Eaglescliffe Golf Club
Founded in 1914 when a group of keen golfers rented some land in Yarm Back Lane, it was originally a 13 hole course, with a wooden pavillion for changing and refreshments.There was a restriction imposed by the landlord that there should be no golf played on Sundays !!
The first professional was W H Brownhill who was with the club for only a few months before being called to serve in the First World War. Our next Professional was Laurie Weastell who was with the club from 1914 to 1931. His duties were far more wide ranging than that of today's club Professional, he tended the course as Green Keeper, made clubs and provided golf lessons.
The days of steel shafted numbered clubs was still some way off and matched sets were unheard of, instead one played with a heterogeneous collection of hickory shafted clubs with the euphonious names of "Brassie", "Baffy", "Spoon", "Cleek", "Niblick", "Jigger" and "Mashie" !!
By the late 1920's the club decided they should move, the attitude to Sunday golf was changing and a more more accessible location was desirable. A full 18 hole course was necessary if the club was to develop and prosper in the future.
In 1927 a meeting was held in the assembly hall at Eaglescliffe and the members were informed that a suitable site for a new golf course was available. The club were offered a 42 year lease with the right of cancellation every 7 years, the rent for the first 7 years to be £146 - 5 shillings.
It was agreed to proceed with the new course and gentlemen would be charged
£4 - 4 shillings entrance fee and £4 - 4 shillings annual subscription, and the ladies half that amount. It was also agreed to increase the membership from 174 to 300 members.
The club was now in it's present location and set out in a design by James Braid, though a little longer than today's course with a par of 77.
The course was officially opened in 1930 and James Braid & Charles Whitcombe played an exhibition match in which James Braid had a score of 77, demonstrating that his par of 77 was achievable.
In 1941 the War Agricultural Committee served on us a ploughing up order and we lost seven holes. These were at the far side of the path running behind the 12th green, never to be recovered.
In 1931 Laurie Weastell retired and Harry Brown took over. He combined the duties of Professional, Head Green Keeper and Steward, plus during the second world war he also did duties with the Observer Corps. A look out post was positioned on the course on what is now the 11th green.
In 1939 at the outbreak of The Second World War, Eaglescliffe Golf Club was in debt to the bank for the sum of £2,500, a considerable sum at that time. Petrol was not available to power the mowers and virtually no golf could be played. The debt became a huge burden to the club and the situation looked bleak.
The committee took the decision to open the clubhouse to The Royal Canadian Airforce personnel, stationed at Goosepool (Now Durham Tees Valley Airport).
In the clubhouse at that time there were two 1 penny One Armed Bandits, which were played mostly by the Canadian airmen. During the 5 years of the war the profits from these One Armed Bandits cleared the club's £2,500 bank debt - You could call that a real war effort !!
After the war the club found itself once again with only 13 holes and a membership down to 241. However in 1948 the club was able to aquire a little more land and 5 new greens, tees and bunkers were constructed - the course was back up to 18 holes !!
In 1959 we purchased the course for £12,000 followed by the purchase of the grazing rights in 1964. For the first time golfers could concentrate on their game rather than on the "problems" associated with the presence of sheep.
Two years later the club managed to obtain more land near the river and also 9 acres adjoining Yarm Road. We now had the prospect of constructing a better and longer course on the 94 acres we now own.
Henry Cotton was employed as the golf architect and work started in 1968. The new design had 4 new holes and together with 14 existing, gave a course of 6,278 yards and a par of 72. 1971 was the first full year playing the new course and the members were generally in agreement that we now had a golf course of which we could be justly proud.
Sincere thanks to Alan Sowerby for the above extracts taken from the club history.
To be continued...........
