Merrist wood

[spongebob59]

A Surrey golf club is up for sale, and could be transformed by a new owner. Savills is listing a championship putting green, in the beautiful Guildford countryside, all for the asking price of £2.25million.

Merrist Wood Golf Club is up for grabs, either to be re-launched as a golf club or developed into something new, subject to planning permission. The 18-hole, 6,909-yard course was designed by the highly regarded golf architect David Williams. As well as the golf course, the site also includes practice facilities and a purpose-built 8,177 sq ft clubhouse, set in 210.49

 

[IanM]

From an old thread, I see it went "pay and play" after Covid. The website says only from 9 open, is that weather based or did the abandon the back nine?

Seems a mess. Must be worth a bomb for housing. Maybe that was the strategy?

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Shame as a decent course back in the day. Surely will end up as housing especially if only down to 9. Will cost to reinvest in it back to a full 18 on top of the asking price

 

[FELL75]

The course was in a bad way when I played it a couple of years ago. Be surprised if it doesn't go for housing. Sutton Green next door is going to 9 and part housing, so can't see anything else for MW.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

The course was in a bad way when I played it a couple of years ago. Be surprised if it doesn't go for housing. Sutton Green next door is going to 9 and part housing, so can't see anything else for MW.

Shame about Sutton Green. That is a friendly club and a decent place to play with a few mates who aren't regular golfers. Not overly taxing for them

 

[Voyager EMH]

Would permission for housing see the value of 200 acres go from £2.25 million to something like £500 million ?

Methinks the owners would have explored every avenue to get permission for housing before selling.

 

[JonnyGutteridge]

 

[Golf is fun]

It's a bit of a sad story, the layout is actually quite decent, but the land its built on is not great for drainage. It changed hands, and then was left to a managed decline, but the latest owners were seeking permission to relandscape the golf course, including adding a top layer of material to help with drainage. This was met with a lot of objection from locals, primarily about HGV traffic, and after 2 years or so of planning back and forth they withdrew the application and now put it up for sale.

The irony being that it's unlikely to just remain unused green land, so either someone will persevere with getting the golf course approved, or they'll just turn it into houses. The locals will deal with years of HGVs and other disruption either way, but as a bonus may find their nice green view is now a housing estate.

 

[Voyager EMH]

It's a bit of a sad story, the layout is actually quite decent, but the land its built on is not great for drainage. It changed hands, and then was left to a managed decline, but the latest owners were seeking permission to relandscape the golf course, including adding a top layer of material to help with drainage. This was met with a lot of objection from locals, primarily about HGV traffic, and after 2 years or so of planning back and forth they withdrew the application and now put it up for sale.

The irony being that it's unlikely to just remain unused green land, so either someone will persevere with getting the golf course approved, or they'll just turn it into houses. The locals will deal with years of HGVs and other disruption either way, but as a bonus may find their nice green view is now a housing estate.

Whoever that "they" are - there's £100s of millions of potential profit.
Selling price of the 200 acres in that area will be in the region of £500 million if there is permission for housing.

 

[road2ruin]

Not too far away but planning has been granted for building on Hersham Golf Club. I appreciate it's never going to win any awards but it was my local club back in the day and was a member there for a few years. Shame and whilst it's early days in the application process I think it's only a matter of time before the builders 'win'.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Not too far away but planning has been granted for building on Hersham Golf Club. I appreciate it's never going to win any awards but it was my local club back in the day and was a member there for a few years. Shame and whilst it's early days in the application process I think it's only a matter of time before the builders 'win'.

I guess its a reflection of where we are. Golf had a boom time in the 80's and early 90's with lots of clubs popping up but post covid and with a tightening economy the poorly run or privately owned have been allowed to close either through an inability to stay solvent or the owners getting pots of money for the land for housing. Those that have come into the game post covid have found clubs, if they wanted to join one, and maybe a reason why clubs are having waiting lists these days. Even "ordinalry" member or privately owned club have a demand and so can try and capitalise with a waiting list and or joining fee.

 

[road2ruin]

I guess its a reflection of where we are. Golf had a boom time in the 80's and early 90's with lots of clubs popping up but post covid and with a tightening economy the poorly run or privately owned have been allowed to close either through an inability to stay solvent or the owners getting pots of money for the land for housing. Those that have come into the game post covid have found clubs, if they wanted to join one, and maybe a reason why clubs are having waiting lists these days. Even "ordinalry" member or privately owned club have a demand and so can try and capitalise with a waiting list and or joining fee.

The owners have been trying to develop the course for years, they've tried all sorts of schemes including building an underground hotel and various housing plans. They've been knocked back on every occasion but the most recent proposal has been given the provisional green light. There is going to be a huge amount of opposition from locals as it'll cause horrendous traffic. The only access to the course is via a small road and the course is surrounded on other sides by the railway line and a river so that's the only access. To make matters worse at the end of that road there is a railway bridge that is single lane so has traffic lights. It's solid with traffic at the best of times but adding however many new houses right by it is going to be a shocker.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

The owners have been trying to develop the course for years, they've tried all sorts of schemes including building an underground hotel and various housing plans. They've been knocked back on every occasion but the most recent proposal has been given the provisional green light. There is going to be a huge amount of opposition from locals as it'll cause horrendous traffic. The only access to the course is via a small road and the course is surrounded on other sides by the railway line and a river so that's the only access. To make matters worse at the end of that road there is a railway bridge that is single lane so has traffic lights. It's solid with traffic at the best of times but adding however many new houses right by it is going to be a shocker.

Sounds like carnage before the diggers have arrived!!