Girvan at play
When Girvan carried its clubs to the shore
Key dates
- 1751
Fortnightly golf matches are recorded at Girvan.
- 1872
Charlie Hunter visits to lay out holes for the club.
- 17 January 1891
A new nine-hole course opens.
- 1903
Girvan Burgh Golf Club opens new links beside the shore.
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- 1911
An eighteen-hole extension opens across the river.
- 1926
The council agrees to buy the course.
In February 1751, golfers were meeting in Girvan every fortnight. Archibald Kennedy described their “grand Golph Matches at Girvan” in a letter to Sir Thomas Kennedy, naming local lairds, a minister and Doctor Bannerman among the company. Sir John judged the fair play and the drinking. Sore heads and great thirst were familiar complaints the following day.[1]
The letter catches an established pastime in full swing. Long before the town laid out numbered holes, golf was bringing people together in Girvan.
A club revived
By 1872, Girvan had a golf club. Charlie Hunter, the Prestwick professional, visited that spring to inspect the ground and lay out holes. The club later fell quiet, then revived towards the end of 1890.[2]
On 17 January 1891, solicitor William Murray struck the opening ball on a new nine-hole course, deputising for the absent captain, David Andrews. Willie Fernie of Troon had laid out the holes the previous December. By May, the golfing press reported seventy members and plenty of play. The young putting greens still needed care, but summer visitors were expected to add to the activity.[2][3]
Fernie returned for an exhibition against John Merry of Troon on 14 May. A crowd gathered to watch them play in a stiff northerly wind. It was an early demonstration of what a course close to the town could offer: a game for members, a spectacle for onlookers and another attraction for visitors.[3]
Losing the links, finding another course
The club depended on leased ground at Girvan Mains. By 1901, building plots and villas were taking its place. Members secured playing rights at Turnberry from May, while the old Girvan course remained in use until a farewell game in November. The move gave the club somewhere to play, but Turnberry was an awkward journey for winter golf.[2]
Girvan Burgh Golf Club formed in 1903 and secured about forty acres from J. C. Kennedy of Dunure, including ground from the old course. David Kinnell of Prestwick St Nicholas laid out nine holes. At the opening that spring, Mrs J. C. Kennedy struck the first ball and the town observed a holiday.[4]
Four greens occupied sandy shore turf; the others lay on former pasture, separated by a wall. Golf had returned within easy reach of the town and station.[4]
Across the river
In June 1911, Lady Marjorie Dalrymple Hamilton opened the eighteen-hole extension. The enlarged course crossed the River Girvan twice. A putting and pitching course added another way to play.[4]
War brought competing demands. In 1915, the club offered much of its second nine for military use. Food production followed: a wartime dispute over rented ground ended in 1918 with the club allowed to cultivate the field itself. In 1926, the town council agreed to purchase the course for £3,000.[4]
The sea brought its own maintenance bill. In April 1936, high seas had damaged about 300 yards of the course boundary. Workmen drove large piles in front of the embankment, and the council hastened repairs as the holiday season approached.[5]
Today’s course combines seaside links and inland parkland. Its operator credits James Braid with the design.[6] The longer history belongs to several generations of players and course makers: the eighteenth-century company, the revived Victorian club, the Burgh golfers and the town council. Together they made golf part of Girvan’s shore and its life as a holiday town.
Sources
[1] David Hamilton, David B. Smith, David McClure and Robert Close, “The Girvan Clique: Ayrshire golf in 1751”, Ayrshire Notes 36 (2008), p.4; archival reference p.12. Published transcription of Archibald Kennedy’s letter, 15 February 1751, NRS GD25/9/40.
[2] Forgotten Greens: Girvan Golf Course, reproducing dated reports including Ayrshire Advertiser, 9 May 1872; Glasgow Herald, 19 January 1891; and Scotsman, 29 April, 4 and 11 November 1901.
[3] Golf, 22 May 1891, p.176, “Girvan Golf Club”. Citation and indexed article text.
[4] Forgotten Greens: Girvan Burgh Golf Course, reproducing Ayrshire Advertiser reports of 29 January, 19 February and 7 May 1903; 4 May and 22 June 1911; and later wartime and purchase reports.
[5] Scotsman, 17 April 1936, p.10, “Erosion at Girvan Golf Course”.
[6] Girvan Golf Course: official operator, checked 16 October 2026.
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