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Felixstowe Golf Club, Bawdsey. (1874 - WW2)
It is claimed that golf was being played at Felixstowe, albeit on a rather haphazard course, on Landguard Common in the 1870s.
I would like to thank Michael Thomas, Trevor Mason and Felixstowe Ferry Golf Club, for their help with the research into early golf at Felixstowe.
The following is taken from the history section on the Felixstowe Ferry Golf Club website:-
1874 - Colonel Jelf Sharp, Master of the Suffolk and Essex Foxhounds, and a member of the Blackheath Club, played golf on Langer Common as early as 1874. He cut holes near Landguard Fort and later laid down links between the Fort and the Ordnance Hotel, and he was joined by friends from Blackheath and matches were played. In 1879 Scottish officers, serving on board the Harwich Harbour guardship H.M.S. Penelope also played, and a most important recruit to the game was Mr F.W. Wilson, the proprietor and founder in 1874 of the East Anglian Daily Times.
Report on the club and courses in August 1874.
The Field Saturday 15 August 1874. Content provided by THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
1875 - Lord Elcho M.P. was president of the London Scottish Golf at Wimbledon, and a frequent guest of Colonel Tomline at Orwell Park for what was considered to be the best partridge shooting in the world. He observed the natural capacity of the land at East End for golf, and had on a number of occasions from 1875 played a few holes there, In the spring of 1880, he was accompanied by General Lee Hope Grant of India fame, and Tom Dunn the Wimbledon professional, and went down to the Deben side, laid out a golf course, and played with the enthusiasm of a discoverer. Lord Elcho was then sixty-two years of age.
1880 - Tom Dunn's favourable report on the character of the ground, and the enthusiasm of Lord Elcho soon spread to the Wimbledon Club, and at Whitsuntide 1880, the brothers Frank and Alexander Crawford went down to Bawdsey Ferry and enjoyed a game over the close-cropped turf. They were followed on the August Bank Holiday by a party from London Scottish Golf Club. They cut nine holes, and played for a Challenge Gold Medal, which was won by Mr G.F. Muir who, in company with his associates, presented the trophy to the Felixstowe Golf Club on its formation a few weeks later. Thus the 'Bawdsey Challenge Gold Medal' became the first of the club's valuable trophies, although it was originally referred to as the Wimbledon gold Medal as the donors were all members of that club."
Colonel Tomline seized on the opportunity of the expected development at Felixstowe west end and built the Beach Station, Manor Terrace and a large hotel called The Manor House. Unfortunately it never took off and soon closed down. It was used as the first Felixstowe Golf Club clubhouse.
The Manor Hotel.
Manor Hotel Tariff.
Ordnance Survey Map from the 1870/80s showing Landguard Common and the Manor Hotel.
O.S. Map Revised 1875 to 1880; © Crown Copyright (year of publication 1886).
Advert for the club in October 1880.
East Anglian Daily Times Saturday 30 October 1880. Content provided by THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
Extract from the Chelmsford Chronicle Friday 5 November 1880- "The new Felixstowe Golf Club was inaugurated under the happiest of circumstances on Saturday last. A course of 15-holes has been laid out, which in a short time will be extended to the regular St Andrew's number of 18, and Mackenzie had got the turf on the putting greens in capital order. The links commence near East-end Farm, and run right away to the houses of the pretty little hamlet known as Bawdsey Ferry, which is really part of Felixstowe. The first hole has been christened "Elcho's," after Lord Elcho M.P., the original discoverer of the ground, while the hole next Bawdsey-end is named "Col. Tomline's," after the patron of the club and lord of the manor.
Several of the local golfers, who during the last twelve months have played opposite Felixstowe station, showed in very creditable form, notably Mr B Binyon, Major Sandilands, Dr Elliston, A J Barber and J I Plummer. The day's play closed with darkness. In the evening several of the golfers dined together at the Bath Hotel."
Entry from Volume 1 The Golfing Annual 1887-88. Image courtesy of Dixon Pickup.
Entry from The Golfing Annual 1888-89.
Above entries from The Golfing Annual Volume VI. 1892-93. Images courtesy of Dixon Pickup.
Felixstowe Golf Club Button 22mm. Courtesy of Dixon Pickup.
The Felixstowe course in the 1890s.
The postcard above is clearly marked “Golf Links, Bawdsey”
The reference to ‘Bawdsey Ferry’ relates to the foot ferry that runs between the hamlet of Felixstowe Ferry and the village of Bawdsey across the River Deben, hence the reference to laying out the course at ‘the Deben side’.
