Think Downton Abbey – but with outstanding golf and a leisure club included.
A new international membership available from England’s historic Stoke Park Country Club, Spa & Hotel – located in a Georgian mansion dating from 1788 – offers a unique opportunity to experience a traditional country house atmosphere, award-winning cuisine and outstanding contemporary leisure pursuits all for less than $2,500 per year.
Set within 300 acres of beautiful historic private parkland – which was even recorded in the seminal Domesday Book of 1086 – Stoke Park, one of just two five-AA Red Star golf clubs in England, is just seven miles from London’s Heathrow Airport and is the ideal stopover for visits to the country’s capital city.
Its 27 holes of golf were designed by the legendary Harry Colt in 1908, on land landscaped by the equally revered Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown, designer of more than 170 of the country’s great parks and regarded as ‘England’s greatest gardener’.
Colt was involved in the creation – or redesign – of more than 300 golf courses across the globe, including the Wentworth Club, London; British Open venues Muirfield and Royal Liverpool (Hoylake); the world-renowned Royal County Down, in Ireland; Hamilton Golf & Country Club, Canada; Monterey Peninsula, Pine Valley, and Sea Island, among others, in the USA.
Such was his influence and creative genius that Colt also had a hand in the design of Augusta National, albeit indirectly. Augusta designer Alister MacKenzie (1870-1934) was part of Colt’s original Stoke Park design team and a partner in the short-lived practice of Colt, MacKenzie & Alison. And MacKenzie took inspiration from Colt’s seventh hole at Stoke Park when laying out the original 16th at the home of the US Masters, before the latter was amended in the 1940s.
Celebrity spotting is unavoidable in the hotel – Elton John sang to 5,000 people and raised more than $1,000,000 for SportsAid here in 2014 – and, if it looks familiar, it provided the iconic backdrop for the golf match between Sean Connery’s James Bond and Auric Goldfinger, in the 1964 film, Goldfinger. It was also where Daniel Craig’s gangster in the cult British film Layer Cake met his end.
The ‘Colt International Membership’ is available only to those whose permanent residence is outside of the UK and entitles the holder to up to 12 rounds of golf, plus all the usual country club member benefits. And all for less than $2,500 per year.
The prestigious club’s director of golf, Stuart Collier, explained: “Arguably, there’s never been a better time to be a member here – with the possible exception of 1908 when Colt laid out the course. Recent renovation work to the bunkering has taken the course to a whole new level and we have one the country’s leading chefs in the three AA-rosette Humphry’s restaurant.
“When you consider that visitor green-fee rates at Stoke Park can cost more than $285 it becomes clear just what good value the new international membership offers, all in an environment with unrivalled history and a winning blend of traditional country club and 21st-century facilities.”
During the winter of 2015/16, every bunker on the Colt course – the first nine holes of the historic 27-hole layout – underwent major renovation to both shape and size, as part of a seven-figure investment in a facelift of the whole course. And this winter, a similar overhaul of the Alison course – holes nine to 18 – is underway as Stoke Park looks to bring the second nine into line with the aesthetic quality and playability the front nine now enjoys.
www.stokepark.com
ENDS
Written and distributed on behalf of Stoke Park Country Club, Spa & Hotel by the Azalea Group.
Information for journalists
• Stoke Park Country Club, Spa & Hotel is one of just two five-AA Red Star golf clubs in England. The land that constitutes the estate is recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086.
• In 2015 it was named UK golf’s ‘Ultimate Members Club’ at the 59Club Service Excellence Awards.
• Laid out across 300 acres of mid-19th century, Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown-landscaped parkland, the 27-hole golf course was designed by the legendary Harry Colt and opened in 1908 and comprises:
o The Colt course (holes one to nine): The Colt nine will be the first loop to undergo the bunker renovation and will reopen in April 2016. The seventh hole was the inspiration for the original 16th at Augusta National, home of the US Masters, before the latter was amended in the 1940s. Augusta designer Alister MacKenzie (1870-1934) was part of Colt’s original Stoke Park design team and a partner in the short-lived practice of Colt, MacKenzie & Alison.
o The Alison Course (holes 10-18): Holes 17 and 18 on the Alison – which will be the second of the nine-hole loops to be renovated, in winter 2016/17 – featured in a classic cinematic exchange in 1964, between Sean Connery’s James Bond and the eponymous super-villain Auric Goldfinger. Their round of golf ended in front of the iconic clubhouse – purportedly ‘Royal St Mark’s’ golf club – which itself dates from the late 18th century and has featured in many other films including Layer Cake, Bridget Jones’s Diary, and Wimbledon.
o NOTE: The iconic still from Goldfinger, which shows Bond and Oddjob looking on in front of the clubhouse as Goldfinger putts out, is owned by Stoke Park Country Club, Spa & Hotel and may be available for editorial use in features about the venue.
o The Lane Jackson course (holes 19-27): Holes 19 to 27 – which will be upgraded in winter 2017/18 – were turned over to potato fields during World War II and were not fully restored to use as a ‘Colt’ golf course until 1998. The nine-hole loop is named after the creator of the Stoke Park Club, Nick ‘Pa’ Lane Jackson (1849-1937), who also launched the famous Corinthian Football Club. Hole 21 features the much photographed Repton Bridge, which takes its name from the gardener, Humphry Repton, who picked up the mantle at Stoke Park from ‘Capability’ Brown.
o Practice facilities: The striking monument at the bottom of Stoke Park’s practice area is of Sir Edward Coke (1552-1634), a former Solicitor General and speaker of the House of Commons, who was a tenant on the estate from 1598. He was the country’s first Chief Justice and, as Attorney General, tried Guy Fawkes and Sir Walter Raleigh, among many others.
• High-resolution images of golf at Stoke Park Country Club, Spa & Hotel are available for download, for editorial purposes only, from http://bit.ly/StokePk.
For further information please contact Dave Bowers (dave@theazaleagroup.com) or Daniel Chidley (daniel@theazaleagroup.com) at the Azalea Group on +44 (0) 1730 711920.
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