Barlborough Links Golf Club comprises a 9 hole golf course, 12 bay driving range, 9 hole FootGolf course and 8 peg fishing (carp) lake.
The course has been open since 1999 and enjoyed a loyal membership. An arson attack on the clubhouse in 2009, followed by little investment in the course upkeep saw the facility gradually decline over the years.
Barlborough Links Golf & Leisure Ltd took over the course at the beginning of June 2016. This small, family run company is committed to helping the club achieve its potential and we immediately set upon making improvements including new cutting regimes and regular opening hours.
In March 2017 we opened a new Reception inside the driving range which also houses a coffee shop selling a small range of hot/cold drinks and wrapped chocolate.
Golfers continued to spread the word that the course had been taken over and incremental investments were being made on the course and driving range.
Investments since 2016:
2nd Hole – trench installed on 2nd fairway offering more drainage on a wetter part of the course.
New Reception inside the driving range. We pinched a few range bays to build an additional machine store and a bright new Reception with seating for 12 people. An important investment to give the club to have a more inclusive feel which couldn’t be achieved operating from the old blue cabin in the car park.
Driving range divider bays – we got rid of the old high green dividers and replaced them with new lower ones complete with our branding. Advertising opportunities are available for range bay dividers.
FootGolf – we opened a 9-hole FootGolf course to encourage those interested in football to explore the crossover into golf using the tee, fairway, green principles, but using footballs into bucket-style holes.
Driving range – new range mats offering a better surface.
Drainage – large drainage installation to the wettest parts of the course are improving the ability for the course to remain playable year round. It still gets wet (it’s built on clay!) but it’s drier than ever.
1st Tee – large Winter teeing area installed.
Greens – regular annual programme for greens renovation including hollow coring, sanding and seeding. We have USGA specification greens and we like to keep them in as good a condition as we can. We regularly receive compliments on our greens being ‘the best in the area’.
Machinery – new to us rough mower, new to us fairway mower, new to us greens mower. We don’t do credit, so everything we buy is purchased when we can afford it. We now have a couple of backup machines in the event of a main machinery breakdown.
Driving range – new flag poles and flag cloths, rugby style ‘H’ for target practice and yardage distances on every bay.
Caravan site – we opened a small 4 pitch caravan site in August 2023 in association with The Caravan & Motorhome Club.
Driving range – coming in 2023/24. Ball tracking installation on 4 range bays. We have decided that full on installation in all bays isn’t the right way forward for us, so we feel a compromise of installing Flightscope ball tracking technology on 4 bays is the way to go. Many of the new driving range ball tracking installations have gone all-in with installations in every bay and a blanket price increase whether you want to use the equipment or not. We will be keeping our ball prices lower and offering ball tracking as an additional cost for those that was to use it.