Historic rematch after 102 years

MEMBERS of the Royal Durban Golf Club travelled to eShowe over the weekend to participate in a tournament, which it is believed was last played in 1916.

The history behind the Green Bottle Trophy is sketchy, but it must have been held shortly after the founding of the eShowe Golf Club in 1907.

The number of tournaments held between the two clubs is also unknown.

The inscription on the trophy reads, ‘The green bottle trophy to be competed for annually at eShowe between teams of the Royal Durban Golf Club and the eShowe Golf Club’.

eShowe Golf Club emerged as winners at the weekend with a total score of 592 points. Royal Durban collected 478 points.

The overall individual winner was Marc Upfold, followed by Brian Carpenter and Dr Nishlan Govender, all of the eShowe Golf Club.

It is hoped that the Green Bottle Trophy will now be competed for annually.

Royal Durban Club

The Royal Durban Golf Club was established in 1892 as the Durban Golf Club, after a local bank manager, John Watt, approached the city council.

He was granted permission to lay out a links design course on the grounds within the Greyville Racecourse.

In 1932, the Durban Golf Club was rebuilt and a brand new clubhouse was built, replacing the original wood and iron shanty and a new course layout was designed by Bob Grimsdell, who qualified as a course architect at Colt & Allison of London, Paris and New York.