In August, 1869 Captain Arthur Walker, on behalf of a number of others, issued a notice to probable members about the forming of a golf club.

Notice convening
first meeting

Its is believed that the course was designed and created by Mungo Park, a yougish man at the time, who was to become a famous golf professional and the Club's first professional.

The first Annual Meeting of the Club is recorded as taking place in October of the same year, according to the notice which is reproduced:

The first competition for the Percy Medal was played in the Autumn of 1869 on the 19th of October, resulting in a win for Captain Walker, the secretary, with a score of 81.
The notice for this Autumn meeting also mentions a silver Challenge Cross, presented by a member of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews, who was Mr. Charles Walker.

The first winner of this medal was the Revd. A. Medd with a score of 119 strokes for 18 holes. There is no record, however, to say when this medal round was played. It may have been a second day's competition at the October meeting or played for later in the year.

Further challenge prizes were given shortly after this. In 1870 Mr. A.H. Browne presented the Browne Cup to be followed by the Cadogan Medal from Mr. C.W. Cadogan. These were to be played for at the Spring meeting in 1870, starting with the Browne Cup which Mr. C.E. Riddell won with a score of 92. This particular meeting was celebrated in the evening with a fireworks display at which all the villagers were present. The following Spring the Cadogan Medal was played for as the first prize when Mr. Alexander Strath won it with a score of 79, and the Browne Cup became the second prize. The disparity between all these winning scratch scores must be of some academic interest! From what appears later in the records, it is presumed that members arranged matches between themselves on whatever terms they chose. Twice a year however, there were special gatherings for competitions - the Spring and Autumn meetings. While on the subject of the earlier trophies, the Wilson Snuff Box appeared in 1893 with the Tate Prize in 1906. From that date until the early thirties no other prizes were given for annual competition. All of these are still played for today.

No evidence of club activities can be found for the years 1870 through to 1881; the local press in those days did not appear to report on golf, presumably because Alnmouth was something of a 'one-off in this area, being the only golf club between Liverpool and East Lothian. However, the Newcastle Daily Journal did report on the 1881 Spring Meeting when the Cadogan Medal and Browne Cup had been played for as first and second scratch prizes. The day was also described as beautiful and sunny, with lunch taken at the Schooner Inn.
In 1881 the Newcastle Journal also reported that the Aln-mouth Ladies had requested a 'horseshoe round' on the course. There was obviously much activity in those times; one assumes that this had been the case from the beginning. Added to this, the existence of Alnmouth Working Men's Golf Club came to light in records of 1879.

More of 1881, for in September a professional tournament was organised by the Club together with Mungo Park the pro-fessional/ greenkeeper. The Club provided prize money of £27, with £12 for the winner, £7, £5, £2, and £1 for the runners up. M. Ferguson won the event with a score of 160 for four rounds of nine holes. The Park family name dominated the players list:
M. Park (Alnmouth) - fourth with 172
W. Park Jr. (Ryton) - equal with 172
F. Park (Musselburgh) - 187
Later, in 1887 there is reference to ano'ther professional tournament and doubtless there were many others. An annual publication, "The Golfing Annual and Club Directory" for 1887/88.

The following year's Annual, 1888/89, indicates that "the Entrance Fee had been increased to £2 and the membership to around 170",
It seems that Golf Balls were played for as prizes for the first time at Alnmouth, along with Cups and Medals according to the 1889/90 Edition; also that the lowest recorded score here for one round (nine holes) was 35 by J.E. Laidlay in the previous year. He was Amateur Champion in 1889 and 1891.
The same directory tells us that "There is an excellent Club House erected at a cost of nearly £800, containing club room with club lockers, lavatory and dressing room, entrance hall, workshop, and professional's house, all under one roof', Until this was built the Schooner Inn (now Hotel) was used for meetings and it is on record that four prominent members had 'tall lockers' in the dining room. They were Captain Gandy, Mr. T. Tate, Mr. C.H. Cadogan and Rev. J.J.M. Perry. No mention has been made so far of the fact that the land on which the Club House was built in 1884 had been given by Mr. J.W. Pease, father of Mr. J. Beaumont Pease (later Lord Wardington) about whom much is written later. The land was originally the end of his "Nether Grange" garden, now known as Pease's Garden.
So, Alnmouth had now taken its place among the earliest courses and Clubs in England, sharing fourth place in this respect with Hoylake (Royal Liverpool), their predecessors being Blackheath -1608; Westward Ho (Royal North Devon) in 1864; and Royal Wimbledon in 1865.
By comparison, in Scotland golf at St. Andrews goes back at least to 1754, while the Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers has in its possession at Muirfield, an original code drawn up for the playing of their game in 1744.
Moreover, Alnmouth played its part as one of the sponsors of the Amateur Championship. It was in 1885 that the Royal Liverpool Club (Hoylake) actually introduced the competition and Alnmouth with 23 other clubs controlled this event until the year 1919.

From the book on the history of Alnmouth Golf Club called Golf at Alnmouth written by D.P. Walton published in 1992 is available. Please contact the Secretarys office for details.