Golf is booming in Maroondah. That is, if you’re counting the number of people turning up to play.
But according to committee members at Ringwood Golf Club, the influx of public interest has clogged up their course and driven long-time members to leave.
With both Ringwood and Dorset golf clubs owned by the council, it's a reality that Maroondah mayor Linda Hancock says supports “fair and equitable access to available tee times”.
✅ Public vs private: Maroondah’s two council-owned courses – Ringwood and Dorset – are open to anyone who wants to book a round, without the annual membership fees attached to many private clubs.
According to a Ringwood Golf Club newsletter from August 2024, Maroondah management had begun “putting public golfers into vacant club competition times” and “proposed including public groups within the club's allocated periods”.
In a council report received in August 2024, the changes were made after members of the public complained that user groups were receiving “preferential treatment when it comes to bookings”.
😡 Under pressure: Ringwood Golf Club secretary Gary Govan said between 10 and 20 members were leaving each year because of congestion caused by non-club players, particularly on Saturdays.
🗣️ “We’ve been playing on the golf course for 50-odd years,” he told the Eastern Melburnian. “The public is playing a lot and that’s choking up the course.”
Club president Paul Kennett said the biggest impact was being felt by members who still worked during the week, with the club recently losing three life members to other clubs.
Ringwood Golf Club president Paul Kennett and secretary Gary Govan.
🗓️ Chip changes: From September 1, Maroondah is changing the booking rules across both courses, so that the person who makes a booking must play in that booking.
The maximum number of players one person can book will be reduced to four. Previously, one person could book eight people to play across two tee times.
✍️ What they said: According to Maroondah mayor Linda Hancock, the change will help “improve access for as many community members as possible”.
Hancock told the Eastern Melburnian the council was not looking into buying any extra land for a third golf course, nor were there plans to restrict the number of holes a group could play during peak periods.
🏌️♀️ A crash course: Maroondah council has owned and operated Ringwood Golf since 1974 and Dorset Golf since 1984 – with both courses covering about 80 hectares. While the Dorset Golf Club formed alongside the opening of the Dorset course, the Ringwood Golf Club was founded in 1964.
Over the 2025/26 financial year, both courses recorded their highest annual attendance figures since records began in 1993, with players booking 104,888 rounds at Ringwood and 92,102 games played on the Dorset course.
This equated to more than 2,000 players visiting Ringwood Golf and about 1,700 a week teeing off at Dorset Golf.
⛳️ Peak putt periods: Each course allows up to four players every eight minutes, meaning the sheer volume of golfers can create bottlenecks during busy periods.
Weekend bookings at Ringwood Golf are limited and golfers pay an extra $7 ($49 per adult) compared to the weekday rate ($42 per adult).