near Weston-super-Mare
| Site designed and built by local residents within a course at Broadoak Community School |
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The first recorded evidence of the formation of Weston-super-Mare Golf Club is a report of the proceedings of a public meeting held at the Grand Atlantic Hotel in Weston on the 4th July 1892. At that meeting it was agreed to proceed with the formation of the club on fields already identified as being suitable for the formation of a golf course and annual membership was set at one guinea with one guinea entrance fee being charged after the membership reached 150. |
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At a second meeting, just 23 days later, it was reported that the 18 hole course was ready for play, and golf was first played on the course on 1st August 1892. By the end of the year, the course was reduced to 9 holes. To give some idea of the state of the fairways in those early days, the first two local rules read:- 1. "that in the case of thistles obstructing the iron such thistles may be cut down providing the ball is not moved" and 2. "If a ball lie within 12 inches of a cow pat it may be lifted and dropped behind without loss of a stroke." At the AGM of 1896 it was proposed to convert the course back to 18 holes and in 1905 it was proposed that a proper club house be built and the existing club house was duly opened in April of that year having been built at a cost of approx. £2,000, and having been altered and extended many times since then.
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The course grew and developed until 1909 but then remained largely unchanged until 1922 when it was "altered and modernised " at a cost in the region of £1,000. The services were obtained of Dr. Alexander (Alister) Mackenzie MD. One of the great golf course architects of his era, he was also responsible for designing the courses at Fulford, Moortown and Royal St. Georges in the UK and in the USA, in 1933, (in conjunction with the legendary Bobby Jones) the course at Augusta National Golf Club. In 1948, what is considered to be the world's first golf trolley was developed by one George Gamble, a local manufacturer of Tricycles, under the trade name of "Mickie the Mechanical Caddie".
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