David Green is heading up one of the UK’s most exciting and anticipated golf development projects, with Basingstoke Golf Club in Hampshire on the verge of a soft opening in late June.
The club – which first opened for play in 1907 – has recently moved locations and taken up the land that was formerly owned by Dummer Golf Club on the outskirts of the town.
With a new championship course complemented by a state-of-the-art clubhouse and myriad of practice facilities, there is a shared vision at the club to make the new Basingstoke one of the south’s premier golf venues, with a full reopening marked for September 2025.
GBN: Where did you start your golf career?
David Green: I grew up playing at Princes in Sandwich, but golf wasn’t really my thing until I was 16 – it was more rugby and cricket. Being in a golfing corner of the Southeast I was fortunate enough to work at the 1993 Open at Royal St George’s as a board carrier for Tom Kite and his group in the first two rounds. I remember really enjoying the buzz of it and watching the golf Tom played was inspiring. Chris Evans, the PGA Professional at Princes, suggested to me about being a golf professional following my Open experience, which I considered, but started my A-levels, however after four months I decided to give golf a go. I turned pro at 18 and I haven’t looked back.
Did you play competitively?
I managed to get a few invites to play some European Challenge Tour events early in my career which was great experience and loved every moment of it along with competing on the Mastercard Tour and mini tours, but to do this you need a sponsor or a lot of money. I therefore decided to secure a good career path, so that’s when I went into teaching and retail and being a golf club professional – first at Tandridge as Head Assistant with Chris Evans, then as Director of Golf at Farnham Park and Croham Hurst, Head Professional at Wildernesse and then as Group General Manager at Paultons and Bramshaw. It’s been an interesting career, an exciting one. I’ve occupied various different roles, including Head Pro, Director of Golf and General Manager. Now here we are at Basingstoke.
How did this opportunity come about?
It came up last June/July time. I hadn’t really heard about it, but I’d connected with a few recruitment agencies, and it went from there with Scott Patience Consultancy being the appointed recruiter. To be able to come in and set the golf club up for the membership, to play a part in what is a £15 million project, you don’t really get too many opportunities like that.
It sounds like an exciting project…
Absolutely. There is plenty to do to get the club ready to open to its members, with a new governance structure, liquidation of a company and starting up another to trade the assets. Whilst there is a lot of admin, it is also very interesting to see the changes that need to be made in getting a new golf club ready. Although we are still going to be Basingstoke Golf Club, having that new governance structure in place along with updated rules and policies will enable the team and I to get the club operational and focused on delivering the investment the club has made.
Tell us about the old course…
The club was a really nice parkland golf course designed by James Braid. It was very pleasant – and I think if there hadn’t been that opportunity to sell it, everybody would have been quite content with where they were and what they had. Now, though, they’ve got an amazing opportunity with a brand-new modern facility, whilst maintaining the values of a member’s club.
That must come with some challenges?
The biggest challenge will be helping the present membership transfer into their new home which will have a different feel to the last one, a different operating structure and a different budget. The opportunities are fabulous for the members and the legacy of the club will transfer but with an inevitable modern twist.
The new Basingstoke Golf Club has huge potential, doesn’t it?
There’s bigger acreage, a bigger footprint to the clubhouse, a driving range being built. There are so many components to this golf club that we didn’t have on the old site.
We have 162 acres of land out here of which about 50 acres of it wasn’t being used. To be able to redesign it and use the space to its entirety is very exciting.
What are your aspirations for the new Basingstoke Golf Club?
When I went through the interview process, I questioned why they weren’t considering being a Top 100 golf course. Even if we don’t get into the Top 100, I think it’s worthwhile that you’re aspiring towards it because it helps set parameters and set goals for the team to work towards. I think the club has the ability to get into the Top 100 Golf Courses due to its fabulous layout and facilities that come with it. It certainly has the potential to be one of the premier golf courses and members clubs in Hampshire and, hopefully, in the south as well.
When does the new course open?
We’re pretty confident that we can get nine holes, if not a couple more than that, open by late June, with the new clubhouse opening sometime in August. It will then be a case of slowly releasing holes as and when they’re ready. The hope is that by the time we get to early to mid-autumn, we’ll have the whole golf course open. We hope to have our grand opening in September next year, and plan to have a top player in the world to be part of this. The reason for the later official opening is that our driving range will be the last of the facilities to open due to the outfield being sculpted and laid to seed in early Spring 2025.
What is it about the new course that excites you the most?
We’re starting to see some real definition out there, certainly towards the back of the golf course where the fescue has grown through and has this wonderful bluey/purply tinge to it presently, which is really going to showcase the rolling hills that we’ve got out there and frame those holes around the back half.
What are the main defences?
Off the back tees it’s just over 6,800 yards long, so it will be a good test, especially when the wind blows. It’s going to be a challenging test but without being one where you feel you’re continually hitting par 4s over 450 yards uphill and into the wind. There’s a real variation, too. We’ve got half a dozen holes where you can stand on those tees and go, ‘Oh, wow, this must be the signature hole’. This is the nice thing about this build and how our architect Bruce Weller saw it: we’ve been able to create some wow holes out there.
As a keen golfer and coach, you must be looking forward to playing it yourself?
As a PGA Professional and having been a retailer and coach in the past, I do not miss that part of my job but to have not been able to play for a couple of years now has been frustrating! I was recently stood on the terrace looking out over the golf course with our course manager – it was probably the first time I felt like I had to get out there. The next 14 months are going to be hard graft delivering the project and club to our membership but hopefully, once we’ve got there, I’ll be able to dust off the irons and enjoy the fruits of all our labour.