Halifax Golf Club

About the club

From small acorns great oaks grow. But rarely can a Golf Club have blossomed so completely in the space of a few short weeks. On March 30th 1895 an advertisement appeared in the Weekly Halifax Courier and Daily Guardian:- ‘Golf – Wanted all gentlemen interested in golf to attend a meeting at the Mechanics Hall, in reference to the formation of Halifax Golf Club’. Three in particular – Dr John Oakley JP, Dr D T Macauly and Mr Walker Ward were the prime movers behind that initial meeting. Mr Algernon Firth, later Sir Algernon, became the first Captain of the Club. It appears there were about twenty three rules of the Club at the time, one of them being that red jackets must be worn when playing the golf course. A professional by the name of George Lowe from St Anne’s was appointed, his brief was to assist with the green-keeping as well as being the Club Pro. There was no Clubhouse at Ogden at the time, Mr John Bairstow organised the use of a room at the Reservoir Lodge. The present purpose-built clubhouse was officially opened by way of an exhibition match between Harry Vardon and Alex Herd, on October 2nd 1902. It was originally hoped that a golfing celebrity – particularly the Prime Minister, A G Balfour, would do the honours for the now 350 members. In view of the influential members of Halifax society involved in the club, it was probably not such a wild notion. Balfour, apparently only pulled out at the last minute due to work commitments. Three times Open Champion, Harry Vardon, now based at Ganton and reigning champion Alex Herd were a pretty good alternative. The Halifax Guardian reported the day was mostly fine but rain fell at times. Harry Vardon won the match posting a morning round 79 against Herd with an 80. In the afternoon Vardon shot a 76 with Herd retuning a 77.