Stourbridge Golf Club is a well established and vibrant club with a membership to match. The club began its journey in 1892, expanding from the original 9 holes laid out on a racecourse, to 18 holes in 1909. The course itself is a mixture of parkland (around the clubhouse) and heathland on the lower part of the course, providing a diverse and interesting mix for members and visitors alike.
Throughout the years the course has undergone many changes, but none as dramatic, or as devastating as the wild fire that swept through the course on Thursday 13th August 2026.
At 1.30pm, the Chairman of the golf club was about to tee off on the 4th hole, when he noticed a large plume of smoke rising from a field next to the course. He stated afterwards that he could see that the whole horizon was blanketed in smoke and that fire was spreading along the tinder dry grass and hedges, as far as the eye could see, coming straight towards our golf course.
At this point, he made contact with the club office and asked them to raise the alarm by calling the Fire Service. Other players on the course had also noticed the fire coming towards them and several had decided to make their way back towards the clubhouse. The Chairman and his party also abandoned their round and made their way to safety away from the fire that had now reached our boundary.
The boundary proved no match for the flames that had been pushed by a strong, gusting wind and within minutes the fire was onto the course and practice ground, engulfing the greenkeepers sheds as it passed.
The Fire Service responded very promptly, but found themselves struggling to contain the blaze which was now spreading across multiple locations, pushed along by the swirling wind. The staff and members watched as the flames began to jump from copse to copse, completely destroying trees and hedges, whilst almost miraculously passing over the tees, greens and fairways.
By 3.47pm the course and the club had been evacuated and the whole course seemed to be ablaze, with most onlookers believing that nothing could be saved, such was its ferocity. By this time, we were also painfully aware that the fire had not been limited to our course, but had also ravaged a large number of nearby residential properties, forcing a widespread and large-scale evacuation of the surrounding area.
19 houses were fully ablaze by this point and a further 18 partially ablaze. This was a situation that nobody could or had ever imagined.
It took the West Midlands Fire Service operating alongside all of the emergency services and council five days to fully extinguish the fires which just kept cropping up within the trees. Teams from neighbouring forces supported and not a single life was lost. Truly amazing work.
As the smoke cleared and the ash settled, we were able to start to take stock of the damage and the full realisation of what lay ahead of us became clear. Our priority was clearly the community that we serve and the safety and welfare of our members and staff, some of which had either totally or partially lost their houses. The clubhouse was inside the cordon and as such, had been closed by the emergency services in the midst of the fire fighting phase of the incident.
As soon as we were able, our clubhouse facilities were opened to the community and the emergency services as a rest centre and a meeting point, for residents to seek advice and help from the local authority repatriation teams. At this point, the incident control point was also moved to the golf club with all of the emergency services and the emergency repair teams from various firms and agencies being coordinated from there.
The Board of Directors of the golf club held several emergency meetings in the early days, with some members joining via digital channels if unable to attend in person. There is no question that everyone at the heart of the operating board thought that this was over. The club was gone forever, even if that thought was just for a moment. However, we had taken the long hard route to redesign our operating model just a few years ago and now, suddenly, that was so important. In fact I would go as far as to say it was pivotal in making sensible, well informed decisions, without emotion, every step of the way.
Sensible, data led, logical, well informed conversations that turn into actions and are delivered upon. So, my plea to every golf club is that you should take the learnings, just as we will. We have a long way to go with our recovery but we will succeed, partly because of our governance, but mainly because of our membership. Make sure you have the structure to cut through and make decisions quickly, with the right people around the table. Absolutely have a process that protects people.
During the incident we were powerless initially, with no water pumps, no alarms, nothing. Other than a designed process that evacuated the course and premises. Nobody was hurt.
We designed a set of values that put great communication at the heart of what we do. The membership has trust in the board and when the unexpected happens, that is critical. Our regular forums drive an understanding and a level of trust that is unprecedented. So, our early next steps, are really only just cutting through but;
Our main boundary along one side of the course has completely gone – a huge issue in itself, as we have to ensure the safety of our neighbours and the public, but we also have to prevent loss and damage to our course and club. We will have to take out and remove around 1000 dead or fire damaged trees – quickly. We will have to over-seed everywhere in the affected areas of the course, quickly and the mess and smell is horrendous. Irrigation and power has been significantly impacted and damaged.
The wider side of the business, such as the club house and the bar has been impacted hugely. Our teams have been amazing. Particularly, our Head Greenkeeper, Tom Barnett, who is now treating this catastrophic event as a fresh start, with the attitude that we can come back stronger because of that fateful day. (He’s on the left on the photo at the bottom with a local tree surgeon, surveying the task in hand.)
The reaction to our plight and the offers of help from the wider golf community, has blown us
away completely. Over 50 golf clubs as far away as Truro and as close as Hagley, have offered us love, practical support, courtesy tee times for our members and even the use of their machines or staff. It has, at times, been quite overwhelming.
Rest assured, we will repay all of that love once we are through this. Our membership, throughout this trial, has been absolutely superb. They have rallied and pulled together, all working in the same direction to get the club back to health. With daily working parties (in the safe areas of the course), allowing the greens team to concentrate on getting the surfaces back to health.
We are opening six holes as the contractors get to work. This will be a long road to normality but we will get through it and come out stronger as a club because of it. We will share the learnings along the way.
Once again. Thank you – to all of you for your support and thoughts. Written on behalf of everybody at the club by SGC Marketing Director, Chris Darby.
