STRI Awarded Stowe Golf Project: Top independent school Stowe has appointed STRI Group to design and build its new flagship nine-hole golf course in Buckinghamshire.
STRI has worked closely with Stowe School, over recent years, to create and develop the golf course layout and undertake ecological and environmental surveys for the planning process.
Golf has been played at Stowe School since 1923, and their current course sits within an historic deer park. Working closely with the National Trust the opportunity arose for the school to close the existing golf course and reinstate the land to its former condition.
This also presented the opportunity to create a new golf course in a larger, more open landscape, which would provide a more challenging course with a less compact feel.
The location of the new golf course is on a very special site. The rolling landscape provides superb natural features for golf and the land lies adjacent to the earthwork remains of Lamport Village. It also sits among other historic features including Lord Cobham and Gibbs’s Bourbon Tower (c1740) and Bridgeman’s 1720’s Bycell Riding which lies to the south of the site, adjacent to Gibbs’s Stowe Castle (c1740).
The design process was extensive and intricate, with STRI’s golf course architect, Jonathan Tucker, creating a course that avoided areas of historic value, and the many ecological and environmental sensitivities on the site.
The course development gives the opportunity to recreate historic features on the site, including a c.650m deer fence, positioned in a manner which matches historic records, and several bespoke tree plantations.
Andrew Hancox, Head of Golf and PGA Professional at Stowe School, said: “Stowe really is synonymous with the game of golf and with such a fine and distinguished golfing history, it is only right that we embark upon a new and exciting journey by opening our new golf course and launching the Stowe Golf Academy.
“With significantly longer and more challenging holes, along with greens constructed in accordance with USGA guidelines, I genuinely believe that our new golf course will present itself as one of the finest school golf facilities in the country.”
Project Director for STRI, Richard Stuttard, said: “This is an exciting opportunity to create an exceptional golf course within beautiful surroundings. STRI’s teams have relished the challenge of creating and implementing a design that is sympathetic to this unique environment and I’m confident that the end result will be something very special.”
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