Greater Manchester, England
Blackley Golf Club is an 18-hole mature parkland course founded in 1907 and located on Victoria Avenue East in Blackley, Greater Manchester, close to Junction 18 of the M60. The club originally operated as a nine-hole layout before acquiring additional land at Clough Top Farm in 1922, which allowed expansion to 18 holes. The extended 18-hole course, incorporating many of the water hazards from the original layout, was planned and laid out by the professional of Manchester Golf Club, with Steve Marnoch and T.G. Renouf credited as the architects of the 1922 redesign. The course was subsequently relocated to its present site in 1937, when the first nine holes opened in October of that year on a layout measuring 5,785 yards. The club adopted the Blackley Lion as its emblem in 1914 along with its colours of azure blue and gold. The course today plays to a par of 71 over approximately 6,159 yards.
The layout is a relatively flat parkland course characterised by tight, tree-lined fairways and multiple water hazards that run through much of the layout, demanding accurate rather than powerful play. The water features are a recurring challenge and a defining characteristic of the course, appearing on a significant number of holes and requiring careful course management. During the Second World War portions of the course — including the eleventh fairway and the fifteenth and sixteenth holes — were ploughed up and used for crop production, a common wartime requisition of golf club land.
The club has no significant professional tournament history, though in 1953 Wales and Ryder Cup captain Dai Rees played an exhibition match at Blackley alongside the club's then professional George Chalk. The club operates as a member-owned facility and has a long tradition of charitable fundraising that dates back to the wartime years.
