'In the Beginning'
Before the end of the 19th century, several local Orsett sportsmen, realising the time was getting near when cricket and tennis might become a little strenuous, begun to dabble in the fangled game of golf. They started hitting old gutty balls about in a meadow about a mile south of the village to the west of Chadwell road near the Orsett Cock, not far from where the club now exists.
Having played games all their lives, they wanted to try this new pastime which was penetrating south from Scotland. They had all caught the golfing bug and were soon discussing the possibility of playing under better conditions and therefore of building a course. They looked across the road to Mucking Heath with it's short, natural turf and terrain which seemed ideal for their venture. Soon the tenant had given them permission to lay our a few holes with some rough greens on the heath land. This marginal ground was unfit for ploughing and cultivation and had previously been let for five shillings per acre for grazing. Eventually these hardy pioneers felt they wanted to form themselves into a club. The next thing was to erect a small wooden hut (this was near the hedge to the right of the present 8th tee) and engage a lad to look after the greens. The fairways' naturally short turf and the hazards as nature fashioned them, required little attention.
Discussions at Orsett revolved around a recent visit, during his course of military duties, by local landowner, Captain Francis Whitmore, to the oldest existing golf course in England, the Royal North Devon Club, which has been thriving on it's original site since 1864. From what Captain Whitmore told the local sportsmen in that year 1898, it was recommended that a golf club be formed.
The actual name seems to be a little confused as the venue became known as the "Linford and Mucking Links" while at some time the club is also believed to have been called the "Grays and Mucking Golf Club". The name "Orsett Golf Club" didn't come into being for a number of years.