Golf and Planning Saga 1989-2007

Greys Green Golf Course is still often called The Dog Golf Course, as it all started in Dog Field on Greys Green Farm

1992 Dog Golf begins

April 1992

Our very first score card - doublesided on white cardboard

August 1992

Spurred on by the howls of rage from Rotherfield Greys and Rotherfield Peppard, SODC (South Oxfordshire District Council) planning department were on our case in next to no time
This press cutting from a Reading newspaper in August 1992 tells the tale:

April 1992:

We opened a 9-hole par 3 public pay-and-play golf course on Dog Field- the field next to the Dog Pub - which had previously been used to grow wheat or maize
The 9 holes were all in one field - the one next to Dog Lane - and parking was on the grass just inside the field entrance and also in the layby next to the Dog Pub
At this time, green fees could also be paid at the Dog Pub itself, since the then landlord was an enthusiastic golfer and supporter of the golf venture
This was - and remains - the only 100% pay and play golf course (other than Municipal courses) in the Henley and Reading area - no members then or now
No over-fussy dress code - trainers, jeans, even topless were and are still accepted

Often whole families venture forth, including tots with plastic clubs and mothers with prams

Those of you who were with us from the beginning will remember that you shared the course with grazing sheep and that we collected the green fees periodically in what everyone referred to as "that old grey Sierra"

Planning history menu:

1992 Dog Golf begins
1993 Golf course expands
1994 Another Public Inquiry
2001 Golf expands again
2002 Golf expands further
2007 Another Public Inquiry - success at last