Club wants to build driving range – to keep golfers playing the game

A Lancashire golf club has submitted a planning application to build a driving range – and has stated that golfers will abandon the sport if it doesn’t.

Ashton and Lea Golf Club is based in Preston where nearby Fulwood Driving Range and Golf Academy, located at Preston Grasshoppers, recently closed down.

This means Preston, which has a population of well over 100,000 people (and is embarking on a major house-building programme that will result in its population growing to nearly 150,000) and a handful of golf courses, has just one driving range, at Preston Golf Club, which itself is ‘limited due to its length’ states the club.

According to the Lancashire Post, ‘in a bid to halt the talent drain from golf clubs in the city’, Ashton and Lea has submitted a planning application to build a 14-bay range as part of a major improvement of its 12-acre practice field. ‘And the club argues there is an urgent need to have a second facility to encourage golfers to stay in the sport,’ it adds.

“The recent demise of the driving range at Preston Grasshoppers now means there is currently only one golf driving range in the city of Preston, leaving young and old potential golfers nowhere to start or continue their healthy, rewarding and enjoyable golfing experiences,” says the planning statement. “This remaining range is located at Preston Golf Club and its use is limited due to its length.

“This inevitably results in more proficient golfers moving to other clubs, or leaving the sport altogether. Outside Preston the nearest ranges would require parental transportation which in effect minimises access for young people.”

The club says the massive house-building programme currently underway to the north of Preston could bring an extra 21,000 people to live in the area, potentially including 3,800 new golfers. The covered range would also include a coaching bay.