Jeremy Ellwood visits Silvermere Golf Complex in Surrey, an impressive facility that has established itself as one of Europe's most vibrant golfing hubs
Location, location, location, they say, and Silvermere Golf Complex, close to the busy A3/M25 intersection in Surrey, enjoys one of the most prime locations of all.
When you then use that location to maximum effect by doing everything not just well, but extremely well, you have one hugely impressive golf facility – somewhere that ranks among the biggest and busiest of its kind in Europe.
Let’s start with the 18-hole golf course designed by Neil Coles and Brian Huggett, which sets out through avenues of majestic trees before reaching a dramatic finale, with nerve-testing shots over water on the par-3 17th and island-green 18th.
The two-tier, 52-bay driving range is then something else. Some 32 bays boast the latest ProTracer Technology, so you can see exactly where your shots are going. The range itself is no bland field, but rather a sculpted arena with various targets, plus a small copse of trees to either aim at or shape your ball around. There’s even a wedge range to help you hone your short game.
If it’s lessons you’re looking for, there are 25 PGA professionals on hand, while Silvermere Golf’s four unique indoor/outdoor studios are fitted with the latest GCQuad. This allows the eight highly qualified custom fitters to analyse your game in the minutest detail, before making recommendations from the ranges of ten club manufacturers with Regional or Advanced Fitting Centres on site.
When it comes to golf retail outlets, Silvermere’s vast, 8,500ft2 shop is up there with the very best. It carries one of the widest selections of women’s golf apparel and is also home to Planet FJ, a unique studio showcasing FootJoy’s entire current range in every style, colour and size. Silvermere also boasts the most comprehensive golf store for left-handers anywhere, a real Aladdin’s cave that attracts lefties from far and wide.
“It’s like the weekend every day,” Silvermere Golf retail manager John Heyward tells us. Little surprise, then, that it’s been officially recognised as the busiest shop at any golf complex in Europe. Indeed, every element of Silvermere’s operation is constantly busy on the day of our dawn-to-dusk June visit.
Add in a short-game area complete with bunker and every kind of testing slope, a superb synthetic floodlit putting green, the beautiful Inn on the Lake – where the bistro is open daily from 7.30am to 11pm – and an excellent club repair workshop, and it’s clear that when it comes to all-encompassing golf facilities, nowhere does it better than Silvermere Golf Complex.
