Club closure ?

[drdel]

Great Denham Club in Bedford is due to close on 16th October.

Built in 1999 the Club has matured and developed to an open all year venue.

The Landowners will not renew the current lease despite the Club's success.

Bizzarly the land is to be used for grazing and /or hay making. Located with the new 'Golfing Village' there is a suspicion that, although not zoned as residential, the plan is to build housing.

Naturally the members, staff and residents oppose the closure of a successful business.

A petition to encourage the landowners to change their minds has started.

Anyone interested in supporting the retention of the course can sign it here


http://chng.it/GdYXfqQyw7
I have no business interest.

 

[Grant85]

Does seem strange if the club was / is successful.

I guess it goes to show that if you have money or land and want to make good profits, golf is probably not going to be a good business model.

 

[fundy]

Is that the Bedford Golf club thats inside the housing estate there?
Edit: clicked the link, I see it is, have signed

Cant say Im totally surprised, it is surrounded by new build and theyve had issues with balls and houses meeting to the point they had to switch one of the holes from being a driveable par 4 into a short par 3

The land must be worth a few quid if/when they get planning sadly

 

[The Autumn Wind]

I'm not a lover of the course or the layout at Denham. Very bland, surrounded by houses, and as Fundy said, the altered holes are poor due to the houses being too close to the course in certain areas. But I feel sorry for the members, never nice to lose your club to external factors outside your control.

I'm assuming a lot of members will move to Beds & County GC at Clapham, but then that's the same situation there, I don't think they own their land either do they ?

 

[drdel]

I'm not a lover of the course or the layout at Denham. Very bland, surrounded by houses, and as Fundy said, the altered holes are poor due to the houses being too close to the course in certain areas. But I feel sorry for the members, never nice to lose your club to external factors outside your control.

I'm assuming a lot of members will move to Beds & County GC at Clapham, but then that's the same situation there, I don't think they own their land either do they ?

Yup. Obviously a landowner is perfectly entitled to do what they want and anywhere adjacent to housing has the potential for giving a high return on their land.

 

[IanM]

golf is probably not going to be a good business model.

................relative to housing development....

 

[jim8flog]

Only taking out (roughly) a 20 year lease!!

One would question the business sense it that.

 

[sunshine]

Looking on google maps, it seems the golf course and housing are right on the flood plain of the Ouse. Doesn't seem sensible. Also some of that housing is close - especially in the driver slice zone!

 

[fundy]

Looking on google maps, it seems the golf course and housing are right on the flood plain of the Ouse. Doesn't seem sensible. Also some of that housing is close - especially in the driver slice zone!

lots of golf courses (and houses) on flood plains! that said the Bedford one of the better draining courses in the area and better played in winter than summer. As for the housing yep its close, too close to the point theyve had to adjust at least one hole after complaints

 

[happyhacker]

It's quite common for land use to be amended before a change of use / zoning application is submitted. It will generally be easier to go from an unused / grazing land to property (in a few years) than straight from a community use of golf to property.

 

[need_my_wedge]

I hadn't heard about this one, but someone told me last night that The Bedfordshire is closing. It's possible that they got the story/ clubs mixed up, however, The Bedfordshire is still closed according to their web site, so there may be truth in that one as well.

 

[Warbur]

I hadn't heard about this one, but someone told me last night that The Bedfordshire is closing. It's possible that they got the story/ clubs mixed up, however, The Bedfordshire is still closed according to their web site, so there may be truth in that one as well.

I'm a member at Bedfordshire Golf Club and we are fully open. I had a newsletter the other day advising that we've picked up quite a few new members to the point that 7 day membership is now full and they've even started a waiting list. We are fortunate as the club appears to be in a good place financially to the degree that they're just finishing surfacing the carpark and are also improving the range. Hats off to the committee with the improvements they're managing to authorize at the moment.

It's a bit of a quirky one with the club names that does cause a bit of confusion - "The Bedford Golf Club" is the one that's being talked about above whereas "Bedfordshire Golf Club" is where I'm a member of.

 

[need_my_wedge]

I'm a member at Bedfordshire Golf Club and we are fully open. I had a newsletter the other day advising that we've picked up quite a few new members to the point that 7 day membership is now full and they've even started a waiting list. We are fortunate as the club appears to be in a good place financially to the degree that they're just finishing surfacing the carpark and are also improving the range. Hats off to the committee with the improvements they're managing to authorize at the moment.

It's a bit of a quirky one with the club names that does cause a bit of confusion - "The Bedford Golf Club" is the one that's being talked about above whereas "Bedfordshire Golf Club" is where I'm a member of.

Thanks for that, I am aware that they are different clubs. I was a bit surprised last night when the person told me the Bedfordshire was closing. Like I said above, it may just be that he got his wires crossed. Glad to hear that you're all ok.