The club was founded in 1910, reputedly in a hunting  field, and the early list of members reads like an  extract from the Cheshire Hunt register.  It was the venue for the first Cheshire County Championship in 1921, an event which has been held at the Club on another eight occasions most recently in 2004 and to be held again in 2010.  In 1967 Delamere Forest was one of the two qualifying courses for the Open Championship when it was held at Hoylake, the home of the Royal Liverpool Golf Club. At that time, Maurice Bembridge posted the Professional Course Record of 63 which exists to this day. Despite the word 'Forest' in its title, Delamere is a natural heath-land course.  Certainly, trees are part of the strategy on several holes, but, in general, Delamere Forest provides a glorious backdrop to the panoramic views from the higher parts of the course. The course was designed 

by W H Fowler (who also designed the Old Course at Walton Heath) who made the most of the vigorously undulating land that nature provided.  Fowler had no qualms about asking the golfer to undertake a number of blind drives, carrying some considerable distances and enjoying the healthy exercise of hill climbing.  

The 15th hole above is a dog-leg left with a blind drive over a hill and an out of bounds in the Forest on the left.  The raised plateau green is situated in a delightful dell with a bell to be rung to tell those behind that the coast is clear. Both the ninth and the eighteenth holes dog leg around a central wood and call for tee shots  over  the

corner of the wood which is out of bounds before returning to the Clubhouse.

Since the greens are not watered unless it is absolutely necessary, the course presents a tactical challenge in the summer which requires the tee shots to be positioned to give the correct angle of approach to the greens if good scores are to be achieved.  

The copy of the course plan  was drawn by Mr N.G.Kaye and presented to the club by Mr B H Thompson.

Click the image to enlarge the view.

Overall, there is much variety in hole lengths and every kind of shot will be called for, but the opening five holes really stretch the average player. There are many holes with character, for example the fifth, with a long uphill carry to the green with a pond to the left and below the green and the need to hold the shot up to that side.  The sixth is a short hole from an elevated tee to a small green set at an angle to the tee with enticing views over the pond below the green to the left, with woods and fields in all directions. The eighth requires a long straight tee shot to find a narrow fairway to give a long iron shot to a steeply sloping green. This hole was reached from the medal tee in the 1970's by one of our past members, Mr George Johnson. This feat is now possible quite regularly with new equipment as is driving the 13th, 15th and 9th with holes like the 17th and 10th nearly reachable. 

This article was last reviewed on 21st August 2008