Old Colony Lady Golfers Arrive at Sydney: Headed by the Newfoundland ladies champion, members of the Old Colony contingent of lady golfers who will compete in the Maritime tourney ...arrived in the city this morning. - (Evening Telegram, 25 August 1931)
The Newfoundland Golf Club was officially opened in 1896, with its 9-hole course situated in Buckmaster’s Field, St. John’s. The membership was very exclusive, restricted to twenty-five men and twenty-five women with a screened waiting list. In 1908, the Club constructed an 18-hole course and club house, the Bally Haly Golf and Country Club, on a estate once owned by the British officer Lieutenant Colonel William Haly. The expanded facilities permitted a greater membership, although the Club remained a private club.
The local golfers continued mixed foursomes on the green, but gradually organized separate men and women’s divisions. In 1901, the women organized their own executive within the Club. The first trophy awarded to an accomplished female golfer was the Montgomerie Cup, in 1902. Between WWI and WWII, the women’s association was affiliated with the Canadian Ladies’ Golf Union, until wartime travel restrictions prevented participation in mainland events.
Golf was restricted to the St. John’s course until the early 1920s. In central Newfoundland, the Grand Falls Golf Club was established in 1924. Although the Club was a public organization, its membership was restricted to men. Women were not admitted until 1937, and were restricted to playing only on Mondays and Fridays.
The first West Coast facility was the Terra Nova Golf Club, built in Petries Crossing (now part of Corner Brook) in the 1930s. The Petries Club was replaced by the Blomidon Country Club in the late 1940s.
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