A SHORT HISTORY OF ROYAL WIMBLEDON GOLF CLUB

Seven miles as the crow flies from Piccadilly Circus, Royal Wimbledon Golf Club is a remarkable oasis of calm and tradition set amidst the urgency and clamour of the capital. Its Members enjoy the great privilege of playing a fine course belonging to an ancient club steeped in the fascinating history and development of the game.

Golf had been played informally on Wimbledon Common from the beginning of the 19th Century and in 1864 a few members of the London Scottish Rifle Volunteers, posted nearby, formed the London Scottish Golf Club, playing from Mrs Doggett’s Cottage beside the Windmill. The course was limited to seven holes (three rounds being played to approximate to the 18 hole standard). Civilians were admitted to membership in 1869 and by 1874 numbered 250 against the Corps’ 50.

In 1871 the course was hurriedly extended to eighteen holes before the newly formed Common Conservators, set up to manage the Common and protect it from commercial exploitation, could interfere. Soon it was being described as ‘one of the finest courses in this country, equal in extent and superior in the number and variety of hazards to the far famed links of St Andrews’. The military, however, had maintained absolute control over the Club’s affairs and by the winter of 1880, the civilians’ resentment (their subscriptions of 4 guineas by then eight times that of a Corps Member, with no democratic rights attached) boiled over. The rupture was fractious, swift and total. February 3rd 1881 saw the two parties go their separate ways. The military retained the "London Scottish" title; the breakaways, who had found premises nearer the town, claimed "Wimbledon Golf Club" and a year later their Patron, the Prince of Wales, agreed to the addition of the "Royal" prefix. So, on 6th June 1882, in calmer waters after the storm of secession, the Royal Wimbledon Golf Club was born; Honorary Secretary the iconic Henry Lamb (pictured above).

Initially, the two Clubs shared the same Wimbledon Common course designed by Tom Dunn. In 1907, however, in an expression of its burgeoning success and confidence, RWGC began construction of a new course on the present site, designed by Willie Park Jnr (one of whose masterpieces is Sunningdale Old Course). A great success, it was nevertheless, in the pursuit of perfection, radically redesigned in 1924 by a Member, the renowned Harry Colt (Rye, Swinley Forest, Wentworth and St Germain, Paris). Essentially this is the course we play today.

A Ladies Club had been in existence on Wimbledon Common, albeit with a ten year break in the 1880’s, from the earliest days. In May 1891, after 145 ladies had responded to an invitation for membership, they opened their own nine hole course on Common land rather reluctantly allocated by the Conservators and took possession of their Clubhouse, the previously derelict Thatched Cottage, restored by the men. They were formidable players (Lena Thompson won the Ladies Championship in 1898) but the onset of war and requisition of their course for an Army camp in 1915 forced an accommodation with RWGC. This temporary arrangement became permanent in 1922 when it became obvious that a return to the Common was totally impractical. Over the years the barriers between the two sections of the Club were gradually lowered, finally disappearing in 2005 with complete integration. Today’s RWGC Ladies are as formidable opponents as their forbears, winning the Surrey Pearson Trophy in 2006.

RWGC’s Captains and Members have distinguished themselves and the Club by their significant contributions to the game of golf. Dr Laidlaw Purves was instrumental to the founding of the Ladies Golf Union and with Henry Lamb, designed and founded Royal St George’s; Lamb and Purves also masterminded the Club’s significant contribution to the Rules of Golf and the Prince of Wales (later King Edward V111) is the most famous past captain followed, perhaps, by past R&A captain Roger Wethered (English Amateur Champion 1923). The Club greatly respects its Scottish traditions and highlights of every dinner are a Piper and the Ode to the Haggis. Matches are joined against Oxford and Cambridge Universities, Commonwealth links are preserved through reciprocal exchanges with certain Royal clubs and Blackheath, London Scottish and RWGC (England’s three oldest clubs) still play their annual triangular match. The playing strength continues to improve with over 60 men holding handicaps of 5 or better. Mark Booker and Rupert Rea won the London Amateur Foursomes in 2005 and again in 2006.

Members are modestly proud of their historic Club and continue to invest in its facilities; since November 2008 they have welcomed their guests and visitors to a Clubhouse much-improved by a £1.25m re- development.

This short history is a précis largely based upon A History of Royal Wimbledon Golf Club by Charles Cruikshank. This illustrated book may be purchased from the Club.