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Vicars Cross Golf Club officially opened on the 20th
May 1939 just a few months before the start of World
War II. The club rose from the ashes of Blacon Point Golf
Club which was a pleasant 6,200 yard parkland course and
was requisitioned by the War Office in 1938 after just 3 years
golfing. The land remains under RAF control to this day.
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The concept of Vicars Cross Golf Club was born in
1938 when Blacon Point member William Ellison
Richardson sounded out fellow members and asked for
their support to establish a completely new club in the
Chester area.
Such was the response he eventually purchased Parkers
Farm with some 91 acres of undulating pasture close to
Chester on the A51. Eric Parr who had been the former
Blacon Point Professional moved into the farmhouse for
Christmas 1938 along with his wife Hylda.
By February 1939, Eric started to lay out the first eleven
holes and this task was completed within two weeks, his
only help being a bulldozer and his uncle Cyril Hughes
who was the Professional at Royal Liverpool Golf Club.
The course officially opened just three months later,
although the completion of the last seven holes was not
completed for a further seven years.
Building work started on the clubhouse in 1940 which
was planned to include two further storeys, hence
the robust roof supports in the main lounge area.
Unfortunately, the war halted any further work and the
clubhouse remains to this day a single storey building.
With the outbreak of war, the course was used for
agricultural purposes with some grassland retained
for livestock. Lever Brothers moved into the clubhouse
away from the London blitz, but even they had to give
way to a detachment of 100 American soldiers who
used the main lounge as a dormitory.
When peace was finally declared, the task of turning
the pasture back into a golf course was started,
commencing with the greens. The course was
eventually reopened in March 1947 by club Captain
Arthur Jones.
The course has been developed and improved
extensively since this time, resulting in the tremendous
challenge it is today.
The course has been played by some very notable
names including Alf Padgham (Open Champion
1938), Harry Weetman (Match Play Champion
1951) and Bobby Locke (Open Champion 1949,
1950 and 1952).
Like many other clubs, the golfing boom of the 1960’s
secured much-needed funds which have in turn been
ploughed back into the club. Vicars Cross today has
grown out of the hard work of others in the past. We
should be extremely grateful for their foresight and
their sacrifices.