Kooyonga Golf Club

Crafter + Mogford principal Neil Crafter has a long family association with Kooyong Golf Club, situated in the sand belt of Adelaide’s western suburbs. Neil’s father Brian was the assistant professional at the club for some years in the 1950s and Neil began his involvement there as a caddie in 1965 at the age of 8, before joining the club as a junior member in 1970. Neil’s sister Jane, a highly decorated LPGA professional, also joined the club around the same time. After becoming a golf course architect, Neil advised the club for some years in the 1990s and has since 2012 guided the club from a landscape and golf design perspective.

C+M were engaged by the club in 2012 to prepare a comprehensive Landscape Enhancement Plan, and the scope included fairway widenings, selected tree and shrub removal, and replacement of infested veldt grass areas with fescues and indigenous grasses. This work has essentially now been completed across the course to great benefit. Since 2014 C+M have been advising the club on changes to the architecture of the golf course and the overseeing of a rolling Five Year Plan to implement ongoing works, including a yearly greens replacement program. In recent years we have successfully overseen the replacement and redesign of a number of greens at Kooyonga and have also added fairway bunkers on a number of holes. Kooyonga hosted the prestigious Womens Australian Open in 2017 to rave reviews from the competitors and will host the championship again in 2020.