Edgbaston

Edgbaston Golf Club started out in 1896 with a 9-hole course at Lightwood Park in Warley, before relocating to Ridgeacre Road in Harborne fourteen years later. Its final move to Edgbaston Park took place in 1936, when Harry Colt was commissioned to design an 18-hole course which was constructed by contractor Franks Harris Bros.

In correspondence with the Secretary, a Mr. Lunt, Colt wrote on 20 May 1936:

“Will you kindly make enquiries and see if I can purchase for my own consumption several dozens of that excellent sherry which you have at the Union Club. If you can arrange this for me I will work myself to the bone for your Edgbaston Golf Course.

But kindly note that it will not be shortened by one single yard under my advice. Your members need never play off the back tees, but it is essential to have them for big competitions.”

The official opening took place the following year, on 2nd October 1937, with Neville Chamberlain, the Prime Minister and MP for Edgbaston, present as Guest of Honour.

The following edited extract is taken from Peter Pugh & Henry Lord’s book titled Creating Classics: the golf courses of Harry Colt:

“Edgbaston Golf Club is only two miles from the centre of Birmingham, but from playing there you would hardly know it. Set in mature parkland, the course greens are small targets and the tree-lined fairways require straight hitting if a good score is to be achieved on this tight par 69 course.

Edgbaston’s magnificent clubhouse, originally commissioned as a private mansion by Sir Richard Gough in 1717, presides over the course. Evidence suggests that before Colt’s design the private estate was landscaped by Capability Brown. Taking in the fine views from the upstairs windows of the clubhouse, such claims are easy to believe.

The opening hole is a straightforward par four, something Colt often tried to get games moving away quickly. Then follows a long par four dogleg left with a fairway bunker some 85 yards short of the green. Moving to the 184-yard 5th hole we come to the second of the par threes on the front nine.

The back nine begins with stroke index 2, a par four playing 457 yards down a generous fairway. The challenge comes on the second shot which must carry some cleverly placed bunkers 60 yards short of the green. The penultimate 17th is the only par five on the course, played uphill and curving gently to the right.”