– London’s #1 golf experience adds to its list of world-class facilities with comprehensive short game area including Tour standard greens –
The Shire London, owned by the Bridgedown Group, has invested over £75,000 to launch a new premium short game practice area in order to complete its golf offering. Overseen by The Shire’s own construction expert, Nigel Ely, former Chairman of the British Association of Golf Course Constructors, the new short game area has been in development since August 2018. Utilising the invaluable knowledge of the famous Dye golf course design dynasty, Cynthia Dye and her son, Matt McGarey have worked closely with the team on the design to create world-class facilities to help elevate the golf club, attracting not only more guests and members, but also providing an area for professionals to practice on Tour standard greens.
Designed to offer an area for golfers to practice a variety of shots, the new short game zone is laid out across a vast 750m² expanse. Uphill shots, downhill shots, lob shots, and even pitch shots from five distinct stations up to 60 yards can be honed, with a stunning backdrop of the 18th hole of the Seve Ballesteros designed Masters Course featuring the renowned ‘S’-shaped lake. As well as offering the ability to practice off grass, leading bunker designers EcoBunker have successfully installed a 65m² practice bunker, lined with capillary concrete and an artificial rivet wall, which requires significantly less maintenance than a traditional stacked turf wall.
The most impressive feature, and one of the main investments into this first-class practice area, is the quality of grass on the greens – Pure Distinction Bentgrass, which has also been interseeded onto the greens on the Masters Course at The Shire London. Produced by top growers in Oregon, USA, and used on some of the world’s most famous and respected golf courses, this is the ultimate bentgrass for smooth and true putting greens; featuring dense, upright and aggressive growth, with an exceptional ability to compete against Poa-annua herbicides.
Since the short game area will be getting significant use throughout the summer, and with inconsistent British weather conditions, Pure Distinction has all of the advantages required to stay in immaculate condition. It’s resistance to heat and cold, along with a high wear tolerance level and resistance to bacteria are just a few of the many benefits. Properly maintained, it provides a very high-quality playing surface that thrives on low mowing and results in excellent playability.
Taking full advantage of the new world-class facilities on offer, golfers will be able to their master their short game skills through the help of the resident professionals with the opening of the Shire London’s new Short Game Academy in late Summer 2019.
Ceri Menai-Davis, Director of The Bridgedown Group, said: “Introducing the new short game area to our golf club is exactly what we needed to take our facilities to the next level. Offering not only a large putting, chipping and pitching area, but to provide our members and guests with such high-quality grass and bunkers, is superb and we are extremely proud. As soon as we have interseeded the greens on our Masters Course for the second time this year in August, our golf club will be one of the best, if not the best conditioned in Greater London. ”
For more information on The Shire London, please visit: theshirelondon.com
