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Waddesdon Manor Golf Course, Bucks. (1894 - WW2)
The report below from April 1894 shows evidence of an earlier nine-hole course laid out by Tom Dunn.
"Golf" Friday 27 April 1894. Image © THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
The later course was laid out between January 1923 and March 1925 at a cost of £1915.
From 1923 until 1940 the average expenditure on the golf course was £670. It was initially an 18-hole course. In 1928 Simpson & Ross were contacted t0 amend the course layout. Whether the proposals were actually carried out is still to be confirmed. It's possible that the plans were thwarted by the Depression years.
Extract from a report in the Bucks Herald Saturday 3 March 1923 - "He was glad to say that there was little or no unemployment among ex-Servicemen in Waddesdon. On the anniversary of Armistice Day their President (Mr James de Rothschild) promised to do what he could do for his late comrades, and that promise had been fully realised, as at the present time a large number of ex-Servicemen were at work on the golf course at Waddesdon Manor."
Report on the eighteen-hole course in January 1924.
Belfast Telegraph Thursday 3 January 1924. Image © Independent News and Media PLC. Image created courtesy of THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD.
Result of a competition played in September 1936. By this time the course had been reduced to nine-holes.
Bucks Herald Friday 18 September 1936. Image © National World Publishing Ltd. Image created courtesy of THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD.
Below are images of two of the Tom Simpson holes.
The course was for private use as the owner of Waddesdon Manor at the time, James Rothschild, was a very keen golfer. I understand that some of the gardeners employed by the Rothschilds at Waddesdon Manor, acted as caddies on their days off. The course was located in the (private) park land, to the South of Waddesdon manor, around Windmill Hill. The golf course ceased to function during WW2 when the park was requisitioned by the Department of War. As with many courses it fell into disrepair, it never recovered.
Henry Cotton played the course and wrote afterwards how surprised he was to find such a nice course at Waddesdon.
The course can be seen on the Britain From Above link below.
http://www.britainfromabove.org.uk/image/epw036372?search=waddesdon%20manor&ref=0