An Excellent Golf Centre at Chadwell Heath, Essex

The golf complex at Chadwell Heath is set in a fantastic location.  It is on the junction of Whalebone Lane and the A127, close to Romford and well within the M25.  There is excellent visibility of the centre at the road junction, and the adventure putting course – one of the largest imaginable – complete with Moby Dick, a decent sized frigate and a massive waterfall. The Moby Golf course is chocker-block with eager putters whenever the weather is pleasant.

History

The golf range was started originally by PGA professional Alan Walker, who developed the golf range complete with a good-sized golf shop and an impressive teaching service, before selling it on to JJB Sports in the ‘90s.  Simon Preston and Scott Cranfield, both highly successful PGA pros in their own right, took over the business in 2004 and ran it for 17 years before selling it to the International Leisure Group (American Golf) in January 2022. Simon and Scott added additional land and developed an exceptional 18 hole course using imported materials to shape the holes elegantly and in an interesting manner for golf.  This was no clumsy tipping operation with a few holes added for credibility: Simon and Scott developed a high-end executive length golf course which is run on an exclusive membership basis; the course is as pretty as a picture and a great credit to them. Golf Features caught up with Simon and Scott recently. 

Simon said: “We have both greatly enjoyed developing the site here at Chadwell Heath over the last 17 years and it is a pleasure for us to hand it on to Gary and his team at American Golf, who have had a massive impact over the last 3 months. Both Scott and myself are working as consultants for Gary and his team and are greatly enjoying the challenges without being directly involved with the day-to-day running of the golf centre.”

Today the centre boasts a 25 bay golf range complete with the excellent TopTracer technology and Power Tees in the bays, an adventure golf course, 18 hole course, 18 hole Footgolf course, Il Corso Café Bar and, not surprisingly, a large incredibly well stocked American Golf store.  There is also a beautifully presented E-Sports Lounge, which can be hired out to groups for private sessions of tuition and fun based events, including playing a number of famous courses from around the world. The new studio works particularly well with the Il Corso Café Bar. Golf Kingdom is also home to a thriving golf academy. 

The centre has several excellent top coaches including: David Rawlings, Rob Coles, Lee Laughlin and Matt Stables. The team delivers high quality teaching for individuals and groups with an excellent junior academy and Get Into Golf initiative.

The centre is run by Rebecca Killington, who first started at Golf Kingdom 5 years ago following on from a background in the lesiure club business. She spoke to Golf Features:

“The changes over the last 3 months have been quite dramatic, with a complete refit of the golf shop and the new Il Corso Café Bar, complete with the al fresco dining area outside and a large number of television monitors to bring a ‘sports bar’ feel to our valuable clients.  Previously we enjoyed a busy, but more basic café, but it is quite clear that our customers like the Il Corso offering more as they are spending longer with us and in greater numbers. The whole centre looks so much smarter and customers and staff are hugely enjoying the changes.”

The Golf Kingdom Unlimited membership is great value for all golfers, regardless of age or ability. Golf Kingdom Unlimited membership includes the following: Unlimited use of their Members Only 18-hole Masters Golf Course · Unlimited use of their 25-bay Driving Range · Bookable 14 days in advance via the Golf Kingdom App · Use of the Floodlit synthetic Short Game Area, playable all-year-round · Use of their grass Short Game Area located on the Master’s Course. All of this for just £59.50 per month, which is the equivalent of just one basket of golf range balls a week. The membership is very popular and although the course is not going to stage a Ryder Cup, due to its length, it is a delightful layout and great fun to play. With the additional practice session benefits, it is not surprising that the course is so busy.

Gary Favell has been chief executive of American Golf – and now its holding company International Leisure Group – for the last few years.  American Golf had already purchased three golf centres: High Legh Park Golf Club, their original site at Wythall (sometimes known as Three Counties) and Hemingford Abbots in Cambridgeshire.  More recently, they have taken on Golf Kingdom, the golf range and course at Barnhurst in Kent, and the range, adventure golf course, café and golf store at Rossendale in Lancashire. Five more sites are in the pipeline.

Since taking over in January, American Golf have completely transformed the Golf Kingdom retail environment.  The shop is beautifully lit and arranged carefully so that manufacturers can display their products in the most seductive of surroundings, with back-lit signage and promotional videos constantly playing to deepen customers’ product knowledge and highlight the benefits and differences of particular types of equipment.  The shop leads directly to the café bar, now branded as Il Corso and also to the range.

An investment of around £750,000 has seen the centre change quickly into more of a cutting-edge experience that Gary and American Golf wanted to offer their customers. There is a large sail at the front of the entrance which provides shade and shelter for the Il Corso café customers.  Previously there was no space for al fresco dining, so it is not surprising that golfers are lingering, socialising and enjoying the new café bar. Il Corso is the in-house brand for American Golf’s food and drink offering and very smart it is too. Coffees, beer, soft drinks, pizzas and fast food are available throughout the day and can be delivered onto the range as well.

International Leisure Group, which is the holding company for American Golf, also owns a number of key golfing brands: Rife, Stromberg, Golfino, Benross and Fazer. Ellesse Golf and the Greg Norman brand of leisurewear are both exclusively licensed to American Golf throughout the country: these new brands obviously feature prominently in all American Golf stores today. The quality of some of this exclusive merchandise being produced by the in-house brands is quite outstanding. 

American Golf has a very strong on-line presence, but their preference is to fully engage in person with a customer, as this allows them to offer the best possible advice without having to worry about the bottom line.  Gary elaborates:

“We are very proud to have around 100 PGA professionals working for us across all of our stores.  This gives us a substantial advantage over people just wishing to sell equipment on-line, where price and availability are the only issues.  We would rather give a golfer great advice even if it doesn’t result in a sale, as we know that customer will return for more advice and future purchases. “

American Golf has had an interesting couple of years, with pandemic issues forcing closures, restrictions, additional sanitising, and other procedures. There has also been a huge problem across the industry with getting stock of new products. Golf has been booming, but the issues facing any large company have been complex and awkward. American Golf has done a great job of negotiating these choppy seas and has manage to greatly increase business, moving from a mainly retail offering to a full throttle leisure business, engaging leisure users across a number of different golfing themes. 

The business looks set to thrive and continue its growth. Best of all, it’s creating thousands of new golfers every month.

For more details, please visit: golfkingdom.net