After 118 long years, Keppel Club bids Bukit Chermin goodbye

By Godfrey Robert

A PROMINENT plaque hanging on the wall at the lobby of the Keppel Club captures a rich slice of history. Alongside a brownish visual from a dog-eared page is a captivating story. Headlined “The iconic 99 steps”, the text reads: “In the mid-1950s, golfing came with a hefty price. Members had to climb up a gruelling flight of 99 steps that connected the ground level of the club to Keppel Hill, all while shouldering the weight of their golf bags.”

Across the road at the entrance to the swimming complex is another lookback item, with the year 1904 screaming at the onlookers. Below it were the words: “An officer in the Royal Navy, Sir Henry Keppel’s last name gave the Club an identity and continues to charter the course to a myriad of memories that will be forged at this venue.”

These and other stories were brought back to life as Keppel Club’s golf course at Bukit Chermin Road, whose lease expires on June 30, celebrated a glorious end to 118 long years of existence.

Change of scene

Keppel Club will soon move to its new golf course in Lornie by the fourth quarter of this year, with its existing site to be used to build around 9,000 public and private housing units in the Greater Southern Waterfront.

Keppel’s lease was supposed to end on Dec 31 last year, but the Singapore Land Authority gave an extension to facilitate the club’s move to the Singapore Island Country Club’s (SICC) Sime Course.

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An official farewell golf game to bid Auld Lang Syne was held on Friday afternoon (June 17), where a group of players - including Ministers Ng Eng Hen and S Iswaran - played an 18-hole round and reminisced about the oldest golf club in Singapore through pictures and words placed at ideal spots such as tee-boxes.

The last game signified 2 things: the closing of the club and the transitional move to the SICC’s Sime Course. And it was all about yesteryear surrounding a club that survived 2 World Wars and the Japanese bombing during World War II, 1 bomb landed in front of the pond at the 14th hole.

To help the golfers ride down Memory Lane, the event boasted the 1960s backdrop of the coffee shop, a barber, a tailor, a grocery shop, and tools used by coolies and Samsui women.

Start of a new chapter

In a speech on Friday, Keppel Club chairman Tan Chong Meng, who took on the mantle in 2017, said: “We are right at the start of this new chapter at Sime. Like with Bukit Chermin, Sime has a history that extends over 100 years. We are excited to embark on the next step in our journey with SICC as our new neighbours. The collaborative efforts between the 2 clubs since the day we signed the lease agreement and the Facility Sharing Agreement have progressed well and we will continue to strengthen this long-standing relationship further moving forward.”

Bordered by Singapore’s southern shoreline, the club enjoyed 44 hectares of lush undulating terrain which underwent several transformations from a basic 3-hole golf course in a nutmeg plantation to a competitive 9-hole course and then to a full-fledged challenging 18-hole course.

Keppel Club had always been a “family club” and among its members were faithful and loyal members who brought along pre-schoolers and grandparents to patronise the venue and use its facilities.

Its oft-used label is “Home Truly”, because the club was not just people-friendly but also eco-friendly with a diversity of plants and animals giving it a resort atmosphere. Keppel Club was also known for its charity golf events (in the name of corporate social responsibility) which in recent years raked in millions of dollars to help mainly the underprivileged groups in Singapore.

To breathe history, the diners enjoyed “Heritage Night” at the swimming pool annexe where nostalgia became omnipresent with a display of vintage accessories, firemen and national servicemen’s uniforms of previous generations.

The guests tucked into a spread of local favourites such as fried carrot cake, char kway teow and satay amid the soothing sounds from music of yesteryear.

The occasion was a fitting farewell to an iconic landmark that faced the test of time and challenges over the years.