Club History

Accrington & District Golf Club was founded over 100 years ago in 1893. The six founder members held a meeting in the courtroom of Accrington Town hall and their first task was to find a site suitable for play.

                              

The original 9-hole course was situated overlooking the town of Accrington on top of the Coppice, and built by Mr. James Birtwistle who had also constructed the Wilpshire course. The first round of golf played on the course was at the end of August 1893. In 1908 following notice to quit the Coppice site, several sites were considered before the decision was taken to move to the present site. The links on the Coppice were finally closed on 22nd August 1908 and a new club was formed with a 9-hole course being constructed. This, however, was not considered satisfactory by the more ambitious members of the club and an 18 hole course was decided upon.

 

A re-arrangement of the old 9-hole course took place accordingly and the 18 hole course was formally opened in 1928. The services of James Braid were requisitioned in order to “tighten up the course” and his eagle eye spotted just those places where indifferent shots were most likely to land. Though he saw the greens in January he was much struck with the texture of the turf

 

The existing clubhouse was erected in 1914 and a subsequent extension in 1934 left little to be desired at that time in the way of accommodation. The current gentlemen’s locker room was built in 1966 and after many minor improvements a major extension to the building to create the dining area and Ladies locker room took place in 1989.

 

During 1991 an automatic watering system was installed with the financial backing of the members. In the winter of 1995/96 a total of 16000 trees were planted and theses have made a big difference to the appearance of the course. The latest improvement to the course was the introduction of gravel banding to all the greens in the winter of 1999/2000. This made a massive improvement to the drainage performance of the greens, allowing all year round play except for frost and snow conditions. The Clubhouse was extended and refurbished in 2005 to enhance the facilities and is now an excellent venue for all types of Social functions accommodating up to 200.