The History of North Wilts
In 1870, there were only eight golf clubs in the whole of England and only one of those was situated in the South West at Westward Ho! in North Devon. The first club to be formed within Wiltshire was Kingsdown (formerly Bath Golf Club) in 1880 and this was followed by Marlborough and Salisbury & South Wilts in 1888. By 1889, the number of clubs in England had grown to 82 but facilities to play the game local to Devizes were still somewhat limited.
On the 1st September 1890, North Wilts Golf Club was formally instituted by the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews. The club initially had 30 members who each paid an entrance fee of 5 shillings and an annual subscription of the same amount.
The Golfing Annual of 1890-91 has the following entry: -
"The course, which is situated on the Wiltshire Downs, is unfortunately rather awkward to get at, the nearest stations being Devizes and Calne, about three miles distant. It consists of nine holes, the distance being about a mile round, and the chief hazards are whins, deep cart ruts and a road."
The road referred to in this instance was just a chalk track and it is obvious that the nine holes then present were situated on either side of this. By 1892, membership of the club had risen to 50 and appears to have been nearing saturation as the entrance fee was increased to 10 shillings! A club room had been erected and the course 'considerably improved'.
In 1893 a family subscription was introduced of £1-10-0 and it is fair to assume that ladies and children were now gracing the course with their presence.
Due to the sad loss of old club records, one has to imagine that the club was probably founded by a few fairly well to do people of Calne and Devizes. Most likely it is that officers from the nearby Devizes Depot of the Wiltshire Regiment, having played a little golf in their summer holiday, wanted somewhere to hit a golf ball the rest of the year. At this time, the Downs of Wiltshire was largely unfenced and ubundantly grazed by sheep. Finely cropped turf was available at Blacklands which was easily accesible from both Devizes and Calne, either by horse or on foot. Small round or oblong areas were hand mown to provide rudimentary tees and greens and there were no bunkers on the course until John Humphries became Greenkeeper in 1924.
More
|
