Stoke Park named UK Golf Resort of the Year

NEWS RELEASE
The prestigious five-star Stoke Park Country Club, Spa and Hotel has been named the ‘UK golf resort of the year' for 2015 by Square Mile, the City of London's leading lifestyle magazine.
The magazine, whose readership is described as ‘senior executives working in the financial services industries based in the City, Mayfair and Canary Wharf', said that Stoke Park was "all about understated elegance … with the iconic clubhouse providing a suitably impressive backdrop to any day where golf and a bit of business are combined".

It also mentioned the venue was a ‘popular haunt' for One Direction's Harry Styles, and that Davis Cup hero Andy Murray plays there in the annual Boodles tennis tournament.

The director of golf at the Buckinghamshire resort, Stuart Collier, said: "We were naturally delighted to learn that such a well-respected publication as Square Mile has chosen Stoke Park as the UK's golf resort of the year. We are ideally situated for Square Mile's readership too, just 25 miles from the City of London and 12 from Heathrow Airport, into which many of their clients will fly.

"With many clubs increasing their fees while ours remain constant we are already seeing an increasing number of enquiries from people working in the financial district and to have this on our CV will merely add to Stoke Park's allure, I'm sure."

Stoke Park Country Club, Spa and Hotel is one of just two five-AA Red Star golf clubs in England and the historic land on which it stands is recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086. It was awarded the accolade of ‘Ultimate Members Club' at the fifth annual 59Club Service Excellence Awards, held earlier this year.

www.stokepark.com

• 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:
  • 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 and Alison.
  • 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.
  • 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 and Hotel and may be available for editorial use in features about the venue.
  • 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.
  • 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.