It\u2019s a bittersweet moment in history for Maidenhead Golf Club as it prepares to move to Mill Ride in Ascot after a winding, years-long saga.<\/p>\n
The club must move off its current Maidenhead site, based on land owned by RBWM, to make room for 1,500 houses and flats, which the council voted for in February.<\/a><\/p>\n Maidenhead Golf Club (MGC) has known that it must move for many years, and that it would receive about \u00a316million from the council for surrendering its lease early.<\/p>\n It has signed the surrender agreement<\/a>, meaning it is locked in and must move somewhere else \u2013 but has struggled for a very long time to find alternative site.<\/p>\n The club looked at several locations including in Fifield, Cookham and Flackwell Heath. All these plans fell through.<\/p>\n But then Mill Ride Golf Club in Ascot came up for sale unexpectedly; the wife of a jailed Azeri banker was forced to forfeit it.<\/a><\/p>\n The club was confident it could get Mill Ride \u2013 and has since confirmed that it has signed the purchase agreements.<\/p>\n MGC members will continue to play at Shoppenhangers Road until the end of this year. The Mill Ride and MGC teams will work together on management and oversight.<\/p>\n Both clubs will \u2018initially operate in parallel\u2019 and will be no immediate changes in personnel, said club chairman Dave Baker in a letter to members.<\/p>\n The club is looking to improve both the irrigation and drainage on the site, and it is working towards developing a schedule of competitions and events for 2026.<\/p>\n As for whether it will still be called Maidenhead Golf Club, Mr Baker said members can \u2018be assured that the name Maidenhead will continue to feature\u2019 in any new name.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are now entering a new phase in our history and we hope you will all join us on this journey,\u201d Mr Baker wrote.<\/p>\n While club members are broadly in favour of moving to Mill Ride, there remains considerable ill-feeling about the whole situation.<\/p>\n Long time member, 91-year-old Tony Stevens<\/a>, said he is still \u2018very disappointed\u2019 by the fact that MGC has to move at all.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m going to Mill Ride because there\u2019s no alternative,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re over a barrel.<\/p>\n \u201c[Maidenhead Golf Course] really is a nice spot. To think they’re going to put houses there is disgusting really.\u201d<\/p>\n