Community & Business
27 August, 2025
100 years of golf in Atherton
THE Atherton Golf Club is celebrating its centenary next month and is inviting all members, past members, volunteers, or anyone who has been affiliated with the club to come along.
The 100th anniversary of the club will be celebrated on Friday 12 September from 3pm and will be kicked off by the raising of an official Atherton Golf Club flag.
Other commemorations will include the burying of a time capsule, speeches and special guests, and a cutting of the cake ceremony in the night.
“We’d like to invite older members who are no longer playing, or anyone that’s been associated and done work in the club, we’d like to make them feel most welcome,” club president Kerry Duck said.
Event organiser Shelley Broadley said the event would be a celebration of the people within the club and those who have been involved over many years.
“Without people you don’t have a club and without volunteers you don’t have a club,” she said.
“So, come and help us celebrate our centenary and move into the next era. The more the merrier.”
The Atherton Golf Club was established as the first golf course in the Tablelands region in September 1925 as a 9-hole course.
One of the players present on the opening day told the tale of one player who teed his ball on a bottle of whiskey to hit off and another who teed up on a watch.
Over the years the course slowly developed, with some existing holes being closed and new ones opened on the other side of the road, which today includes the final four holes of the front nine, and the back nine.
The first clubhouse was built in the late 1920s, and the existing clubhouse and carpark were completed in 1969. Extensions and modifications to the clubhouse continue to develop to meet members needs to this day.
In 1991, the course was expanded to 13 holes thanks to funding obtained from various agencies.
In 2001, the course officially became an 18-hole course and water storage dams were constructed and irrigation was installed to utilise recycled water obtained from the council, resulting in a fully irrigated course.
The club’s catchment area is drawn from communities of Atherton, Malanda, Herberton, Yungaburra, Tolga, Kairi, and Tinaroo. Its current membership of about 370 members represents a broad section of ages from juniors to seniors.
Bookings for the celebratory event are essential. To RSVP, contact the clubhouse on 4091 1283 by this Saturday.
