Founded in 1891 as Rochester Golf Club, the course began life on a 9-hole layout at Oakleigh Farm in Higham, later extended to 18 holes. In 1919 the club’s future was threatened when the land changed hands, but salvation came from the 8th Earl of Darnley, who offered the lease of the historic Deer Park at Cobham Hall.
The new course was laid out in 1920 by the celebrated partnership of Colt, MacKenzie and Alison – the same triumvirate responsible for some of the world’s greatest courses. Records show that Capt. C.H. Alison led the work at Cobham, and the result was immediately admired. Bernard Darwin, the pre-eminent golf writer of the age, set the scratch score and declared:
There is plenty of air, and the golfer never has the least sensation of being crowded…
A century later, Darwin’s words still describe the scale and spaciousness that define Rochester & Cobham Park.
When the Channel Tunnel Rail Link threatened the original clubhouse and several holes, the club entrusted a sympathetic re-design to Donald Steel, the architect of the modern St Andrews masterplan. Steel preserved the Colt/Alison character wherever possible, while introducing seven new holes and eighteen new USGA-specification greens. His work strengthened the layout without losing its classic parkland spirit. The lead project for Steel was our existing course architect Martin Ebert.
The course sits within the historic Humphry Repton parkland of Cobham Hall, one of the finest surviving landscapes of the late 18th century. Veteran oaks, some more than 600 years old, frame holes alongside majestic beech, chestnut, and hornbeam, creating a setting that is both strategic and beautiful. Repton’s Seat, beside the 15th green, is a reminder of the landscape genius who sketched his designs here more than 200 years ago.
The golf course forms part of the wider estate of Cobham Hall, one of England’s great Elizabethan houses and the ancestral seat of the Darnley family. The Hall is renowned not only for its architecture but also for its sporting legacy, with the 8th Earl of Darnley (Ivo Bligh) famously captaining England to secure “The Ashes” in 1882/83. The Hall’s façades remain a landmark presence beside the fairways, linking Rochester & Cobham Park with a lineage of English clubs where golf and stately homes are inseparably intertwined
The club’s fortunes have been intertwined with the Darnley family for more than a century. It was the 8th Earl of Darnley, Ivo Bligh, who secured the lease of the Deer Park in 1919 and ensured the club’s survival at Cobham. Today, that connection continues with the current Earl of Darnley serving as Club President, maintaining the family’s proud role at the heart of Rochester & Cobham Park.
Since the redesign, the club has underlined its stature by hosting the Kent Amateur Championship, the Brabazon Trophy Final Qualifier, and two international matches. In 2011 Rochester & Cobham Park was selected by The R&A as one of only sixteen clubs in England to stage Regional Qualifying for The Open Championship, reaffirming its position among the most respected inland venues in the country. Looking ahead, the course will host the England Golf Champion Club Finals in 2027.
