Menai-Davis partners with Dye Designs on three London courses

The Menai-Davis family has formed a partnership with Dye Designs for the design of two new golf courses near London, England, plus remodelling of their existing Seve Ballesteros-designed course, The Shire London.

The first of the two new 18-hole courses, West London Links in Northolt, is in construction and scheduled to open in the summer of 2020.

Ground was broken on the site – which is opposite the Menai-Davis’s nine-hole course and driving range, the West London Golf Centre – some time ago. Dye Designs were brought into the project following a visit this summer by Perry Dye, Cynthia Dye McGarey and Matt McGarey. The latter is teaming up with golf constructor Nigel Ely to shape its greens, bunkers and undulating fairways.

Ceri Menai-Davis, director of the family’s golf interests, said: “West London Links is a bold, brave design. We are pushing the boundaries of what is possible as regards sculpting a golfing landscape, with dramatic shaping which UK golfers have not seen before at an inland links.

“The Dye family and Nigel Ely are bringing a huge amount of collective experience of links courses around the world, and will be applying everything they have learnt to West London Links.

“Expect surprises! Golfers will encounter imaginative new green shapes, surrounds and run-offs, and a variety of authentic links golf hazards including pot bunkers and steep revetted faces. We will have fast-running fairways, slick greens, multiple tee positions and classic links-style blind shots, plus extensive short game and practice areas. It will be a championship-length golf course to test elite golfers from the back tees, but it is also designed to be accessible even to beginner golfers.”

Meanwhile, construction on another new design, The Dye London, in Edgware, begins next month. The ‘Tour-style’ course was granted planning permission last year and is expected to open in 2023. It will be the first UK golf course designed from scratch by Dye Designs, whose architects Perry Dye and Cynthia Dye McGarey will be teaming up on the project. Initial plans indicate that the par-three seventh will be a replica of the famous island seventeenth designed by Pete and Alice Dye at TPC Sawgrass.

“These two brand-new golf courses will offer player-friendly family golf for all lovers of the sport, and of course we are also delighted to be consulting at The Shire London, which is already well-known for its modern, inclusive nature,” said Perry Dye. “This sport needs more people like the Menai-Davis family, who are among a very small number of people creating original, accessible golf courses in the UK at the moment.”

Matt McGarey is also consulting with the team at The Shire London on the development of a comprehensive new short game area, plus the reshaping and reconditioning of several key bunkers on the Ballesteros course. The Shire London’s thirteenth hole is also being remodelled during the work.

“Speaking as someone who, in the late eighties, was barred from joining a golf club because my face didn’t fit, I have been fortunate to have worked subsequently with the world’s best golfer, Seve Ballesteros, and with the world’s best golf architects, the Dye family” said Tony Menai-Davis, managing director of the family’s golf interests.

“Both of our new courses will echo the sort of golfing tests which Tour superstars face in Major championships,” he said. “But thanks to multiple tees, golfers of all levels and all ages will be able to enjoy them. We have some real treats and surprises in store for London’s golfers.”

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