Sudbury, Suffolk, Golf at Newton Green
GOLF at Sudbury, Suffolk, is served by Newton Green Golf Club, situated beside the A134 three miles east of the historic market town towards Colchester.
The area is on the edge of Constable Country and near the tourist, picture postcard villages of Long Melford, Lavenham and Clare.
The club is a member of the exclusive Association of James Braid Courses. The legendary Scottish course designer put his hand to the club’s original nine holes, and Newton is one of about 50 clubs that make up the association and allow members to exchange visits at advantageous rates.
The club’s carefully prepared 18-hole course offers a unique experience of heath and parkland golf.
A recent award-winning members’ club founded more than a century ago, with the original nine holes set out on the gorse-lined Newton village green, it now has a well-established second nine added in 1991.
Patience and tidy golf is rewarded on the original part of the course, while golfers can open their shoulders on the new section, which has two par fives, including one of over 550 yards. Par for the course is 69.
Although golfers used the nearby Saracen’s Head pub as their headquarters for many years, a new club house was opened in 1981, and it has since been extended on a number of occasions, with full catering, bar and social facilities.
Outside events are catered for, and on the playing side special summer and winter offers are available to visiting golfers, as well as introductory rates for new members, including Davey Membership, which enables people to join who do not have the time for full membership.
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The club has the distinction of having employed the person believed to have been the longest serving club professional in the world, with Arthur Davey having been rewarded for his 60 years service by a special Professional Golfers’ Association award on his retirement in 1979.
Club president Michael Oliver is the third generation of the family to hold the honour. The club’s long and distinguished history was marked by centenary celebrations in 2007 with a wide range of events, including a horse-drawn brake transporting period-costumed golfers from Sudbury to Newton – just as occurred in the early years of the club. The full history of the club can be studied in a special book published for the centenary.
Now into its second century, the club seeks to show a progressive attitude, with a very successful junior section, as well as those for women and seniors. The English Golf Union has recently congratulated the club on its mould-breaking policies devised to attract new members.
Additionally, the club has recently received High Achiever GolfMark status, which recognises high standards in relation to coaching, creating a good playing environment, child protection and offering a high quality of care in the junior ranks.
In 2008 Newton achieved a new high when it won the Suffolk County Ladies’ Golf Association Cranworth Trophy, to go with the Suffolk Hambro Cup which the men won in 1959, 1970 and 1972.
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