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Limpsfield Chart Golf Club opened in 1889 and is one of the oldest golf clubs in Surrey.
Only Guildford (1886), Reigate and Redhill (1887) and Epsom (1889) are older.
A local newspaper of the time reported that several gentlemen of the neighbourhood, observing the capabilities of the open heath, determined to establish a committee for the purpose of ‘framing a golf course’ and keeping it in order.
This committee employed James Paxton, the professional at Eastbourne, with his son, Peter, to lay out a nine-hole course.
The Lord of the Manor, Granville W G Leveson Gower was approached and gave his permission for the course to be made on the south side of the road to Westerham.
From the beginning the Limpsfield course became highly regarded and was a favourite among the golfing Londoners, and it was regularly reported on in The Times, local newspapers and golf magazines. At the weekends, horse drawn flies were arranged to meet the golfers arriving at Oxted railway station from London.
Within a very short time, membership of the golf club had to be restricted to 100, leaving a waiting list of as many again. The entrance fee was 3 guineas and the annual subscription 1 guinea.
The ‘G’ in the Founder’s name stands for Gresham, a tradition continued by the Leveson Gowers after they inherited from the Gresham family in 1801. The Gresham family had adopted the grasshopper as part of the family crest as early as 1537.
The golf club continues this proud tradition, by using the Grasshopper as its logo.
An ‘Artisan’ club opened at Limpsfield Chart in 1908, subsequently taking the name of the Gresham Artisan Golf Club and maintaining the association further. GAGC was foremost in establishing the Artisan Golf Association at the inaugural meeting in London in 1921
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