The Club was founded in 1903 and the course was opened for play in May 1904. James Braid had already become the Club's professional and was to remain in that capacity until his death in 1950. The course was laid out by W. Herbert Fowler, a leading amateur golfer. It was his first golf course venture and he went on to become one of the leading golf course architects of his era, both in the U.K. and America.

It is a tribute to Fowler's genius that he created one of the finest examples of heathland golf, which so closely resembles the traditional seaside links courses, out of a jungle of heather, gorse and bracken. It is a further testament to his creativity that the Old Course with a championship length of 7,351 yards is currently ranked  81 in the top 100 courses in the world. The New Course was opened in 1907, and is comfortably ranked in the Top 100 courses in the British Isles - a superb test of golf that plays to a championship length of 7,165 yards.