Pride of Place

Pride of Place, "The First One Hundred and One Years of St George's Hill Golf Club", is an extensively illustrated history of the Club written by Richard Norris.

The St George's Hill Estate has for centuries been acknowledged as an area of great natural beauty, which was once owned by royalty and the aristocracy. It was therefore of intense public interest when in 1912, a local builder and property developer, agreed proposals with the then owners, the Egerton family, to adapt the area to become a high quality residential estate with sporting facilities. That these principles still apply today is testimony to the vision of Mr W G Tarrant. Golf club members are among the beneficiaries of this, in particular that he engaged Harry Colt, an accomplished golf course architect, to design the course which we all love so much.

Since then, the Club has been through good and bad times – the first half of the 20th century saw two World Wars and a severe economic depression, and the Club was not immune from the effects of these. But it survived, and the latter part of the century has seen a progressive improvement in the Club’s position, giving it the wonderful facilities we enjoy today. The Club is now living in a golden era, reminiscent of the 1920’s. In 1983, George Hartley, then an established member of the Club, was commissioned by the retiring Captain, Tom Rowney, to write the story of its first seventy years. He was able to do this with vivid personal recollections from Cowan Shankland and Fred Shepherd, both with reminiscences dating back to the 1920’s.

In this time, Richard quotes widely from George’s book, and with considerable help from the internet and other sources, especially from our archivist James Collier, has been able to bring together the historical information available about the Club, as well as adding the story of the past thirty years or so.

The result is a beautifully designed, 356 page book with over 600 illustrations, which Richard and James hope you will enjoy reading.

Price: £35. P&P UK approx. £6.50 (Weight 2.2kg)
Contact : Christine Riggs, St George’s Hill Golf Club, St George’s Hill, Weybridge KT13 0NL
chris@stgeorgeshillgolfclub.co.uk
01932 847758