Maidenhead Golf Club hosts first major event at new Ascot home

The new captain of Maidenhead Golf Club believes its new home could eventually become ‘one of the top 100 courses in the country’.

The first Captain’s Drive In took place at Mill Ride in Ascot on Sunday to mark the start of the club’s year, which saw more than 100 members attend the ‘incredibly well-supported event’.

Incoming captain Derek Smith said the process of moving Maidenhead Golf Club to Mill Ride has been like ‘moving house but over six months’.

“We’ve had an exceptionally good welcome from the members of Mill Ride on Sunday,” Derek told the Advertiser.

“Come the end of May, when the membership of the Mill Ride ends, we look forward to inviting members to join Maidenhead.”

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 ‘satisfying experience’.

“We spent the best part of 10 years trying to find a new home for the club,” said the 67-year-old.

“At the beginning of 2025, neither club knew they had a future.

“If we hadn’t achieved it, the club would have closed down. We would have lost 130 years of history, so to say I’ve been part of it fills me with great satisfaction and pleasure because people put countless hours into trying to find a new home.

“I’m immensely proud to lead the club forward in the first year, when the memberships are coming together, and to see that process start.”

‘Substantial’ investments have been made in improving the Mill Ride golf course, including a redecoration that transformed the clubhouse ‘completely’, in the lead up to Christmas.

“This time last year, members wouldn’t have been able to play golf on that course. It would have been closed or very waterlogged, and now they’re able to go out and play the sport in person,” said Derek.

“We wanted to demonstrate a commitment to improve not just the facilities on the course, but within the clubhouse.

“A more welcoming environment for members of both clubs; that’s what we set out to achieve. It is chalk and cheese compared to how it used to look.”

“When 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,” said Derek, describing the imminent overhaul of the irrigation system.

“We have big ambitions for the course. There's more to do, and the most important ‘more to do’ is integrating membership. That's what our future is based on.”

The first major event on Sunday saw the new men's and ladies’ captains launch their new annual charity initiative – supporting Thames Hospice’s Trunks Across the Thames.

Pictured: Club Captain Derek Smith and Ladies’ Captain Susan Peberdy with Miles, the smaller elephant

The project involves a trail of 30 colourful elephant sculptures at iconic landmarks across Slough, Windsor, Ascot and Maidenhead.

Maidenhead Golf Club is also ‘incredibly proud’ 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.

“It gives 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,” said Derek.

“It will deliver meaningful and tangible results that people can see.”