Verulam Golf Club

Founded in 1905, Verulam Golf Club began operations with a 9-hole course laid out inside the Park of Sopwell House. Four years later, when a further 136 acres of land became available, the club called in James Braid to expand the layout to a full 18-hole course.

The newly extended course was officially opened on 27th April 1912 with an exhibition match between Braid and Harry Vardon, who had each won the Open five times at that point, though Vardon would go on to claim a record sixth victory in the event two years later.

The Club Captain at the time was successful businessman Samuel Ryder, who joined forces with his brother James a decade later in 1923 to promote the “Heath and Heather” professional tournament at Verulam, inviting forty-eight professionals to compete in a 36-hole medal competition with a prize fund of £500.

This led to more singles and pairs professional challenge matches taking place at the club over the following two years, before Ryder’s promotional efforts peaked with his sponsorship of the first biennial match between native golfers from Great Britain and the United States in 1927, by which time he again held the position of Club Captain.

The now famous Ryder Cup trophy which is so hotly contested by American and European professionals every second year actually made its first public appearance at Verulam when the Great Britain team called in to see its main benefactor before setting sail for the inaugural matches at Worcester Country Club, Massachusetts.

Today’s course retains much of Braid’s work (including old-fashioned crossover fairways at the 4th and 9th) but it’s also been substantially upgraded. A few years back, MJ Abbott installed a new irrigation system and John Greasley Ltd recently constructed additional bunkers, with the contractor also re-shaping and re-lining all the century-old sand hazards.

The course extends to 6,429 yards from the back tees and the tree-lined fairways are set out on a pleasantly undulating parkland landscape with a sufficient number of subtle elevation changes to keep things interesting. Unusually, a round here commences with seven straight par fours, the last of which, the long, uphill par four named “The Oak,” is rated stroke index 1.

Around the turn, there’s a mix of par threes and par fives at holes 8 to 11 before another sequence of five par fours kicks in, bringing the River Ver into play along the right hand side of the fairway at the 13th and 14th. The penultimate hole is a dainty little par three which leads onto the 574-yard 18th (“Ryder’s Finish”) and the home green in front of the clubhouse.