Hotel offers golf in an hour membership

One of the country’s premier hotels is offering non-residents membership of its golf club for the first time in its history.

Pennyhill Park Hotel & The Spa in Surrey has a nine-hole course that can be played in an hour. Guests at the hotel, which includes the England rugby team when it plays at Twickenham and, in the past, golfers such as Seve Ballesteros and Vijay Singh, have played the course, while, according to the hotel, “the current crop of top professionals can often be found on the Pennyhill links during the PGA championships held just down the road at Wentworth.”

The memberships, which start at £930 per year, include green fee passes at Manor House Golf Club, Wiltshire and Mannings Heath Golf Club, West Sussex thanks to a reciprocal deal the hotel has forged with its sister properties, plus discounts on food and beverage at the hotel and day passes at the spa.

“We are not quite sure how old our beautiful nine-hole golf course is or indeed who the course architect was,” said a spokesman, “but we do know that the golf course is a hybrid of wonderful heathland and Surrey parkland which is typical of the A30 corridor along which can be found our illustrious neighbours, Wentworth and Sunningdale. This belt of land has rightly been recognised as prime inland golf course terrain with fantastic draining qualities and the associated flora and fauna to match. The nine short but testing holes cut past some stunning ancient firs and the seasons are represented beautifully through their ever changing deciduous cousins.

“Recent tree surgery complementing the golf course and the trees’ health has also been well received by the local wildlife around the course – roaming deer, pheasant, foxes and a myriad of bird life as well as rare flora and fauna can be found on and around the fairways.”

The hotel has also teamed up with Godfreys, a supplier of commercial grounds’ machinery, to enhance the condition of the course.

Steve Slinger, Exclusive Hotels’ golf manager, said: “We really wanted to offer golfers who have limited spare time the opportunity to join a nine-hole facility with the added advantage of the spa, hotel and restaurants adjacent to the course”.