An England golf selector has branded the possible closure of Ifield Golf Club to make way for housing as “a disaster.”
The club, based in Crawley, was bought by Homes England in 2020 as part of plans for a 3,000-home development west of Ifield. A hybrid planning application was submitted to Horsham District Council in August.
Attracting around 6,000 unique visitors each year, the club is set to celebrate its centenary in 2027, just one year before its land lease runs out. But the milestone is now under threat, with members fearing the doors could close instead.
Alan Covey, a member of the club and an England under-18s selector, said: “It would be a disaster. Not only for Crawley. In my mind as an England selector [for the under 18s], we’re not encouraging kids to play golf.
“I deal with the elite players in the country but I need places like this to develop kids to get to my level.
“What’s good about this place is that it’s welcoming to the kids. They don’t feel intimidated, they come along, play golf and feel relaxed. And that’s what we need as a country, places like this.”
SUGGESTED MITIGATION
The club has members ranging from just seven years old to 101. Alan also highlighted the importance of the sport for older players, calling golf in retirement “absolutely critical” for both body and mind, from the five-mile walk around the course to the simple act of socialising and having “a reason to get up in the morning.”
He added: “We’re all flabbergasted. It’s a great community and it will be very sad if that goes. I don’t know where our 500 members would go. It’s not just about a golf club, they’re friends.”
In its application, Homes England admitted that Ifield Golf Club was not surplus to requirements but still labelled its position as “marginal.” As a result, it ruled that a like-for-like replacement would not be “proportionate or warranted.”
Instead, the developer has suggested improvements to Tilgate and Rookwood courses, in Crawley and Horsham, with the final mitigation package to be agreed with Horsham District Council, Sport England and England Golf.
But Alan was unimpressed. Rather than losing facilities, he argued the country needed “100 others just like it” to get more children into the game.
With Europe’s Ryder Cup win over the USA fresh in the memory, he noted the boost such success could give to the next generation of golfers.
Alan said: “Mitigation to me is to give similar to what we have got. Do they build another golf course as good as this? Mitigation is so wide open.
“We’ve got to have houses but not here. It would be so sad if we lost this.”
