The membership of such a prestigious club would naturally have to be rather limited and it was no doubt for this reason that the Tunku had wisely decided on a separate nine for the public. At the opening of the course in September, 1968 he stated that the members would be limited to only 400 initially and also spoke of plans to have a modern clubhouse with such facilities as a swimming pool, tennis courts and a children's playground. By the time the course was opened for play to its members in early October 1968, the Club had already received more than 400 applications and it was decided to hold the maximum at 600 members. But the response to the new Club was overwhelming and even the Tunku and Tun Dr. Ismail must have been more than a little surprised to find that by December 1968, 600 members had been registered, with the figure standing at 700 in 1969, and 1,020 in April 1970, with a long waiting list of potential members.
Such a rapid increase in membership naturally gave no end of headaches to the management of the Club which was initially directly under the Subang Golf Course Corporation constituted by law, and comprising eleven members with Tun Dr. Ismail as Chairman and the then Menteri Besar of Selangor, Dato Haji Harun Idris, as Vice-Chairman, in 1968. One of the grouses of some members was that they were discriminated against because of the special privileges granted to government servants to pay by instalments the entrance fee of $500/-!
One complaint from members was directed at the prevalence of large numbers of crows which had the irritating habit of swooping down and carrying off golf balls in the midst of play! The main source of dissatisfaction, however, was the slow progress that was being made in the construction of the new clubhouse which one member, in a letter to the Press, in 1969 described as " a barren skeleton in an apparently abandoned site". Having been partially held up in the aftermath of the 13 May disturbances, the construction work was restarted later that year by Tun Dr. Ismail personally and the striking Minangkabau-roofed building was formally declared open by the King in September, 1971.
Yet by 1971 the weekend golfers had swelled to over 200 and the changing facilities in the new clubhouse were considered to be inadequate. By the end of 1971 there is no doubt at all that KGNS was well on its way to becoming the premier golf club in Malaysia. As one commentator waxed forth, "golf in Subang is sport, drama, picnic, all rolled into one". For one thing, the number of younger golfers outstripped the old and on any day the Clubhouse was a hive of activity with the car park jammed with "cars of all makes from the smallest of the minis to the largest of American limousines".
With such impressive credentials KGNS was obviously well qualified to aspire to the ultimate ambition of any respectable golf club - that is, to host major tournaments. It is certainly enlightening to find out, once again, the pioneering role that the Tunku played in this respect as well, for at the annual general meeting of the Malaysian Golf Association in April 1969, he boldly bid for the 1970 Malaysian Open to be held at Subang. Unfortunately, the MGA which had only that year admitted KGNS as an affiliate was not as optimistic, for in turning down the Tunku's offer it noted that "the Subang course was not yet ready" for such a championship.
Nevertheless, the Club hosted a number of friendly tournaments throughout 1969 and 1970 that attracted large numbers of entries. In 1971, KGNS switched over to the USGA handicapping system and by the time the first Selangor Open was held in April 1972, most of the leading Malaysian golfers who participated were unanimous in their view that the course was challenging and punishing and that the "huge" greens were a tough challenge. Such was the background against which the Club went ahead in the mid-70s to build the Tun's and Sultan's nines in addition to the original Agong's and Tunku's nines. The full 36-hole course dates from early 1978 when the last of the 9 holes was opened for play. In 1981 KGNS became the only Club in Malaysia to instal an automatic sprinkler system for the entire course.
With Tunku Abdul Rahman's departure to Jeddah as Secretary-General of the Islamic Secretariat in April 1971, Tun Dr. Ismail, who was now Deputy Prime Minister, assumed the mantle of President of the Club. Hardly had the new President embarked upon a number of projects as well as the early completion of the much-awaited swimming pool before he passed away unexpectedly in 1973. His successor was the new Deputy Prime Minister, Dato Hussein Onn, who was assisted by his Vice-President, Tan Sri Syed Zahiruddin, the Chief Secretary.
Since the days of Tun Dr. Ismail the Club has had an unbroken tradition of having as its President the Deputy Prime Minister of the country although the hectic business of administering its affairs has had to break with some rather charming traditions. In the old days it was often the case that Committee meetings were held at the Residency, Tunku Abdul Rahman's official residence as Prime Minister. It was at the Residency too that most of the meetings at the planning stages were held in the early 1960s.
While a large number of people has contributed to the development of the Club, no one would in the least demur if it be recorded that without the spark of an idea and the boldness of a dream that excited Tunku Abdul Rahman's imagination and far-sightedness way back in 1963 this Club would never become a reality.