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A furious club professional has made an impassioned response to the looming closure of his longstanding golf course. 

Steve Geary’s longtime home club is one of a number of golf courses under threat across the UK right now as cash-strapped councils aim to balance the books and solve housing shortages.

Despite significant backlash from campaigners, Maidenhead Golf Club just outside London is the latest on the chopping block.

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The club, which was founded in 1896, has been taken over by housing developer Cala Homes, with The Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead (RBWM) hoping to bank £105 million from a landmark deal that includes plans for over 1,500 homes.

It emerged that the land had been designated an asset of community value in December – which meant the council would need to give campaigners chance to bid before selling it to the housing developer.

But the council are by no means obliged to accept an offer and, despite fighting his course’s case for over a decade, Geary is resigned to the overwhelming probability that local community groups won’t be able to raise more than £100m to save the course.

As it stands, the golf club is set to close its doors for the final time on December 31, 2025.

“I’ve been here 37 years,” Geary told bunkered.co.uk. “I am absolutely fuming about it. I’m very upset because it’s a great golf club. I don’t know how the council get away with it to be honest.

“They’re only selling it because they’re in debt. They’re not doing it for the right reasons. We were first informed about this in 2014. We’ve been digging our heels in but in the end we’ve had to relocate.”

That relocation will come in the form of an expected merger with Flackwell Heath Golf Club, another parkland layout situated around eight miles away.

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“There’s been some complications with the merger,” Geary explained. “We’ve put it to the membership and we’re just waiting to see if we can actually make that happen. When we close the doors here, the idea being is that our membership will relocate to Flackwell Heath on January 1 (2026).”

The frustration for many is that a great pillar of the community in Maidenhead is being abandoned. Geary says the club is now thriving with over 700 members.

“What people forget is what we do for charities as well. We raise generally in excess of £20,000 per year for local charities,” he added. “We host rotary club dinners.

It’s not just golf, its what it affects for the local community. It’s wrong. Before Covid, the council had a case because we were light on membership. Since Covid we’re stronger than ever.

“It’s just very sad.”


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Ben Parsons joined bunkered as a Content Producer in 2023 and is the man to come to for all of the latest news, across both the professional and amateur games. Formerly of The Mirror and Press Association, he is a member at Halifax Golf Club and is a long-suffering fan of both Manchester United and the Wales rugby team.

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