Former tour golfer opens club’s new driving range

A FORMER European tour player opened a new high-tech driving range at a golf club in Wargrave.

Nick Dougherty, who has had three professional wins during his career, cut a ribbon to open the Top Tracer range at Hennerton Golf Club.

The club, which was taken over by the Hemani family in April, who founded the Henley Festival more than 40 years ago, are investing in upgrading its facilities.

Following a speech from Paul Deaney, club manager, and Glenn Johnson, golf manager, attendees were taken inside to watch exclusive tee time tips, golf swing advice and questions and answers from Dougherty.

Rob Cox, of Boce Developments in Wokingham, specialises in internal, external and landscaping residential renovations.

The 34-year-old, who started playing at the club when he was 11, took 10 weeks to complete the project.

The renovation was helped by six others and given free rein when designing and building the driving range as his first project. The lit undercover and fully carpeted driving range is equipped with Toptracer technology, which tracks every shot in real time and allows players to use games.

Mr Cox said he didn’t hesitate to jump at the opportunity. He said: “They asked me if it was something I could do, because it’s not too different from what I do every day, so I jumped at it.

“There were no plans, so I had free rein to do what I wanted, which was a pleasure. I shopped about other driving ranges first because I had never really looked at them properly.

“I decided on using high-quality materials, like composite, because it’s low maintenance and doesn’t deteriorate like wood.”

Mr Cox said the project felt like it was never-ending due to his attention to detail.

He said: “I believe I have a great eye for detail, so kitting the range out with 25m of cladding and a felt roof of 200m took time because a lot of care and thought went into every aspect as it just had to be right.”

He added: “Whether I’m doing kitchens or gardens, I’m always trying to reinvent the wheel and do something different and unique. When you do something different, you become passionate about it just that little bit more.”

Mr Dougherty described Hennerton members as “lucky”.

He said: “It is visually stunning and has a very high-spec interior design. The members at Hennerton are lucky to have such a beautiful practice facility.”