| On
Saturday October 18th 1890, the following item
appeared in the “Bury Times”.
“A
Golf Club for Bury”
“We
understand that a Golf Club has been formed in our town and that
the link, which is situated on Mr Atkinson’s farm at Redvales,
will be opened today. Sir Henry James is the President of the
Club”
The
following week there appeared a full account of the inaugural
event the week before together with a description of the course
on the south side of the town.
In
fact conversations amongst a group of businessmen had begun in
July. Mr S F Butcher, a local solicitor, was a prime mover of
the scheme. He became the first Captain of the Club, and won the
opening competition, and, for some years to come, was very influential
in the development of the new club. He lived at ‘Fairlawn’,
Manchester Road, and the course was laid out at the front of his
house where Bury Sports Club now stands.
The
nine hole course became eighteen in 1907 but did not survive the
years after the First World War, when the land was needed for
housing and a new road to Radcliffe. The club was described in
‘Golfing Annual’ of 1891-2 as being – “one
mile from Bury, nine holes over grass land. Hazards:- hedges,
roads, and boggy land. At first a ‘winter course’
now open in summer also.
Entrance Fee was £1-1s
Annual Subscription £2-2s for a whole year.
i.e. £1-1s for winter, £1-1s for summer.
There were at that time about 80 members. ‘Ladies’
were not mentioned until the 1894/5 edition. However, the 1892/3
edition did contain details of a new appointment, a greenkeeper,
one H. Vardon.
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Members in front of the Old Redvales Pavillion. |
Harry
had come to England from Jersey in the late 1880’s, following
his brother Tom who was already having some success in competitions.
His first job in England was at Studley Royal Golf Club, Ripon
as greenkeeper. He played golf with the members and visitors but
time hung heavily on his hands and in fact he played more cricket
than golf.
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Bury
Golf Club was advertising for a professional/greenkeeper.
Harry applied and was appointed. He stayed at Bury for
some five years, teaching and playing with the members,
playing matches against other professionals, and competing
in tournaments. In 1895 he played at St Andrews, finishing
9th but shortly afterwards moved to Ganton and at once,
in 1896, won the first of his six opens.
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Harry Vardon.
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The
members at Bury gave him a clock in recognition of this feat and
received from him a graceful letter of thanks. The club still
has this letter. The clock itself eventually went to America.
Through
the years many other professionals have served the club, R Wilkinson
(1908), Arthur Joseph (1913), T E Cooke for some 9 years (father
of Bernard Cooke at one time a well known teaching Pro). Another
pro who gave many years of loyal service was Tom Jarman, one of
a number of golfing brothers. The present professional is Gary
Coope, who joined the club from Flixton in 2004.
To
continue this brief history of the club – In 1920 it became
necessary to find a new home, but, “cometh the hour, cometh
the man”, or in the case of Bury Golf Club, two men, who
were determined that the club should not die. They were Norman
Duxbury, a paper maker of the firm Yates Duxbury of Heap Bridge,
and Sam Roberts, a coal merchant of Spring Bank, Walmersley Rd,
Bury.
Various
sites were looked at but eventually their attention focussed on
an area of farmland which might be open to purchase on the south
side of the River Roach at the Blackford Bridge. Of particular
interest to them was a possible future clubhouse, Unsworth Hall,
or Unsworth Lodge as it was then called. The land was an area
of scattered farms and buildings near the villages of Unsworth
and Hollins. At that time the club could not possibly have afforded
to buy the 90 or so acres that were being looked at, but messrs
Duxbury & Roberts would be willing to buy the land and lease
it to the members until such time as the club could afford to
buy it “at the same price they (Duxbury & Roberts) had
paid for it”.
This
was a very handsome & generous offer on the part of the buyers
and eventually in 1958 the club had recovered to the extent that
they began to think about buying the land. There was considerable
debate amongst the members about whether the club should make
an offer and, in any case, would the two families agree to the
promises that had been made over 30 years before? In the end the
members did vote to attempt to buy the land and in fact the agreement
of the Duxbury & Roberts families was never seriously in doubt.
