Heythrop Park - backdrop for the closing hole
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The countdown has started for the official opening of one of the most eagerly awaited new golf courses in England.
Heythrop Park Resort, 15 miles north east of Oxford, opens in September and next weekend (April 25/26), is staging the first of a series of open days for prospective members.
Designed by Tom Mackenzie a partner in course architects Mackenzie Ebert, it has been built on a site that was once the home of Charles Talbot, the 12th Earl of Shrewsbury, who served as both Secretary of State and Lord High Treasurer of England and who lavished much of his personal fortune on developing a quintessential English Estate.
Historic bridges, monuments and walls have been carefully restored and the estate’s gardens and grounds reinstated with 500 indigenous trees and in keeping with its listed status.
Says John Angus, the director of operations at Heythrop Park which has a hotel and other facilities for guests: “The golf course has already been described as one of the best new courses in England."
The 7,156-yard par-72 is classic English parkland which meanders over ridges and through valleys and is studded with ancient woodland, lakes and streams. It starts with a testing par-4 adjacent to the new Golf Academy and concludes with a majestic par-5 that has the Main House as its backdrop.
“Working at Heythrop has been a dream come true for me,” said Mackenzie. “My two great loves are golf and landscape so to have the opportunity to work on such an historic site has been incredible.
“It hasn’t all been straightforward,” he added. “We were tasked by the planners to replant 90% of the original parkland, and to route the golf course round it, which wasn’t easy. But the great thing is that, in this setting, the course already looks as if it has been here for years.”
The Club is offering a limited number of 400 Golf Memberships plus a further 800 Health and Fitness Memberships. Interested parties are invited to contact the club membership department on 01608 673488 to arrange a visit.
