Moor Park Golf Club is a

country club A country club is a privately owned club, often with a membership quota and admittance by invitation or sponsorship, that generally offers both a variety of recreational sports and facilities for dining and entertaining. Typical athletic offer ...

located in

Rickmansworth Rickmansworth () is a town in southwest Hertfordshire, England, about northwest of central London and inside the perimeter of the M25 motorway. The town is mainly to the north of the Grand Union Canal (formerly the Grand Junction Canal) and t ...

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is one of the home counties in southern England. It borders Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to the north, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south, and Buckinghamshire to the west. For govern ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. It has two eighteen-hole

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 ...

s, the High Course and the West Course, of which the High Course has hosted many professional and elite amateur tournaments, including the

Women's British Open The Women's Open (originally known as the Women's British Open, and still widely referred to by that name outside the UK) is a women's major golf championships, major championship in Professional golf tours#Women's tours, women's professional go ...

in 1985.

History

Moor Park Country Club was founded in 1923, with three

s set within the Moor Park estate, and

Moor Park Mansion Moor Park is a Neo-Palladian mansion set within several hundred acres of parkland to the south-east of Rickmansworth in Hertfordshire, England. It is called Moor Park Mansion because it is in the old park of the Manor of More. It now serves as ...

as its clubhouse.

Sandy Herd Alexander "Sandy" Herd (24 April 1868 – 18 February 1944) was a Scottish professional golfer from St Andrews. He won The Open Championship in 1902 at Hoylake. Early life Born in St Andrews, Scotland, on 24 April 1868, to a golfing family, H ...

was the club's first

professional A professional is a member of a profession or any person who works in a specified professional activity. The term also describes the standards of education and training that prepare members of the profession with the particular knowledge and skil ...

. The club was reformed as Moor Park Golf Club after the courses were acquired by the local authority in 1937 for use as a public open space, intended to be part of London's

green belt A green belt is a policy and land-use zone designation used in land-use planning to retain areas of largely undeveloped, wild, or agricultural land surrounding or neighboring urban areas. Similar concepts are greenways or green wedges, which hav ...

. The club retained the use of two courses, with the third becoming a municipal facility. The club currently has approximately 1500 members, of whom 1000 are golfers, the remainder being composed of tennis members and social members. The club is run by a board of directors, all of whom are unpaid club members.

Golf courses

The golf courses at Moor Park are wooded parkland in nature and were designed by

Harry Colt Henry Shapland "Harry" Colt (4 August 1869 – 21 November 1951) was a golf course architect born in Highgate, England. He worked predominantly with Charles Alison, John Morrison, and Alister MacKenzie, in 1928 forming Colt, Alison & Morrison ...

. The High Course is the longer of the two, and is considered "championship standard". The West Course was created from the first nine holes of the original No. 2 (West) Course, a few holes from the old No. 3 (East) Course, and several new holes.

Major tournaments hosted

Moor Park was a regular venue on the

British PGA The Professional Golfers' Association (PGA) is the professional body which represents the interests of teaching and club golf professionals in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland. It was established in 1901 and is based at The Belfr ...

tournament circuit, which later became the

European Tour The European Tour (currently known as the DP World Tour for sponsorship reasons), legally the PGA European Tour is the leading men's professional golf tour in Europe. The organisation also operates the European Senior Tour (for players aged fift ...

, through to the end of the 1980s, hosting the

British PGA Matchplay Championship The British PGA Matchplay Championship was a match play golf tournament that began in 1903 and ran until 1979. Between 1903 and 1969, the event was sponsored by the now defunct British newspaper the '' News of the World'', and was commonly known ...

(1925, 1932, 1970, 1972), Evening Standard Tournament (1925–1926),

Silver King Tournament The Silver King Tournament was a professional golf tournament played at Moor Park Golf Club near Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire. The event was promoted by The Silvertown Company, manufacturer of the Silver King golf ball. It was held from 1936 t ...

(1936–1953),

Lotus Tournament The Lotus Tournament was a professional golf tournament played in England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest an ...

(1952),

Spalding Tournament The Spalding Tournament was a professional golf tournament played in the United Kingdom. It was played annually from 1946 to 1960. The total prize money was £1500 in 1946, £1250 in 1947 and 1948, £1350 from 1949 to 1959 and £2250 in 1960. Th ...

(1954–1960),

Esso Golden Tournament The Esso Golden Tournament was a golf tournament on the British PGA circuit from 1961 to 1967. It was played in a round-robin format at the Moor Park Golf Club in Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire, England. The event was sponsored by Esso, and was ...

(1961–1967), Wills Tournament (1969), Uniroyal International (1976–1977), SOS Talisman TPC (1979) and Bob Hope British Classic (1981–1990). It has also hosted many elite women's events, including the

in 1985, the British Women's Matchplay and the

Spalding Women's Open Stroke Play The Spalding Women's Open Stroke Play was a national women's 72-hole stroke play Stroke play, also known as medal play, is a scoring system in the sport of golf in which the total number of strokes is counted over one or more rounds of 18 holes ...

; and elite amateur events, including the Carris Trophy from 1935 to 1987 and every fourth year subsequently.

In popular culture

Moor Park was featured in Sir

John Betjeman Sir John Betjeman (; 28 August 190619 May 1984) was an English poet, writer, and broadcaster. He was Poet Laureate from 1972 until his death. He was a founding member of The Victorian Society and a passionate defender of Victorian architecture, ...

's BBC TV documentary ''

Metro-land Metro-land (or Metroland) is a name given to the suburban areas that were built to the north-west of London in the counties of Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire and Middlesex in the early part of the 20th century that were served by the Metropolita ...

'' (1973).

References

External links

*{{official, https://www.moorparkgc.co.uk/ Golf clubs and courses in Hertfordshire 1923 establishments in England Golf clubs and courses designed by Harry Colt