It’s important to start this article by saying that I really don’t like the term ‘hidden gem’, but a) there really isn’t anything better – fellow golf course enthusiasts Rob Smith, Jezz Ellwood and I debated this at length a few years ago, so trust us in this – and b) when a great course is nestled away in the glorious unspoilt Peak District and it’s not that widely known about, then it’s a fairly accurate description!
Anyway, I digress. I’ve had Cavendish (acknowledged as one of the very best courses in Derbyshire) on my hit list for over 10 years thanks to the relentless championing of it by a good friend and golf course architect Jonathan Gaunt.
The 4th green at Cavendish Golf Club
(Image credit: Future)
Jonathan first played Cavendish in the late 1990s, drawn to the course because of its Alister MacKenzie credentials. He’d learned to play golf as a youngster on other courses MacKenzie had designed in Yorkshire including Alwoodley, Bingley St Ives, Cobble Hall (Leeds) GC, Fulford, Headingley, Harrogate GC, Ilkley and Moortown.
A few years later he joined the club. In 2014, Jonathan’s company was asked to prepare a masterplan for course improvements. The latest version (of which there have been a number of iterations) was finalised in 2019, and it is this plan that the Centenary Project is based upon.
The project is scheduled to be completed in 2025 – the year of the Club’s centenary. The work involves specialist advice on drainage works, bunker remodelling and tee reconstruction. The bunker remodelling work is undertaken by a specialist shaper – Martin Crompton – who has worked on numerous other MacKenzie courses, under Gaunt’s supervision, with the essential support of the greenkeeping team, headed by Warwick Manning.
The bunker remodelling work aims to deliver a sympathetic update, respectful of MacKenzie’s design style, aiming towards future-proofing the course for members and visitors for another 100 years. Gaunt and Manning have been able to reference some black and white photographs taken soon after the course opened for play in 1927 to help guide their work.
Photograph of the original bunkering around the 11th green at Cavendish Golf Club
(Image credit: Cavendish GC)
The work will take an already brilliant course to the next level and mark a new exciting chapter in a long and interesting story that has seen the club’s fortunes fluctuate wildly in its near 100-year history.
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