Burbage Ladies' Golf Club
Golf has been played in Buxton since the 1880s. It was first played on Fairfield Common and a nine-hole golf course was created there in 1887 for the Buxton and High Peak Golf Club. The course was increased to eighteen holes in 1893. Ladies were accepted as members of this club and there were apparently enough of them to cause the gentlemen members of the club some anxiety. Thus, in 1898, the gentlemen on the committee of the Buxton and High Peak Golf Club resolved not to elect any more ladies as members and also considered withdrawing the playing privileges of existing lady members.
Alarmed by their insecure position at Fairfield, these ladies decided to form their own club and create their own golf course. They began negotiations with Frank Drewry, the Buxton agent for the Devonshire Estate, and the Duke of Devonshire agreed to let them use the empty land between Macclesfield Road and Green Lane. A nine-hole course was laid out and, on Saturday, 29 April, 1899, was officially declared open by Colonel Sidebotham, MP. There were some very competent golfers among the members of the new club but, as was typical of the day, the ladies were not trusted to act in any official capacity. The honour of the first drive on opening day was accorded, not to the first captain of the new Club, Mrs. Lowe, but to her husband instead. |
The Burbage Ladies’ Golf Club had a club house with access from Macclesfield Road (nos 5 to 9 Kinder Grove now occupy the site), its own golf professional, and a team of caddies supervised by the caddie master.
The position of the Burbage Ladies’ Golf Club was never secure because they did not have a formal lease and, when the Duke of Devonshire decided to create a new golf course (the current Cavendish course to the west of St John’s Road), permission to use the Burbage site was withdrawn. In 1924, the Burbage Ladies’ Golf Club was closed and the existing members joined the new Cavendish Golf Club. The Burbage Ladies’ Golf Club was very successful and the trophies won by them at various matches can still be seen at the Cavendish Golf Club. |