“Every master was once a beginner. Every pro was once an amateur.”
Those two short sentences on the door of the teaching studio encapsulate what Bearsted Golf Club is all about.
Everyone matters. Everyone’s equal.
It’s an inclusive club, owned by its members, who make all the decisions, such as spending £500,000 on drainage to make play possible all year round.
It was a delight to spend the morning at the club, something of a hidden gem as you drive through the village.
You could easily miss the entrance as you travel along Ware Street.
Yet just a matter of yards off the main road, past some allotments, is a 200-acre golf course set in magnificent surroundings.
It was a gloomy day unfortunately but you can imagine what it must be like when the sun is shining on Bearsted Golf Club.
I was struck by the friendliness of everyone at the 129-year-old club, with tea followed by a session with club pro Richard Fox and a tour of the course with captain Karl Howarth.
I can vouch the food, too, with chef Fernando, a Sri Lankan who has lived in the UK for 25 years, a culinary genius.
He cooked the most amazing lunch to finish the morning.
Fox, originally from the Midlands, moved south 30 years ago.
He’s been based at Bearsted for eight seasons, running the pro shop and providing coaching through his Foxy’s Golf business.
I’ve barely picked up a golf club in my life but that wasn’t a problem.
“A complete novice is fantastic because they’re basically a clear canvas,” he said. “They come with no faults.
“You don’t need anything, just an open mind and a smile is the way to start. A flat pair of shoes and we’re away. We’ll prove the equipment.
“There’s no such thing as a silly question.
“The only silly question is the question you don’t ask.”
Fox loves his job and his passion for both golf and Bearsted as a club shines through.
“It’s a really inclusive club,” he says. “Everybody helps each other.
“For a long time, golf had an exclusion side to it.
“It was seen as an old man’s game but things have changed dramatically.
“We were lucky to have the greatest sportsman on the planet playing our game in Tiger Woods.
“He raised the bar and got new people playing.
“We’re moving the junior section to bigger numbers and we’re also trying to create a bigger ladies section. We’re doing a push on that.
“Anybody who wants to get into the game of golf, look us up – Foxy’s Golf.
“Give me a ring in the pro shop or pop in. We’ve always got time to speak and get rid of all those fears people have to start with.
“It’s ‘I don’t know if I’m allowed up there, it’s a private members’ club’. No. Very much the opposite.
“We’re trying to make it golf for everybody and we’re trying to grow the game.
“The more people I can get playing it, and get the enjoyment I’ve had, fantastic.
“We’ve got a fantastic facility, the course is brilliant and we’re moving forward as a club.
“Golf might not be for everybody. Some people might take to it and love it and some might not but what used to put people off is no longer there.
“It’s an open policy where everyone plays. It’s a great way to escape from daily life.
“You’ve got four hours playing golf in beautiful surroundings, hopefully taking you away from the headache of daily life.
“If you get the chance, have a go. It might be the game for you.”
Club captain Howarth awaits with the golf buggy and we go for a drive around the course.
Originally from Greater Manchester, he joined Bearsted in 2008.
He’s well travelled, with work taking him to Poland for four years and the Netherlands for eight years.
But there’s nowhere he’d rather be than the fairways of Bearsted.
“In the summer the view is absolutely spectacular,” he says.
“It’s my favourite course, without a doubt.
“When I was growing up we lived next to a golf course and as a kid, I used to go on the course looking for balls so I could sell them back to the golfers and get pocket money.
“One day we found a golf club in the rough, that someone had left behind.
“We had no idea whose it was so we started to use that club and hit the balls we’d found, so I got into golf completely by accident.
“My father bought me half a set of clubs and I went to see some like Richard who gave me lessons.
“At 18 I gave up completely, when other things took over, but I got back into it.
“I’ve always been a sportsman. As a kid I played football, rugby, cricket, basketball and tennis but there’s something about golf.
“When you’re stood on the tee and you hit a ball out of the middle of the club and you see it rising and disappearing over the horizon, it’s the best feeling in the world.
“To do that all the time you need to be a Rory McIlroy or a Scottie Scheffler but as amateurs we try our best.
“The other thing I love is you finish your game, you might have three colleagues with you and you come back and sit out on the balcony with a beer and the sun on your face and everybody is in such a happy mood.
“It’s such a healthy sport, too.
“There’s no pressure on your joints and you walk about five miles round a golf course, uphill and downhill.”
The Bearsted Bear, commissioned to mark the club’s 125th anniversary in 2020, is a talking point for visitors to the course, which also features a number of memorial benches and trees.
The 200-acre course is maintained by a dedicated six-strong team of greenkeepers and looks stunning.
They use machinery worth thousands of pounds to keep the course in pristine condition while in recent years, the membership’s decision to invest heavily in drainage has paid off.
“We’ve spent £500,000 on drainage and equipment to maintain the course over the last five years,” said Howarth.
“There were lots of discussions. It’s the members’ money. We don’t have shareholders.
“The members said yes, let’s invest in the drainage because they knew it was going to get them out on the golf course more often than not.
“The drainage takes water away from the fairways and dissipates it elsewhere.
“We’ve got porous pipes that allow the water to seep in and take the water away.
“That means you can go on the fairways and even in the depth of winter it’s still quite firm.”
The club has about 600 members, with room for 50 more.
There’s league golf, friendly golf and social golf, played by members of all ages.
Haworth knows every player by name on our trip round the course, checking in with them to see how their rounds are going.
As captain, he’s also responsible for welcoming visiting clubs.
“My main role is to welcome members of other clubs to Bearsted,” he said.
“I do loads of presentations of prizes for various competitions and things like this where I’m representing the club.
“I used to be treasurer for five years so I know a lot about the club.
“It’s very close to my heart.”
To find out about the various membership packages, visit bearstedgolfclub.co.uk.
There’s also a link to club pro Richard Fox’s website where you can find information on the pro shop and tuition.
