Caldy Golf Club

Caldy Manor Estate Limited was formed in 1906 to purchase and develop the 600 acres of heath and farmland known as Caldy Manor. The Company planned to create a pleasant residential village with only one shop and individual building plots of at least one acre. A golf course was deemed to be an attractive amenity for residents and their friends and Jack Morris, the first professional at the nearby Royal Liverpool Golf Club, was paid a fee of one and a half guineas to design the 9 holes. All of the holes were to the West of the railway line with the River Dee as the other main boundary.

The first meeting of the Golf Committee was held on 31 July 1907 and it decided that the club should be a private one and that the original shareholders should be Life Members. Ladies should be permitted to use the course under the usual conditions imposed by local clubs. Sunday play was not permitted for many years and then only after 12.30pm and the clubhouse was not open for refreshments. It was 25 years before the first bar was introduced in 1932 for the sale of intoxicating liquors.

In 1908 a cottage style clubhouse was built near to the present 6th green and is still clearly recognisable as part of the private house now adjacent to the 7th tee. In 1909 the club contributed to the cost of building a new railway station nearby and this was to prove a popular means of transport for members and visitors. It was not until 1925 that the men had the use of a locker room, built as a separate structure to the east of the clubhouse. The ladies had to wait until the early 1950s to get theirs on the opposite side.

By 1920 the Estate Company had agreed to allow the golfers to run their own affairs and o ered to rent the land to them. The following year a private Members club was formed with membership limited to 200 Full Members and 100 Lady Associates. In 1923 the Estate Company offered to sell the 50 acres of land and the clubhouse and this offer was accepted. A further 50 acres on the other side of the railway were bought in 1929 and James Braid was commissioned to design an additional 9 holes. His fee of 10 guineas proved to be money well spent and in 1931 the club became an 18 hole course.

The crumbling cliffs along the River Dee boundary have been a concern for many years and remedial work has been expensive and, hopefully, successful. A further protection for the future has been the astute purchase of extra land which also enabled the clubhouse to be moved to its present site in 1974. A major upgrade in 1998 created a fine clubhouse to match an enjoyable golf course in a superb location.

Although the club celebrated its Centenary in 2007 its Captains are only listed from 1920 when it became a private Members club. Prior to that date it would appear that the office of Captain was not filled annually and only two names are recorded. There is also uncertainty as to when the club joined the Society of Liverpool Golf Captains and the first time that Caldy appears in the Minute Book is 1949. Despite this late entry into the Society, Caldy has made up for lost time having produced four Society Captains, Ken Adams (1961/62), David Evans (1977/78), Jack Ormrod (1991/92) and most recently Philip Bailey (2015/16).

Caldy Golf Club Captains

Year Captain Year Captain Year Captain
1920 A O Lowry 1960 J T Jones 2000 P A Chesham
1921 A O Lowry 1961 J D Neal 2001 H Pearson
1922 H Williamson 1962 G Elston 2002 W F S Neillie
1923 F Brocklehurst 1963 R H Campbell 2003 D J Payne
1924 F Brocklehurst 1964 C B Burrows 2004 R H Carruthers
1925 C A Wallworth 1965 C A Steinthal 2005 B S McCartney
1926 A H Steinthal 1966 A D Sheppley 2006 D A R Reid
1927 R Wilson 1967 N M Quayle 2007 R J Beswick
1928 H K Holden 1968 B F Holden 2008 P W H Stafford
1929 A E Brown 1969 R C M Reid 2009 A J Almond
1930 A E Brown 1970 J R Spencer 2010 I C Free
1931 F B Brown 1971 R P Booth 2011 P R D Humphrey
1932 J M Marshall 1972 B M Frazer 2012 R J Diprose
1933 J L Hagger 1973 G D Scarrow 2013 N Wilson
1934 W Mitchell 1974 A L Speight 2014 M R Pennington
1935 D Mathieson 1975 A R Widdowson 2015 M L Hayman
1936 E G Miller 1976 J L Filer 2016 J A Bickerstaffe
1937 W T Deacon 1977 W H Tavener 2017 D Crinson
1938 J Dyer Simpson 1978 E J Ormrod 2018 J Crosby
1939 J Dyer Simpson 1979 J M Shennan 2019 C S Litherland
1940 J Dyer Simpson 1980 G M Hehir 2020 G A Fair
1941 J Dyer Simpson 1981 G I Crutchley 2021 G A Fair
1942 J Dyer Simpson 1982 J W Bolton 2022 AJ Patterson
1943 J Dyer Simpson 1983 D W Norman 2023 S Barnes
1944 E S Doran 1984 K W Stafford 2024 J L Wood
1945 E S Doran 1985 R G Roberts    
1946 E S Doran 1986 R B Ellison    
1947 E O Morris 1987 J M Mickle    
1948 K Adams 1988 A E Proffit    
1949 P A Goodwin 1989 G Latham    
1950 J W G Purser 1990 J Meecham    
1951 C Hilton Spence 1991 R F Dulson    
1952 G L Grant 1992 M Garrett    
1953 H E Anderson 1993 P J Pugh    
1954 P S Cooper 1994 R Simm    
1955 T D Woods 1995 R W Fairclough    
1956 D W Evans 1996 J J Marchbank    
1957 F Huth Jackson 1997 N H Ellis    
1958 M W Coventry 1998 P M Bailey    
1959 C S Brown 1999 R W Walker