Olton

The following is an edited extract from The Story of Olton Golf Club: Founded 1893 by David Cadney, published in 1991:

“The proposal to form a club happened very quickly. A meeting was called on 9 November 1893 at ‘Tansor House’ in St Bernard’s Road, to which 30 potential members were invited. Thirteen of these actually attended, and it was resolved to form ‘The Olton Golf Club’.

The original nine hole lay-out was lengthened to over 2,400 yards, and soon plans were being made to extend it to 18 holes. The short-term lease came up for renewal early in 1903 and a sub-committee reported a ‘most unsatisfactory meeting with [landlord] Mr Couchman.

It was at this moment that a very significant event took place. One of the new members was Major W.C. Alston, the ‘Squire’ of the vast Elmdon Hall Estate, and there was an opportunity here to develop an entirely new course on this Estate. A Special General Meeting finally ratified the move.

The committee decided to ask Mr J.H. Taylor, the distinguished Open champion, to offer advice regarding the lay-out of the new course, and he agreed to do this for a modest fee. It would not be fair, however, to suggest that this great golfer actually made the plans.

The main credit for this must go to Mr Mundy Cox, who by this time was chairman of the Green Committee, and other members who worked with him. After two years or so, Taylor was [again] invited down. He came, devising the scheme of bunkering.

The view of some influential members that the course ought to be improved now became more general. The fashionable thing to do was to approach Mr H.S. Colt for his views. He replied that he would shortly be visiting the district in any case and late in the year [1913] he duly visited Orton.

No sooner had the plan been approved and financial arrangements made, than the outbreak of the First World War threw everything in the melting pot.

In the immediate aftermath of the war there must have been a temptation to abandon completely the pre-war plan to extend the course but it is greatly to the credit of the President and the committee that they were still determined to improve it.

Since Mr H.S. Colt had planned the previous pre-war scheme of re-construction it was natural that the committee should turn again to this authority. He formulated a rough plan whereby four new holes would be built, and several alterations made to the length and direction of others. The ‘New course’ was ready for play by the early summer of 1921.

At the end of 1948 the committee decided to invite Messrs. Hawtree and Son, to visit the course and make suggestions. Their recommendation was that the pre-war course should initially be restored, but that substantial alterations to the first nine holes should then be made. The changes took rather longer than planned, and were not completed until the summer of 1953.

There were no further major changes to the course until it became ever more necessary to create a practice ground a decade later. The golf architect [Mr Hawtree], who had advised the club on general course design for several years, was consulted and the whole scheme was formally approved in August 1973.

The creation of the practice area was the last major change to the course. Bunkers have been subsequently eliminated or changed; tees have been altered; humps have been removed; trees have died or been planted. But basically, this is the course we play today.

In the autumn of 1979 the committee invited Donald Steel to visit and report on possible improvements. His main suggestions were to narrow some of the fairways, and to plant additional trees at certain strategic points. The committee accepted his report with some minor reservations, and most of his recommendations were implemented.”