Settle & Giggleswick Golf Club

Overview: Settle Golf Club, long known as Settle and Giggleswick, sits beneath Giggleswick Scar and Buckhaw Brow on the edge of the Yorkshire Dales. It is a nine-hole moorland course played as eighteen from alternate tees, with sharp changes of level, dry-stone walls and rock outcrops shaping the holes. The first is a par three framed by mounds and limestone, an abrupt start that sets the tone for the round. The contrast between high tees and lower fairways is a defining part of the round, and the beck crossings reward restraint on the longer holes.

History: The club was formed on 16 October 1895 and opened with an exhibition between a Dr Thomson and Tom Vardon, brother of Harry. The early years were precarious, and during the Second World War member Harold Lambert kept the club alive by paying the annual rent of twenty-five pounds himself; he later served as secretary for 49 years. Over time the course has taken in neighbouring meadows.

Did You Know? Some of those added meadows sit on the bed of an old drained lake, so part of the course is played over ground that was once water at the foot of the limestone scar.