A New Future for Stoke Park

Stoke Park’s 27 hole championship golf course was designed by Harry Colt in 1908. It was opened in July 1909 and received immediate acclaim.

 

The golf course does not match the spectacular setting and is not within the World’s top 200 Golf Courses. The landscape, although well looked after by the previous owners with particular effort placed on the upkeep of the golf course itself, requires improvement. There is an aspiration to bring the golf course up to world class standards using modern turf care methods and technology.

 

Current Layout of the Golf Course:

The Mansion House tries to cater for three different uses; Golf Clubhouse, Hotel and hospitality function space. Currently, it fails at all three of these and particularly at providing Golf Clubhouse facilities, catering and provision of services to meet player expectations.

It is the intention to review the possibility of reopening the east gate and using the area currently used as the green keepers compound to house the new state of the art clubhouse. This area was recently granted planning consent to provide 4 luxury villas.

 

In order to provide world class golf and tennis facilities within Stoke Park, the Golf Clubhouse, the course and its facilities must be brought up to the highest international standard.

 

The vision of Reliance Industries is to restore the golf course to its former glory and make Stoke Park a course suitable for championship golf and daily play.

It was great to see many of you in the Spring when we hosted the first of our public exhibitions to discuss development plans for the Estate, and extremely helpful to receive your feedback. We have made considerable progress since and wanted to update you with further news of the golf project prior to the next round of public consultations which will take place in the coming months.

 

You will have seen from the media we shared via our website, and exhibitions that the intention is to create a world-class 18-hole Championship golf course using the very best of the landscape from the current 27-hole layout. After detailed consultation with our appointed course architects Mackenzie & Ebert, the proposed new course configuration will retain a large number of the existing holes from the original 1-18 design and will furthermore incorporate the lakes and bridge that formed part of the 19-27, with a view to maximising the wonderful features and picturesque backdrops surrounding these areas.

 

With the ambition to bring the highest level of Professional golf tournaments to Stoke Park, the build specifications will be of the highest order to deliver the ultimate playing conditions required. The course shall be designed with competitive golf in mind, providing a test for the very best players in the world of golf. The Golf operation will naturally shift to a high-quality, low volume model, and moving forwards this will determine how the golf business is managed, to ensure its success and sustainability.

 

Earlier this year we appointed 360 Golf, a leading Golf Consultancy business, to advise on the most suitable membership scheme upon our reopening considering several factors. We have an objective to host Professional tournaments which will inevitably signify course closures for several weeks during the peak season. The build specification required to deliver world-class golf will see a reduction in the number of rounds played and finally allowing some access to tee-times for events and guests using the upgraded hotel facilities.

 

Taking these factors into account, any future membership model would only support a very small number of members, paying a high membership fee.

 

The advice is that this type of model would not be financially viable and certainly not inclusive. Inclusivity is key for the project to succeed, and for Stoke Park to remain as part of the local community.

 

The guidance from our consultants is that a membership option is not very practical with these conditions, and therefore, the most suitable and maintainable way forwards is to operate the golf course as a high-end ‘Pay and Play’ destination. This operational model can provide the opportunity for everyone to play the course, allowing us to moderate the number of rounds played to facilitate tournament conditions, and works to provide a viable and sustainable model.

 

At this time our current plan is to move forward with this advice, which would mean upon reopening there would no longer be a golf membership available. We anticipate there being a preferred rate for past members of Stoke Park and more detailed plans of this will be shared further down the line as we move nearer to the reopening of the golf course.

 

The plans for the golf course and clubhouse are tremendously exciting and these will be shared with you at our next public exhibitions in 2023. We aim to create a new chapter in the history of Stoke Park and secure its long-term sustainability for years to come.

 

To read more about this please click here to read a full letter from Stuart Collier, Director of Golf at Stoke Park