About the Club
Parkstone was founded by Lord Wimborne in 1909 as the Parkstone and Canford Cliffs Golf Links. The course, set in a wilderness of trees and heather, was designed by Willie Park Junior, twice Open Champion in the 1880’s. Parkstone continued in its original form as a privately owned club until 1927. In fulfilment of earlier suspicions Lord Wimborne was considering selling the land for building development but agreed to give the members first refusal. Six local businessmen formed a company to do this and to run Parkstone as a proprietary club but were unable to raise the total amount of £2000. T W Simpson, whose house at Compton Acres overlooked the course saved the day with a low interest loan and in doing so preserved his views over the course to Poole Harbour. Ironically, subsequently Simpson’s property fell victim to development and became the well known decorative gardens.
The Club continued in this form for 32 years until 1960 when, after many years of deliberation and uncertainty, the shareholders finally agreed to sell and, equally importantly the members agreed to buy the Club. The price was a very generous £12000 but even so the members were unable to raise this amount and were only able to do so through a loan on generous terms from Hamilton Stutt for approximately half the amount.
And so Parkstone has continued for the last forty five years. Perhaps the most noticeable and important change in this period was the decision that ladies should become full members in 1996 with the eminent good sense of this being emphasised by the appointment of Miss Jeanne Bisgood, one of Parkstone’s outstanding golfers, as President from 2001 to 2004, her father having held the position from 1949 to 1969.
