February_1971 — Page 15

A comfortable

nineteenth at the RHGC

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LOOKING at the history of the Royal Hong Kong Golf Club one wonders if the first Scottish adventurers in sur- veying the 'barren rock' were not look- ing for trading post sites but a suitable landscape for nine or 18 holes.

For the club dates back as far as the spring of 1889 when the local newspapers of those halcyon days car- ried a formal notice requesting 'gentle- men interested in the Royal and an- cient game' to meet and consider the question of starting a golf links in Hong Kong or Kowloon.

The small band of enthusiasts that was formed grew to more than 100 by 1891 when the club was using a nine- hole area close to swamp and fore- shore at Happy Valley now the site of the Royal Hong Kong Jockey Club. In the years that followed the club ex- tended its activities to a course at

Far East BUILDER, February 1971

ROYAL HONG KONG GOLF CLUB ERIC CUMINE ASSOCIATES

B.C. PENMAN

Y.K. AU YEUNG

J. ROGER PRESTON & PARTNERS

KOW LEE BUILDING CONSTRUCTION CO.

Deep Water Bay on Hong Kong island and in 1908 it began negotiations with Government for lease of land at Fan- ling in the New Territories.

The first course and the first club house at Fanling were laid out in 1911 by Mr. E.J. Ram of Dennison, Ram and Gibbs (later to be known as Leigh and Orange). Since that date improve- ments, extensions and rebuildings have taken place at various periods, notably in 1946 following the Japanese occu- pation. But the biggest alterations have come in recent times with the comple-

owners

architects

partner-in-charge

project architect

mechanical and electrical consultants

main contractor

tion of a HK$2.2 million programme of extensions and modernisation of the men's clubhouse; for these have in- volved not just physical changes but a change in thinking on the part of the club and its committees.

When the club's general commit- tee sought to uplift the standard and general appearance of the club in keeping with the position of the club in Hong Kong and the necessity to provide additional facilities', it was in fact proposing to transform the club house area from a domain of golfers

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