Fulwell Golf Course, operated by Fulwell Golf Club, is a
golf course
A golf course is the grounds on which the sport of golf is played. It consists of a series of holes, each consisting of a tee box, a fairway, the rough and other hazards, and a green with a cylindrical hole in the ground, known as a "cup". Th ...
and centre comprising an 18-hole course located in
Fulwell in the
London Borough of Richmond upon Thames
The London Borough of Richmond upon Thames () in southwest London forms part of Outer London and is the only London borough on both sides of the River Thames. It was created in 1965 when three smaller council areas amalgamated under the London ...
, west London. It is adjacent to the 9 hole Twickenham Golf Course, currently operated by a
David Lloyd Club., which was separated from the original Fulwell Golf Course in the 1950s. Both courses are located on
Metropolitan Open Land
"Metropolitan Open Land" or "MOL" is a term or designation used only within London. Land designated MOL is afforded the same level of protection as the Metropolitan Green Belt. Designation is intended to protect areas of landscape, recreation, natu ...
owned by, and leased from, the
London Borough of Richmond Upon Thames
The London Borough of Richmond upon Thames () in southwest London forms part of Outer London and is the only London borough on both sides of the River Thames. It was created in 1965 when three smaller council areas amalgamated under the London ...
.
Fulwell Golf Club's male private members are today often referred to as "The Big Booty Golf Boys," because of their club uniforms' resemblance to portly cartoon characters from the 1940s.
Location
The combined site comprising Fulwell and Twickenham golf courses, the David Lloyd Club, allotments, and Squires Garden Centre is bounded by the
A305 Staines Road to the northwest, the B358 Sixth Cross Road to the north, the
A312 Uxbridge Road and Burton Road to the southwest, and part of the
Shepperton branch railway line and
A311 Wellington Road to the east where the main entrance to Fulwell Golf Club is situated.
Fulwell railway station
Fulwell railway station on the Shepperton Branch Line serves Fulwell in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. It is in Travelcard Zone 6. It is down the line from .
The station and all trains serving it are operated by South Western R ...
is a short walk from Fulwell Golf Club's entrance.
History
Fulwell Park
The area was farmed during the 17th and 18th centuries and the present day golf course comprised part of Blackmoor Farm and most of Slade Farm. The farmhouse building for the latter, ''Slade Lodge'', built and
Grade II listed
In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...
in 1990, is now the course manager's residence.
The area of the present day course formed part of a larger estate which was purchased in 1871 by property developer,
Charles James Freake
Sir Charles James Freake, 1st Baronet (7 April 1814 – 6 October 1884) was an untrained English architect and builder, responsible for many famous 19th-century façades in London, including Eaton Square, Exhibition Road and Onslow Square, ...
, and renamed ''
Fulwell Park
Fulwell is a neighbourhood of outer South West London in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. It straddles the west of the generally firmer ( "ancient" parish and urban district) borders of Twickenham and Teddington, reinforced as loca ...
''.
In 1904 a group of local golf enthusiasts established the club at Fulwell. Led by prominent local figure H. O. Stutchbury, they appointed former Captain of Mid-Surrey Golf Club, Harry Tomlinson, as chairman and leased from the Trustees of the Freake Estate, using for the course. Early club officials included
Frederick Dixon-Hartland,
Viscount Villiers
and Dr.Reginald Langdon Down, son of Dr.
John Langdon Down
John Langdon Haydon Down (18 November 1828 – 7 October 1896) was a British physician best known for his description of the genetic condition now known as Down syndrome, which he originally classified in 1862. He is also noted for his work in ...
.
Early courses
The initial course on the site comprised an “outer” 18-hole course for men and an “inner” for ladies and high handicappers. It was designed by
John Henry Taylor
John Henry "J.H." Taylor (19 March 1871 – 10 February 1963) was an English professional golfer and one of the pioneers of the modern game of golf. Taylor is considered to be one of the best golfers of all time. He was a significant golf ...
and was similar to the layout at the
Royal Mid-Surrey Golf Club
The Royal Mid-Surrey Golf Club is a private golf club and golf course comprising two 18-hole courses located in Old Deer Park in Richmond, south west London.
Location
The course lies in an arc of Crown Estate land on the east bank of the River ...
where Taylor was the professional. The par 80 course was a long course, with holes varying from 122 to 514 yards, and somewhat flat in appearance. The “inner” course was extended to 18 holes in 1906 making it just under in length with the longest hole being , formally opening for play on 19 November 1907.
