The Shire London is celebrating its 10th anniversary this summer with not one but two special events on its Severiano Ballesteros-designed golf course.
First up on Friday June 30th is the Trevor Nelson Swing 4 golf day, the fourth year running in which The Shire has hosted the world-renowned DJ’s mid-summer golf party. The event is open to the public, always attracts a large, eclectic entry list, and offers golfers the year’s most relaxed and inclusive golf day with no dress code and a DJ and bar out on the golf course.
On Saturday 1st July there is a Members Invitational event at The Shire London, where members can invite a guest, enjoy champagne and a fine meal, and of course compete in a golf tournament with prizes – all totally free, with the compliments of the golf club.
“Ten years after we opened in July 2007, we are very happy with the reputation which The Shire London has earnt for itself” said founder Tony Menai-Davis, who started building the golf club in the early 2000s when Ballesteros agreed to come on board as course designer.
“The July 1st event is our heartfelt thankyou to our wonderful, loyal members who breathe life and soul every day of the year into The Shire London. Seve would have been proud of what The Shire London has become, I am sure, were he able to visit today, and we all feel his enormous presence here at the club every day.”
On The Shire London’s famously welcoming atmosphere, Menai-Davis said: “The Shire London has a relaxed, European feel. We welcome families and mixed competitions, and you can wear what you like in our clubhouse. A single visit here will confirm that we haven’t sacrificed quality, but we have sacrificed a lot of the nonsense normally associated with golf – for example, all those notices which make you feel unwelcome at other golf clubs. We did this from the start in 2007, and it is good to see so many British golf clubs have recently moved in this direction too. It makes the sport more healthy.”
Voted London’s #1 golf experience in a Golfshake web poll in 2016, The Shire London has become synonymous with high-class yet inclusive and relaxed golf events, and is much in demand for society and corporate golf as well as attracting a constant daily flow of golfers keen to take on Seve’s spectacular golf course – which starts with a Par Three to an island green, and barely lets up for the following 17 holes.
In March 2017, The Shire London announced that its new Honorary Captain would be European Ryder Cup Captain Thomas Bjorn, and the big Dane is hosting his own golf event there on October 9th – the Thomas Bjorn Trophy, an Open event staged in aid of The Golf Trust and the European Tour Foundation.
And the club also has its own award-winning charity – The Golf Trust – which has risen spectacularly in under five years to become one of Europe’s most powerful drivers of inclusive golf in communities and schools, teaching the sport to approaching a quarter of a million people and showing how golf can be life-enhancing and build self-worth, as well as providing valuable exercise for people of all physical and mental abilities.
Menai-Davis, who runs The Shire with his wife Anne and sons Ceri and Cae, also created the 9-hole West London Golf Centre near Northolt, and will soon open the 18-hole West London Links nearby. The family also recently received planning permission to open The Dye London near Edgware, which will include the UK’s first Dye Designs golf course.
“It has been a huge team effort, certainly by my family, but also by our fabulous hard-working staff at both The Shire and at West London. We are all proud to reach our 10th Anniversary with both venues in such a vibrant state, and I promise that we have plenty of great surprises in store for golfers around London in the next ten years, too!”
Discover more about The Shire London at www.theshirelondon.com, and about its sister venue The West London Golf Centre at www.westlondongolfcentre.com