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MORACK SENIORS GOLF CLUB |
Morack Golf Course was opened by Whitehorse Council on council property adjacent to the Dandenong Creek in Morack Road in 1976. Over the next couple of years players befriended each other and began to form their own small groups meeting regularly each week. One group became the "Sunday Group". another the Woodside Golf Club. Another unnamed group played mid-week and in 1978/1979 the golf professional (Allan Heile) suggested to Colin Ramus, who appeared to be the spokesman, that they formed a group with a regular Wednesday booking. Colin liked the idea and with 14 members formed " The Wednesday Group". with a permanent booking on Wednesday morning at 7am for a nine hole competition.
They were a very mixed group, some quite elderly, covering a wide range of ability. It proved very popular and numbers grew, under the no nonsense leadership of Colin who was President, Secretary, Treasurer, and Handicapper. The annual fee was $4. 00 plus 20c for coffee. In 1982 Bill Mason, having retired to Doncaster, enquired at Morack GC about joining one of the playing groups and was accepted into "The Wednesday Group" after a formal interview with the President. Bill Mason took over the Presidency from Col Ramus in 1983 and held that position until 1998. With the support of an elected committee, the membership had grown quite significantly.
The increased membership brought new blood with new ideas. The competition was on the back nine holes only although many players played the eighteen. They used the front nine as warm-up holes. It later became an 18 hole comp played over two weeks, counting the front nine holes one week and the back nine the next. This allowed some older members who could only manage nine holes to submit two cards over two weeks one for the front nine and a second for the back nine and still be included in the competition.
The job of calculating scores, working out handicaps and recording became a mammoth task. Winners were penalised two strokes and life for the handicapper became quite complicated. It was at this stage in the mid to late eighties that Harold Rastrick designed a computer program which calculated the results of each competition and saved many long hours of calculations, which had not always been accurate. By this time the competition had become an eighteen hole weekly event.
By 1990 when Edward Rastrick (son of Harold) wrote an improved program, results were fully computerised and with 30 members and an annual fee of $6.00 the club was well established and the weekly competition prize of a boxed golf ball was fiercely contested.
The club committee took their job very seriously, they were fair minded and unbiased. Their qualities were put to the test when, one morning while enjoying an after match conference over a cup of coffee, a knock at the door produced a lady named Joan Smith with an application to join the club. The executive committee quickly called a special meeting and after much discussion and perusal of past minutes no legal means of objecting to her admission could be found She was admitted.
Being a very recent student in the ancient art, a very generous handicap was awarded. In her fourth attempt she won the prized boxed ball and was not seen again. It was reported that she had joined the Ladies Thursday Goup.
In 1994, it was felt that a more appropriate name should be found for our club and it was unanimously decided that a competition should be held to find a more suitable name to describe such an auspicious body of gentlemen.
Some very good suggestions came forward, someone thought The Bushrangers another The Outlaws. This was declared to have nothing to do with the way members played (or counted their strokes) but because included in our members were the Dalton brothers (they were actually cousins) and Frank James whose wife was you guessed it Jessie. The outcome was "THE MORACK SENIORS G.C".
A competition was also held to design a suitable Logo and apparently one or two excellent designs were submitted. I believe the best was by Andrew Dowie, but after much discussion a more easily reproduced design was adopted to be used on jumpers, tea shirts, cap badges glasses, mugs, etc.
During the year 2001 Edward Rastrick wrote a new computer program using the latest technology which was introduced in January 2002 and in 2003 he installed the club's website.
In 2000 the insurance industry went mad with the legal profession encouraging every dishonest as well as honest person to consider claiming compensation for the slightest unreasonable cause. In consequence, every council was forced to protect themselves by insuring that every person using council facilities was covered against liability. This resulted in every club having to take out cover for its members and to do this each club had to become an affiliated company and submit annual audited accounts. The result increased our fees by some $25.00 so we were forced to raise annual fees from $20.00 to $40.00.
At the time of inserting this web page in 2003 the club is in a very healthy state with over 60 members. At daybreak every Wednesday morning over 40 of our members are lined up on the first tee at Morack QC, ready to give their best to win that highest honour a boxed golf ball.
Over the years this club has achieved many things for many older people in many different ways. Friendship, comradeship, healthy outdoor sport at a reasonable price, competition in congenial company and the opportunity to continue to mix with compatable people of common age and interests. One could describe Morack Seniors GC. as the perfect prescription for an extended, happy and healthy retirement.
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