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Horsforth Golf Club is a golf club in the town of Horsforth in West Yorkshire, England. It is located next to Leeds Bradford Airport. It was established in 1906 and celebrated its centenary in 2006.

History


Horsforth Golf Club was formed by a number of residents called together by Messrs. T. Clough and H. Whitfield at a house owned by Mr W.H. Billington on Outwood Lane in Horsforth on November 8th, 1906.

On the 8th February 1907 it was agreed to take a lease on a site on the Rawdon estate from Walter Egerton John Green-Emmott, of Emmott Hall, at a rent of £140 per year. The club was formerly named Horsforth Golf Club at the first General meeting of the Club on 7th March 1907. Sir William Duncan, Bart, of Horsforth Hall was invited to become first President and Mr H Whitfield was appointed the first Captain. Play must have begun on the course within six months of this meeting because the minutes record that all play should be suspended from 3.30pm to 5.30pm on 10th August 1907 for the formal opening of the clubhouse. At the time of the opening ceremony the course consisted of 12 holes, but by the end of the year all 18 were in play.

When the first lease of the course was signed with Mr Green-Emmott play was forbidden on a Sunday and it wasn't until December 1911 that the lease was amended after the members had asked for a reduction of rent unless play on a Sunday was allowed.

The course was initially laid out by the Greens Committee and the first Professional and Green-keeper, Mr T Tate. Alister MacKenzie visited the course in 1913 and made various recommendations for improvements and a scheme for bunkering the course.

The original clubhouse was destroyed by fire on 26th January 1913 and was rebuilt on its current site, reopening on 6th September 1913 at a cost of £1450.

In 1925 James Braid was invited to inspect the course, which he did on 19th March 1925, and provided a report for a fee of £14-5-0d. Many of his suggestions were adopted and minutes written at the time suggests that additional labour was engaged to put the work in hand.

In August 1942 part of the course was requisitioned by the Air Ministry which was close to the airport. This was returned to the club at the end of war in 1945. Redevelopment of the course continued but was hampered by the War Agricultural Committee asking why sheep were not allowed to graze on the course.

In 1964 the golf course architect Frank Pennink (nl) was asked to appraise the course and help its redevelopment after new land was bought in compensation for loss of land bought by the adjacent airport.

Being close to the airport brought further consternation to members in 1985 when a Lookheed Tristar slid off the end of the adjacent runway and demolished 500 yards of fencing. Fortunately no one was injured but sightseers were a problem!

Professionals

 * Mr T Tate 1906 - 1923
 * Mr Seymour 1924 - ?
 * Mr Stanley Saynor
 * Mr Alf Sanders 1937 - 1955
 * Mr H Waller 1956 - ?
 * Mr John Richardson ? - 1973
 * Mr Mel Scott 1973 - 1991
 * Mr Jamie Waugh 1991
 * Mr Laurie Turner 1991 - 1993
 * Mr Peter Scott 1993 - 1996
 * Mr Neil Bell 1996 - 2000
 * Mr Simon Booth and Mr Dean Stokes 2000 to date