Pike Hills Golf Club was originally formed in 1904 as the Knavesmire Golf Club and moved to Hob Moor in 1922. Pike Hills, as an 18 hole parkland course, has been on its current site since 1946 and has established as a very popular and, some say, one the finest parkland courses in the Yorkshire. Situated just off the A64, the course is just 2 miles south west of the historic city of York – and the impressive York Minster is in view from some of the holes.
It is an unusual layout, routed around Yorkshire Wildlife Trust’s Askham Bog Nature Reserve, which is a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and this feature comes into play on 6 holes – a little wilderness. The course measures 6,212 yards from the back tees with a par of 71, and has a challenging variety of holes, varying lengths of par 4’s, challenging par 5’s and testing par 3’s. It has a blend of long and short holes which require good course management and careful shot making decisions.
Our work at Pike Hills has involved the reconstruction of the 6th green, green approach and bunkers. The green, in particular, had been suffering for many years with settlement due to its proximity to the nature reserve, which, basically, has an unstable subsoil consisting of deep peat, beneath the topsoil layer. Here we worked with golf course contractors Fineturf/Lakeland Ltd.
Following on from this, we have undertaken a full course assessment of the bunkers with a view to remodelling all of them over the coming 5 years or so.
Photo Credit: JG