The new golf courses being built in the UK

The Golf Business looks back at one week this August, when two golf courses opened and it was announced that another two will be opening.

While several golf clubs have closed down in the last few years, including some in 2018 and at least two scheduled to go in 2019, you might be surprised to learn that there are new courses springing up.

This summer for instance, Allerthorpe Golf & Park Retreat in Yorkshire opened, featuring a nine-hole golf course.

The new Allerthorpe Golf & Park Retreat in Yorkshire

The opening came after six months of extensive work to transform the former redundant golf course.

Speaking about the launch, CEO Miles Dewhurst commented: “We have invested significantly in what was a redundant golf course, working with the incredible landscape to bring it back to life for the local community and leisure visitors.

“Allerthorpe Golf & Park Retreat really will set the standards for us as a business going forward. It will offer the ultimate luxury, five-star experience.”

East Yorkshire MP, Sir Greg Knight, added: “Allerthorpe Golf & Park Retreat is a welcome new facility in East Riding, adding to the range of local amenities available. It will also play a part in boosting tourism in the area and I am delighted to declare it open for the benefit of the local community and tourists alike.”

East Yorkshire MP, Sir Greg Knight, at the opening of Allerthorpe Golf & Park Retreat in Yorkshire with the club’s CEO, Miles Dewhurst.

Twenty holiday home plots for the new course have been released, ready for the first owners to enjoy from Easter 2019.

In the same week that this new course opened in August, it was revealed that the south east of England will soon get two new 18-hole courses.

West London Links

In Northolt, north-west London, the West London Links will open in the summer of 2020 to offer golfers a modern vision of links golf not far from Wembley Stadium.

PGA professional Ceri Menai-Davis, director of West London Links, said: “We are pushing the boundaries of what is possible as regards sculpting a golfing landscape, with dramatic shaping which UK golfers have not seen before at an inland links.

“Expect surprises! Golfers will encounter imaginative new green shapes, surrounds and run-offs, and a variety of authentic links golf hazards including pot bunkers and steep revetted faces. We will have fast-running fairways, slick greens, multiple tee positions and classic links-style blind shots, plus extensive short game and practice areas. It will be a championship-length golf course to test elite golfers from the back tees, but it is also designed to be accessible even to beginner golfers.”

Architect Perry Dye and Ceri Menai-Davis confer at West London Links in summer 2018. Photo by Robert Parfitt

The second new golf course is located near Edgware in north London, where construction has started on The Dye London, a Tour-style golf course scheduled to open in 2023.

“Speaking as someone who, in the late 1980s, was barred from joining a golf club because my face didn’t fit, I have been fortunate to have worked subsequently with the world’s best golfer, Seve Ballesteros, and with the world’s best golf architects, the Dye family,” said Tony Menai-Davis, managing director of both venues, plus The Shire London and West London Golf Centre.