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History of Brent Valley Golf Club

​Key Dates:

  • 1800s: The land on which Brent Valley was later to stand is owned by the Rector G.H. Glasse.

  • 1900s: Course is designed by JH Taylor

  • 1909: Brent Valley Golf Club founded by Albert Toley.

  • 1910: First annual club dinner on April 5 at the Trocodero, Hanwell. Membership is over 300.

  • 1911: Listed in Nisbet’s Golf Year Book. Membership is 500.

  • 1933: BVGC wins the Middlesex CGU Coronation Bowl in the second year it was played.

  • 1938: Ealing Council acquires course and BVGC signs lease.

  • 1939-45: 8th and 9th holes ploughed to aid war effort.

  • 1966: The old clubhouse, the “Dublin House” demolished by the council and the present one built and the course is remodeled to the present format by Peter Allis.

  • 1970: BVGC wins the Bourne-Vanneck Cup

  • 1981: BVGC wins the Ellis Cup

  • 1988: BVGC celebrates 50 years of its lease with Ealing Council.

  • 2008: BVGC celebrates 70 years of the course being owned by Ealing Council.

  • 2009: BVGC celebrates 100 years in existence.

Brent Valley in 1800

There definitely wasn’t a golf club or course at Brent Valley in 1800. But the map below shows what the area looked like then. And the aerial shot also below is an aerial view of the course now.

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  • High Lane, which we cross to get from the 3rd to the 4th holes and from the 15th to the 16th holes, can be clearly seen in both maps, though in 1800 it was called Hay Lane.

  • The original path of the River Brent, in front of the 7th green, before it was diverted in the 1960s, can also be seen.

  • Also marked on the 1800 map is The Grove, which later became the clubhouse and was the home to the club’s founder, Albert Toley.

  • A rectory is marked on the 1800 map but St Mary’s, the church that we see on the 14th hole today, was only opened in 1848. An earlier medieval church which stood on the same site was pulled down in 1781.

  • The first field on the course used to be called Glebeland and was divided up into various fields, the dividing lines of which can still be seen today, some being the ditches that our drives on the 2nd, 17th and 18th fall into.

  • To the east of the 1st hole, Grove Avenue used to be the continuation of Cuckoo Lane and just to the east of the 1st green seems to have been the site of a battle called Bloody Croft in AD 752.

 

So in addition to a few golf balls sliced into this area from the first tee there may also be some human remains. It is also unlikely that the parakeets that share our course with us today were much in evidence in 1800.

Source: British History Online

Brent Valley in the 30s

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The old clubhouse, “Dublin House”, was previously called “The Grove”, and was the home of founder and first president of Brent Valley Golf Club, Albert Toley. It was located to the rear of the current day practice putting area and is believed to have been built as early as 1800. As the photo below shows, it was a grand three-story man- sion covered in ivy with some very grand fireplaces and chimneys. Its Club Rooms were open from 9am to 10:30pm and meals were served in the dining room between 11am and 9pm. Previously home to the family of the club’s founder, Albert Toley, his wife lived there for many years after he died in 1925.

Brent Valley in the 50s

The course was very different in the 50s. It is believed that sometime in the 60s or 70s Peter Allis re- designed the course to today’s layout.

 

Today’s 9th and 10th did not exist and there were 2 holes in the near field that we do not have today. There were three par 5 holes when today there are none. The course was over 304 yards longer in total and its par was 70 compared with today’s 67.

 

As well as being longer, the course had a lot more large elm trees to negotiate, particularly in the first field. The front and back nines were very different in lengths and pars: the front nine, which today measures 2,847 yards was shorter back then at 2,565 yards (with a par of 32) while the back nine was a lot longer: 3,185 yards (38 par) versus today’s 2,599.

 

We think the course was re-modelled to today’s layout at the same time as the old clubhouse was demolished in 1966.

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