Golden Valley Country Club

Completely surrounded by housing, with a road and railway track cutting through the property, the old Tom Bendelow course at Golden Valley Country Club does its very best to keep the modern world at bay.

Formed in 1914, Golden Valley’s first course was a 9-hole affair, laid out by the founding members. Three years later, Tom Bendelow was commissioned to improve the original course and in 1919 the Scotsman was called back in to extend the course to 18 holes.

In 1926 A.W. Tillinghast was hired to renovate the course and his remodelling work took three years to complete. Naturally, further course changes have been implemented down the years.

The club states that in 1998 it “embarked on a restoration project to return the course to the original A.W. Tillinghast design.” For some reason, poor old Tom Bendelow’s original efforts have been swept under the carpet, perhaps because little or none of his early work remains.

Incidentally, Ron Forse was the architect in charge of the 1998 restoration.