100 Not Out - Our Look At Five Golf Clubs Who Celebrated Their Centenary In 2024

Let's raise a glass to these five UK&I golf clubs who reached the impressive milestone of 100 years of existence in 2024

Knole Park - Hole 15
Looking back down the 15th at Knole Park, a full-length par 5 that runs along a secluded valley before rising to a bunkerless green
(Image credit: Kevin Murray)
Rob Smith
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Centenary Clubs 2024

The 2020s is a decade in which a good number of golf clubs throughout the UK and Ireland are celebrating their 100th birthdays. Here are just five of those who are sure to have enjoyed their champagne in 2024.

Knole Park

Knole Park - Hole 3

The lovely par-4 third at Knole Park heads down into a valley and then up to the green

(Image credit: Kevin Murray)

With a small but remarkably high quality portfolio, JF Abercromby designed this beautiful course near Sevenoaks in Kent which opened for play in November, 1924. It is blessed with a spacious and endlessly varied routing through a large, still-active, gently undulating deer park. Next door is palatial Knole House, and despite some lengthening half a century ago, the course is pretty much as it was.

Knole Park - Hole 8

The beautiful par-3 eighth at Knole Park drops down the slope alongside some old fishponds

(Image credit: Kevin Murray)

Two of the prettiest of its six short holes are the 5th which is played over a valley up to a perfectly-sited green, and the downhill 8th which is flanked by ponds and bracken. The extremely enjoyable and nonetheless challenging course at Knole Park is very much one of a kind.

Teignmouth

Teignmouth - Holes 2, 4 and 5

Looking down on the second, fourth and fifth greens at Teignmouth

(Image credit: Teignmouth Golf Club)

South of Exeter on the Devon coast and blessed with a gloriously elevated setting up at 800 feet, this centenarian has panoramic views out to sea, over the town and estuary, and inland towards Dartmoor. It was laid out by Alister MacKenzie a decade before he went on to design Augusta National, and with the exception of the 13th, it is still largely his handiwork.

Teignmouth - Hole 12

The twelfth green at Teignmouth has a 2-tier MacKenzie green

(Image credit: Teignmouth Golf Club)

His most obvious legacy are his trademark two-tiered greens surrounded by humps and bumps. On a beautiful coastline with some lovely courses, this is a delightful place for golf with masses of variety including, as at Knole Park, six diverse and testing short holes.

Bury St Edmunds

Bury St Edmund's - Hole 18

The approach to the par-5 closing hole at Bury St Edmunds

(Image credit: Bury St Edmunds Golf Club)

The friendly and popular club at Bury St Edmunds is home to two courses; an interesting and challenging full-length layout as well as a 9-holer that is great value for money. The championship course was designed by the double-Major winner and first British Ryder Cup team captain, Ted Ray.

Bury St Edmund's - Hole 18

Looking down over the final green with the well-appointed clubhouse beyond

(Image credit: Bury St Edmunds Golf Club)

Despite the appealing and unusual par 5-3-5 start, the very playable main course has two well balanced nines with a pair of 3s and 5s on each. The holes on the southern side of the course are well separated by mature woodland and there is much to enjoy here as at many of the other best golf courses in Suffolk.

Kilkeel

Kilkeel - Hole 11 - Club

The par-3 eleventh hole at Kilkeel

(Image credit: Kilkeel Golf Club)

Peacefully located around a 30-minute drive south along the coast and inland from Royal County Down, Kilkeel is a charming club that flies somewhat under the radar but has much to offer the travelling golfer. For its first 70 years the members enjoyed a 9-hole course before the creative flair of Eddie Hackett saw its expansion to a full 18 in the 1990s.

Kilkeel - Hole 18 - RS

The closing hole at Kilkeel, the longest on the course, is overlooked by the clubhouse

(Image credit: Rob Smith)

Punctuated by ditches, it runs over a large tract of parkland with plenty of mature specimen trees. There are three par 5s, two of which bookend the course, and just three short holes, the best of which is the 11th.

Tyrrells Wood

Tyrrells Wood - Hole 13

The approach to the tricky dogleg right par-4 thirteenth at Tyrrells Wood

(Image credit: Rob Smith)

The attractive and undulating parkland design at Tyrrells Wood is close to the M25, but happily the intervening hills offer complete peace and seclusion. James Braid designed the course just before the club was formed, and the 1st and 10th both run straight downhill from the spacious and well appointed listed building that serves as the clubhouse.

Tyrrells Wood - Hole 18 - RS

Looking back from beyond the final green

(Image credit: Rob Smith)

Harry Colt made some later changes, and the holes are well separated by magnificent trees that place a premium on straight driving. There are just three short holes, the pick of which is the fine 16th, and a pair of enjoyable par 5s that run in opposite directions.

Rob Smith
Rob Smith
Contributing Editor

Rob has been playing golf for over 45 years and been a contributing editor for Golf Monthly since 2012. He specialises in course reviews and travel, and has played approaching 1,250 courses in almost 50 countries. In 2021, he played all 21 courses in East Lothian in 13 days. Last year, his tally was 78, exactly half of them for the first time. One of Rob's primary roles is helping to prepare the Top 100 Courses of the UK&I, of which he has played all, as well as the Next 100 where he is missing two in Scotland and two in Ireland. He has been a member of Tandridge for over 30 years where his handicap hovers around 15. You can contact him at r.smith896@btinternet.com.

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