SPORT ANCIENT AND MODERN 



course is one with natural hazards. Play is not 

 feasible in the summer. 



The Painswick Club was also inaugurated in 

 1891. It numbers only thirty-two members. 

 The course in 1906 was enlarged from nine 

 holes to eighteen ; the hazards are for the most 

 part stone quarries. Sapperton Park Club, in- 

 stituted 1893, has a 13-hole course, 4^ miles 

 from Cirencester ; the first five holes are played 

 over again to complete the eighteen. Play is 

 feasible all the year round. There are about 

 ninety members. Amongst other courses in the 

 county may be mentioned that of the Clifton 

 Down Club on the Durdham Downs, a g-hole 

 course with natural hazards. As the downs 

 are public property, play is not permitted after 

 two o'clock on ordinary days, nor on Bank or 

 public holidays. The club was established in 

 1895 ; the members number 200. The Bristol 

 and Clifton Club has an i8-hole course at 

 Failand, about 2^ miles from Clifton Suspension 

 Bridge. The Long Ashton Club has a g-hole 

 course at Ashton Hill, about 3 miles from 

 Bristol Joint station. These clubs have been 

 established some four or five years. 



The Gloucester Golf Club, established in 1896, 

 consists of about one hundred members. The 

 links are at Barnwood, two miles from Gloucester 

 Cross. It is a g-hole course on meadow land ; 

 the hazards are brooks and hedges ; play is possi- 

 ble all the year round. A very flourishing club 

 is the Rodway Hill, consisting of over three hun- 

 dred members. The links are close to Mangots- 

 field station, 4 miles from Bristol. It is an 18- 

 hole course over pasture and common land, with 

 both natural and artificial hazards. The Church- 

 down Club, numbering nearly three hundred 

 members, has its links lying round a spur of 

 Chosen Hill, Churchdown, about 3 miles from 

 Gloucester and Cheltenham respectively. They 

 are somewhat hilly and have a clay subsoil, but 

 the turf is excellent. The 9 holes err on the 

 short side, but there is an immense amount of 

 play from February to June. Play is possible all 

 the year round. The course was laid out by 

 G. H. Causey of Malvern in 1900. 



Situate 2 miles from Tetbury lies the course 

 of the Lark Hill Club, over which there is a great 

 deal of play during the winter and early spring 

 months. This club was established in January 

 1901, Lord Estcourt, Major Holford, Captain 

 Gilbert Henry, and the writer being the main 

 promoters. It is a g-hole course over pasture and 

 down land, with natural and artificial hazards, 

 and is of a very sporting character. The land is 

 the property of Lord Estcourt. The club con- 



sists of 113 members, including ladies, who play 

 over the same course as the men. In 1905 a 

 golf-club was established at Badminton with a 

 9-hole course in Badminton Park. The hazards 

 are entirely natural. H. Dunn from Westward 

 Ho ! professional and green-keeper, laid out the 

 course. The Duchess of Beaufort and Captain 

 Julian Spicer took a prominent part in establish- 

 ing this club. There are at present some sixty- 

 three members. The Henbury Club, instituted 

 in 1891, has about 120 members. The course 

 of 9 holes, varying from 135 to 653 yards in 

 length, lies on Combe Hill, near Bristol, about 

 2^ miles from Clifton Down station. There is 

 a separate club and g-hole course for ladies. 



The Alveston Club with seventy members, 

 has a 9-hole course (natural hazards), about eight 

 miles from Bristol. It was instituted in 1903. 

 Wotton-under-Edge Club, instituted the same 

 year, is a small club of forty-five members ; the 

 course of 9 holes is most beautifully situated on 

 the slope of the Cotteswold Hills. The turf 

 is good and the greens are well kept. The 

 hazards are old Saxon and Roman banks and 

 earthworks, a dry moat, a deep delkin, a sand 

 cliff and brook. 



Chipping Sodbury Club, instituted December, 

 1905, has forty members and a course i^ miles 

 from Chipping Sodbury station. Birdlip, insti- 

 tuted in January, 1901, has a g-hole course on 

 Birdlip Common, 6 miles from Cheltenham. Near 

 Cirencester is a small club belonging to the 

 Royal Agricultural College ; it has a g-hole 

 course with natural hazards of stone walls and 

 hedges. At Tewkesbury a club was instituted 

 in 1892 with a course of 9 holes on Shuthonger 

 Common. On Felton Common near Flax 

 Bourton, 4 miles from Felton station (G.W.R.) 

 is a course of 9 holes which was laid out for a 

 flourishing club established about 1891. 



The Gloucestershire Golf Union was founded 

 in 1 906. Its objects are to affiliate all the principal 

 clubs in the county, to act as a central authority 

 to decide all questions which may arise, to fix the 

 par score of all courses in the county with a view 

 to equalizing handicaps, to revise, and so far as 

 possible bring into line local rules, and generally 

 to promote the interests of the game ; to institute 

 County Club Championships and individual com- 

 petitions in connexion therewith, to arrange 

 matches with other counties, to arrange with 

 railway companies for increased travelling facili- 

 ties for golfers, and to act in conjunction with 

 other county unions in all matters affecting the 

 game. The members of the Gloucester Golf 

 Club were the chief promoters of this union. 



3S 



39 



