1915 to Date

Records of the years of the First World War and early years thereafter are sparse, unsurprisingly with wartime preoccupations. Financial difficulties arose for the Club as a result of the War. The original Honorary Secretary, Mr Campbell Steward, died in office in 1917 after nearly a quarter-century of sterling service. He was to be succeeded from 1921 to 1926 by Russell Steward (no relation), who was compelled to call on the Club’s guarantors so as to re-establish the Club on a sound financial footing. This he achieved within his first year in office.

Golf again assumed due importance, however, and various notable occasions ensued. In September 1921, Arthur Havers, younger son of the Steward and born within a stone’s throw of the course, returned to Norwich for an exhibition match against Harry Vardon. Professional at the West Lancs. Club and playing brilliantly for a 68, Havers won by 9 strokes. In 1913, when he was a teenager, his request to play with members had been ‘unanimously refused by the Committee’; in 1914, as if by way of riposte, he achieved golfing fame by qualifying for the Open Championship when he was only 16! When Havers won the Open Championship in 1923, the EDP reported ‘The limelight of his victory has brought the Royal Norwich course within its rays.’. Elsewhere, Bernard Darwin wrote ‘A course which can breed good golfers has nearly always some good and testing qualities, and this course is no exception’.

Nonetheless, the Committee announced in March 1923 that it had felt justified in embarking on a scheme for improving and extending the course. At the same time, Mr Russell Steward was elected Captain and had the gratifying task of implementing the scheme. Work, including the layout of 8 new greens, was completed in the Spring of 1924. The design was undertaken by James Braid, and the new layout, with a length of 6,399 yards, was essentially as we know the course today.

On 19th June 1924, Col. Dawson, then 75, declared the reconstructed course open, and exhibition golf was played by Braid himself, Abe Mitchell, James Sherlock and the home professional, Roy Donald. Mitchell returning the best round with a 71 playing the course for the first time.

The Committee still had to exercise great economy, and in 1926, with this in mind and in order to cope with the enlarged area of the course, considered the use of a tractor. On his election as Captain in March of that year, Mr Neville Howlett made the Club a gift of its first tractor.

In July 1933, the renowned Walter Hagen, of America, four times Open Champion, visited the Club at the invitation of Mr R.G. Pilch to play with his host’s son, George, against British Walker Cup player Lister Hartley and Roy Donald. Hagen and Pilch won the match on the 18th by 1 hole, with Hagen characteristically holing a long putt. The Pilch family is descended from the famous England cricketer of the mid- 1800’s, Fuller Pilch, and George was to be father of the Club’s 1992 Captain, David Pilch.

1936 saw the death of the Club’s Patron, HM King George V, the accession of his eldest son, HM King Edward VIII, and then his abdication and the consequent accession of HM King George VI.

With the Second World War came the defensive earthworks common to many courses up and down the land, in the form of trenches, pits, etc, to prevent or hinder possible aerial landings.

In 1944, the warhead of a disintegrating V2 rocket exploded on impact on the 7th hole, leaving a shallow crater evident today beside the first left-side bunker. The course was otherwise unscathed and was soon repaired following the War. Wartime austerity precluded the celebration of the Club’s jubilee in 1943.

Over the late War years, a young golfer emerged who was to put Royal Norwich on the golfing map once again, Arthur Perowne. In 1946, at the age of 16, he carried off his first national prize, the Boy’s Carris Trophy at Moor Park. On the basis of a natural swing and a fine touch, he was to go on to represent Great Britain in the Walker Cup three times and to achieve many other representative and individual successes. His virtual retirement from golf in middle age is understandable after intense commitment in earlier years but can only be regretted.

1951 was declared Festival of Britain Year by the Government to celebrate the country’s emergence from the War and its aftermath of austerity. At Royal Norwich in June of that year, to mark the Festival, Norfolk played a team of famous amateurs. All but one were Walker Cup players either pre- or post-War, the team having been assembled by Mr Raymond Oppenheimer, a past Oxford captain, Walker Cup selector and wealthy patron of the game. Two of the team, Cyril Tolley and Alex Kyle, were past British Amateur Champions, in 1929 and 1939 respectively. The participants in the match are pictured opposite. The Norfolk side, led by George Pilch, put up a commendable fight, losing by 6 1/2-5 1/2 having halved the morning foursomes 2-2.

The War left the Club in financially straitened circumstances once more, alleviated only by several generous legacies and by personal contributions from a number of members. Subscriptions were raised progressively from Five Guineas, to Ten Guineas in 1952. By 1960, a new crisis had been reached which was only overcome by raising the subscription to Thirteen Guineas.

The financial position then began to be transformed, strengthened by an influx of new members, thus enabling the present Clubhouse to be built in 1964, at a cost of £30,000. It was opened by Arthur Havers on 21st November of that year. The building’s design and even the decision to move the clubhouse location from Rabbits Hill to Drayton Road were not without major controversy. At the opening, the President, Mr Walter Steward, justly described the project, however, as a great step in the Club’s history.

The slope of Rabbits Hill today is overgrown with trees and bushes, among which can be found traces of the foundations of the old clubhouse and the wooden steps up to it and beside it, on which so many groups of people were photographed over seventy years. The drive from Hellesdon Low Road remains, leading past the area beside the hedge where ponies and traps and the earliest cars were once parked, to the limited parking areas higher up, first laid in the 1920’s and enlarged over subsequent years.

