The word hallowes is derived from an old English word meaning ënooks' or small pieces of land, which have been cleared, probably, to be brought under cultivation. Hallowes is referred to in land deeds from the twelfth century reign of Henry lll onwards.

Local golf enthusiasts approached Farmer Ashton of Hallowes for permission to play over his fields in 1890 or 1891.

A golf club of sorts had been formed in Dronfield by Easter 1892. Hallowes Golf Club (formerly Dronfield Golf Club) was instituted in 1893. The course of 18 holes varied in length from 110 to 420 yards with a par of 67. A small cottage called Rose Cottage, which adjoined a green (probably the current 17th green ) was converted into a temporary clubhouse for the use of members and friends.

A campaign began in 1920 to acquire land to extend the course and a major purchase was made in 1921, when Hallowes Golf Club acquired 114 acres comprising of Hallowes Farm and farmhouse.

Members were officially informed of the purchase at an extraordinary general meeting held in October 1921, at the Grand Hotel, Sheffield. The purchase price was £4,165-15s.
With acknowledgment to K.M. Battye for the above

Hallowes Golf Club is situated in Dronfield, Derbyshire, between Sheffield (7 miles to the north) and Chesterfield (7 miles to the south). Both Sheffield and Chesterfield have had a major impact on the industrial history of England.

Sheffield, in South Yorkshire, at one time led the global steel industry with its inventions and patents, as well as providing the majority of the world’s steel. The city was a world centre for cutlery for a long time and the silver plate process was invented in Sheffield, revolutionising the world’s silver hollow tableware industry. George Stephenson the railway industrialist spent the last ten years of his life at Tapton House, Chesterfield. George together with his son Robert rightly have their place in the world’s railway history as innovative and inventive engineers. To their credit are our major rail systems and two monumentally important steam locomotives “Locomotion” and “Rocket”.

Dronfield town sits in a north to south valley straddling the River Drone, the A61 trunk road and the main railway line from St. Pancras London, to Sheffield and Leeds. The hilltop position of the golf club provides magnificent uninterrupted views of the Derbyshire Peak District, South Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire.

Over the years the course has been nurtured and redefined into one of the finest courses in the area. Thanks to those original far sighted members who invested their time and money over 100 years ago, we have to-day a golf club, which surely, they would be proud of.

The course is being improved continually to a quality that the original members could not have imagined. In the recent past new greens have been added and major drainage has been undertaken on fairways.   New bunkers have been created, reshaped, and in some cases moved, to improve the standard of the whole. Some 4,000 native trees have been planted.

More course improvements are planned in the near future to achieve an even higher level of excellence. Between 1977 and 1994 the club acquired approximately 150 acres of land on its southern side, with a view to protecting the boundaries and the possible addition of new holes.

Derek Hudson 2005

click HERE to view old map of course