club history
Did you know ….
Much of the golf course is built on land that was originally part of Effingham’s Open or Common Fields. This was a system of sharing the land by dividing it into strips. Effingham’s Open Fields probably existed for over a thousand years until they were enclosed around 1802. Remnants of the hallmark ridge and furrow strips can still be seen in parts of the outlying areas of the golf course.
Did you know ….
The first house on the site of the club house was built in around 1700 as a farmhouse. In the mid-1700s it was bought and extended by a London gentleman. The current Georgian façade of the clubhouse originates from around 1800 when General Oliver de Lancey, an American who fought for the British in the American War of Independence, bought the house which he extended and remodelled. It was then called Effingham Place. It was the largest house in Effingham with forty seven windows and sat in four acres of gardens. The General is thought to have reused pieces from the Tudor manor house of Effingham East Court, which he bought and demolished, including the 1591 carved oak fire surround now in the Clubhouse’s Armada Room. De Lancey’s estates were forfeited to the Treasury in 1806 after he built Effingham Hill House using funds he “borrowed” from his regiment.
In 1832 the house became Effingham Manor House when its then owner Sir Thomas Hussey Apreece Bt. bought the manor of Effingham and its estate which included farmland to the south of the house and gardens, some of which became its park.
Did you know ...
In 1885, tobacco magnate, Charles Edward Lambert, leased the house and estate for eighty years as his country house where he lived with his wife, son and six daughters and further developed the house, gardens and estate. It was bought by a local landowner, Robert Reitmeyer Calburn, in 1922 and became part of Effingham Estates Ltd. owned by him and other investors.
Did you know ...
Effingham Manor Golf Club was founded in 1927 using Effingham House as the club house and the gardens and farmland beyond for the golf course. Harry Shapland Colt, the celebrated golf course designer, who designed about 300 courses worldwide, was commissioned to design the golf course. Robert HK Brown in the June 1931 issue of Golfing called the course a “Surrey woodland paradise.” At 5,931 metres in length, it was the second longest in Surrey at the time.
Its first president was Rowland Blades, 1st Baron Ebbisham, Lord Mayor of London 1926 - 27, with Admiral Sir Henry Pelly K.C.V.O. , as the first Club Captain, wonderfully characterised with some other Golf Club members in 1928 by H F Crowther-Smith in the publication of The Sketch. By then the club had 240 members, which rose to 520 by 1934, including 120 female members which was unusual at the time.
The club was also unusual in having an Artisan section with its own clubhouse, which allowed people with lower incomes to pay a small subscription in return for some work on the course and limited times of play.
Effingham in the 1930s was the home of many celebrities from the theatre and arts including Yvonne Arnaud and a patron of the arts and senior partner of the accountancy company Price Waterhouse Company, Sir Nicholas Waterhouse. The Golf Club was the centre of their social scene. Barnes Wallis (later Sir Barnes Wallis) of Dambusters' fame lived in nearby Beech Avenue with his wife and both were members of the golf club.
But the 1930s were also years of financial difficulty with the clubhouse and land bought by another company and the threat of a bypass being built through the course. In 1939 this was resolved, when after local fundraising, a 42 year lease and option to purchase was agreed with the new owners with the club being renamed Effingham Golf Club and becoming a limited company.
The future of the club was assured in 1958 when the club led by Sir Hubert Davies and Sir Ernest Smith, bought the freehold of the clubhouse, the other buildings and 264 acres of land. The limited company formed to do this raised £3,500 to modernise the clubhouse and irrigate the course. An exhibition match of 36 holes was played on Saturday 15th July between A.D. Locke, open champion of South Africa and D.J. Rees, British match champion of Hindhead with Locke winning 4 and 3. It was refereed by James Braid, five times Open Champion.
The Club has retained the same structure which continues to serve it well. It has continued to develop through the eyes of a strong membership and has hosted important events/tournaments such the regional Open Championship Qualifier 2006-10 and the English Seniors County Championships in 2019. The Club is very proud to be ranked by Golf World as a Top 100 English Golf Course.
Visit our clubhouse to find out more about the club’s long history
Our thanks go to Vivien White, a local historian, who has kindly provided these fascinating insights in to the history of Effingham Golf Club.