24-08-2011
The Captain of Ilkley Golf Club, Ian Hepworth, has officially opened a new 18th tee, which has been described by international golf course architect Jonathan Gaunt as one of the best finishing holes in Yorkshire.
The new tee has been taken back 55 yards and brings the River Wharfe into play. Golfers will now have a carry of approximately 100 yards across the river to reach the fairway.
According to Ian Hepworth the newly designed hole really adds to the experience of playing a round at Ilkley.
“We were advised by Jonathan to make even more of the fantastic scenery which surrounds the course, especially the river which is ever present on the first seven holes.
“By bringing the river into play at the 18th Jonathan has really created a spectacular driving hole. Although the drive is quite daunting it really adds a lot more excitement to the hole and we are certain it will be enjoyed by all those visiting the course.”
Leeds-born Jonathan Gaunt has made a number of other improvements to the course during the last 12 months, including the return of the 15th green to its former glory when you could clearly see the influence of Alister MacKenzie, who had previously remodelled the hole.
Photograph: (L to R) Captain, Ian Hepworth, Lady Captain, Bernice Cawthra, President, John Hepworth, and Lady President Maggie Mitchell.
10-08-2011
Having been promoted from the Yorkshire Third Division last month at Scarborough, Ilkley Golf Club's scratch team team played in the Second Division on Wednesday 3rdAugust. With two of our successful team from Scarborough unavailable, we drafted in Henry Flather and Chris Atkins to join Oliver Shaw and Ed Cowen to play the 36 holes competition.
Renishaw Park is a relatively short but very tricky course and there were some very high scores carded by some excellent players from other clubs.
18 clubs compete with six being promoted and six relegated. All scores count, so there is a lot of pressure on the players. Our aim was to retain our second division status. However after the first 18 holes, the team played so well that we were in one of the promotion spots.
Oliver Shaw played magnificently being the only player in the competition to break 70 in this morning round, with a two under par 69. Unfortunately, we were unable to hold onto the promotion spot in the afternoon but we achieved our aim of consolidating our second division status. (There are eight divisions).
Ollie continued his birdie spree in the afternoon, eventually achieving 14 birdies during the two rounds and ended with a final score of two over par, putting him ahead of the field. The two players just behind him in the morning round played at the end of the field so Ollie had a nail-biting late afternoon waiting for their scores to come in. Eventually they both failed to catch him by one shot.
So congratulations to Henry, Ed and Chris, but particularly to Ollie for achieving the best gross score over the two rounds.
06-07-2011
Congratulations to Ilkley member Ben Horner who has won a gold medal for golf at the Special Olympics in Athens.
08-03-2011
We are delighted to announce the completion of a £300,000 programme to improve the clubhouse and on-course facilities.
The old bridges which link the mainland with the island holes have been removed and replaced by two extremely impressive and substantial bridges. The original bridges had been a feature of the course since it was first played more than 100 years ago. In those days the narrow bridges were all that were needed to transport the golfers across the River Wharfe. Read More
