For those of you who have been following the progress, its been a very busy 2 years at the golf club with all the different projects taking place. Work started way back in the Spring of 2023 when we had to sort out the boring topic of drains. The old septic tank system was replaced and at about £80,000 later we now have a modern waste treatment plant, situated in the bottom left hand corner below the 10th fairway.
By early summer 2023 planning was underway for the 45ft greenkeeper shed extension. Throughout that summer, at a substantial cost, several pieces of new machinery were purchased. This ranged from 2 new John Deere tractors, Sisis multitiner, loader, sprayer, surrounds mower, chipper and a Trillo leaf collector. By early November work had started on the shed extension. Late in November 2023 the kitchen was closed for a week, for total refurbishment and new equipment ranging from a new Rational oven, new carvery units, new gas range and a MerriChef highspeed oven.
The greenkeeper shed extension was finished early 2024 and by that point the total reinvestment had been in the region of £400,000.
By early May this year work had started on our clubhouse work, with the chimney being removed from the building. Removal of the wall and fireplace between the Malvern and Abberley followed later in May. The old entrance into the Abberley Room was closed off and a new entrance created through what used to be the trophy cabinet. Unfortunately with a few unexpected problems and delays along the way, new triple glazed aluminium windows and doors have been fitted and the space has transformed massively into what you can see now. The last 2 weeks has seen the biggest transformation with the new flooring, lighting, furniture, settees, screen between the bar and Malvern Room and the window boxes. The new IT/ media system has already proved to be very useful. Our clubhouse staff have been amazing working through what has sometimes been a bit of a building site.
On the 28th November our new electric supply was connected on site by National Grid. This will now give us greater flexibility and has allowed us to switch on the new heating/ a/c units in the bar & restaurants.
Now that we have our new electric supply, one of the remaining projects is to install our solar panel scheme. Over the last 12 months our energy costs have increased fourfold. The sooner we can start generating some of our own energy the better. We have signed off a scheme which would cover the driving range roof and all the greenkeeping shed roof (current and new). This work will take place sometime in January.
This will have massive environmental benefits for the club. Apart from generating silently, producing pure clean energy; it will avoid about 15 tons of CO2 per year. Over its lifetime it will be the equivalent of planting about 2,500 trees / saving about 300 long haul flights.
If you factor in the cost of a solar scheme, the total investment by the time we have completed all the work will be in the region of £1,000,000. There won’t be any other golf courses in the Midlands investing any amounts like this. This only reinforces our long-term commitment to the long-term success of Ombersley Golf Club.
If you haven’t been to the club for a while check out some of the photos in this post.
The golf course remains in great condition, our greenkeeping team continue to do an amazing job to enable you all to play on proper tees and greens through out the year. Apart from snow, in the last 12 months the course has only been shut for 1 day (Most other courses have been shut for weeks!). If are looking at value of membership there is no where else that will offer such fantastic value across all the different membership options that we have available.