In 1921
Alister MacKenzie
Alister MacKenzie (30 August 1870 – 6 January 1934) was a golf course architect whose course designs span four continents. Originally trained as a surgeon, MacKenzie served as a civilian physician with the British Army during the Boer War ...
, the noted
golf course architect
A golf course is the grounds on which the sport of golf is played. It consists of a series of holes, each consisting of a tee box, a fairway, the rough and other hazards, and a green with a cylindrical hole in the ground, known as a "cup". Th ...
, was contracted to extend and improve the outer course.
Phil Gaudin
Phillip John Gaudin (born 4 March 1879) was a professional golfer from Jersey who played in the late 19th and early 20th century. He had three top-10 finishes in the Open Championship. His best result was a tie for eighth place in the 1914 Ope ...
was appointed as the first head golf professional at Fulwell in 1906, and he remained there until the start of
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
in 1914.
Gaudin played a match there on 1 June 1906 against Taylor. Taylor led by 6 holes after the first round and eventually won 3&2.
George Oke
George may refer to:
People
* George (given name)
* George (surname)
* George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George
* George Washington, First President of the United States
* George W. Bush, 43rd President ...
became resident professional at Fulwell in 1921 and, soon after, a young school-leaver, Leslie Cotton, joined as assistant. In 1923 Leslie's elder brother,
Henry Cotton, joined as assistant teaching professional. Henry Cotton soon moved on but Oke remained until 1946.
In 1934 a consortium of
Teddington Council,
London County Council
London County Council (LCC) was the principal local government body for the County of London throughout its existence from 1889 to 1965, and the first London-wide general municipal authority to be directly elected. It covered the area today kno ...
and
Middlesex County Council
Middlesex County Council was the principal local government body in the administrative county of Middlesex from 1889 to 1965.
The county council was created by the Local Government Act 1888, which also removed the most populous part of the coun ...
indicated its intention to purchase the land under the
green belt scheme on expiry of the lease in 1941.
World War II
The
War Agricultural Executive Committee The War Agricultural Executive Committees were government-backed organisations tasked with increasing agricultural production in each county of the United Kingdom, during both the First and Second World Wars. They were established in Autumn 1915 b ...
instructed the club to lay out the inner course to agricultural use. The resulting loss of half its membership revenue led to an agreement with the landowner, by then Middlesex County Council, to reduce the rent in return for opening up the remaining course to the public and with a commitment to reinstate the inner course after the war.
Three bombs, intended for the nearby
National Physical Laboratory, Teddington fell in the course during 25 February 1944.
Post war
After the war, Middlesex County Council reinstated the course, contracting
John Stanton Fleming Morrison for the design. He laid out the present day 18-hole course comprising eight of the original “outer” layout and ten new holes from the land returned from agricultural use. The par 71 course has four par 3, eleven par 4 and three par 5 holes. The new course opened in 1958 and the club was granted a further 21-year lease.
In 1946
Bill Cox succeeded George Oak as professional, establishing a successful teaching academy at Fulwell and remaining until 1975.
Ownership and sale
Ownership of the land transferred to the
Greater London Council
The Greater London Council (GLC) was the top-tier local government administrative body for Greater London from 1965 to 1986. It replaced the earlier London County Council (LCC) which had covered a much smaller area. The GLC was dissolved in 198 ...
. In April 1981 the
London Borough of Richmond upon Thames
The London Borough of Richmond upon Thames () in southwest London forms part of Outer London and is the only London borough on both sides of the River Thames. It was created in 1965 when three smaller council areas amalgamated under the London ...
purchased the freehold from the GLC for £159,750.
In March 1983 Richmond agreed to sell both the former Slade's Farm golf course site and adjacent Blackmore Farm site for a sum of £300,000 to D.J. Squires on a 999-year lease. Squires Garden Centre business was established on the Blackmore Farm site. The disposal was authorised both by the GLC and the
Secretary of State for the Environment
The Secretary of State for the Environment was a UK cabinet position, responsible for the Department of the Environment (DoE). This was created by Edward Heath as a combination of the Ministry of Housing and Local Government, the Ministry of Tra ...
and the sale concluded in March 1986. Squires immediately reassigned the lease of the golf course to Fulwell Golf Club which continued the public play commitment established during the war through a reduced fee access agreement for local residents.
