154 - Course Diaries: Royal North Devon or Westward Ho! w/ historian Robert Fowler

Sam & Bruce re-live some of the fun from Devon a few weeks ago where they played in the Silver medal (the oldest medal in English Golf) and The Kashmir Cup. 2 parts of a legendary week of golf played at Westward Ho! annually. This is a 2-part podcast with Sam & Bruce talking about the course specifically and trying to figure out why the links split opinion so heavily, as well as our interview with club historian Robert Fowler who wrote the history book for Royal North Devon as part of their 150th anniversary year. Robbie is great fun, and someone who has been around RND for pretty much all of his life. Amazing to think he actually shook hand with JH Taylor back in the late 1950's! Royal North Devon is the oldest golf club in England that still occupies the same land it was built on and known affectionately as 'the cradle of English golf'. Many greats have been members here over its 158 year history including the Horace Hutchinson (the earliest golf writer in Britain) and John Henry Taylor. For more on these figures head over to our fairly recent podcast with Stephen Proctor who talks about the characters during the great boom period in English golf as part of his book - The Long Golden Afternoon. Many thanks to the club for hosting a wonderful week of golf! Special shout out to Mike Harris & Dan Davies, as well as Blair, Hugo & Dale for the company along the way! Send us a message if you liked the show If you've enjoyed this episode, please leave us a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify ! You can follow us along below @cookiejargolf Instagram / Facebook / Twitter / YouTube / Website