Shrewsbury News

Hawkstone Park in Weston-under-Redcastle in Shrewsbury has clubbed together with Japanese manufacturer Bridgestone Golf to transform its 14-bay practice range and provide 7,500 high quality range balls.

This is part of a sponsorship deal which sees the club benefit from Bridgestone’s drive to branch into the UK market via their main distribution centre in Market Drayton.

And according to Hawkstone Park’s head professional Frank Kiddie, the improvements have already made the cut with visitors.

He said: “The makeover has really smartened the place up and being associated with one of the most reputable names in golf has given it a more professional feel.

“Lots of people have commented on how good the range looks and we have noticed a significant rise in the number of people using the facilities.

“It is very much a word of mouth process and you can see that word is spreading as we are getting a lot more people, particularly golfers of a good standard coming here to take advantage.

“This is the case because using a higher quality of ball on the range gives you a more realistic representation of how you are hitting the ball.

“This is opposed to the traditional low quality range balls which typically take 15 to 20 per cent off your strike.

“As well as this we also do quite a lot with Bridgestone in the club shop and it is proving to be a positive relationship for both of us.”

For more information visit www.principal-hayley.com or call 01948 841 700.