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1902 was an extraordinary year for The Royal Liverpool Golf Club. It began with the hosting of that first men’s international match between England and Scotland.
Then we held the Amateur Championship, followed by the Open Championship - all in the one year! But it did not end there - there was another ‘first’ for Hoylake in 1902 in that the rubber-cored golf ball was first used in a major championship in the Amateur of that year. Both the winner of the Amateur, Charles Hutchings (a Royal Liverpool member), and the runner-up, Sidney Fry, used the new ball. Sandy Herd too, in winning the Open that same year, used the Haskell ball, which he hated as a ‘foreign’ invention! Hard wooden balls were used until the early 17th century. Then in
1618 the ‘feathery’ ball was introduced, remaining the standard ball for more than two centuries until, in 1848, the Rev. Robert Adams Paterson invented the gutta-percha ball (the ‘guttie’) which began to replace the ‘feathery’. Initially gutties had a smooth surface which limited the distance they travelled, but after 1880 they were produced with patterns on their surface. The most notable pattern was the ‘Bramble’, a mould for which is in the display cabinet on the upper landing. Then, in 1899, Coburn Haskell of Cleveland, Ohio invented the
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The Liverpool Hunt Club held meetings at Hoylake from 1846 until 1876. Both flat racing and steeplechasing events were held over the course which was just over a
mile in length with railings on both sides. When in1869 golf started to be played over the same land it became clear that racing and golf did not combine too well - golfers finding their balls lying in hoof marks, and posts and rails also proving awkward hazards. Prints of the racing that took place and the original saddling bell are
all sited in the Entrance Hall by the front door. The bell is cast with the words ‘L’pool Hunt Club 1847’ and it was rung as a signal for jockeys to mount their horses. It is because of the
history of the horse racing that the 1st Hole is called ‘Course’ and the 18th ‘Stand’. Further reminders are the Liver Bird on the Clubhouse roof which was originally on the old racecourse grandstand, and the pineapples on the posts around the putting green which used to stand on the posts of the Winners Enclosure.
rubber-cored ball. This consisted of a solid rubber core, wrapped around with a rubber thread and a thin outer shell. It very rapidly took over from the ‘guttie’ as its effectiveness had been clearly demonstrated at Hoylake in 1902. Even an average player gained an extra 20 yards from the tee.
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In 1925 the newly formed English Golf Union requested permission to hold its first event at Hoylake - The English Amateur Championship.
The Club agreed to that request and also presented the trophy
which is a replica of the Warwick Vase and which is still the Championship trophy. The event is the national amateur match play championship of England. The equivalent stroke play championship is The Brabazon Trophy. As in the first Amateur Championship in 1885 a Hoylake player
proved to be the winner - Mr T. Froes Ellison. He won the event again the following year when it was played at Walton Heath and he played for England against Scotland four times. Hoylake has hosted this championship three more times in
1957, 1982 and 1997. The replica of the trophy won by Mr T. Froes Ellison is displayed in the cabinet in the main Hall.
ROYAL LIVERPOOL GOLF CLUB 2013 MAGAZINE
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