1893 – Cruicks Estate
Membership continued to grow, and the management soon found that the club’s 18-hole course was rather restricted, so on 11th November 1893 they signed a new nineteen years’ lease (therefore running until 1912) covering the entire grounds of Cruicks Estate. (This new lease was agreed with Adam Will’s son Alexander, as Adam had died on 1st July 1892.)
Citizen, Saturday October 28 1893.
Golf Club – A special meeting of the Dunfermline Golf Club was held on Saturday for the purpose of considering matters affecting the renewal of the lease of the course. The Management Committee agreed to recommend the adoption of the proprietor’s offer to give the Club a 19 years’ lease of the whole farm, which meant that the club would have then large fields, and Cruicks House and farm steading in addition. The rental would be £180. The old rent was £85. The Committee did not see any difficulty in the financing, as they expected to be able to let Cruicks House and obtain a greatly increased rental for grazings. A motion was unanimously adopted to the effect that a 19 years’ lease without any break be taken. It was reported that the membership had reached 230.
Old Tom Morris (as distinct from his son, also named Tom) the professional at St Andrews, advised on the layout of the extended course. (Here are two websites about Old Tom Morris – Liveabout and Wikipedia)
This map of the 1894 course layout is from Golfs Missing Links Please note that the top of the diagram is East.
Here is the Old Tom Morris course layout oriented on an OS map.
It was proposed to create a ladies’ course on the northern part of the land from the original 9-hole course. This would be conveniently close to the railway station and the pavilion club-house.
The ladies’ course was formally opened a year later on Wednesday November 14th 1895, as reported in the Dundee Courier.
You can compare the layout of Tom Morris’s course (and the proposed ladies’ course) with the earlier and later layouts on the Golf Course Maps page.
The intention in 1893 was to lease all of Cruicks Estate including Cruicks House. The house was added in 1897 as a larger, improved club-house.