Tiverton

Lady Heathcoat-Amory was Joyce Wethered when she won the British Ladies Amateur four times and the English Ladies Amateur five times in the 1920s. Tiverton Golf Club owes much to her husband, Sir John Amory, whose financial assistance led to the club’s foundation in 1932.

“They invited that renowned architect James Braid to inspect the land and design an 18-hole golf course,” wrote Ross Salmon in Devon Golf Clubs. “His plans were entirely satisfactory, and the only stumbling block was the high cost of buying the land, laying out a course and buying all the equipment for its maintenance as well as playing the necessary staff.”

According to the minutes of a meeting, Sir John Amory “came forward and generously offered to purchase Bradford Farm in order to provide the required site for a golf course.”

Several other benefactor’s came forward, a clubhouse was built and James Braid’s course was built.

“No two holes are alike,” continued Ross Salmon, “and it calls for a great variation of shot making all the way round.

An additional natural hazard is the Great Western Canal, which catches any sliced shot all the way down the third fairway. This is a most difficult par five…

Another typical and difficult hole is the par four eleventh. For the first two hundred yards you have trees on both sides of the fairway which slopes away towards the rough. It needs two mighty shots to hit the green… A par at this hole is quite an achievement.

There are three spectacular short holes, but all demand absolute accuracy off the tee to avoid trouble to right and left and behind.”