Riversdale Golf Club holds the distinction of being the second oldest golf club in Melbourne, boasting a rich and fascinating history. The club’s original course was established near the Mont Albert railway station and served its members from 1892 to 1907. When the government made the decision to repurpose the land for residential development, the club made a strategic move to relocate. This led to their settling at the Mt. Waverley site, at which point the club adopted its current name, Riversdale.
The original Mt. Waverley design was laid out by Jock Young, a well-known amateur golfer who assisted with laying out several courses around Victoria, including Kew and Portsea. In 1930 well known architect, Alex Russell, was engaged to redesign eh course after the railway line bisected the course. His layout featured around 8 new holes, worked into Young’s original layout plus a new bunkering scheme across all 18 holes.
Russell was a student of the game and of golf course design, reading everything he could find on the subject and travelling extensively. No doubt the greatest influence on his career was the arrival of Alister Mackenzie to Australia in 1926. The two got along famously, with Russell soon becoming his Australian partner and going onto great success as an architect in his own right, designing Yarra Yarra, Royal Melbourne East, Paraparaumu and Lake Karrinyup.
For the next hundred years the course has seen a range of alterations and improvements by various committees, architects, and superintendents. This has included the redesign of some greens, repositioning of bunkers, converting the fairways to couch grass and the creation of a practice fairway. In 2024 OCM were engaged by the Club to prepare a new Masterplan for the course. The Masterplan includes elements of renovation and restoration of some of Russell’s original concepts and the hope is that construction will commence in 2026.
Project
Riversdale
Location
Victoria, Australia
Details
New 18 hole golf course
