Sunday, June 28, 2009

The Grove

Golf World says: The Grove is one of the best golf complexes
in Europe, with an 18-hole championship course set in 300
acres of mature parkland just 18 miles from central London.
Designed by Kyle Phillips and opened in 2003, it hosted a
World Golf Championship in 2006, which was won by Tiger
Woods. With four sets of tees, visitors can select the length of
the course to suit their ability. It's one of the best-conditioned
inland venues in the UK.

Where: Chandlers Cross, Herts.
Normal green fees: £125-£170.
More info: 01923 294266
www.thegrove.co.uk

Labels: The Grove

Monday, October 4, 2004

The Grove to Host World Golf Championship

Golf Business News

The International Federation of PGA Tours has announced that the American Express World Golf Championship will be played at The Grove from 28th September to 1st October 2006.

It will be the first time that the United Kingdom has hosted one of the World Golf Championships since the series of top class global events was inaugurated in 1999. The WGC - American Express Championship has visited Spain twice, the United States once and Ireland on two occasions, most recently this past week at Mount Juliet Conrad in Thomastown, Co Kilkenny.

Ken Schofield, Executive director of The European Tour, said, "The International Federation of PGA Tours is delighted that the 2006 WGC - American Express Championship will be hosted by one of the UK's most outstanding new venues. The Grove has already received significant international acclaim in a very short space of time since opening for business in 2003 and we look forward to a truly world class field assembling at this splendid setting in the heart of the Hertfordshire countryside in two years time."

The Grove, the former home of the Earls of Clarendon, has been transformed into a contemporary country estate with an outstanding 18 hole golf course, a five star hotel and spa surrounded in 300 acres of private ground. Situated at Chandlers Cross, Hertfordshire close to Heathrow airport and central London, it has rapidly acquired a reputation as one of the UK's premier new golf resorts within a year of opening.

Chris Andrews, Commercial Director of The Grove, said: "We are delighted to welcome the elite of international golf and we will ensure that their stay with us will be memorable both on and off the course so that they too can enjoy what has become known throughout the world of golf as The Grove Experience."

Labels: Press, The Grove

Tuesday, June 1, 2004

The Best of the Best 2004

Robb Report

The Grove
A modern classic at England's finest new resort.

Kyle Phillips' work at Kingsbarns, neighbor to hallowed St. Andrews, has been universally hailed as an almost perfect modern example of the Scottish links course. Now the American architect has created his version of an English parkland course at the Grove, a quirky yet fabulous new resort in Hertford-shire, England, just 25 miles outside of London.

Though influenced by the designs of Harry Colt, J.H. Taylor, and James Braid – all of whom built park-land courses near London – Phillips adhered to the resort's overall theme of commingling new and old. He utilized both natural and artificial land forms in his 18 beguiling holes, and he kept cart paths out of sight to preserve the ambience of a traditional English club. Regardless, the Grove is meant to be walked.

The opening handful of holes plays through a meadow in front of the imposing facade of the resort's converted 18th-century country house. Through the duration of the front nine, natural wetlands, a man-made lake, the Grand Union Canal, and some modern-era fairway bunkers demand forethought from the tee.

After the turn, the course begins its wooded phase: The drive on 10 must be split between two towering sweet chestnut trees. Farther along, cedars, oaks, and other mature specimens come into play. On 15, a twisting par 4 through the trees, a deceptive sunken area captures slightly undercooked approach shots in front of the green. The 17th is a short but uphill par 5 that, with its prevailing westerly breezes, challenges golfers to go for it in two. Naturally, the penalties for not quite making the green are severe.

Throughout The Grove, Phillips combined the usual assortment of penalties and perils – sand, water, rough – with hazards such as tightly mowed areas around the green collars and contours on the greens. Overall, his modern take on a traditional layout has once again resulted in a fine course, one that genuflects graciously toward the others in its class – all of which are at least 100 years its senior.

