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Rockliffe Hall's Golf Course embarks on extensive refurbishment.
Europe’s longest golf course and the leading County Durham luxury resort embarks on ambitious refurbishment plans for its championship golf course.
Rockliffe Hall in the North of England has built its reputation on being one of the finest golfing destinations in England with a championship golf course of 18 distinctive holes, each encapsulating the natural environment it sits in.
Designed by Hawtree, the world-renewed course architects, Rockliffe Hall’s championship golf course is one of the most challenging in Europe. While its full 7,879 yards from the back tees will give even the best professionals a stern test, most will find the five individual tee boxes on each hole a welcome addition, offering players of all abilities the chance to experience.
To maintain the exceptional standards of the course, Rockliffe Hall has embarked on an ambitious investment programme with work already underway on several key areas of the course, with the first phase being bunker maintenance. The aim of the extensive refurbishment project is to elevate key areas of the golf course. The work follows significant investment into secondary drainage during 2021, demonstrating Rockliffe Hall’s clear intentions of pushing the boundaries for year-round quality standards of play.
This re-investment into the course also includes a machinery replacement programme, with the trio of projects totalling an initial commitment in excess of £400,000. The replacement programme to upgrade golf course machinery is in partnership with Toro, with plans to further upgrade throughout 2022 and into 2023.
A specific bunker programme commenced in January 2022 in conjunction with construction company MJ Abbott and the onsite team, with the aim of replenishing and reshaping the differing features of the golf course's 89 bunkers with approximately 1,300 tonnes of sand. Replacing the sand within the bunkers revitalises the look and feel of the entire championship course and more importantly improves the consistency of surface.
Making the most of the course as a place of learning, Rockliffe Hall’s Golf Academy offers expert coaching and golf tuition to help players achieve the perfect swing. A state-of-the-art teaching bay with a trackman launch monitor, helps analyse and improves swing. In addition to individual golf tuition, the Academy Team offer a number of teaching programmes throughout the year.
Callum Nicoll Director of Golf & Estates at Rockliffe Hall commented:
“The golf course team at Rockliffe Hall have been very excited to start this ambitious project and we are thrilled with the quality of work up to date. MJ Abbott provided Jonathan Wyer and the team with the best support, as our main goal for the course was to improve the playability of our surfaces for both members and our guests, something that will still be very much a focus throughout 2022. It has been very pleasing to receive such positive feedback so far and the course is certainly in a good place as we start the playing season, which everyone at the club is now looking forward too.”
Ultimately Rockliffe Hall intend for their golf course, a main attraction to the property, to regain the integrity and character of the original course design, so play will always be at its optimum. Any inconsistent bunker lines or bases are to be surveyed and repaired or replaced where required. As with all projects that Rockliffe Hall undertake, sustainability is top of mind, allowing the team to offer members and guests a well presented, premium surface year-round.
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