Golfers tee off in tribute to 200-year-old club

THEY RECREATE FIRST EVER ROUND - WHICH ENDED WITH MEAL OF PHEASANT

THERE were no Titleist balls or carbon shafted clubs, but a round was followed by a meal of pheasant and champagne.

On May 7, 1818, a band of wealthy gentlemen played the first ever game of the Old Manchester Golf Club.

The venue was Kersal Moor on the Salford and Prestwich border.

To mark the club’s 200th anniversary, members teed off again on the 20 acres of moorland for perhaps the most unusual round of golf in England. Some wore the fashion of the early 1900s.

The club, the second oldest in the country, has not had a clubhouse or course since 1960 but its 40-strong members continue to meet and play three times a year on local courses.

John McKenna, chair of the club, said: “When Old Manchester was founded, only the very rich could afford to play.

“They met every Friday, played golf on the Moor on a course which is now partly lost beneath Salford FC’s Moor Lane stadium, and then sat down to a lavish meal.

“They would import champagne from Paris for their meals, which typically consisted of a couple of pheasants, three or four salmon and a gallon of port.

“They also welcomed guests who travelled up to 300 miles to play golf, which was pretty impressive as travel was not easy in those days.

“On one occasion, in 1858, Malcolm Ross was the only member who turned up. He played the course, ate all the food – ‘a large cod, a saddle of mutton, a goose, two brace of partridge and all the puddings a man could desire’ - drank three bottles of port and then recorded the minutes of the meeting.”

Clubs were made of hickory and balls were ‘feathery’ in those early days.

From 1818 to 1882, the club was based at Kersal Moor and by 1825 had a clubhouse on Singleton Road.

Fairways were non-existent on an original five-hole course, often shared with grazing animals. The rough nature of the course was reflected in the scores.

In the 1840s, a score of 92 was enough for one player to win on the ten-hole course - with a 12 at the second, a 13 at the fifth, and a 16 on the final hole.

The highest score ever recorded at Kersal was in 1846 when it took Malcolm Ross 160 strokes to complete