Here’s three interesting developments from the UK golf industry in the last month

From a 4,000-year-old coffin found on one golf course to a club that’s investing in luxury treehouses, September was the first month in 19 in which Covid-19 did not dominate all or almost all of the main stories.

Have you checked your ponds for any ancient kings?

We discovered in September that when excavation work took place in a pond at Tetney Golf Club in Lincolnshire in 2018, a 4,000-year-old coffin was found, along with the remains of a ‘high status’ man.

The club had to be quiet about it for three years but now it’s been revealed, Tetney has received global coverage.

“We’ll have a nice photograph of it up on the clubhouse wall. It’s certainly something to think about while you’re playing your way round the course,” said the club’s owner.

Clubhouse confidence is returning

Golf has boomed during the pandemic, but usage of indoor facilities has struggled. That, now, appears to be changing.

Two major projects, which were both about to start in March 2020 before Covid arrived, have now restarted.

And both of them – Topgolf’s new facility in Glasgow and the creation of a new resort-like venue at Inverness Golf Club – revolve around indoor offerings to golfers, such as bars, restaurants, a business lounge and simulators.

Properties overlooking golf courses can be fruitful

Ramside Hall Hotel, Golf and Spa in Durham was able to complete its construction of three luxury treehouses just before the pandemic started in early 2020, and they’ve proven to be lucrative.

They contain three bedrooms each and they’ve been so popular – with the golf club saying that there is currently demand for smaller wedding events – that it is to build another five, one more marketed at weddings while the other four will be designed for families.

Meanwhile, Felixstowe Ferry Golf Club in Suffolk is building five stunning homes to be sited next to the course and which overlook the Deben Estuary and the sea. Two have already been sold – at over £1 million each.

The dwellings will fund the building of a new clubhouse which, says the club, will safeguard its long-term future.