Cagres Club?

[TEPaul]

Does anyone know what this was?

George Crump and his friend Joesph Baker went there on their trip to England and Scotland, France, Austria, Switzerland and Italy in 1910 (the trip which Crump may've been formulating plans for what was to become Pine Valley). From the sound of Baker's description of their trip the Cagres club may've been in Nice.

[John Chilver-Stainer]

Hallo TEPaul

The reference maybe to Cagnes not Cagres. Cagnes is a picturesque old town between Cannes and Nice – it was a « must visit » tourist town of charm and taste often referred to as "Le Montmartre de la Côte d'Azur" as it used to be a hang-out for artists. The Grimaldi’s had a castle there.

The nearest course would have been founded in 1891 by Grand-Duke Michael of Russia, one of the oldest golf courses in France and still exists. It claims to be modelled on the “famous St Andrews golf course in Scotland.”. A Harry Colt design it’s now a parkland golf course with fairways lined with typical mediterranean pines. Did Harry plant the pines or not ?

Another course of the time on the Riviera was Valescure– the course was opened in 1895 and still retains it’s old charm and still has the original timber pavilion style clubhouse, albeit with Golf Channel. The credit for the course goes to Lord Ashcomb. The course is also set among pines.

There was also a golf course in Monaoo - opened in 1911. However I believe it was not on the same site as the present one at Mont Egal .

Maybe Crump got some inspiration from the majestic pines on the French Riviera?

[John Chilver-Stainer]

The course of Harry Colt’s I was referring to is the « Old Course »  Cannes –Mandelieu.

[TEPaul]

John:

Thank you very much. That's a lot of very fine information. I've no doubt Baker meant Cagnes Club rather than Cagres, as his letter of remembrance of all this was written in 1950 when he was very old and forty years after the fact and it had a ton of typos in it.

The type of itinerary of Crump and Baker in 1910 was relatively typical for people like them in those days. The idea was to go to GB and play as much golf as possible and get good and healthy (Baker mentions Crump lost 2 and 1 to the great John Ball at Hoylake and that he also played 54 holes in one day in Dover).

Then the idea was to go to the Continent to see the sights and the antiquities and top if all off with about two days in Paris where you stay drunk and get laid as much as possible within the space of about 48 hours. Then you high-tail it to Cherbourg, get on the ship for the next five or so days of rest hoping like hell you didn't contract the clap.

[John Chilver-Stainer]

Hallo TEPaul

Well maybe the club he’s referring to has nothing to do with golf but a euphemisim for a « place to meet women of the night » or maybe « club » was a typo for the clap. In fact mayb the cagres club could have been a typo for « sacré bleu » a french curse referring to varicose veins ! Have fun researching.