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Darley Dale Hydro Hotel Golf Course, Derbyshire. (1900s)
The nine-hole course first appeared in the early 1900s.
The St Elphin’s School became established on the site in 1904.
On Monday 26 May 1902 an exhibition match was played to celebrate the opening of the nine hole course. The weather was fine and there was a large crowd gathered for the match between James Braid, the current Open champion at the time, and J H Taylor who had been champion in 1894, 1895 and 1900. As was expected a feast of golf was served up by two of the greatest players of the day. The match was played over 36-holes, after eighteen holes Braid (68) led by two shots. Taylor recovered to play some fine golf over the second 18-holes and with two holes to play had drawn level. The final two holes were halved and the match finished all square. During the game each player had won eight holes the remaining twenty were halved.
The two players were kept busy during the day. In the morning, following the first eighteen holes of the exhibition match, a foursome was played over nine holes between Taylor and Mr E W T Richmond against Mr Jolly (Mansfield) and Braid. A further nine holes of the foursome were played following the completion of the exhibition match. So a long and enjoyable day came to an end with all matches being halved.
The visit of the two champions had created much interest amongst local clubs and amongst those represented were; Mr R L Jones and Mr Jolly (Mansfield), Mr Cockerton (Bakewell), Mr Jackson (Duffield) and Dr Drench (Baslow).
Adverts for the Darley Dale Hydro.
Matlock Visiting List Wednesday 2 January 1895. Image © THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
Ordnance Survey Map showing the Darley Dale Hydro.
O.S. Map Revised 1897 to 1898; © Crown Copyright {year of publication 1900}.