Brampton Golf Club

History

Opened Founded 1909

Founded

1909

Designed by

James Braid

Terrain

Heathland and moorland on sand

Founded in 1909, on high ground above Talkin Tarn east of the town, with views across the fells to the Lake District and north into Scotland. Heathland and moorland on sand, which drains well enough to play all year. Golf World called it the jewel of Cumbria.

The course was laid out by James Braid, born at Earlsferry in Fife in 1870 and one of the Great Triumvirate with Harry Vardon and J.H. Taylor. He won the Open five times, in 1901, 1905, 1906, 1908 and 1910, the first man to do it, along with four British PGA match play titles and the French Open of 1910. In 1912 he scaled back his tournament golf to be club professional at Walton Heath and turned to design, where he was prolific enough that a great many British clubs can claim him. The club's own history tells the detail golfers like: his long and short game were always excellent, and his putting only came right when he gave up a wooden putter for a metal-headed one.

What he left at Brampton divides people, which is a recommendation of a sort. Reviewers single out the eighth, a huge downhill fairway falling away before it rises to a table-top green, the doglegs at ten and eleven, the downhill fifteenth to a sunken green, and a cruel uphill par five at seventeen with three hundred yards of climb from the tee. One reviewer called it a course that promises more than it achieves; another called it a roller coaster and everything anyone who likes adventurous golf could want.

The clubhouse is the part that concerns this site. The Braid Restaurant and Bar serves seven days, and the club says members and non-members are equally welcome, so you can eat and drink there without a handicap or a membership card.