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Seaton Carew Golf Club |
Mon February 06 2012
Golf has been played at Seaton Carew for around a hundred and forty years, although the first written records of the Club itself date from 1874. Its existence is due mainly to one man, Dr. Duncan McQuaig (pictured), a surgeon from Edinburgh who moved down to Teesside shortly after qualifying at Edinburgh University.
The young doctor was no mean golfer, winning the Gold Medal at St Andrews on two occasions, in 1867 and 1869. However, he was dismayed to find there was nowhere throughout County Durham or North Yorkshire to exercise his talent, and so he set about finding a suitable place to play. As luck would have it he came across a strip of pasture land, known locally as The Snooks, where local people grazed their livestock. It was close to the mouth of the River Tees, running between the north shore and Seaton Carew village, and was owned by Lord Eldon. With his permission, and after some resistance from the stint holders whose sheep and cattle roamed the area, Dr. McQuaig and a few like-minded colleagues were able to rent a piece of land on which they established the Durham & Yorkshire Golf Club.
For about twenty years that original fourteen-hole layout fulfilled its purpose and attracted some of the best golfers of the day, including the great triumvirate of Harry Vardon, J H Taylor and James Braid. Following a remark made by Bernard Darwin in his book “Golf Courses of Great Britain” that Seaton was “grand golfing country but there was not quite enough of it”, the Club's members decided to extend the layout to the more usual 18 holes. In the mid 1920's circumstances forced the Club to call upon the services of Dr. Alister MacKenzie, who went on to create such masterpieces as Augusta and Cypress Point. He advised them to abandon some of the inland holes and replace them with new holes on sandier soil towards the coast, and it's that 1925 layout which forms the basis of today's Old Course. As more clubs came into being around that time, in North Yorkshire and County Durham, it was decided the old title was no longer apt and the name of Seaton Carew Golf Club was adopted.
Other famous names who've visited the Club over the years include HRH Edward, Prince of Wales, who played at Seaton Carew in 1930, and later that decade Walter Hagen and Joe Kirkwood stopped off during their tour of Europe. In more recent times former Open Champion Sir Nick Faldo and current European Tour players Justin Rose and Graeme Storm have competed over Seaton's links.
In the 1970's the construction of the Ekofisk pipeline provided the Club with a financial windfall and four new holes were added, under the direction of another great golf architect Frank Pennink. They became known as the Brabazon loop and now provide the Club with twenty two holes offering a choice of five different courses, although only the Old, Brabazon and Micklem are regularly played.
Royal Seaton Carew Golf Club?
Well it might just have been a possibility, because on the 2nd of July 1930 the club did receive Royal patronage in the form of His Royal Highness, Prince Edward, the Prince of Wales. Just over five years before his coronation as King Edward VIII and subsequent abdication, the Prince played a round of golf at Seaton links.
The MacKenzie Connection
The golf course at Seaton Carew was not originally designed by Dr Alister MacKenzie, but much of what's in play today is based on his re-design of 1925.
Walter Hagen's visit to Seaton Carew
It is a splendid course. Personally I am very fond of seaside links. They are natural and provide very interesting and varied types of holes. The Seaton links are very well groomed, the greens lovely, and the fairways and lies good. It is not an easy course. It provides a good test of golf and is one on which I should like to play quite often.
James Kay - a golfing legend.
James Kay was the longest serving and probably the most successful professional golfer attached to Seaton Carew Golf Club. During his 41 year service he played against some of the outstanding players of the era including the great triumvirate.
Seaton Carew Golf Club, Tees Road, Hartlepool, TS25 1DE
Telephone: 01429 266 249 / Pro Shop: 01429 890 660 - Email us