The Shire is celebrating its 10th birthday

The Shire London is celebrating its 10^th anniversary this summer with two special events on its Severiano Ballesteros–designed golf course.

First up on Friday June 30^th is the Trevor Nelson Swing 4 golf day, the fourth year running in which The Shire has hosted the world–renowned DJ’s mid–summer golf party. The event is open to the public, always attracts a large, eclectic entry list, and offers golfers the year’s most relaxed and inclusive golf day with no dress code and a DJ and bar out on the golf course.

On Saturday 1^st July there is a Members Invitational event at The Shire London, where members can invite a guest, enjoy champagne and a fine meal, and compete in a golf tournament with prizes – all totally free, with the compliments of the golf club.

“Ten years after we opened in July 2007, we are very happy with the reputation which The Shire London has earnt for itself” said founder Tony Menai–Davis, who started building the golf club in the early 2000s when Ballesteros agreed to come on board as course designer. 

“The July 1^st event is our heartfelt thankyou to our wonderful, loyal members who breathe life and soul every day of the year into The Shire London. Seve would have been proud of what The Shire London has become, I am sure, were he able to visit today, and we all feel his enormous presence here at the club every day.”

On The Shire London’s famously inclusive atmosphere, Menai–Davis said: “The Shire London has a relaxed, European feel. We welcome families and mixed competitions, and you can wear what you like in our clubhouse. A single visit here will confirm that we haven’t sacrificed quality, but we have sacrificed a lot of the nonsense normally associated with golf – for example, all those notices which make you feel unwelcome at other golf clubs. We did this from the start in 2007, and it is good to see so many British golf clubs have recently moved in this direction too. It makes the sport more healthy.”

In March 2017, The Shire London announced that its new Honorary Captain would be European Ryder Cup Captain Thomas Bjorn, and the big Dane is hosting his own golf event there on October 9^th – the Thomas Bjorn Trophy, an Open event supported by Callaway and Galvin Green, staged in aid of The Golf Trust and the European Tour Foundation.

And the club also has its own award–winning charity – The Golf Trust – which has risen spectacularly in under five years to become one of Europe’s most powerful drivers of inclusive golf in communities and schools, teaching the sport to approaching a quarter of a million people and showing how golf can be life-enhancing and build self-worth, as well as providing valuable exercise for people of all physical and mental abilities.

Menai–Davis, who runs The Shire with his wife Anne and sons Ceri and Cae, also created the 9-–hole West London Golf Centre near Northolt, and will soon open the 18–hole West London Links nearby. The family also recently received planning permission to open The Dye London near Edgware, which will include the UK’s first Dye Designs golf course. 

“It has been a huge team effort, certainly by my family, but also by our fabulous hard-working staff at both The Shire and at West London. We are all proud to reach our 10^th Anniversary with both venues in such a vibrant state, and I promise that we have plenty of great surprises in store for golfers around London in the next ten years, too!”

Related:

The Golf Trust and its rise and rise