This episode comes to you from England once more, in particular the south-east of England at a unique property called Goodwood. Gabe meets up with Eddie Bullock who is the president of Golf at Goodwood, and also a golf club consultant. We made this visit in the British winter and it was bitterly cold, but still fascinating nonetheless. There are very few golf experiences like Goodwood anywhere in the world, and you can see why.
Chichester
This tiny settlement in the south east is actually a city by the UK definition. This is due to it having a cathedral. It has some historic elements and is worth a visit if you have a morning or afternoon to spare. You’re actually not far from the south coast of England, so if you wanted some traditional fish and chips you wouldn’t have to venture far at all. With a train station in town you can easily get to most places in the southern England within an hour and a half.
Goodwood Estate
The Goodwood estate itself is an 18-mile square property owned by the Duke of Richmond. On the estate are a number of wonderful developments that include: A large palatial home, the Rolls-Royce factory that has a 99-year lease on the estate, farms, hotels, a horse racing track, and motor racing track. You may have heard of the Goodwood Festival of Speed before, well this takes place at the race track on site. It’s an elite motor racing event combined with a luxury garden party, and don’t be surprised to see several famous faces in attendance. Gabe visits the restaurant ‘Farmer, Butcher, Chef’, which is the estates sustainable restaurant where all meat, vegetable, and produce is grown, raised, and prepared on the Goodwood estate for you to enjoy.
Golf at Goodwood
Literally everything at Goodwood offers a unique and slightly different golf experience. Gabe meets Stuart Gillett who is the general manager of Golf at Goodwood and he explains that they strive to offer something different, as too often the delivery of a golf experience is the same. With the Clubhouse being the estates former kennels decades ago, they pay homage to this by housing individual dog bowls for every member’s dog to use when they visit the Club. The pro shop features a fire and seating area, and the golf carts are a mixture of Peaky Blinders and transport van, beautifully unique. The halfway house has also been voted the top 10 in the UK. With warm snacks and a full bar on offer you can be sure to improve your game as you head to the back nine. Keeping on the trail of unique, there are also bee hives on site that provide honey for the restaurants and purchase in the estate stores. Moving onto the golf itself there are two courses on the estate; The Downs and The Park. The Downs is viewed as the more difficult course with numerous doglegs and tree lined holes, whereas The Park course plays more generously for the casual golfer. With the weather being pretty brutal we only played a few holes but you still can appreciate what a great set of golf holes Goodwood has to offer. That left us no choice but to retire to the warmth to enjoy some fish and chips, the proper end to a great day at Goodwood.
To learn more about the Goodwood Estate, visit their website here: