Oxford Golf Club

While inspecting the boards one will notice three clubs claim Southfield as its home turf. The oldest, Oxford University GC, was formed in 1875. The course is most convenient for student golfers as the spires of the university are not much more than a few miles distant. From the 4th tee Magdalene College and Radcliffe Camera can just be seen across a long valley. Unfortunately, modern expansion has somewhat obscured the view, but it can hardly be surprising since the course is on the Cowley side of what can generally be considered the middle of the city. Oxford City GC (1899) is the mainstay club with the most members by quite a margin. Making up the trio of centenary clubs is Oxford Ladies GC (1901), one of the oldest women's clubs in England.

Golf was played in the Southfield area from as early as 1873. The original course was primarily located in the marshes below the hill on which the course is now located. At some point James Braid was involved in a redesign and then in the early 1920s H.S. Colt significantly re-worked the course. It is thought some of Braid’s work remains, but to what degree is unknown.

The course starts out rather modestly until we reach the knob to knob third where the player must drive toward a creek far below the tee then approach up a steep slope. The following three holes are well designed and the highlight is the elephant's graveyard fairway on the 6th. The next purple patch begins at the 12th, a short hole on a bluff with the creek below on the left. The thirteenth plays over Hogley Bog, recently named a Site of Special Scientific Interest, and to an angled green falling away on the right. The compelling golf continues up to the 17th, another of Southfield's alarmingly good par threes. Like the 3rd, and holes 11 through 13, the penultimate hole makes good use of the creek which must be traversed. The green too is exceptional, sitting on a natural plateau with its two tiers side by side.

If Southfield has a weakness it lies with the long holes, but its cracking set of par threes and clutch of fantastic par fours more than compensate. The turf is generally good, there is enough movement in the land to make golfers create shots, natural hazards are abundant without being onerous and the greens are often in fine nick. Colt was proud of his creation and thought Southfield should “in time possess a very popular inland course which will afford a first-class test of the game.” If one is making plans to play golf near Oxford, Southfield is an ideal complement to both Temple and Huntercombe.

Above article by Sean Arble

Bernard Darwin commented as follows in The Golf Courses of Great Britain, “there is at Southfield a pocket of sand, a golden jewel set in the midst of Oxford clay… The ground, too, is pleasantly, in one or two instances almost too steeply, undulating, and Mr. Colt has used it very skilfully to produce some eminently spectacular holes and some highly exhilarating shots from pulpit tees. Whether the more venerable Masters of Arts find it to their taste I do not know, but as a training-ground for slashing undergraduates it is admirable.”

In 2012, after being know as Southfield for 66 years, the club changed its name to Oxford Golf Club in recognition of its Oxford city centre location and the reality that the golf course is home to three centurion golf clubs: Oxford University Golf Club (1875), Oxford City Golf Club (1899), Oxford Ladies Golf Club (1901).

In July 2012, John told us that the “18th hole has been re-constructed as a water hole. The green is approached over a pond – just reachable in two by long hitters but a challenge to reach in three by the more average golfer. This reconstruction makes for a most exciting and testing finish”.