Ramside Hall Hotel and Golf Club, County Durham’s only 36-hole golf resort and hotel, has marked its 21st anniversary year by investing £50,000 into new practice facilities and covered storage for its fleet of 36 golf buggies.
The improvements include a new ‘Short Game Zone’ with a 300 square metre artificial green where golfers can practice pitching and chipping.
The zone also features an 850 square metre putting green located at the entrance to Ramside’s Cathedral Course, the North East’s newest golf course. The 18-hole championship layout opened in 2014 at a cost of £3m.
Roger Shaw, courses manager Ramside Hall Hotel and Golf Club, said: “This new practice facility is one of only a handful in the North of England and has been built so that golfers can practice on a surface that is weather proof and never changes, come rain or shine.
Our artificial green behaves almost exactly like a real grass golf green when you hit shots into it. When other facilities are waterlogged or bogged down in mud, golfers can come and enjoy high-quality practice sessions at Ramside.”
The final part of Ramside’s programme of improvements was the construction of two 16m long shelters covered with artificial grass tiles. The structures house a fleet of 36 golf buggies and provide year round protection against the weather.
Ramside commissioned Easigrass North East, an award-winning artificial grass company, to build the shelters. The design was inspired by the Easi-Gazebee, an Easigrass product which won Gold at the Royal Horticultural Society’s Chelsea Flower Show.
Helen Roseberry, director of golf at Ramside Golf Club, said: “The buggy shelters are the last piece of the jigsaw, a real talking point when people arrive at the resort.
They have the wow effect but are also practical, they keep our buggies dry and protected from the changing British weather while blending in against the backdrop of the golf course.”
These new facilities are the final phase in a multi-million pound redevelopment of the golf club, hotel and resort which started in 2011 and has seen the addition of 48 premium hotel rooms, a new 18-hole golf course and a luxury health club, gym and spa.
Ramside’s short game zone is open to the public, as well as club members and visiting guests. Practice sessions are by appointment and booked through Ramside Golf Reception on 0191 386 9514.
Easigrass www.easigrass.com
Ramside Hall Hotel and Golf Club www.ramsidehallhotel.co.uk/golf