Power Rangers
Laurence Gale MSc heads to Merseyside to look at an interesting project in the shadow of the imposing Fiddlers Ferry Power Station
I
n terms of new builds, the golf course construction industry has virtually come to a halt in the UK in recent years, with many of our golf course architects now focusing on
redesigns/refurbishments or heading further afield to the continent and beyond for new course constructions. However, there are a few new developments either coming on line or just being completed. Fiddlers Ferry in Cheshire is one such course that has recently been completed; a self build project that the owners, Mark Overton and his wife Elaine, took upon themselves to begin constructing back in 2002.
Owners of True Fit Golf (TFG), they took the decision to invest in building the new course in the shadows of the Fiddlers Ferry power station, perhaps not the most attractive of backdrops but one that certainly gives the course its individuality.
The TFG story began in 1988 when Mark and Elaine started manufacturing golf clubs in barns which are now the golf shop and driving range. They produced golf clubs here until the industry moved back to the Far East about ten years ago.
28 James Cope
At this point, Mark decided to go into custom fitted golf clubs and a golf shop. The shop was opened within three months of the mass production of clubs finishing.
The original plan was to build a nine hole par three course to help promote the sale of golf clubs. However, one thing led to another, and the original scheme soon turned into a full blown, par 36, nine hole course. Not stopping there, they continued to
expand, acquiring further land to build another nine holes to complete a full 18 hole course, complete with driving range, which is now open to the public as a pay and play facility. What makes this project most intriguing is that they built the whole course themselves, bringing in over one million tonnes of soil to transform the barren landscape at the foot of the power station.
Plans for the nine hole course were first drawn up in 2001, and tipping of soil started soon after. In 2002, it was decided to try a make it 18 holes when more land became available. The first nine holes were shaped up in the summer of 2004 and, in November of that year, Director of Golf, Darren
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