Between the Wars

Throughout all the early years the lease of the course was a constant source of concern to the members and committee at Rochford Hundred Golf Club. They appeared to live under the continual threat that the lease would not be renewed and when it was it was only for short periods. So it was in 1921 that the club's furure was still in the balance with Mr Tabor being minuted as "using his best endeavours to renew the present lease."

Future or not, by this time the club had certainly gained recognition amongst the golfing community and had been included in the list of those chosen to compete for a cup presented by Sir Henry Worth Thornton the then General Manager of The Great Eastern Railway. The trophy was the prize for a matchplay competition between golf clubs serviced by the Great Eastern Railway. As can be seen from the club's Roll of Honour in 1921 Rochford Hundred won the cup at its first attempt and has won it a further three times since.

It was good news all the way for the club in 1923. First the members were told that tenant farmer Bentall had agreed to surrender his tenure of those extra 18½ acres when "the crops were off." And then the best news of all that Rochford hundred would be granted a lease for 21 years. In addition Mr Tabor agreed to finance the building of an extension to the clubhouse, with the club paying just 5s (25p) interest a year on the first £1,500 and 6s (30p) on a further £500. Needless to say the club gratefully accepted his generous gesture.

Anxious to take full advantage of their good fortune, this same year the club enlisted the services of James Braid the country's outstanding course designer, professional golfer and teacher who redesigned the course for an estimated £2,379. The course he designed is largely the course we play today save for a few minor tee changes and the addition of extra trees and bunkering to protect the course from 21 century golf technology. Within a few years the course was graded by the English Golf Union at a standard scratch score of 74.

By 1925 the game of golf was becoming increasingly popular in the area and the committee made the decision to appoint a paid Secretary at £200 a year. To underline the growth in the game's popularity in May 1926 six members from Rochford Hundred acted as stewards for the opening exhibition match at the newly created Belfairs Golf Club. Rochford also donated a trophy which is still contested today. The day out at Belfairs must have come as a sweet relief for "the Rochford six"....from sheep! Oh yes these sweet little woolly animals were still grazing across the course and getting in the way of golfing matters back at home base. Rochford members were still protesting about them in 1927 when a committee meeting was again told that the Bentalls held the grazing rights under the terms of the lease and that they refused to consider the removal of the sheep "at any price."

Then in October 1929 came the great news that Mr Bentall had given notice that from March 1930 he would terminate his grazing rights on the course. One can only imagine the joyous celebrations that went on in the clubhouse on receipt of that news. But the joy was short lived as by May 1930 it became known that an adjacent farm had been let to Mr Hurst a Yorkshire farmer, together with........you've guessed....grazing rights to part of the golf course. The club made a number of attempts to buy out the grazing rights but were unsuccessful, so the sheep grazed on, and on, and on....and if that was bad news for the members it was a major blow for the greenkeeper who had been instructed that the course should be constantly cleared of sheep droppings - especially on Sunday mornings.

Topical trivia of the day was a local by-law  instructing that "All golf balls lost, or abandoned on the course, or on land adjacent thereto, be the property of the club and must be handed over to the professional at his shop." The edict went on to stress in the sternest of tones that "any person failing to do so will be prosecuted." In those days it was the custom for all members to mark their golf balls clearly with their initials and any retrieved could be repurchased from the club professional for the sum of 3d on proof of identification.

Club staff in 1933 numbered 18 of which about nine were green staff with at least two employed for a fair part of their working week clearing up sheep droppings. With very little by way of mechanisation in the greenkeeper's shed much of the course work had to be done manually and at the hight of the Summer it was agreed that extra labour should be drawn from the "caddie pool" to be employed on the course clearing up sheep dung; each boy not to be paid more than 2s (10p) for two hours work. At the beginning of the 1930s the clubhouse had no piped water, electricity, or gas there were however several wells including one under the kitchen with a pump near the staircase tower. Cooking was done with oil under burners and also an oven by the fireplace and there was also only one W.C. 

In 1937 James Tabor III, who had served as club president for 43 years, died and in 1938 his son Robert Tabor was unanimously elected to the office of president as the prospect of another war loomed ominously.