Roger Hyde, Cowdray Park Golf Club’s new captain, swung into office on April 7 in fine style, with his traditional captain’s drive-in coinciding with the official reopening of the popular Midhurst-based club’s course following a major renovation over the winter.
The £1m project on the West Sussex venue’s 18-hole championship course included a full rebuild and design of all bunkers and pathway networks, along with some sympathetic landscaping around some green complexes.
Working in conjunction with golf course architect Will Swan from Swan Golf Designs and contractors Profusion, Cowdray Park’s greenkeeping team, led by Course Manager Jonathan Smith, completed the ambitious project in time for the start of the new golf season.
The bunkers have all been built to the highest technical specification and are in keeping with the wider landscape of the course, as well as remaining true to original architect Tom Simpson’s handiwork from 120 years ago. The new china clay sand provides a visually stimulating challenge and each bunker is framed with native rough grasses, similar to those that originally graced the course.
In addition to the enhancements made to the championship layout, a completely new par-3 course has been built over the winter, which will open a little later in the summer, adding to the facilities on offer to the membership and visiting golfers.
Tim Allen, Cowdray’s Director of Golf, said: “The official re-opening ceremony was a wonderful occasion, and it was an incredibly proud moment to see the project effectively coming to a completion. A lot of hard work gone into the project, which has been over two-and-a-half years in the making, but this has always been mirrored by the excitement of the scale of the work. The whole team have been fantastic, and we all hope that members and all golfers really enjoy the improvements for many years to come.”