As
soon as the decision to buy the land had been made and the finances
of the project had been sorted out, Norman Duxbury contacted the
well known firm of Colt, MacKenzie and Alison, and on 3rd February
Dr Mackenzie replied by telegram to announce that he would visit
the site. His initial report was favourable and he was confident
that a really good course could be made. The final acreage of
land for the course turned out to be about 98 acres and work began.
Nine holes were ready in 1921, and a further nine opened in 1922,
the actual work being done by the firm of Mr Claud Harris, Messrs
Franks and Harris Bros Ltd.
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Unsworth
Lodge had been built in the mid 18th century and at one
time had been the home of the Rector of Radcliffe. It
had also been the home of John Duckworth, the first Mayor
of Bury. The house made a reasonable clubhouse for the
re-established club and over the years has been refurbished
and extended to provide pleasant lounges and locker rooms
for men and ladies.
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Unsworth Lodge.
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Between 1920 and 1939 the club progressed quietly but not without
difficulty. Money was always a problem. The members, understandably,
were reluctant to see subscriptions rise too much and new members
were not always forthcoming. After the war, of course, we saw
a great surge of interest in golf, mainly through the growth of
television and the opportunities for people to see the great players
of the time and the lovely places in which golf is played. There
were obviously other reasons as well which brought the club, thriving
and confident, to its centenary in 1990.
By this time the Rt Hon Earl of Derby M.C. had become the club’s
patron. The club had hosted his Assistant’s Tournament in
1985 and he generously supported the club’s centenary by
providing us with a handsome new trophy. The present Lord Derby
has continued the contact we have with his family.
Since
1990 there has been a steady improvement in the quality of the
course. The greens staff,
assisted by a bounteous nature, have created a charming urban/moorland
course far removed from its former rather bleak aspect. The greens
have always been renowned locally, especially in the latter months
of the season, and are still much admired by visitors
and members. New bunkers
have been made and old ones re-fashioned; some fairways have been
nicely realigned; old trees taken out and many new ones planted,
and now as they come into their full growth many attractive vistas
have appeared, some of which are hardly bettered anywhere in the
country. Other
than the provision of new changing rooms few changes have been
made to the clubhouse.
It remains a pleasant and friendly place in which to unwind after
a day’s golf. Discussion rumbles on as to whether or not
we should be thinking in terms of building a new clubhouse. Various
plans have been sought from time to time but at the time of writing
no firm decision has been reached.
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Changing
rooms – Here we can see some considerable improvements.
Both the ladies’ and gentlemen’s changing
rooms have been recently modernised to the general satisfaction
of those who use them..
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Unsworth Hall new locker rooms.
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Bury
Golf Club, in common with many other clubs, has found it necessary
to update its security systems and now, modern systems, overt
and covert, in all the buildings on the site give the whole area
a greater degree of protection.
There
are two lounges adjacent to the bar area. One, containing the
snooker table, used to be known as the Men’s Room. There
is nothing now to prevent, ladies from using this room although
by and large they seem to prefer the lounge at the front of the
clubhouse or their own room upstairs. The two lounges can be made
into one by means of a moveable and curtained screen. There is
a separate Dining Room, known as the Vardon Room.
We
cannot leave this brief description of the club without noting
the increasing and huge contribution which ladies have made over
the years. From 1894/5 when there were 15 ladies paying, presumably,
2 guineas each, the number had risen to 50 in 1903. The number
has risen steadily and at present stands at about 70 including
honorary, life and junior playing, with another dozen or so social.
Through
the years, the good times and the bad, the ladies have valiantly
supported the club and their local and county associations in
all sorts of ways. They can boast an impressive list of successes
at all levels. Some ladies have played at ‘County’
level, and in modern times Susan Warrington, twelve times winner
of the B.D.G.A. Ladies Championship, was elected Captain of the
County Ladies.
For
many years the status of ladies was as ‘subscribers’
rather than ‘members’, but now they are full members,
eligible to attend and vote at meetings and occupy positions on
the Club Council.
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