1904 – 1909 Rose Bay
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The acquisition of land allowed a new, more permanent championship course to be created, incorporating areas which previously had been Chinese market gardens. The full course was available for play to host the 1906 ‘Festival of Golf’ at Royal Sydney, including the Australian Open Championship, which was won by Carnegie Clark.
It is probable that the new course was partly designed and implemented by Carnegie Clark and Dan Soutar, at the time joint ‘in-house’ Royal Sydney professionals, under the ever-watchful eye of the General Committee.
By 1905, the golf holes around the perimeter of the course, recognisable as the current outward nine, were taking shape; by June of that year, holes along O’Sullivan Road (the current seventh, for example) were opened.
In 1906, some of the lower-lying area of previously cultivated land was included in the new course. Described as ‘so wet and swampy’, the land was difficult to shape for golf without mechanical equipment. Even so, the immature greens and under-developed holes showed great promise for the future.
A new clubhouse was commissioned and built in 1904, on the site of the present edifice, formally opened with due ceremony in April 1905.