King and his Navy and Army Saturday 8 July 1903. Image © THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
From the 1905 Nisbet's Golf Yearbook; Felixstowe Golf Club; Instituted 1880; Membership 400 (limit); Hon. secretary; Geo. H Joshua; Captain; W Pearce; Entrance fee, £3/3s and Subs, £2/2s; Nine-holes; Professional, W Thomson; Course records; Amateur: V A Pollock, 72; Professional; J Braid, 76; Terms for visitors who must be members of a recognised club and introduced by a member, 2s/6d a day, 10s a week. "The course is an extremely interesting one, and a pleasing feature is that it is right by the sea, with no sand hills intervening, as in most courses. and wiry, the turf is short and wiry, giving very good lies. The best holes are the fifth, eighth and ninth. They all require good and accurate play to get down in four, bogey being allowed five. The eighth, called Bunkers Hill, teems with difficulties, also the ninth (The Point), and I think I an right in saying that no other golf course possesses two such difficult holes to finish with. The rubber-cored ball has, however, affected this course more than some, as the great feature was the excellence of the distances." - Vivian A Pollock.
Report on the closure of the course in August 1914.
East Anglian Times Friday 21 August 1914. Content provided by THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
It was reported in October 1914 that the golf links were to be requisitioned and used as a rifle range.
It was reported in July 1920 that Arthur H Monk had been appointed professional to the club which is again coming in to activity having been dormant during the war.
Thanks to Neil Crafter, renowned expert on the work of Dr Alister MacKenzie, for allowing us to use the following information from his archive.
“When, after the war, Dr MacKenzie was entrusted with the task of re-making a golf course out of ground that Bernard Darwin later described as “tramped to pieces by troops in wartime and covered with barbed wire”, he must have felt like he had been returned to wartime France rather than the idyllic English coastline. Precisely when MacKenzie was engaged by the club is not known, but from correspondence from other projects it is known that course construction at Felixstowe was actively taking place in early 1920, and thus it is likely that his first inspection of the ground and preparation of his report and plans took place in the second half of 1919.
In the 7 June 1919 issue of ‘The Sphere, a London illustrated newspaper, golf writer Anthony Spalding wrote that, “The golfers at Felixstowe, having lost what was one of the best 9-hole courses in England owing to naval necessities, have decided to consult an architect in reference to new links.” Then, in the 10 January 1920 issue, Spalding wrote again of Felixstowe, “Another interesting course which Dr Mackenzie is making is a new links at Felixstowe, where perhaps the best nine-hole course in all the world was destroyed owing to the emergencies of the war. It is intended to make a full course of eighteen holes, the majority of which will be on the old ground. Some new land in the direction of the coastguard station has been taken over, and a couple of holes will be made on the other side of the clubhouse.”
Revival of the course following WWI.
Daily News (London) Thursday 24 March 1921.
In July 1923 A H Monk , Felixstowe professional, playing on his own course with an amateur, T L May, lowered is previous record of 66 by two strokes; Out; 4,4,2,4,4,4,2,2,3=29; In; 4,3,4,4,4,4,4,3,5=35 - total 64.
Felixstoe as an Eighteen-Hole Course - Article by Bernard Darwin.
Country Life Saturday 29 December 1923. Image © Future Publishing Ltd.
Competitions played in 1926.
Felixstowe Times Saturday 3 July 1926.
The Bystander Wednesday 29 March 1933. Image © Illustrated London News Group. Image created courtesy of THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD.
Article from The Tatler in April 1935.
Apologies for the quality of the print it reads; Top left; Approaching 12th green; Top right tee on the 12th; Bottom left the short eighth; Bottom right the sixth green. Top four golfers left to right; E G Snell handicap 5; The secretary, Captain J Worrall; Bracewell Smith; N B Horwood handicap 5; Middle four golfers; C C Taylor, hon. treasurer; The captain, W T B Block; "Sandy" Turner; C C W Havell, past captain; Bottom four golfers; C B Nixon; W J Block; A H Monk, professional; R B Boulter handicap 4.
The Tatler Wednesday 17 April 1935. Image © Illustrated London News Group. Image created courtesy of THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD.
Bystander Trophy at Felixstowe in 1936.
The Bystander Wednesday 1 April 1936. Image © Illustrated London News Group. Image created courtesy of THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD.
Felixstowe Times Saturday 25 April 1936.
Matches against the now defunct Eastward Ho! played in May 1937.
Felixstowe Times Saturday 8 May 1937.
Report on the annual meeting of the ladies' club in 1938.
Felixstowe Times Saturday 26 November 1938.
At the time of WWII the clubhouse and course were requisitioned by the military for the war effort. Severe damage resulted in the loss of the Dr Alister MacKenzie course laid out following WWI.
The club was originally called Felixstowe Golf Club and was renamed Felixstowe Ferry in 1948. Report below on the new Felixstowe Ferry Golf Club and some history on the earlier Felixstowe Golf Club.
From the Felixstowe Times Saturday 3 July 1948.
The Felixstowe Ferry Golf Club have the book containing the minutes of the inaugural meeting and they mention the “Bawdsey Challenge Gold Medal” which is still played for by the current club.
The Google Map below shows the area around Landguard Common (which stretched further west at the time.) This is where golf was first played at Felixstowe in the 1870s