GOLF CLUB’S GREAT HISTORY COMING TO AN END? Haywards Heath Club was officially opened on 27th May 1922 and most will not be aware that the Club’s current lease is due to expire on 31st December 2022 after some 100 years. Here is a fascinating history of the Club up to the present day that requires development of the existing course to secure its long term future at a new location.
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n the years immediately following the First World War, Haywards Heath was little more than a sleepy market town with a population of 5,090. The good rail link to London, however, was starting to attract an influx of new residents City workers who wanted the benefits of living in the countryside. Horace Finch, a local businessman, recognized the need to provide improved leisure facilities. Haywards Heath Golf Club was born when Finch bought Round Wood, some surrounding grazing land and two 18th century barns, which rejoiced in the name of Fatting Hovel. The barns became the Clubhouse and a nine-hole course was laid out with the help of Major I.G.H. Stenborough, a keen amateur golfer. The Club was officially opened on Saturday, 27th May 1922. The annual membership subscription was six guineas (£6.30). The Eighteen-hole Course James Braid (5 times winner of the Open Championship as well as a renowned golf course architect) was called in to advise on the extension of the course. It was decided to abandon the three holes to the south of the Clubhouse. Additional land beyond the ridge beside the present 16th hole was leased from Col. G.H. Stephenson Clarke, owner of the Borde Hill estate. The estate retained hunting and shooting rights on the land! Extra space was obtained by renting a small plot of land near the present 5th green from Lord Denman’s Balcombe estate.
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The original nine hole course layout with the final three holes behind the Clubhouse.
Apart from the horses and carts used to move the earth, all the work was done by hand. The new 18 hole course was opened on 3rd June 1924. James Braid opened the course by playing in a four-ball exhibition match with the famous Harry Varden as his partner, against the Club Pro, George Stephenson, and Herbert Risborough from Littlehampton. The latter pair returned a better-ball score of
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