[12] JULY 2017 | NEWS
GOLFNEWS.CO.UK
GROWING THE GAME THE FAMILY WAY From Northolt in west London, to Barnet in north London, we take a look at five examples of how The Shire London’s owner, Tony Menai-Davis, and his family have spent the last decade bucking the trend to create success, jobs and new experiences for golfers around the capital
■ THE MENAI-DAVIS FAMILY WELCOMES RYDER CUP CAPTAIN THOMAS BJORN AS THE SHIRE LONDON'S NEW HONORARY CAPTAIN
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ust north of Barnet in Hertfordshire, two minutes off the South Mimms junction of the M25 and the A1, Tony and Anne Menai-Davis and their sons have been creating a quiet golfing revolution for the last ten years, from their base at The Shire London. Last month saw the family launch its latest golf attraction – Lost Jungle London, a spectacular 36-hole Miami-style adventure golf kingdom, created in partnership with industry specialist Oliver Mahoney, and which also features a 9-hole FootGolf course on a site just north of Edgware. Incredibly, it is the fifth original Menai-Davis golf initiative to be created in the last ten years, all within a 30-mile stretch of north London. In an age where golf participation is coming under pressure from all sides, here is a refreshing tale of the sport expanding, not contracting, involving large-scale new golf course building, brave new initiatives, and huge numbers of newcomers drawn to hit their first ever golf shot. The Shire London was the first to open for play, in July 2007, having achieved instant national awareness by attracting Seve Ballesteros to design the 7,028-yard golf course. It was to be the ■ THE NEW LOST JUNGLE ADVENTURE GOLF COURSE IS PROVING A BIG HIT WITH KIDS YOUNG AND OLD!
Spaniard’s only full design in the UK, and when the maestro passed away in 2011 the world of golf felt significantly poorer. Ballesteros’s personality is all around you at The Shire London – from the striking statue at the entrance, capturing his fistpumping victory salute at the 1984 Open Championship, to the design of the golf course itself, which stands testament to Seve’s individuality and why-not attitude. We’ve all seen the video of Seve smacking a four-wood towards the green at the Trophée Lancome in 1997 from a kneeling position under a bush. He played the sort of golf you want to watch, with imagination, bravado, and a visible desire to win. He was a man of strong opinions, which frequently led him into controversy. So perhaps it is fitting that if a golf course can be politically incorrect, then Seve’s design at The Shire London is that golf course. Starting with a tough par three to a near-island green – that’s very Seve, daring you to find your A-game from the off. Finishing with a blistering par four, which demands a precise mid-iron approach across not one, but two arms of an S-shaped lake to find a narrow green – highly Ballesteros. Drama, spectacle, adrenaline. But it’s the after-golf experience at The Shire London which is perhaps the key factor in the club’s success over its first decade. The stylish single-storey clubhouse is open plan, so everybody sees everybody; there are no committee rooms; it’s a place to mingle. Unlike most British golf clubs, there is a refreshing lack of signs saying ‘don’t do this, don’t do that’. Small wonder then that under the highly successful operational guidance of Ceri and Cae Menai-Davis, The Shire London has quickly become one of the South’s leading hosts for company golf days and societies, and in 2016 was voted London’s No.1 overall golf experience by users of Golfshake.com. In late June this year, Ceri Menai-Davis organised the fourth annual Trevor Nelson Swing in conjunction with the award-
winning DJ. The event, which was a sell-out, offered a typically Shire-like mix of serious competitive golf and rules-relaxing atmosphere, which this year featured a jerk chicken stall, a well-stocked on-course bar, and golf to the sound of Nelson’s trademark soul music, pumped across the golf course by giant speakers. That spirit of inclusivity was taken to a high level in 2012, when Cae Menai-Davis and Frank Harrington launched The Golf Trust at The Shire London to unite the UK’s various disabled golf associations in a single charity, which, in spring this year, finally achieved official recognition by the UK Charity Commission. Since its launch, the Golf Trust has engaged with well over 200,000 people – almost all complete newcomers to golf – for a minimum of four hours’ golf coaching per person. While the Trust is still highly active in disabled golf, with over 50,000 individuals given specialist long-term coaching to date, it has also broadened its influence into a huge inner-city schools and communities programme, and in January it became the first UK partner for the global Els For Autism initiative. In December 2012, the family opened the West London Golf Centre on the outskirts of Northolt. The large driving range and golf superstore there were soon joined by a Dinosaur Escape adventure golf facility, and an attractive full-length 9-hole course, which poses a real challenge even to experienced golfers. In spring of this year, the WLGC opened its Dino Soft Play facility for families with young children, and, with its on-site Coffee House, has become a haven for the local community, whether or not they play golf. And across the road, another golf course – the championshiplength West London Links – is being built and prepared for a public opening expected before the end of the decade. The Menai-Davis family is not revealing much about their fourth major golf project, but you can expect it to set golfers an authentic inland links challenge. In March this year The Shire London signed its first major player-representation deal, revealing that 2018 European Ryder Cup captain Thomas Bjørn would become the club’s honorary captain for 2017-18. And just one month later, in April, the family made even bigger news when their fifth golf development – The Dye London – was granted planning permission. A spectacular 18-hole Tour-style golf course will soon emerge north of Edgware, bringing the skills of world-famous golf architects Dye Designs – known for Sawgrass, Kiawah Island and Harbour Town – to the UK for the first time. The planning decision is being seen as a key moment for golf development in the UK, and with The Dye London set to mimic the successful formula established by The Shire London – high quality at an affordable price to a small membership with seven-day access to the general public – it looks likely that the Menai-Davis family is set to continue to make headlines in the years to come.
CONTACT LIST
■ THE SHIRE LONDON, WHICH FIRST OPENED IN 2007, IS SEVE BALLESTEROS’S ONLY FULL UK DESIGN
www.theshirelondon.com www.westlondongolfcentre.com www.thedyelondon.com www.thegolftrust.org www.lostjunglelondon.co.uk