Sussex Golf Captains
Ifield Golf Club Update
Ifield Golf Club Update
We've been asked to share this recent article concerning the ongoing fight to keep Ifield open. As fellow golfers, you understand the importance of golf clubs to their wider community. The loss of Ifield will be felt across the county.
Sussex Live posted this article on FB today and it was reprinted in The Argus.
An England golf selector has described the potential loss of Ifield Golf Club to housing as ‘a disaster’.
The club, in Rusper Road, Crawley, was bought by Homes England in 2020 as part of its plans to build 3,000 homes West of Ifield. A hybrid application for the development was submitted to Horsham District Council in August.
The club, which attracts around 6,000 unique visitors per year, marks its centenary in 2027, one year before its lease to use the land expires. But any thoughts of celebrating the milestone are being clouded by the idea that the club will close.
Alan Covey, of Southgate, who is a member of the club, said: “It would be a disaster. Not only for Crawley. In my mind as an England selector [for the under 18s], we’re not encouraging kids to play golf.
“I deal with the elite players in the country but I need places like this to develop kids to get to my level.
“What’s good about this place is that it’s welcoming to the kids. They don’t feel intimidated, they come along, play golf and feel relaxed. And that’s what we need as a country – places like this.”
The club’s youngest member is seven years old, while the oldest is 101. And Alan also has concerns for those more mature players.
He said golf in retirement was ‘absolutely critical’ for body and mind – from the five-mile stroll as players tackled the course to the basic need to socialise and have ‘a reason to get up in the morning’.
He said: “We’re all flabbergasted. It’s a great community and it will be very sad if that goes. I don’t know where our 500 members would go. It’s not just about a golf club – they’re friends.”
As part of its planning application, Homes England acknowledged that Ifield Golf Club was not surplus to requirements but described the position as ‘marginal’.
As such, when looking at mitigation, it declared that a like-for-like replacement was not ‘proportionate or warranted’.
Instead, improvements at the Tilgate and Rookwood courses, in Crawley and Horsham respectively, are proposed. The final mitigation package will be confirmed as part of ongoing discussions and negotiations with Horsham District Council, Sport England and England Golf.
Alan was less than impressed. Rather than closing one golf club, he wished for 100 others just like it all over the country to encourage more children to get into the sport.
Given this weekend’s Ryder Cup victory for Europe over the USA, there are bound to be a fair few young faces lighting up at the idea of being part of that story in years to come.
Alan said: “Mitigation to me is to give similar to what we have got. Do they build another golf course as good as this? Mitigation is so wide open.
“We’ve got to have houses but not here. It would be so sad if we lost this.”
✍Original copy via Local Democracy Service by Karen Dunn
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