Designed by five-times Open winner James Braid, this, 18-hole, 6,356 yard, par 72 picturesque parkland course is regarded as the finest challenge in North London.

Beautiful Victorian club house.

Easy access to central London.

Visitors welcome both during the week and at weekends.

Finchley enjoys a reputation as one of the most friendly clubs in the area.

New members find that they soon feel as if they have been here for years.

Originally called the Finchley, Golf, Sports and Social Club Ltd. the Club was founded in 1929 by a group of keen golfers who persuaded Finchley Council to purchase land for the club. The land had previously been two estates and a farm.

The main thrust of their application was based on the idea that it would be of greater benefit to the local residents as a Sports and Social Club than yet another suburban housing estate.

What is now the clubhouse was formerly Nether Court a mansion, built in 1883 as the home of a wealthy Victorian businessman Henry Tubbs. The picture below shows what is now the dining room in use at the Tubbs residence.

To design the course they approached one of the greatest course architects of the age, 5 times Open Champion James Braid. Braid laid out a very challenging, 6300-yard, course around the imposing Nether Court mansion.

The front nine holes were laid over the remains of a Victorian 9-hole course that had been founded in 1892 but closed down in 1908 due to lack of patronage.

This picture shows Nether Court sometime before 1900. The size of the trees show how the course has developed over the past 100 years.

By the 1920s the Mansion was falling into sad disrepair. As part of the course construction the Mansion was completely refurbished and six tennis courts were laid down alongside the house.

Course construction started in August 1929 with golf first being played on the 10 holes nearest the Clubhouse from the end of May 1930. Last minute changes to some of the front nine holes delayed the opening of the full course until October 18th 1930.

The picture below shows the 12th hole. You can make out the tee box and then the narrow fairway up to the green in front of the Clubhouse.

The Club, thrived from the beginning with an active membership and many social activities.

At the beginning of the Second World War in 1939, the Ministry of Defence requisitioned the Clubhouse as a barracks for soldiers, many of whom were brought in to work in the local Army workshops. Despite this occupation a few of the remaining members managed to keep the Course alive throughout the war so that afterwards the Club could be re-established, albeit then only as a Golf Club.

Despite many serious privations the Clubhouse and Course were fully reinstated over the next few years with the Club running open competitions, exhibition matches and other events.

By the early 60s, however, the proprietary-run Club had run into such serious financial difficulties that the members decided to take over the running of the Club and, having obtained a new lease from the new Borough of Barnet, made a fresh start.

Since then, as the suburbs have crept around it, the Course has thrived behind developing green woodlands and with its imposing hill top clubhouse overlooking the 18th green, now offers a superb test of golf in open countryside, barely 30 minutes travel from Central London.

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