In the last three decades, several national golfing events have been drawn to Royal Norwich, the Martini International Tournament (1971), the Girls’ Home Internationals (1972) and the Ladies British Open Amateur Stroke-Play Championship (1981).

The Martini brought leading professionals of the day to the city. 1991/93 Ryder Cup Captain Bernard Gallacher, having begun with an 80, continued 67,68,67, for a total of 282, to overtake third round leader Bernard Hunt and leave Kel Nagle, the 1960 Centenary Open Champion at St Andrews, in second place by one stroke. The highly successful tournament was remarkable for consecutive holes-in-one at the 12th and 13th holes (195 and 311 yards respectively) by little-known John Hudson; so far as is known this remains a feat unequalled in tournament golf world-wide. Among the international competitors were Dale Hayes of South Africa and Ramon Sota of Spain, uncle of a then unknown young player named Severiano Ballesteros. Hugh Boyle established a professional course record of 66. The rough had been allowed to grow to a severe length but the narrowed fairways were flanked by widths of semi- rough; the course was deemed by the players ‘tough but fair’. It was interesting to note how many competitors played the dangerous 5th hole by driving over the trees and gorse bushes onto the 6th fairway.

The Club Secretary from 1966 to 1972, Col. T.H. (Harry) Reed, was influential in attracting the tournament to Royal Norwich, having joined the Club on retiring as Secretary of the Professional Golfers Association. The success of the event was due greatly to the organisational capabilities of Club Captain Harry Bills, with Col. Reed’s support.

The course was evidently to the liking of the Scottish girls who won the Internationals in 1972 and of Janet Soulsby of Prudhoe who at the age of 16 won the Ladies Stroke-Play in 1981 with a 4-round score of 300. The phenomenally long hitting of the young Laura Davies, Britain’s future British and US Ladies Open Champion, lingers in memories of the 1981 event.

In the post World War II era the Club has produced a high proportion of County Amateur Champions, specifically:

J.P.A. Clymer 1947,1959
A.H. Perowne 1948,1951—58,1960—61
F.A. Brett 1950
A. Cook 1963
R.J. Trower 1965—66,1968
B.J. Ashton 1974
J.D. Crawford 1975
G. Parkhill 1979—80
C.J. Lamb 1985, 1991, 1998, 1999
J. Durrant 1994
I. Ellis 1995
G. Price 1997

The Norfolk Open Championship has been won by Royal Norwich members on four post-War occasions, by Arthur Perowne in 1964, Gordon Parkhill in 1981 and Marcus Barrett in 1995 and 1996. Arthur Perowne also won the East Anglian Open in 1952.

The Norfolk inter-club competition established in 1960 for the Myhill Trophy, played off handicap, has been won 9 times by the Club, which has reached the final on 14 occasions in 40 years.

On the morning after being elected Captain for 1973, Jack Murray hit his first shot as Captain straight into the cup at the 166 yards first hole. This continues to find a place in the records of unique golfing events.

Since the 1930’s, suburban development has gradually enveloped much of the Course. Initially this was primarily residential, but now the Club shares a boundary with a major local school and commercial development. The latter brought a benefit to the Club through a land exchange that saw us give up a very restricted Practice Ground in return for the fine facility available today. Changes to the surrounding environment have, however, been a matter of concern to Committees and members. Twice in the 1980's, during the property boom, developers came forward with schemes to relocate the Club based on the sale of our freehold site for building purposes. Both came to naught as boom tured to bust. No doubt relocation will arise at some stage in the future in view of the prime site owned and occupied by the Club.

The major landmark in recent years occurred in 1993, when the Club celebrated the centenary of its founding at that meeting in the Norwich Guildhall. The centrepiece of the year was a week of golf and social events, where our guests were representatives from over 40 other 'Royal Clubs' throughout the world. The guest of honour at the centenary banquet was H.R.H. The Duke of York, who arrived at the Club by landing his helicoptor on the 18th fairway before being driven to St. Andrew's Hall in the city.

There have been ongoing improvements to both the Course and the Clubhouse. The latter has seen re-modelling of the Ladies' and Gentlemen's Locker Rooms, reception rooms, the Club Office and the Professional's Shop. On the Course an irrigation system has been progressively installed, served from our own borehole. Bunker renovation is part of a rolling programme in which we have tried to maintain the character of the Course in the tradition true to the memory of James Braid.

The Club continues to play host to championship events. A recent highlight was the 1998 English Ladies Golf Association County Finals brought to the Club by Mrs Nickie Clarke, a Member, during her year as Chairman of the Association. Members and visitors witnessed some memorable golf, with the Yorkshire team being worthy winners. This year we welcome back the Norfolk Ladies' Championship, which will be played on the 8th, 9th and 10th of May.

After a lapse of several years, we have recently seen new Course Records set. The current holders are: for the Ladies Club Member, Miss Samantha Martin with 74; Gentlemen Amateur, Club Member, Dan Henderson with 66 and the Gentlemen's record, by Norfolk based P.G.A. Professional, Peter Whittle with 65.