Worst kept secret is a hidden gem of a course

Recently dubbed a 'hidden gem of English golf' this pretty parklands course, situated just three miles from Stockton and one mile from Yarm, has bucked national trends by being one of the few golf clubs to enjoy the luxury of a waiting list.

Altogether 200 golfers are currently registered on the list - paying £50 just for the privilege - and with membership already swollen beyond the 1,100 mark the average waiting time for any would-be golfer is estimated to be around four years.

"We must be doing something right," says Richard Hutton, who this year followed in his father Geoff's footsteps by being appointed the club's captain - the first time this has ever happened at Eaglescliffe.

"We are only a small club but we have more than enough people wanting to join.

"These people, rather than join other clubs in the region that have vacancies, where they could get in straight away, have decided to wait to join us. That is a huge pat on the back for the huge amount of work that has been put into the club over the years."

Such a work ethic and the belief that no golf club is ever finished is the cornerstone upon which Hutton bases the club's popularity.

The club has gone through many changes since it was first established as a 13-hole course on Yarm Back Lane.

Moving to its current site in 1928 and designed by James Braid as a par 77 - the longest in the North of England - seven holes (40 acres) were commandeered for agricultural use in 1939 at the onset of World War II, land that was ultimately never recovered.

Henry Cotton revamped the course in 1969, adding four new holes - including the signature par five, 14th - from the new farmland purchased straddling the River Tees.

Members were moved from their old clubhouse across the A135 to a magnificent new building in 1974, which was subsequently extended in 1992 in a £300,000 refit

The course has also been developed significantly with new ponds and tees constructed as part of the club's Millennium project while work has already begun on replanting over a thousand trees after it was discovered that their roots were interfering with water drainage.

This year there are plans to resurface the car park and replace the current locker rooms with oak panels.

"The members expect it. Since we moved into the new clubhouse in 1974 I think there has been some kind of project going on every year," says Hutton.

"It is so important that the club keeps moving forward. Continuous improvement; that is vital to this club.

"We can't gain any more yardage so we just have to strive to keep making the course prettier and prettier."

Not that the course is in any need of a makeover. Framed by a stunning view of the Cleveland hills and the River Tees that skirts along one boundary, Eaglescliffe is a beautiful, varied parklands course capable of posing even the more accomplished golfer a tricky question or two. Despite only two of the ten par fours being over 400 yards, even on medal tees, the course can prove an obdurate course to master, illustrated by the fact that the course record currently stands at just 66 (six under par).

One of the best - and trickiest - par fives in the North of England, the stroke index one 14th epitomises exactly why low scoring is so difficult.

The tee shot is a daunting sight, even to the more accomplished golfers; the unforgiving 150-yard carry across the River Tees from the medal tee offering little in the way of protection on either side.

Once you have managed to find the fairway there is the still the tree-lined riverbank that straddles the entire length of the hole to contend with and several potentially card-wrecking bunkers.

The attractive par-three 17th can prove equally daunting. Despite a plaque commemorating the amazing story of how two friends back in 1987 scored successive holes-in-one on this 174-yard gem, the approach to the two-tier green from the elevated tee is far from easy due to a large pond protecting both the front and right.

To make matters worse, the club seem intent on making the compact course even more difficult. Once a gentle 357-yard dog-leg right, since the construction of a pond protecting the front of the green in 1999 the par four fifth has now gone from one of the easiest holes on the course to one of the hardest. And with an all too inviting bunker guarding the right of the green and an out-of-bounds to the rear, careful club selection is paramount.

Of course, if you have had a round to forget the clubhouse provides a welcome distraction from the day's difficulties.

Eaglescliffe offers a wide and varied social programme to satisfy even the most demanding of members, with activities varying from barbecues to gourmet nights, where chef Mel takes centre stage.

"The gourmet nights are always really popular," said Hutton.

"But we have a very lively social progamme; something for everyone."