and plan for the future.

As we come to the completion of Killara Golf Club's story, I am also joined by Golf Course Architect Harley Kruse. Harley details his thoughts on just what his recent redesign of the golf course has delivered to the club and how it is setting the club and course up for the future.

Come and join me on this final part of this history podcast journey as I continue the deep dive to complete this amazing story of just what makes Killara Golf Club not only one of Sydney's greatest golf treasures, but also one of Australia's!

You hit 'em clean and we'll keep 'em green!

People and places mentioned in this podcast:

Killara Golf Club

NSW Golf Club

Prosper Ellis

Commander John Harris

Harley Kruse

Peter's Ice Cream clubhouse model

This two part podcast episode was a paid project in partnership with Killara Golf Club.

Killara Golf Club is celebrating 125 years in 2024!

As one of the oldest golf clubs in Australia, Killara began its life in 1899 as Lindfield Golf Club and was also located on a different site than it is today. Only some details are known of the golf club's earliest history and I have set out to try and find some of those missing pieces during this podcast project.

Working with Killara Golf Club on this project, some of what we have been able to discover includes the previously unknown first designers of the original Killara golf course, the beginning of the golf career of one of Australia's greatest ever amateur players, and never before heard details of Dr Alister MacKenzie's course report from 1926.

Add to all of this, I along with you the audience, hear about the evolution of Killara's unique golf course through the various architects that have been involved, learn a bit about the early history of golf in Sydney, and get a broad understanding of just where Killara Golf Club sits within the golf landscape of Sydney.

Come and join me on this two part podcast journey as I deep dive and tell the amazing and previously unknown story of just what makes Killara Golf Club not only one of Sydney's greatest golf treasures, but also one of Australia's!

You hit 'em clean and we'll keep 'em green!

People and places mentioned in this podcast:

Killara Golf Club

Royal Sydney Golf Club

The Australian Golf Club

Newcastle Golf Club

Bondi Golf & Diggers Club

Avondale Golf Club

Carnegie Clark

Dan Soutar

Dr Alister MacKenzie