Golf
In the course of my job, and as a keen golfer, I have had the privilege of visiting, and playing, a number of stunning courses. Sometimes, it is possible to be blown away by the amazing views, the well manicured course and the commitment of the greenkeeping staff. Birch Grove will, eventually, fall into all those categories, big time.
It is true to say that the current state of the course is rather sad to see, but the new owners of the 1200 acre estate in East Sussex are committed to bringing all areas back to their former glory.
This includes managing 800 acres of mature woodland that has had no meaningful work carried out on them since the violent storms of the mid-eighties.
It also includes reinstating the once magnificent golf course; work that is being overseen, undertaken and nurtured by recently appointed Course Manager, Peter Smith.
Peter Britton reports
Have you heard what is going on at
BIRCH GROVE?
irch Grove House is the former home of Sir Harold Macmillan, Prime Minister between 1957 and 1963. The imposing, if somewhat architecturally understated, mansion looks out from its hill top position across 1200 acres of undulating Sussex countryside. It is hard to imagine that London Gatwick airport is but a stone’s throw away, so idyllic are the surroundings. Visitors to the house have included Sir Winston Churchill, General Charles De Gaulle and, just a couple of weeks before his assassination, John F Kennedy. I am here to meet Peter Smith, the
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recently appointed Course Manager - and, currently, the only greenkeeper - along with reviewing the latest remedial tehniques being demonstrated by Campey Turf Care. The arrival of lorry loads of specialist
turfcare equipment to this quiet corner of East Sussex has had the locals in a bit 22 PC JUNE/JULY 2012
of a tail spin - “have you heard what is going on at Birch Grove?”, with the usual misinformation and Chinese whispers adding to the conjecture. The reason for this is that the Birch Grove Estate is a place of local myths, mystique and not inconsiderable history. Following Sir Harold Macmillan’s death in 1986, the family eventually sold the estate to an Asian businessman, Larry Yung, who immediately set about gaining planning permission for an 18-hole golf course in the grounds. Approval was granted in the early nineties, with the proviso that the course was to be ‘purely for private use’, i.e. that no profit was to be made from it. It is believed that Mr Yung sold his 16% share in the Asian airline, Cathay Pacific, for £60m to fund the project. Work began on the Donald Steel designed course in 1994, and it was eventually opened in 1996. Donald maintains that it remains one of his
finest ever designs.
Whilst, in the main, the course was used by Mr Yung and his invited guests, the course did host in the region of eight charity events a year which, whilst fairly wallet damaging to enter, did allow a few of the locals to play the course and report back on its remarkable layout, thereby adding to the mystique. Sadly, for reasons unknown, Mr Yung began to lose interest in his course. For the next few years, the course was maintained as a 9-hole, but with little or no cultural inputs, and with the back nine being allowed to ‘return to nature’. Now, the estate has new owners who
are dedicated to returning all 1200 acres of the estate to their former glory. Peter Smith, until recently Course Manager at the Cavendish Club, is the man responsible for reinstating the golf course. To achieve this requires extensive and drastic remedial work and, from his dealings with Campey Turf Care whilst at
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