INTRODUCTION
All of us who have played golf, whether as recent converts or as long-term addicts, will relate to (but perhaps not agree with) the quotation often attributed to Mark Twain that golf is ‘a good walk spoiled.’ (The quote was actually coined by American novelist Harry Leon Wilson in 1904). I guess that we all love the game, each in our own way – and for our own reasons. But how do we correlate that love of the game with the fact that – at the end of many rounds – we walk off the course with such a sense of frustration? Once again, we have failed to play to our expectations! It’s a question that many of us have tried to answer but failed miserably to do so. What is clear, though, is that golf is more than just the act of hitting a little white ball with a selection of clubs to complete a round in the fewest number of strokes. What brings us back round after round is the combination of the game; the company of the people that we play with; the staggeringly beautiful surroundings of many of the courses and – perhaps
most importantly – the memory of that great drive from the tee, the perfect iron shot to the green or the long putt holed. The Badgemore estate was a gift from William the Conqueror to Henry de Ferrers almost 1,000 years ago. It started life as a golf club in 1972 and has existed for a mere 50 of those years, built on what at that time was a stud farm belonging to the McAlpine family. Over the years, Badgemore Park has developed from a young course carved out of South Oxfordshire farmland to a mature parkland club that attracts extremely positive praise from members and visitors alike. The atmosphere at the club is always friendly and welcoming. In recent years Badgemore has moved with (and sometimes ahead) of the times in establishing itself as an equal-opportunities club, epitomised by the appointment of a lady as its sixth club president in 2017. Now 50 years since its foundation, Badgemore Park has firmly established itself on the golfing map. This book looks back over those first 50 years.
2 / INTRODUCTION
Made with FlippingBook Digital Publishing Software