NEW HORSHAM Golf and Fitness Club owner Neil Burke aims to create a breeding ground for young talent after securing the future of the club.
The nine hole course and health club had been suffering under the spectre of possible redevelopment, but with his £1 million investment plan Neil believes he can bring the sport to the masses in Horsham.
His plans to redevelop and reinvigorate nine hole golf clubs have been successful at Horne Park in Surrey and Foxbridge near Ifold. And Neil views Horsham Golf and Fitness as a flagship for the development of junior golf in the county, churning out dozens of young Tiger Woods fans with the ability to further improve their game at one of the private clubs in the area.
“From a golf point of view, it talks my language of bringing golf to the masses,” commented Neil, who worked at Horsham Golf and Fitness during the 1990s.
“I think the place was missing commitment, the one interest here was the development and the commitment to building a customer base was missing. It was a case of just opening the doors and taking what came in.
“There will be structure for those taking the game up, and I am aware that they will move on to the more expensive clubs like Mannings Heath and Slinfold Park.
“An appetite for golf is there, there are lots of people who want to play golf and Tiger Woods is responsible for that – they just do not have an avenue into the sport, most of the time people are not playing golf because they do not have the opportunity, my market is for those people.”
Former tour professional Neil wants to make the days of stuffy dress codes a thing of the past also, encouraging as many people as possible to start playing golf.
He added: “No problem with dress code, that’s my market. I’m all for the ideals and codes of etiquette in the game, but if little Tommy is out there playing with his dad and they’re wearing jeans and a football top there is no problem. Do that anywhere else and you are in trouble.”
The £1 million investment includes the introduction of the Young Masters Golf scheme and work to improve the condition of the nine hole course layout is already underway.
Neil commented: “We will be a centre for developing golfers and then delivering them to a level where they can go to the places like Mannings Heath and Slinfold where their bread and butter is the hundreds of pounds a year membership.
“For an eight or nine year old, the course is the right place for them, they might take eight shots to reach the green on the first hole but by the time they have come to the fourth which is a 98 yard par three, they might like their chances of getting on the green.”