GOLFERS of all ages and abilities will be able to tee off in the city after council chiefs agreed a long-term lease with Ravenmeadow Golf Centre.
Under the terms of the lease, Ravenmeadow will now start investing in improvements to the golf course and will also seek planning permission for an improved driving range and to build a new family-friendly Adventure Golf course.
The new lease makes permanent a short-term arrangement that has seen Ravenmeadow offer an 18-hole course by combining the nine holes at its Hindlip Lane base with the nine in the northern part of Perdiswell.
The temporary deal was put in place to compensate for the short-term closure of nine other golf holes in the southern part of Perdiswell so that vital repair work to a culvert could be carried out.
Both club members and casual users of pay and play rounds welcomed the move with 82.5 per cent of people who took part in a City Council survey calling for it to be made permanent.
As part of the deal, which was agreed at a Worcester City Council meeting last Tuesday (March 28), Ravenmeadow chiefs have been tasked to enhance and expand the offering across its site and Perdiswell.
James Leaver, Ravenmeadow Director of Golf, said: “We’ll now be investing in the 18-hole course to make it even more popular with our club members and with customers who want a pay and play round.
“We’ll also be preparing a planning application for improvements to our driving range.
“Golf should be for everyone, so we are drawing up plans for Worcester’s first Adventure Golf course.
“If we can secure planning permission, this will be a fun-packed new way of playing golf that will keep all the family happy,” he added.
Adventure Golf courses have been big successes in many parts of the country, including Bristol, Liverpool, London and Brighton.
Bigger and better than old fashioned crazy golf, the courses boast thrilling fun themes like jungles, dinosaurs or pirates.
David Blake, City Council Managing Director, said: “The partnership with Ravenmeadow has been a hole-in-one success, so we are very pleased to be awarding this lease.
“We will be looking forward to plans coming forward to make golf even more popular at Perdiswell and Hindlip Lane.”
The deal means that golf will not now be returning to the southern part of Perdiswell.
Instead that area, close to the refurbished Perdiswell Leisure Centre, will be fully open for walking and other activities.
