Developments

As the club grew, over the years it progressively acquired the land on which it sat.   Often enterprising club officials initiated these negotiations without a mandate from the Directors and lacking a clear funding strategy.  Whatever internal battles ensued, there is no doubt that current members are indebted to these risk-taking visionaries who by the 60s had ensured that the club wholly owned the course and much of its surrounding ground.

Much of Williamson's original layout remains, but successive Management Committees have striven to improve the course, both in terms of quality and playing difficulty.  Holes have been replaced or reconfigured, particularly in the middle section of the course.   One characteristic of the course was the profusion of stone field walls over which play took place.  A picture from the Derbyshire Ladies' Championship in 1937 clearly shows two walls straddling the first fairway.  Many tons of stone have since been removed and recycled into tee foundations, but some remain – reduced in height and covered now in grass.  The third, thirteenth and sixteenth feature these hazards.  They seem to possess magnetic properties, irrespective of the club selected to avoid them.

The Cuckoostone is a feature of the eleventh.  With the attendant hawthorn, it provides the club with its logo.  It may have appeared in the Doomsday Book and have links with other monoliths in the region.  Legends apart, it is a fact that the cuckoo returns every year, its unmistakable call heralding a new golf season.

Over the years, the club has continued to invest - sprinklers for dry weather, drainage for the wet and the leading technology of the day.  Our early greens staff would not recognise the range of mechanised equipment now housed in the sheds behind the fourth green.  Today's staff recognise the magnificent raw material that Mother Nature provides for them and make the most of it.  Equally, the club has regularly commissioned and acted upon external agronomic expertise in its quest to develop and maintain the playing quality that modern golf demands.

Whilst retaining its core wooden structure for many a year, the clubhouse too saw developments.  Various extensions over the years added a pro shop, steward accommodation, locker rooms and other facilities.   The extension of 1973 stretched the original building's capabilities to its limits and quickly demonstrated that it was nearing its life's end.  Phase 2 was completed in 1986, providing us with the facilities we take for granted today.  His Grace, The Duke of Devonshire performed the official opening ceremony on 9 May 1987, echoing the connection established by his grandfather, Victor Cavendish. The colour photograph on the right shows His Grace unveiling the plaque that commemorates the event.

Later the snooker room was created.  The 80's also saw the addition of a bowling green, with its own mini-pavilion.