There was some local disquiet about the price achieved from the sale and complaints were made to the
Local government ombudsman
The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman, legally the Commission for Local Administration in England and formerly known as the Local Government Ombudsman (LGO), is a service that investigates complaints from the public about councils and som ...
. From 1995 the matter was investigated by the District Auditor who issued a Public Interest Report in November 1999 that did not uphold the objections. A subsequent complaint to the
Audit Commission against the District Auditor was upheld but a request for a further audit refused in 2002. In response to continued protest, the local authority established a scrutiny task force to investigate the allegations. In 2005 the task force published its report and found no evidence of wrongdoing but commented:
Following publication of the report further documents obtained under the
Freedom of Information Act Freedom of Information Act may refer to the following legislations in different jurisdictions which mandate the national government to disclose certain data to the general public upon request:
* Freedom of Information Act 1982, the Australian act
* ...
threw doubt on the scope of evidence considered by the task force. This resulted in a complaint to the
Information Commissioner's Office
The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) is a non-departmental public body which reports directly to the Parliament of the United Kingdom and is sponsored by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS). It is the independe ...
that was upheld, however the inquiry’s findings were not materially changed.
Consideration as a school site
In 2018, a triangle of open land behind the David Lloyd Centre was formally assessed by Richmond Council to determine its suitability as a school site. The conclusion was that there would be several barriers to overcome, making it very difficult from a planning perspective.
Environment
Anciently the area formed the southern extent of
Hounslow Heath
Hounslow Heath is a local nature reserve in the London Borough of Hounslow and at a point borders Richmond upon Thames. The public open space, which covers , is all that remains of the historic Hounslow Heath which covered more than . The prese ...
. The agricultural heritage of the site is still visible as drainage ditches and mature tree lines still reflect 19th century field boundaries.
More recently efforts have been made to promote biodiversity on the site. Non-native
Leyland cypress
The Leyland cypress, ''Cupressus'' × ''leylandii'', often referred to simply as leylandii, is a fast-growing coniferous evergreen tree much used in horticulture, primarily for hedges and screens. Even on sites of relatively poor culture, plant ...
and
Eucalyptus
''Eucalyptus'' () is a genus of over seven hundred species of flowering trees, shrubs or mallees in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae. Along with several other genera in the tribe Eucalypteae, including '' Corymbia'', they are commonly known as euca ...
trees have been removed and habitats provided for
stag beetle
Stag beetles are a family of about 1,200 species of beetles in the family Lucanidae, currently classified in four subfamilies.Smith, A.B.T. (2006). A review of the family-group names for the superfamily Scarabaeoidea (Coleoptera) with corrections ...
s and
hedgehogs
A hedgehog is a spiny mammal of the subfamily Erinaceinae, in the eulipotyphlan family Erinaceidae. There are seventeen species of hedgehog in five genera found throughout parts of Europe, Asia, and Africa, and in New Zealand by introduction ...
.
Twickenham Golf Course
With the post-war redevelopment of Fulwell Golf Course in the late 1950s, the nine former "outer course" holes 7 to 15 to the north of the Fulwell site furthest from the Fulwell Golf Club clubhouse were given up for 'recreational purposes'. The intention was to provide hockey and football pitches, bowling green, tennis courts, an open-air swimming pool, gymnasium and café. The high cost of development led to delay and, instead, in 1975, the site was reinstated as a 9-hole public play and pay golf course, known as ''Twickenham Golf Course'' with access from the Staines Road.
Part of the site became home to
Thamesians RFC between 1982 and 1992.
In 2002 the site was transferred to Stax Leisure Ltd, (later acquired by
David Lloyd Leisure), on a 125-year lease and was sub-let to the Gobafoss partnership, part of
AXA
Axa S.A. (styled as ''AXA'' or GIG in the Middle East) is a French multinational insurance company. The head office is in the 8th arrondissement of Paris, France. It also provides investment management and other financial services.
The Ax ...
in 2005.
The 'Amida' sports and recreation facility was developed on the site in 2002 and a swimming pool added in 2011. In 2011 the site operator caused local controversy when access to a footpath crossing the site, popular with dog-walkers and part of a cycle route, was temporarily closed following claims of vandalism.
The present par 70 course comprises three par 3, four par 4 and two par 5 holes.
References
External links
*
*
{{LB Richmond
Golf clubs and courses in London
Sports venues completed in 1904
Sport in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames
Parks and open spaces in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames
1904 establishments in England