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<\/p>\nThe new captain of Maidenhead Golf Club believes its new home could eventually become \u2018one of the top 100 courses in the country\u2019.<\/p>\n
The first Captain\u2019s Drive In took place at Mill Ride in Ascot on Sunday to mark the start of the club\u2019s year, which saw more than 100 members attend the \u2018incredibly well-supported event\u2019.<\/p>\n
Incoming captain Derek Smith said the process of moving Maidenhead Golf Club to Mill Ride has been like \u2018moving house but over six months\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve had an exceptionally good welcome from the members of Mill Ride on Sunday,\u201d Derek told the Advertiser.<\/p>\n
\u201cCome the end of May, when the membership of the Mill Ride ends, we look forward to inviting members to join Maidenhead.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cox Green resident Derek joined Maidenhead Golf Club in 2006 and served on the board for six years. He said watching the club evolve has been a \u2018satisfying experience\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe spent the best part of 10 years trying to find a new home for the club,\u201d said the 67-year-old.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt the beginning of 2025, neither club knew they had a future.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we hadn\u2019t achieved it, the club would have closed down. We would have lost 130 years of history, so to say I\u2019ve been part of it fills me with great satisfaction and pleasure because people put countless hours into trying to find a new home.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m immensely proud to lead the club forward in the first year, when the memberships are coming together, and to see that process start.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2018Substantial\u2019 investments have been made in improving the Mill Ride golf course, including a redecoration that\u00a0transformed the clubhouse \u2018completely\u2019, in the lead up to Christmas.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis time last year, members wouldn\u2019t have been able to play golf on that course. It\u00a0would have been closed or very waterlogged, and now they\u2019re able to go out and play the sport in person,\u201d said Derek.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe wanted to demonstrate a commitment to improve not just the facilities on the course, but within the clubhouse.<\/p>\n
\u201cA more welcoming environment for members of both clubs; that\u2019s what we set out to achieve. It is chalk and cheese compared to how it used to look.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen the course was originally built, it was designed as a championship golf course, and we believe it will become one of the top 100 courses in the country in due course,\u201d said Derek, describing the imminent overhaul of the\u00a0irrigation system.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have big ambitions for the course. There’s more to do, and the most important \u2018more to do\u2019 is integrating membership. That’s what our future is based on.\u201d<\/p>\n
The first major event on Sunday saw the new men’s and ladies\u2019 captains launch their new annual charity initiative \u2013 supporting Thames Hospice\u2019s Trunks Across the Thames.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Pictured: Club Captain Derek Smith and Ladies\u2019 Captain Susan Peberdy with Miles, the smaller elephant<\/p>\n
The project involves a trail of 30 colourful elephant sculptures\u00a0at iconic landmarks across Slough, Windsor, Ascot and Maidenhead.<\/p>\n
Maidenhead Golf Club is also \u2018incredibly proud\u2019 to sponsor a learning and development programme reaching 30,000 children across 60 schools, supporting those with family members and friends who are suffering from life-threatening illnesses or who have suffered bereavement.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u00a0gives them the tools that will enable the children to understand better and open up, because it’s hard enough for adults to cope with expressing their feelings; for children, it’s even harder. This is a gateway for them to learn to open up,\u201d said Derek.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt will deliver meaningful and tangible results that people can see.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The new captain of Maidenhead Golf Club believes its new home could eventually become \u2018one of the top…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":385982,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[5904,22008,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-385981","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-golf","8":"tag-golf","9":"tag-maidenhead-golf-course","10":"tag-sports","11":"tag-uk","12":"tag-united-kingdom","13":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/385981","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=385981"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/385981\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/385982"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=385981"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=385981"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=385981"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}