36 hole golf club up for sale for £4.5 million

A 36-hole Hampshire golf club situated in the New Forest National Park has been placed up for sale with a guide price of £4.5 million to £4.75 million.

Bramshaw Golf Club also features a 28-bed Grade II listed gastro pub, The Bell Inn, which has been in the same family ownership since 1782. The pub alone turns over more than £1.6 million per year.

The two 18-hole courses are the Forest Course, Hampshire’s oldest golf course dating to 1865 and one that is incredibly rich in wildlife, and The Manor, which was established in 1972.

The club features a 6,300 square feet clubhouse which, excluding a franchised food and beverage operation, turned over more than three quarters of a million pounds last year.

During the summer we reported on the Forest Course, which was recently redesigned as part of a complex ten-year project. The land is owned by the Forestry Commission and is subject to several covenants, including local commoners being able to put their livestock out to graze.

The heathland on which the Forest Course is based is so unique that the site has been designated the highest Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) recognition by Natural England. It has just one hole with bunkers and in order to comply with the restrictions from Natural England under the operating license, the fairways can only be cut twice a year. It’s also a ‘nitrogen vulnerable zone’, giving the course manager and greenkeepers very little input into what can be put onto the course, due to the natural water courses.

The changes included a complete course reconfiguration with a new tee built on the fourth hole and shortened to a long par three. The most significant change was to the 15th, which changed from a par three to a new par four and saw the first new green built on the course in over 70 years. The reconfiguration has enabled the club to retain both the par 69 and the total course yardage, in excess of 5,700 yards.

Bramshaw’s course manager, Jason Buckmaster, said of the work: “With up to 140 ‘heads’ of cattle out on the course at any one time, playing on the first tee could, on occasions, be quite a challenge. We had to find an alternative solution for the heaviest grazed areas that would suit all interested parties and enable commoning practices to continue to thrive alongside a leisure activity that is enjoyed by many.

“The Forest Course is quite simply, golf as it should be in its most natural, unmanicured state with the roaming livestock only adding to its charm. It really is quite unique.”