Tom, I have had access to a number of clubs' archives in the course of research for books. From the point of view of gaining information about the financial and administrational history these have usually been all-revealing. Not so about architecture, and in that respect Alwoodley's was most frustrating with almost nothing about the building of MacKenzie's earliest course. There is no answer to the questions of exactly what Colt or Fowler's input may or may not have been, or whether the 11th green was moved. A sketch map of about 1910 by MacKenzie shows the state of play of which bunkers had been constructed and those which were still planned. Whether these were built or not is not recorded. Today's bunkering is similar, but significantly altered in detail.
Stockport's archives were fuller and there was considerable praise for the work of Peter Barrie, the club's first professional, who constructed the course to Sandy Herd's initial design. There are no working plans. They had an excellent archive of photographs from all periods of the club's existence.
Hartlepool's archives were incomplete and it was impossible for me to deduce exactly the routing of the (many) various courses that have existed on the site. For the record, their centenary was in 2006 and the book I submitted was rejected by the new committee (not those who commissioned me). I have had several meetings with them since, but they cannot tell me how they want the book changed. It remains work in progress!
Ringway lost most of their material in a fire, but they have done plenty of research and my job is simply to turn ther research into a readable whole. Happily there are sufficient photos to illustrate the book.
Despite a devastating fire, Mere has enough material (most contained in a 50th anniversary book) to create a small 75th anniversary book. Braid's 1934/5 course is little altered - he made one change shortly before his death - apart from moving the 18th green to a waterside location in the 1980s (said to be at Faldo's suggestion).
Delamere Forest has an enormous archive of material, full records of everthing that has gone on. There are no Fowler plans, but there are in-house maps from which the routings of the various courses can be accurately recreated. One of their members, Bill Briggs, has done a magnificent job in extracting all the relevant material. Again my job is to turn it into a readable book.
Sandy Lodge has a wonderful archive of visual material, but it doesn't have complete minute books. One of their members, David Hall, is doing fantastic research in digging out material in local libraries, the period golfing press and so on. We've also been lucky to have interviewed several key figures before they died! Former professional, John Jacobs, is, happily, still with us and has given us a most informative interview.
One thing I have learned, however, is not to trust anybody's memory! Nor, for that matter, is everything truthfully recorded. On asking why one club professional, who seemed to be well liked and good at his job, left in a hurry, I was told that he left because the Hon Sec was having an affair with his wife! One powerful Hon Sec only recorded those things of which he approved! There is no mention, for instance, of £150,000 being spent on a new building for the green staff and their equipment as recetly as the late 1990s at one club. At another it is quite clear that someone put his hand in his pocket and made up the deficit for the year (the club would clearly have gone under) for most of the 1920s and 30s.
As most minutes until quite recently were written by hand you can have the most terrible time trying to decipher some of it, spellings are often inconsistent, and there are many frustrations of the kind:
Greens Committee: The Captain's suggestion was discussed and accepted.
But there is no mention of what the Captain's suggestion was!