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Wick Golf Club, Highland. (1860s - 1872)
The golf club was founded in 1870.
Prior to its permanent move to the current Reiss Links in 1872 the club played on a course at Society Park (now Bignold Park,) Eastbanks, and also on land at South Head. It did play the occasional game on the Reiss course at this time. The founder members would have been delighted to play Resiss Links on the odd occasion where the grazing sheep and cattle would have kept the grass well cropped.
Following is a report from the John o’Groat Journal Thursday 15th June 1871. “A golf match was played on the usual golf ground at Society’s Park, East Banks, on Thursday last. Out of about twenty members only nine competed, and some of the number had only recently practised. Six holes were cut round the parkland the golfers started from the corner near the Toll-house, about 12 o’clock. The game was energetically contested, and the playing up to any previous day’s scoring, although the grass was in the worst possible condition for such a game, being long and thick, and perfectly white with gowans (daisies,) which frequently caused the players and their caddies to lose sight of the balls. The players went round the park four times in pairs, except the odd three, who went together, with a break of half an hour after the first two rounds – the competitor with the fewest number of strokes after the four rounds winning a silver medal (for one year,) and a driver-club; the player with the next fewest strokes receiving an iron cleek; the third a pair of golf balls; and the fourth one golf ball. As will be seen from the following list of scores, the fewest number of strokes taken in any one round was by Mr Smith, who in the fourth round scored 27, the lowest done by any member since the club was formed in October last, except on one occasion, when Mr Jack and Dr. Banks made around with a similar total; Dr Banks – 31,33,28,32 = 124; Mr Jack – 34,35,32,28 = 129; Mr Smith – 32,39,32,27 = 130; Mr Muir – 35,33,33,30 = 131; Mr Mackie – 34,34,33,32 = 133; Mr Buik – 36,30,34,34 = 134; Mr Reid, jnr. – 37,36,34,35 = 142; Mr Stobie – 37,38,35,35 = 145.”
Below a map showing the area around East Banks in the 1870s.
Ordnance Survey Map © Crown Copyright {Published 1877}
Report below on a competition played in May 1872 again on “the usual play ground.” In the report above the usual ground was Society Park.
From the John o’Groat Journal Thursday 23rd May 1872. Image © THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
The following is an extract from a report that appeared when the Reiss links were extended to 18-holes in 1907. “When first formed the course was where the Bignold Park now is, and occasionally matches were played on Reiss Links. Then we played for a few years on fields at South Head, and for the last 25 years on a nine-hole course on Reiss Links.”
Thanks to Roy Mackenzie for his help with the history of the two earlier courses of the Wick Golf Club and for the images below.
Roy also mentions “When I took up golf about 30 years ago I regularly practised on Bignold Park. However today there are several "No Golf" signs. How times have changed.”
The picture below from the late 1920s shows Bignold Park, there would have been no houses in the 1870s.
Bignold Park in 1929 – site of one of the earlier courses.
From the above picture it’s possible to see the conditions golfers were faced with. In the newspaper report from 1871 it states “the grass was in the worse possible condition for such a game, being long and thick, and perfectly white with gowans (daisies.)”
The above pictures show the area around South Head in 2018. This was the alternative course to Society Park in the early 1870s. It’s possible that golf could have been played here in some form as early as the 1860s.
The Google Map below pinpoints Bignold Park.