Tehidy Park Golf Club was formed on 11 July 1922, when businessmen from the Camborne–Redruth area leased 75 acres of the former Basset Estate and asked Jim Barnes – the Cornish-born winner of four major championships – to advise on the layout of the first course. The first round was played that October.
Who were the Bassets?
The Basset family held the manor of Tehidy from the mid-twelfth century until the estate was sold in 1916 – roughly seven hundred years. Their mansion, begun in 1734 and rebuilt grandly in the 1860s on the profits of Cornish copper, was among the finest houses in Cornwall. The engineers Trevithick, Woolf, and Hornblower are reputed to have first discussed their ideas at Tehidy. The parkland that surrounded the house is now the public Tehidy Country Park – and the golf course.
Who designed the course?
The original layout, about 5,000 yards when it opened in October 1922, was advised by “Long Jim” Barnes of Lelant – winner of the first US PGA Championship in 1916, the US PGA again in 1919, the US Open in 1921, and The Open in 1925. Shortly after the Second World War the noted architect C. K. Cotton designed improvements that brought the course close to its present length.
How did the club come to own the land?
The club purchased the freehold in 1996. In 1998 an improved watering system was built, incorporating the three lakes that now shape several holes, and from 1999 onwards thousands of young trees were planted – the maturing woodland that defines the course today.
The centenary
The club celebrated its hundredth year in 2022 with a centenary Pro-Am, a week of competitions, and a gala dinner – a century on from the day golf first came to the Basset parkland.