– James Y. Bartlett

The Grove 44-1923-294266
www.thegrove.co.uk

Labels: Press, The Grove

Thursday, January 1, 2004

The Grove Honored as One of England's Finest

From The Peugeot Guide

The Grove, Britain's most-talked about new golf resort, has been ranked officially as one of Europe's finest venues only three months after opening and been placed in the elite category of world-class golfing destinations that includes Gleneagles and Turnberry. The Peugeot Golf Guide 2004-2005, the most influential manual on where to play in Europe and widely regarded as "the traveling golfer's bible", has judged the Hertfordshire complex to be one of the most complete resorts among more than 1,000 it surveys each year.

What makes the Peugeot Guide so popular and authoritative is that its judgments are based on the personal experiences of knowledgeable golfers who turn up unannounced, pay green fees, experience what is on offer and then make their no-holds-barred reports.On that basis The Grove received one of the highest ratings when all aspects of its facilities were considered. The judges examine three aspects of a venue and award points accordingly for course value, clubhouse amenities and hotel facilities.

The Kyle Phillips designed golf course received 18 points out of 20 a remarkably high rating for a new course. The hotel with 9 out of 10 was unsurpassed and with the clubhouse at 8 out of 10, the total of 35/40 placed The Grove at the very top of European golf venues.

The experts' verdict: "This is one of the most ambitious resorts ever. A five-star facility half an hour from London with a luxurious hotel catering to both major special functions and golfers, plus an 18-hole course manicured by 20 green keepers.

"This is a severe test of talent with a certain emphasis on the chip shot that is so often overlooked on modern courses. A connoisseur's course whose excellence is unveiled as you play it, testing for the finest exponents of the game but never humbling for the common mortal, all wrapped in absolute elegance."

Labels: Press, The Grove

Tuesday, July 1, 2003

Grandeur at The Grove

Links Magazine

PRESENTING A SCHIZOPHRENIC blend of 21st-century luxury and chivalric hauteur, a first-of-its-kind English golf resort debuts this summer under the deceptively modest name of The Grove.

Jacuzzis, plasma-screen TVs and "Broadband conferencing are concealed within The Grove's courtly buildings--one of which dates to 1400 and all of which provided hearth and home to several Earls of Clarendon. Just a half-hour's drive from London proper, the resort's grandeur is painted across a 300-acre demesne whose fresh-air pleasures include an aristocratic-looking golf course laid out by the Kingsbarns Kid himself, Kyle Phillips.

Phillips, who's as hot as a blacksmith's forge these days, extended the new-meets-old theme of The Grove when he conceived his 7,170-yard parkland design. Today's technology is all there in the irrigation, drainage and soil mixes, but the course's visual style and shot characteristics have an artisan feel that will suggest the possibility of Harry Vardon (or maybe Harry Colt) appearing from the mist along its fairways. Phillips strives for the impression that nothing diesel-powered was used to shape his fairways and greens. "I'm looking back at classic British course architecture and trying to create great courses whose artificial landforms are indistinguishable from natural ones," he explains.

From its Saxon burial ground to its acres of walled gardens, the property surrounding Phillips' layout fits seamlessly with the streams, boundary hedges and roundabouts of Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire, the modest crossroads where this whole fable is set.

But if the scenery is unspoiled, the people who stay here won't be. And a fair number of them can be put up in the 211 guest rooms and 16 luxury suites. A staff of 350 will unobtrusively guide Grove guests among the resort's three restaurants and dozen-plus spa treatment rooms, as well as tidy up the croquet lawn and the two 75-foot swimming pools when a day's play is over.

In advance of the course's opening, the resort brought in crack golf management company Troon Golf from the U.S. to handle operations. Given the basic premise of The Grove (i.e., American-style luxury in a British golfing milieu), having a group of worldly Yanks around to dust off the ballwashers and comb the rough is a logical idea.

Labels: Press, The Grove

Sunday, June 1, 2003

Into The Grove

Business Golfer

With a course designed by the renowned Kyle Phillips and a hotel based on traditional values, The Grove is an irresistible mixture. Alison Root visits the perfect place to combine business with pleasure.

The style and character of the championship golf course underlines Kyle Phillips' attention to detail. The layout follows a route that's over rolling tree-lined landscape and owes much to the value Phillips is renowned for throughout the clubhouses of the world.

The American, who learned his trade as an employee of Robert Trent Jones, Jr. is best known for his work at Kingsbarns Golf Links, close to St Andrews. Kingsbarns is an admirable addition to the Fife coast and one that has earned Phillips international plaudits, particularly from the world's leading tournament golfers.

