Nestled in the shadows of the West Gate Bridge, Westgate Golf Club is now also existing under a cloud of doubt over its future.
The club fears its ninth hole could be shortened by the state government’s $5.5billion Western Distributor road project.
Specifically, an on-ramp south of the freeway will likely shorten the ninth tee by 30 metres, a substandard length that threatens the very viability of the club. Secretary Guy Ward said the course was already compact.
“At the moment, the two golf holes we’ve got on the south side of the bridge are about as short as you can get, about as short as is practical to play,” he said.
“Our worst-case scenario would see us losing so much ground on the south side of the bridge due to the new ramps that it may make our operations difficult. Golf’s one of those sports that you need nine holes as a minimum,” Mr Ward said. “A lot of little public courses have got nine holes.
“The designated normal’s 18.
“If you were to lose a hole altogether, then the public golf course would become dysfunctional, basically.”
Hobsons Bay council last week released its final position statement on the distributor road plan.
The council reiterated its demand that the freeway ramps be located north of the bridge.
