Victoria Country Club was established through the amalgamation of the Victoria Club and the Maritzburg Country Club in 1997. While each of these establishments had its own proud history,muchof its membership was shared.
The inaugural meeting of the Victoria Club was held on the 16 June 1859 and 46 gentlemen were enrolled as foundation members. The clubhouse opened in October of the same year. Judge Lushington Phillips was instrumental in the formation of the club and he was the first honorary secretary. For some years there were no permanent chairmen; the honorary secretary called meetings and committee members took turns in chairing these. This changed in 1876 when a full-time secretary was employed and thereafter the chairman was elected annually. Initially, premises were rented in Church Street but, after several moves, a club was built in Longmarket Street where it remained for 100 years until the merger with Maritzburg Country Club on 22 January 1997. The merged club was domiciled at the premises of the Maritzburg Country Club.
Maritzburg Country Club was founded by golf playing members of the Victoria Country Club and the first chairman, Duncan M Cumming, had been a member of the committee of that club. For the first twenty years there were a number of chairmen and committee members who were common to the two clubs, although no one was chairman of both clubs at the same time. As MCC grew in numbers so the influence of the Victoria Club declined. But there were always large numbers of dual members. A golf course had been in existence for some years before a committee was formed in 1934 and Bob Grimsdell the foremost course architect, was commissioned to develop the course layout. In the year 1940-45 the club was virtually dormant and its running expenses were met by Dr Conrad Akerman and James Craib. Activity at the Club resumed after the war and several changes were made to the golf course, particularly after the construction of the N3 highway.
The merged club was named as the Victoria Country Club in 1997 and it has continued to operate on the premises of the previous Maritzburg Country club. In 2004 the Club concluded an agreement for a residential development adjoining the club’s property which has been named the Victoria Country Club Estate. In 2008 the golf course underwent major changes as part of its integration with the residential estate. The golf course is ranked among the top sixty courses in the country.
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