The Early Days of Somerset Golf Union

Seven intrepid and farsighted gentlemen golfers met at the Castle Hotel in Taunton on March 21st 1907 at 2 pm to form the Somerset Golf Union. Mr T Holt of Burnham & Berrow proposed “that a Golf Union for the County of Somerset be formed”; the proposal was seconded by Mr H J Andrews of Saltford. Col Ricketts (Bath), Rev J Utten-Todd (Minehead), Capt Fox (Pickeridge), Mr G W Richardson (Weston-super-Mare) and Mr C H Alison (Burnham & Berrow) all voted in favour and the proposal was carried unanimously.

At a further meeting on May 2nd Mr W H Fowler was elected President and the “general Regulations” of the Union were agreed and published. The regulations covered such items as elected officers, meetings and subscriptions. Clubs with less than 100 members were entitled to one representative on the Council, between 100 and 200 they were entitled to two and over 200 members they had three members on Council. Subscriptions were set at one guinea for each entitled member on Council. One guinea in 1907 would be the equivalent of £22.70 in 2007 – just as well subscriptions have not risen in line with inflation.

At the July meeting Mr Alison resigned as Secretary to take up an appointment in Ireland and he was instructed to invite Mr Heathcote to become Hon Sec or “to try and find an efficient substitute”. At the same meeting it was agreed to arrange matches with other counties, hold an individual championship with scratch and handicap prizes and an inter club match play championship.

After what seemed like a successful year the attendance at the first AGM was a big disappointment and the meeting was cancelled through lack of a quorum. Very cleverly the officers of the Union decided the meeting would subsequently be held at Burnham and would incorporate a medal round competition with a prize of £3 for the best scratch and handicap scores; not surprisingly this AGM was well attended.

It was agreed that a 3 day meeting would be held on Burnham Links in August 1908 and to invite the counties of Devon, Dorset and Cornwall to join in an inter-county competition. A 36 hole individual medal round would be held on the first day with the inter-county matches played on the last two days. Although South West Week records are not available prior to 1924 this was probably the catalyst for the current competition.

At the end of 1908 the Treasurer reported that the Union had a balance of just over £13.

During the next 5 years the Union developed competitive golf with fixtures arranged with Gloucester and Worcester. Inter club competitions thrived and the winner of the individual 36 hole medal competition was officially called the Somerset Golf Champion.

However membership was stagnant and every effort to persuade unaffiliated clubs in Somerset to join the Union met with little success, in fact numbers were decreasing with Saltford resigning due to their finances not being “coleur de rose”. At this point the desirability of continuing as a Union was debated with only six out of a possible thirty clubs being affiliated. Officers were determined that the Union would continue and they agreed they would exert their personal influence to try and persuade more clubs to affiliate.

At the same time some clubs in the north of the county had requested to join Gloucester Golf Union in preference to Somerset. This matter was referred to the Golfing Union Committee but was still unresolved when war broke out and all Union activities were suspended.