Originally from Northern California, Phillips sums up his style as this: "I like to create courses that look and feel old even though they are new," he says. "A good design should help players experience the course with all of their senses. They should feel they are walking on a natural landscape and they should feel a little intimidation mixed with a little triumph," he adds.

To this end, Phillips has allowed The Grove's course to emerge from the landscape rather than have a template design imposed upon it. Having been left alone for almost two years to bed-in and mature, its condition is impeccable. "Building a golf course is like peeling an onion," Phillips continues. "There are layers of detail, but it's the subtle detail that separates the great courses from the others."

Phillips' concern with natural land forms is a departure from the design concept that has dominated golf since the Sixties - the bulldozer - which resulted in flat and featureless courses. Phillips' ethos is to create the most natural courses possible; even a cursory glance at The Grove's course confirms his theory.

Each individually-named hole, from tee to green, presents a unique challenge and unmistakable character. Having designed more than 35 courses while still working with Jones, Phillips knows a thing or two about how to massage a decent score from low- to high-handicappers. His work rewards the golfer with moments when the sight of a green or a fairway, set against centuries-old woodlands, presents an inviting temptation to stop and stare than simply play the ball.

The essence of the course is one in which the player sets his own tasks within his own limits and is then rewarded accordingly. The greater the risk and subsequent success, the bigger the reward. It's a principle that many in the corporate world will recognise.

In golfing terms, it owes much to the strategic school of thought in which a player must think his way round the course without falling into the trap of trying to overpower it. The Hoggery (the 450 yard, par-four 3 rd hole) is a case in point. It follows a slightly downhill route with danger on the left and water threatening the approach shot. This places the emphasis on a perfectly-struck tee shot in order to find the right position on the fairway for a safe approach to the green.

The 4th, a 208-yard, par-three called the Boathouse fulfills all the conditions of a perfect short hole. The green is menaced by the Grand Union Canal to the right, while a stream at the front then humps and hollows behind leave few options to achieve perfect par.

Phillips' customary foresight is seen at its best on the 11th - the Greenhouse. The fairway of this long par-5 (545 yards) sweeps left against a background of ancient trees, while the outer edge is challenged by a series of mounds. Again, accuracy from the tee is paramount to ensure your second shot is more than just a salvage pitch, taking you back to the safety of the fairway to start again.

Overall, it's an engrossing course with a benign element - there is always an escape route as Phillips sticks to his doctrine of providing enjoyment for whoever plays and to whatever standard.

In effect, the demands on all those who play the course and the subsequent sense of achievement provide a complete escape - and that, after all, is the hallmark of The Grove.

Labels: Press, The Grove

Saturday, February 1, 2003

New Wonder Near Watford

Golf International

With a course designed by the renowned Kyle Phillips and a hotel based on traditional values, The Grove is an irresistible mixture. Alison Root visits the perfect place to combine business with pleasure.

The style and character of the championship golf course underlines Kyle Phillips' attention to detail. The layout follows a route that's over rolling tree-lined landscape and owes much to the value Phillips is renowned for throughout the clubhouses of the world.

The American, who learned his trade as an employee of Robert Trent Jones, Jr. is best known for his work at Kingsbarns Golf Links, close to St Andrews. Kingsbarns is an admirable addition to the Fife coast and one that has earned Phillips international plaudits, particularly from the world's leading tournament golfers.

Originally from Northern California , Phillips sums up his style as this: "I like to create courses that look and feel old even though they are new," he says. "A good design should help players experience the course with all of their senses. They should feel they are walking on a natural landscape and they should feel a little intimidation mixed with a little triumph," he adds.

To this end, Phillips has allowed The Grove's course to emerge from the landscape rather than have a template design imposed upon it. Having been left alone for almost two years to bed-in and mature, its condition is impeccable. "Building a golf course is like peeling an onion," Phillips continues. "There are layers of detail, but it's the subtle detail that separates the great courses from the others."

Phillips' concern with natural land forms is a departure from the design concept that has dominated golf since the Sixties - the bulldozer - which resulted in flat and featureless courses. Phillips' ethos is to create the most natural courses possible; even a cursory glance at The Grove's course confirms his theory.

