From the Domesday Book to the Green Jacket.

The estate that is now Rotherham Golf Club has been continuously occupied since before the Norman Conquest. The story of the club is one chapter of a much longer story of the Thrybergh estate — and that context is what makes a round here different from a round at a younger course.

Before the club

Thrybergh Park appears in the Domesday Book of 1086. The estate was held by the Percys from 1066, then passed to the Reresby family who held it for over four centuries across sixteen generations. Two chestnut trees standing near the present eighteenth tee were planted by the Reresby family after the 1588 victory over the Spanish Armada — they grow there still.

The current clubhouse, Thrybergh Hall, is a neo-Gothic mansion built in 1811. It was financed by the Fullerton family selling estate timber to the Royal Navy. The club’s coat of arms reflects this lineage: a turreted tower for the clubhouse, a red cockerel for an alleged cockfight wager, and a golden galleon for the timber contribution to the British fleet.

The first nine

In 1903 the Open Champion Sandy Herd laid out nine holes on the estate. Within three years the membership had grown enough to demand a full course; in 1906 James Braid — five-time Open Champion and arguably the greatest course architect of his era — extended the layout to the eighteen holes that are still played today.

The modern era

The course has been refined steadily through the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. The most recent significant change is Jonathan Gaunt’s bunker remodel, completed using China Clay sand to sharpen visual definition and improve playability.

Danny Willett

The defining modern chapter of the club’s story belongs to Danny Willett. Member since 2005. Club Champion within two years. Yorkshire Amateur Champion, English Amateur Champion, World No. 1 amateur, Walker Cup player. On Sunday 10 April 2016 he won the Masters at Augusta National — the first English Masters champion since Nick Faldo. He returns to Rotherham between Tour commitments; his Walker Cup bag from Royal County Down is on display in the clubhouse. See the Willett vs Walker page for the annual charity day he co-hosts with broadcaster Dan Walker.