It is not every day that you discover that your golf course was designed by one of the world’s leading architects, but this has just happened at Keighley Golf Club.

The name W H Fowler had been included in some short notes on the club’s history page, and came as a complete shock to Keighley’s chairman Simon Tabel. 

The information was found in a booklet from 1927 that was discovered in the club’s attic, but the importance had not been understood when some of it was replicated on their website.

A stunned Tabel told the Keighley News: “When I saw Herbert Fowler’s name, I realised immediately that this was hugely significant.

“I’ve been a member here for 33 years and no-one has ever identified the architect responsible for the course until now, so it’s a fantastic discovery.”

The records revealed that Fowler, who by then had designed a number of top UK courses, including Walton Heath, The Berkshire and Bradford, as well as several top tracks in the USA, was engaged by the club in 1922.

He completed a redesign that included five new holes, then returned to the club to explain his changes to an Extraordinary General Meeting.

The £900 cost for the works was subsequently approved, with the newly-refurbished course completed in 1923. 

The course layout is almost identical just over 100 years later, with several design features still obvious.

Tabel said: “Herbert Fowler liked long accurate driving and many of our par fours are well over 400 yards.

“There is also mounding and grass bunkers, which are typical, and the course uses the natural contours of the land.”

The competitors in the Yorkshire Union of Golf Clubs Sixth Division Team Championship will discover the delights of this ‘forgotten Fowler’ in May.

Keighley will also play host to three Bradford Union events this season, as well as Bradford 8-15 and Rabbits Championships.

And a proud Tabel said: “We’ve always known it’s a good course, now we can proudly say that we are we were designed by one of the best.”

Anyone who wants to play at Keighley will get a warm welcome, with tee times available seven days a week during the golf season.