The course was established in 1922, in the grounds of an ancient English estate. Some of the majestic trees still remain and the remains of the ha-ha can still be clearly distinguished on the eighteenth hole.

The course was officially opened in the Spring of 1922 by the staging of a 36-hole exhibition match between George Duncan, Open Champion of 1920, and the legendary Harry Vardon, a member of the great triumvirate of golf and six times Open champion.

In 1924, Vardon, for thirty years the greatest name in golf, returned to the course with George Duncan and Abe Mitchell to play a 36-hole four-ball match with the club's first professional, Len Holland. It is interesting to note that golf’s greatest practitioners in that era charged between £4 and £8 for their services .

George Duncan played each of the last two rounds of his Open victory in less than two and a half hours, both rounds were played on the same day.

Early in the 1930s, a youthful Jim Berridge, a professional who served the club for over forty years gave several lessons to a polite, rather un co-ordinated Japanese gentleman. A little over a decade later, his pupil, namely General Tojo, was directing the Japanese war effort. In 1946, he was tried and hanged by the American Army in Tokyo for 'Crimes against peace and responsibility for atrocities'.

For several years after World War 2, the only source of water for the course was from a water cart, which had to be filled from the tap at the clubhouse. The cart was then drawn by horses wearing special leather shoes to each green in turn .The water was pumped out and watered by hand. Full watering of the course required two weeks to complete!

Courtesy Jim Gregson
Member