Drinks between a group of golf-loving friends way back in 1965 was the catalyst for the establishment of The Wentworth, now one of the best clubs in country NSW.

Increasing popularity of golf in the post-war years — a sport until then traditionally associated with the wealthy upper middle class — had led to a crisis, where Orange’s established century-old course, simply could not cope with application numbers.

“At Duntryleague, you couldn’t join unless your father or grandfather had been a member, there was just too long a waiting list,” Wentworth Golf Club founding member, John Bankovic recalled.

“So, it was six local businessmen, over a beer at the old Orange Hotel, who decided to go ahead and build another golf course,” he added.

This led to a public meeting being called, where the unmet demand for the course, was starkly illustrated with a huge attendance.

“We had a meeting at the Amoco Hall (Orange Function Centre) where more than 750 people turned up, at the end of the meeting, everyone paid £5 to become founding members,” John said.

“Then the next year, it went up to $10, a 100 per cent increase,” he joked (conversion to the new decimal currency in February 1966, was at one pound to two dollars).

For John though, at the time a recent migrant from the Croation province of communist Yugoslavia, the club has been a second home.

“You couldn’t find a better place to play golf, the first golf ball I ever hit in my life, was there, the first game I ever played, was there” John said. “It is more than a club, it is a family.”