For over 300 years, the famous Royal Hospital – brainchild of Charles II and brought to life by Sir Christopher Wren – has provided a welcoming home and a way of life for thousands of soldiers in their old age. As part of an ongoing commitment to ensuring the best possible service provision for residents, a new Huxley Golf outdoor all-weather putting green was designed and installed.
The aim was to create a facility that would be safe and accessible for all Chelsea Pensioners to use year-round. It would not only offer an ideal opportunity for them to keep active but also to socialise, since it is made available for use by resident pensioners and staff as well as their friends and family.
Whilst there had been a natural grass putting green on-site for some time, it was not ideally located and presented a burden of maintenance. The new large putting green, which measures 30ft (9.1 m) x 60ft (18.2m), was created using the exceptional quality Huxley Golf Premier Putting Green Turf. The feature is complete with nine holes and a superb fringe surround featuring Huxley Golf Premier Leisure Turf. The team took the opportunity to relocate the facility from the original grass green to a more convenient location. The new putting green has been positioned close to the care home, near to the cafeteria, so that it is easily accessible for all, yet secluded. The tournament quality playing surface provides a realistic playing experience but with none of the associated up-keep.
“The Chelsea Pensioners are really pleased with their new putting green,” explained Andy Hickling MBE, Director of Estates, Facilities & Quartermaster at The Royal Hospital Chelsea. He continued: “There are limited outdoor activities for our Pensioners so this has been a huge hit – indeed one or two of our residents use it daily and we have already held our inaugural golf competition! Furthermore, the extremely low maintenance that this installation requires will assist the management team enormously.”
Paul Chester, General Manager of Huxley Golf, said: “Huxley Golf is proud to have been associated with several projects which support retired or injured service personnel and we were delighted to be asked to help with this most valuable installation at The Royal Hospital Chelsea. We were keen to help the team, including Andrew Hickling and Ron Willmore, the Grounds Manager, to complete the project prior to the important Chelsea Flower Show and we succeeded in doing so.”
The putting green was part-funded by Wates and all parties are grateful for their contribution to this valuable project.
Huxley Golf provides premier all-weather surfaces for golf around the world. Clients include training and coaching establishments, golf resorts, ranges and academies as well as many well-known golf courses.
Huxley Golf www.huxleygolf.com
The Royal Hospital Chelsea www.chelsea-pensioners.co.uk
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