Honiton Golf Club- Golf Club Of The Year 2023!

We were delighted to be awarded Golf Club of the Year (under £1 million turnover), they were selected from a shortlist of six National Golf Clubs, the award was presented by Peter Shilton (ex-England Goalkeeper)”.

On Wednesday 22nd November, a party of 10 representatives, from Honiton Golf Club travelled  to The Athena in Leicester to attend the  Club Mirror National Club Awards, hosted by John Inverdale. 

The club submitted an entry in August and were informed in October that they had been shortlisted for 3 categories: Best New initiative; Best Caterer and Best Club (with a turnover of less than £1million) and were unsure as to what to expect as there was a lot of competition with over 50 National Clubs shortlisted in various categories there was the inevitable anticipation as to what to expect and those that were part of the submission felt that they had already achieved a high benchmark by reaching the shortlist.

Devon Greenslade, Club Manager explains,  ‘We submitted the entry based on the work that was undertaken by our Ladies Section, who in March, achieved the England Golf Women in Golf Charter which was the catalyst for the initiatives that were then launched, starting with our England Golf Women on Par ‘Gin and Swing’ event in April, the aim being to encourage women to take up golf and understand more about the game this was the springboard for them to attend our Golf Access Programme which commenced in May and saw a number of women attend a 10 week programme, hosted by our Club Professional, Adrian Cave and volunteers from the club.  We recognised early on that we needed to create an Academy Pathway to support these new golfers and at the end of the Golf Access programme we saw around 50% join the club a s Acade my Members.

As a result of all the hard work, the Club were awarded Golf Club of the Year (under £1 million turnover), they were selected from a shortlist of six National Golf Clubs, and the award was presented to Devon Greenslade, Jayne Jackson and Adrian Cave by Peter Shilton (ex-England Goalkeeper)

Jayne Jackson, Lady Captain said, ‘when Honiton Golf Club was announced, we could not believe it, we were in shock!  To have won a National Award on this scale is something that we could not believe was possible!  When I took on the Captaincy in January 2023, I wanted to encourage more women to get in to golf and grow our Ladies Section as, like many golf clubs, we have a high age demographic. Our hard work has paid off and I am immensely proud of what our team has achieved!’

Paul Hill, Club President said, ‘we are absolutely delighted to have won this award, I want to thank those that were involved, our staff and volunteers for their hard work and dedication to the club, it has been a phenomenal year’

The Club Mirror – Festival of Clubs have been running for 31 years, the Award for Best Golf Club was sponsored by TNT Sports and was presented to Honiton Golf Club by Peter Shilton (ex England Goal Keeper).  The aim of the Awards is to recognise the vital role that clubs play in their communities.