HISTORY
A curious title it has to be said for a town and a golf club but all becomes clear once you delve into the history of the area and its previous inhabitants. Back in the late 18th century William Crew - an under keeper of nearby Enfield Chase - attained notoriety by shooting a renowned deer poacher by the name of Aaron Maddocks. He was rewarded for his bravery with the handsome sum of £40 and with it he built a house near to where the current railway station now resides. Without permission he expanded his property by over four acres into Enfield Chase relying purely on his feisty reputation to put off anyone who dared to trespass or interfere. Later on he turned the building into an alehouse but the Duke of Chandos demanded it was demolished after discovering Crew's foray into illegal land acquisition. Crew managed to deter the bailiffs on two occasions - once with his own shotgun and the second time by his cleaver-wielding wife - and even threatened to kill anyone who attempted to enforce the order! Eventually William Crew was arrested, served his time and once released ended up as landlord of The Fallow Buck in Clay hill until his death in 1785. Over 100 years later with the town named after him, a syndicate of seven men from many differing backgrounds decided to build a golf club on the land and name it Crew's Hill.

GOLF COURSE
Designed by Harry Colt - whose other masterpieces include Wentworth and Sunningdale - Crew's Hill Golf Club took some time to complete and early legend suggests that it was played as a nine hole course until 1922 when records indicate that "lifting and placing on the fourteenth and sixteenth holes are no longer necessary" thus dispelling the myth. Designed in such a way as to have two 9-hole loops arranged either side of a tree-lined ridge running parallel to the original railway line, Colt used the terrain cleverly to enable the outward nine to remain on the top half and the inward nine to run along the valley floor. The 1st hole begins by taking you away from the clubhouse and is a good test of golf from the off - a 426yard dogleg, slightly uphill par 4 is considered by the members to be a hole worthy of a bogey anytime of year.

The second and third holes continue to take you followed by a tricky, bunker-strewn par 3 where the course can bite back immediately.

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