Northumberland’s Longhirst Hall Golf Course has bounced back strongly in 2022, receiving accolades from national industry bodies.
Firstly, the site near Morpeth was nominated for ‘club of the year’ by golf’s governing body England Golf. This recognises the work carried out in all aspects of a golf operation, from the welcome, the clubhouse offering, the course, to the development of juniors and membership relationships.
Golfshake.com, which is golf’s equivalent to TripAdvisor, has also awarded Longhirst 3rd place in the UK, behind Woburn golf club and John O Gaunt golf club, for outstanding facilities. It’s one of only 205 UK clubs from over 3000 with three consecutive years of extremely high ratings.
Director of golf Graham Chambers said: “To be nominated from England Golf was a great surprise, and testament to what staff in each of my departments do on a daily basis. To get national recognition in this little corner of Northumberland, is phenomenal.
“The Golfshake.com awards, for me, were extremely satisfying, as these are from ratings given by independent golfers. To have these given over three consecutive years, again shows that we are doing some that the golfer loves, creating a welcome, friendly environment, and importantly consistent and quality golf courses.”
Longhirst opened its doors in 1997 after 500 acres of open cast land was transformed into two championship courses by Tom Dawson owner of parent company and travel agent Dawson and Sanderson Ltd. It is currently celebrating its 25th Anniversary this year and will be hosting a special golf day for their members on July 2 followed by an evening with Jason Issacs.
Longhirst is now firmly on the North East map for larger golf events. In addition, junior golf development is a huge part of Longhirst’s makeup. With the great work professional Paul Fiddes does, it has one of the best academies in the North, regularly getting 30+ juniors at sessions, participating in coaching and playing on the course their own competitions.
As a result of the impact Longhirst has made in junior golf development they were chosen to be a host club of Girls Golf Rocks, an England Golf initiative to attract young female golfers to the game. They were also chosen to host the Northumberland schools final, which led to the regional final, and in turn to the Northern finals.
Graham Chambers added: “To come out of the pandemic in such a positive light is great for us, and long may it continue. We will continue to strive for more accolades, and work hard to further improve what we have, and I’m sure there will some exciting projects around the corner.”
Longhirst has two championship courses and one of the country’s largest memberships.