Pleasington Golf Club

The Course

The golf course is simply stunning, with breathtaking views across the Lancashire countryside and gives a real sense of tranquillity. Set in the rural village of Pleasington, the course is 5 minutes from the M65 and 10 minutes from the M6 Preston junction.

A Heathland Challenge

Our course is set in a rare area of heathland which combines beautifully with some ancient woodlands that back  on to the famed Hoghton Tower Estate where the “Sirloin” was created when King James I of England knighted the loin of beef. The course is lucky to be based mainly on sand, with excellent drainage even in the wettest conditions with fabulous greens and beautifully defined aprons. It provides a real heathland challenge of a Championship standard but benefiting from 5 different tee options to cater for all abilities.

Course Design

Originally designed by George Lowe Snr and later extended by Sandy Herd, the layout offers the golfer a unique challenge with a wonderful variety of holes across different elevations. Following the building of the new bridge in 2014, the 5th and 11th holes were swapped, and Par for the outward 9 nine is now 38. It has 3 par 5’s giving the golfer the chance to post a score including the famous 7th hole “Mill” with its split-level fairway (watch a video on how to play the Mill). Our back nine however has 3 par 3’s and 6 par 4’s. This presents the golfer with very little room for error, including the tough 13th “Lodge” which can play over 450 yards and the dramatic par 3 12th hole “Owlets” played across a valley.

Pleasington offers the golfer the chance to play many types of shot, from "flying it all the way", to a more links style game! It is a great test of golf which is complemented by the beautiful views across the Lancashire countryside and real sense of serenity.

History & Heritage

In 1891 Mr Fred T.Marwood of Pleasington Lodge invited George Lowe Snr, the professional at Lytham St.Annes Golf Club, to lay out 9 golf holes within 142 acres of picturesque East Lancashire countryside thus forming Pleasington Golf Club.

Some 18 years later in 1909 Alexander “Sandy” Herd of Fixby Golf Club (a past winner of the Open in 1902) was invited to plan the extension of the course to make 18 holes.

Eight holes were designed on the North side of the Railway and a further one added to the existing South side to make the first 18 hole course comprising of 5000 yards.

A Clubhouse was also erected at this time and was opened on 9th June 1910.

Both the Clubhouse and the Course have undergone many changes in subsequent years but the origins have remained visible throughout the 120+ years of Pleasington Golf Club. The Championship “Blue” Course now measures over 6,500 yards and the Clubhouse underwent a major renovation in 1997.

The Club can boast many fine golfers as members from its origins to present day but no history of Pleasington Golf Club would be complete without mention of Julia Greenhalgh – one of the finest amateur golfers of her generation – who was awarded Life Membership of the Club in 1966. Julia represented England and Great Britain from 1960 to 1979 and won numerous National Titles around the world including the British Strokeplay twice in 1974 & 1975.

2014 saw one of the most dramatic alterations to the Course in the history of the Club when Network Rail undertook a £ 1,000,000 project to construct a bridge over the Railway and close the unmanned crossing forever. There had previously been a footbridge over the crossing but this was removed in the early 1960’s as it was deemed unsuitable and unsafe.

The only site available for safe construction of a structure able to take vehicular access was further away from the original crossing and so it was necessary to alter the playing order of the holes to accommodate the new location. This necessitated a minor alteration to the course with the slight shortening of the 6th hole from the Gent’s tees, removing the previously blind tee shot and allowing the opportunity of a “risk / reward” drivable par 4.

Storey Construction, who built the bridge for Network Rail, won an award for the innovative way that the bridge was constructed offsite and moved into place – they produced a video detailing the construction and you can see this on the You-Tube link below.

On December 12th 2014 the crossing was finally closed forever and soon the foot-crossing will be but a distant memory as the old footbridge is to those few members who can remember using it!

In 2020 the Membership voted and agreed a 5 year, £1,000,000 development plan to take the club from ‘Good2Great’ with the aim of extensively renovating every hole on the course including tees, bunkers and greens and restoring the course’s original heathland features.

By the beginning of the 2023 season, we will have completed 12 of the 18 holes with just two more winters to go before the project is complete.

2023 Open Events - https://www.pleasington-golf.co.uk/visitors/opens/