Winter Hill becomes Get Golfing’s tenth golf club

The John Lewis Partnership has sold the golf club it owns – and it has not gone to the nearby club that had been set to purchase it.

Winter Hill Golf Club in Berkshire has been owned by the operator of the John Lewis department stores and Waitrose supermarkets for the last 85 years, as a benefit for its employees, but it was recently put up for sale due to debt repayments that John Lewis Partnership needs to make.

Just a few weeks ago Maidenhead Golf Club, which has until the end of 2025 to leave its site after it relinquished its lease to its local council for a reported nearly £16 million in order to enable the development of up to 1,800 homes, suggested it was set to purchase the 200-acre site.

However, it has now been announced that private firm Safegolf Limited is to buy the club and golf charity Get Golfing will run it under a long-term lease.

This will be Get Golfing’s tenth club, and its second new one in the last year.

The charity is expected to invest in the club – both in the course and clubhouse.

The move means that current members can continue playing at the club, which has been welcomed by some of them.

Winter Hill Golf Club

Jane Ohlenschlager, ladies’ captain, said: “We are delighted for all of the members of the club. Winter Hill means a lot to us, and we are thrilled with this outcome.

“Get Golfing has a strong track record. We’ve also spoken with members of their other clubs and can see they’re firmly committed to the game. We’re also on the same page when it comes to involving the community.

“With their management and our passionate support for our club and its membership, we’re really excited about our future and the potential to make even more of a positive local impact.”

Edward Richardson, CEO of Get Golfing, added: “When we first heard about the plans to close the course, sell the land and disband the club, we immediately mobilised, reached out to our contacts and started to engage with John Lewis. They were receptive to our cause and our plans – we cannot thank them enough for their support.”

Speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, Maidenhead Golf Club’s chairman, Paul Louden, said: “We’re very disappointed. We worked for the last two and half years with the John Lewis Partnership after they came to us. That’s why we’re rather disappointed by it all.

“However, we are where we are, and we will try and move on and see what’s next available to us.”

He added “more exciting things to come in the near future” after next month’s local election.