Western Daily Press (Saturday)
Pair pitch in to save golf club
AN historic golf course shaped by two of the most influential course designers in history has been saved from closure.
Cleeve Hill Golf Club in Gloucestershire has won an 11th-hour reprieve after appearing doomed.
The municipal course was designed by Old Tom Morris, a fourtime winner of the Open Championship and the legend behind such courses as Muirfield and Carnoustie.
It was also later adapted by Dr Alister MacKenzie, who created the Augusta National course in Georgia where the US Masters is played.
The Gloucestershire course also benefits the wider community who walk, cycle, and ride horseback on Cleeve Hill which boasts commanding views of Cheltenham, Gloucester, Winchcombe, Bishop’s Cleeve and beyond.
Tewkesbury Borough Council chiefs said last summer that the club would be shut in April after deciding to terminate the licence for the course because of its “financial unviability”.
But in October the borough council approved plans in private to set up a long lease of 125 years for the clubhouse, subject to various conditions, after several parties expressed interest in trying to retain golf on the hill.
Cotswold Hub Co has been selected as the preferred bidder to transform the clubhouse and build a new restaurant and accommodation lodges on Cleeve Hill.
Cotswold Hub Co, founded by Gloucestershire-raised Nick Hovey and Sam Foyle, was awarded the bid thanks to its “remarkable proposal”, the authority said.
Mr Foyle has an expansive career in the property and development industry, the borough council said, while Mr Hovey runs a golf business in Gloucestershire and has been part of the industry for many years.
The authority said the proposal “promises to deliver a place ‘where cyclists, walkers, golfers, riders, wildlife enthusiasts and historians all share a common interest: the unique Cleeve Hill’.”
The company plans to “transform” the clubhouse facilities, but also build a new restaurant, cafe, accommodation lodges and a shared space where people can meet and work.
The borough council and the Cleeve Common Trust chose the Cotswold Hub Co to take on a new tenancy of the golf clubhouse site as well as a new licence to play golf on the common, lasting 125 years. The lease and licence begins on April 1.
The council’s leader, Cllr Rob Bird, said: “This fantastic announcement is the direct result of consistently pursuing a very clear objective, to enable golf to continue on this completely unique course if at all financially viable, and to achieve improvement to the site itself and better community facilities.
“This excellent Cotswold Hub Co proposal more than delivers on our four crucial criteria: of enhancing the space for use by the community, protecting the local environment, protecting public access and being commercially sustainable.”
Mr Hovey, managing director of MASHIE Golf, said: “Cleeve Hill is an iconic golf course and to play a part in ensuring its legacy continues is very special.
“We are keen to provide continuity for Cleeve’s existing golf members whilst allowing the club to thrive by providing better facilities, improving the standard of the course and encouraging membership growth from the local area, which will be the heartbeat of the club for years to come.”
The chair of Cleeve Common Trust, Phil Robson, said: “We are thrilled that we have been able to retain the playing of golf on Cleeve Common. The course is considered to be of historical value within the world of golf, but it is also part of the history of the common.”
A spokesman of the Save Cleeve Hill Golf Course said: “We’re delighted Cotswold Hub Co has been announced as golf operator at Cleeve Hill. The Save Cleeve Hill Golf Course group has strived to see the magnificent golf course and its facilities saved for future generations, by an optimum new operator.”