Each individually-named hole, from tee to green, presents a unique challenge and unmistakable character. Having designed more than 35 courses while still working with Jones, Phillips knows a thing or two about how to massage a decent score from low- to high-handicappers. His work rewards the golfer with moments when the sight of a green or a fairway, set against centuries-old woodlands, presents an inviting temptation to stop and stare than simply play the ball.

The essence of the course is one in which the player sets his own tasks within his own limits and is then rewarded accordingly. The greater the risk and subsequent success, the bigger the reward. It's a principle that many in the corporate world will recognise.

In golfing terms, it owes much to the strategic school of thought in which a player must think his way round the course without falling into the trap of trying to overpower it. The Hoggery (the 450 yard, par-four 3rd hole) is a case in point. It follows a slightly downhill route with danger on the left and water threatening the approach shot. This places the emphasis on a perfectly-struck tee shot in order to find the right position on the fairway for a safe approach to the green.

The 4th, a 208-yard, par-three called the Boathouse fulfills all the conditions of a perfect short hole. The green is menaced by the Grand Union Canal to the right, while a stream at the front then humps and hollows behind leave few options to achieve perfect par.

Phillips' customary foresight is seen at its best on the 11th - the Greenhouse. The fairway of this long par-5 (545 yards) sweeps left against a background of ancient trees, while the outer edge is challenged by a series of mounds. Again, accuracy from the tee is paramount to ensure your second shot is more than just a salvage pitch, taking you back to the safety of the fairway to start again.

Overall, it's an engrossing course with a benign element - there is always an escape route as Phillips sticks to his doctrine of providing enjoyment for whoever plays and to whatever standard.

In effect, the demands on all those who play the course and the subsequent sense of achievement provide a complete escape - and that, after all, is the hallmark of The Grove.

Labels: Press, The Grove

Wednesday, January 1, 2003

Gourmet Golf at The Grove

Golf Links

That's how golf course architect, Kyle Phillips, who also designed the stunning and award-winning links course at Kingsbarns near St Andrews , describes his approach to designing golf courses. And this philosophy is clearly evident with his latest creation. Sitting serenely in 300 acres of prime, natural parkland, The Grove, which was formerly the home of the Earls of Clarendon, is a magnificent new 18-hole layout, situated near Rickmansworth in Hertfordshire.

Phillips set out to create a golf course, which would measure up to the demands and requirements of the modem game at the highest level, yet still have the look and feel of the classic English courses from the early 1920's. And although the course doesn't officially open until September 8 th , early indications are that The Grove certainly has the potential to meet both these design objectives.

The developers and owners of The Grove spent some eight years looking for the right location for the course and it was certainly worth the wait. At Kingsbarns, Phillips had to move a considerable amount of earth to create the links style layout. At The Grove he inherited a wonderful piece of natural rolling parkland terrain, where he was able to fit many of the holes into the existing landscape and he has made full and in some instances, exciting use of this in his superb design. No more so than on the short holes, where water and major elevation changes have been used to create four excellent par three holes.

With terrain, which in certain places is fairly steep, it's inevitable that there would be one or two holes that play uphill. But in the main, Phillips has used the elevation changes to great effect, both aesthetically and strategically, with the result that while the layout is stunningly scenic, it's not overly demanding for golfers who prefer to walk, rather than ride in electric buggies.

There is no doubt that The Grove has been constructed to the very highest specifications, with the aim of eventually hosting major professional events and this is clearly indicated by the strategic design of the holes and the quality of the bunkering. Not to mention large putting surfaces, which are already slippery and exceptionally smooth. Likewise the abundance of viewing areas for spectators have also been incorporated in the layout of the course.

However, while The Grove quite rightly strives to attract the game's top professionals, Kyle Phillips' design also ensures that playing the course will also be an enjoyable and rewarding experience for the average golfer.

Labels: Press, The Grove

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The Grove to Host World Golf Championship

The Best of the Best 2004

The Grove Honored as One of England's Finest

Grandeur at The Grove

Into The Grove

New Wonder Near Watford

Gourmet Golf at The Grove