Tucked between today’s 11th tee and 12th fairway lies a relic of Brisbane Golf Club’s rich past: the West Course stairs. Recently cleared and revealed once more, these concrete steps — complete with buggy ramps on either side — were a key feature of the Club’s 9-hole Short Course better known as the West Course, which operated between 1930 and 1999.

Designed by then Club Professional Mick Stafford, the first 6 holes of the West Course opened in 1930. It soon became a compact 9-hole layout measuring 1,813 metres.

Situated where today’s 11th, 12th and 13th holes now sit, the course was regularly played by Associates, beginners, juniors, and the public. Interestingly, from 1930 through to 1999 when Associates were limited to designated days of play, they were permitted to play the West Course when the main course and Clubhouse was the preserve of Members.

Generations of golfers — junior and senior, beginner and brave steered and scrambled their way up and down the legendary set of stairs on the West Course.  Deb, Kember, Geoff Moore, Jodi Holmes, Stephen Deane, Margo McNee and Joan Fisher all remember the West Course and braved the memorable stairs.

The stairs are believed to have been built in the 1960s when push/pull buggies replaced caddies on the course.  Spanning a steep 33-metre stretch from the 5th tee (between today’s 11^th tee and 12^th fairway) down to the 5th green (near today’s 13th green), they also served as the return climb up to the 9th tee — now the site of our current 11th tee.

Made of concrete, with side ramps just wide enough for buggy cart wheels, they were equal parts practical and perilous. Golfers descending the slope would clutch their buggies with steely determination, doing their best to keep the wheels aligned with the ramps. Climbing back up, however, was the real test — especially if your wheels slipped off track. Many a round was briefly paused while players regrouped and tried again, especially those wielding the Club’s famously wobbly-wheeled buggies.  Add in the metal spikes on players’ shoes and you had quite the adventure — even before reaching the green.

The West Course had an unexpected interruption in 1942, when the Australian Army requisitioned the land as a staging camp for soldiers heading to and from the front lines during World War II. It reopened in 1950, continuing its role as a proving ground for new golfers.

Margo McNee, who began her golfing journey in 1987, recalls playing the West Course with friends while gazing longingly at the nearby 10th hole — hoping one day to graduate to the “big” course once they’d returned three 18-hole cards and achieved a handicap of 36. Jodi Holes, as a young junior in the 1980’s  was repeatedly given strict instructions from her mother about retrieving wayward balls hit from the 9^th on the West Couse and landing on the 10^th on the main course!

The stairs are a sturdy reminder of a chapter in BGC’s 130-year history that shaped many of our members’ earliest golfing memories.

You are invited to add your memories and photos to this story and other BGC historical moments by sending them to  TBGC130@brisbanegolfclub.com.au

Note: Members are requested to take care using the stairs to access the 11^th tee from the 13^th green. Motorised push buggies are not recommended to be taken up the stairs. Golfers with push/pull buggies with front wheels are also urged to exercise extreme caution.