The History of Beamish Park Golf Club

Set in the grounds of a former deer park the club celebrated its centenary in 2006. Beamish Hall, the ancestral home of the Shafto family, can be seen from many parts of the course and from 1950 to 1955 provided the clubhouse and from 1952 to 1955 there were two holes in the grounds of the Hall. Due to the second world war the club was dissolved in September 1941 and the fixtures and fittings were sold off. Although some golf was played in 1942 the land was taken over and much of it was ploughed up for the cultivation of food and crops. In February 1950 the club was reformed and the initial meeting was held at the local Shepherd and Shepherdess Inn. At that time most of the land was still under tillage so play was restricted to 7 or 8 holes with the remainder coming in later. In 1955 the National Coal Board took all of the Hall for its Regional HQ and the club was forced to move to a wooden clubhouse near the Beamish Burn. In 1963 Henry Cotton was invited to design an 18-hole course following the acquisition of a further 65 acres of land. The course was further changed in 1979 when the par 3 1st hole was taken out of play and following the acquisition of land behind the Beamish Open Air Museum a new par 3 13th hole was constructed behind the Home Farm area of the museum. The layout created there is still the one used today.