The story behind Glasgow's forgotten golf course

Harry Vardon came to Glasgow in 1909 to play an exhibition 36-hole match against JH Taylor – at the celebrated Drumchapel Golf Course.

“Readers might not know Drumchapel had a golf course,” smiles Eric Flack, Drumchapel resident, chairperson of the tennis club and fount of knowledge about the local area.

“It opened in 1905, a year after Drumchapel Tennis Club, and it was dug up in March 1917 – the tennis club is still going strong, however….”

A picture of Harry’s famous appearance hangs proudly in the tennis clubhouse, which will soon celebrate its 100th birthday.

It sits alongside an old postcard of the courts taken in 1914. (The date on the postcard is wrong, says Eric, helpfully.) Harry was a legend of the game, born in 1870, in Jersey and he won the Open Championship a record six times. He also won the 1900 US Open.

The clubhouse is full of memories for Eric, who has been coming here since 1950. He is now club president and has lots of facts about the place at his fingertips.

“There used to a bowling club, but people got fed up of bowling and decided they wanted tennis instead,” he says.

The golf course was dug up in 1917 to provide land for food production, and the club house was converted into two private homes on Garscadden Road.

In fact, the first tennis courts were laid out in 1898 on what was known as the ‘Tennis Square’ in Drumchapel.

As Eric explains, the first proper recorded matches, which were friendlies, were played in 1904. The club was a victim of its own success, he laughs, as the courts were used so much, they wore out quickly.

“Both grass courts were replaced by blaes courts in 1920, and in 1928 the club acquired a third court on a separate site backing on to the railway,” he says.

A fourth court was added in 1949, on a separate site. Prior to 1924 the club used a tent for changing purposes – it was erected in April and dismantled in September. A clubhouse was finally built in 1924. Before 1939 ladies’ matches were played in the afternoons, while men played in the evenings.

In the 1920s, two Drumchapel members - the Inglis brothers - started Broomhill Tennis Club in the west end.

The club went from strength to strength, and in the 1950s more and more members joined as Drumchapel and Blairdardie expanded.

Two fires, in 1966 and 1989, destroyed the clubhouse, but each time, thanks to the determination of members, it was rebuilt.

According to the club’s website: “The blaes courts, after 68 years, were showing their age and giving rise to the what became known as the ‘drummy bounce’, often at a crucial point in a league match and not always in Drumchapel’s favour.”

Fundraising in February 1992 led to the installation of a £34k surface and club members erected new fencing themselves. Later that year, Donald Dewar, the local MP, formally opened the new courts.

Support has come from several quarters, including The Robertson Trust, Sportscotland and Glasgow Life, but at the heart of it all have been the dedicated committee members, players and supporters.

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Eric is proud of courts’ long history and the successes which have played out there over the years. He is also proud of his own connection to Drumchapel Tennis Club.

“My grandfather was involved at the beginning, then my father – I have grown up around the place, and so has my family,” he smiles.

“My grandson coached here, before moving away for university, so my family connections are strong.”

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