Executive Golf Magazine

Almost 100 years ago, Stoke Park opened its doors as Britain’s first country club. Today, Managing Director Chester King has created an exclusive members’ club catering for golfers, sybarites and socialites.

It’s the Monday morning after the day before. Chester King, the managing director of Stoke Park Club, is desperate to retrieve an elusive piece of litter just outside the magnificent centuries-old club house. He is either trying to impress me or he really is this hands on.

The Boodles Challenge tennis tournament has become an annual event in recent years and has attracted players who have won over 60 Grand Slam titles. The spectators, some 7,500 of them, have now left and the clear up operation begins. It is an example that Stoke Park Club is no longer centred just around golf.

King - the names of all his family members are places, hence Chester and his children Latimer and Dakota – is not the archetypal club owner. I nearly said “golf club owner” but the 34-year-old is at pains to point out that Stoke Park is more than just about golf.

“We changed the name back from Stoke Poges Golf Club to Stoke Park Club and effectively changed our brand. It is not Stoke Park Golf Club either. Why? Because that stereotypes you. The old Stoke Poges had a slightly run down feel. It was a great members club but that is not what we are about,” he says.

You have to be everything to different people. To some people we’re a fantastic hotel, to some we are a wedding venue, but you have to keep the exclusivity of the club

Instead, King is trying to create something special that will attract a range of people from those who want to just socialise, to golfers, to people who want to use the hotel – this is where Hugh Grant seduced Renee Zellweger in the celluloid version of Bridget Jones’s Diary – to those who want to use the gym and spa.

King does not play golf, but he does not think that hampers his management in any way.

“I think that you need a different set of skills. One of the reasons we put in all the rest of the facilities is that golf on its own does not make money. We are going back to what Stoke Park was originally, a country club. In fact it was the first country club in Britain when it opened in 1908,” he explains.

“As a family (he runs the place alongside his father and brothers Hertford and Witney) we’re not all golfers although my grandfather was a very good amateur player. But what that means is we have looked at things differently. We have got everything on the golf side to a certain level but we have also been developing the other key parts of the club.”

King’s own background is in marketing and he has put those skills to play in order to make Stoke Park one of the most coveted memberships in Britain.

“It is a very delicate balance when promoting five-star. So we’ve had to be different and put in different marketing mixes. In 1996, we won Golf Club of the Year and that was great because it told people that we were back as a golf club. On that side of things we had put in a big irrigation programme, made soft spikes obligatory and got rid of the tie rule. So we changed a lot of things.

“But a key is you have to be everything to different people. To some people we’re a fantastic hotel, to some we are a wedding venue, but you have to keep the exclusivity of the club.”

King recently made an audacious approach to IMG to try and lure the famous World Match Play tournament away from its decades old home Wentworth. Instead, he was offered the women’s world match play, but turned it down.

Not pandering to some golfing norms sets King apart. He is not that interested in having a touring professional attached to the club because he feels there is so little value added to the club.

“From a marketing point of view, we get famous golfers wanting to be tied up with us and have this tour pro associated with you. Well our view is having a tour pro turn up once a year is not going to influence anyone joining.”

One of the most exciting new developments for Stoke Park is the establishing of the Corinthian Club. It brings the country club together with the new Wembley Stadium. Anyone buying a package gets use of facilities at Stoke Park along with the finest seats at the new Wembley for all the key games.

King is very broad about the sort of people he wants to attract as members describing it as “a real mix.” They are not all accountants, City types or the film stars and celebrities, but you get the impression that King, who has recently been described as “a born again bachelor” loves the glamour that the latter can bring to Stoke Park. How else can you explain a new golf tournament he has started up in recent years?

“We’ve called it the Notting Hill Open which is open to people from all the different Notting Hill postcodes. We have had Jodie Kidd and Jamie Theakston playing and it is a real fun event. The first year we did it there were a few raised eyebrows when these people came down here, but that’s part of the mix here. We want to make it the most relaxed environment you can. We have got the traditional values, but without the snobbery. People can relax here.”

Racheting up the star quality a notch or two though he recalls how Tom Cruise and then wife Nicole Kidman were temporary members while filming Eyes Wide Shut.

“It was really cool. They liked the fact that not everyone was sycophantic and they were just other members.”

King also points out the continuing strong relationship with the Knightsbridge Golf School. For all those stuck in London who cannot get out to a driving range during the week and need lessons they can go to Lowndes Square in the heart of the fashionable west end. Here, in a basement across the street from Harvey Nichols, the great, the good and the wealthy can get their expert tuition. Among those who have graced the golf school there are strong links with Stoke Park.

Sean Connery was coached here for arguably the most famous piece of Hollywood golf film ever made. Connery honed his swing in preparation for his role as 007 when he took on the dastardly Goldfinger over 18 holes. That was filmed at Stoke Park and in the corridors of the club you can see some fascinating memorabilia including production instructions for the most memorable scenes including Odd Job’s top hat smashing the head of a statute in the grounds.

More recently, Hugh Grant has been frequenting the Knightsbridge Golf School and his connections with Stoke Park stretch beyond his bedroom scene with Bridget Jones. He has also played golf there.

King says: “The Knightsbridge Golf School will teach people to play and then if they want can take them to Stoke and teach them the other key parts like etiquette. They will often introduce people as members.”

It’s the sort of place people like King - who “reverse commutes” out of London every day - would probably go if he wanted to take up the game.

As a 24-year-old King used to have to interview prospective members. He describes how one man in front of him in the early days was the managing director of Ferrari.

“I had to say to him I’m not interviewing you it’s more of a case of whether you like the club. But, I do recall one guy who was clearly a bit elitist and had certain attitudes and requirements that made me say to him I just don’t think this is the right club for you. You can join, but I’m not sure whether you would be happy here.”

His own lifestyle has changed since he separated from his wife two years ago. Now living with friends, he’s upped his profile recently with newspaper articles describing how he likes to compliment beautiful women and spontaneously whisk dates off to exotic locations.

A product of Stowe public school he boasts a tidy collection of other club memberships including the Electric in Notting Hill, Annabel’s in Mayfair and China White.

He tells the story about how he tried to get his first break in advertising and marketing with Saatchi & Saatchi and went expectantly to an interview.

“I was about 22 and interviewing me was this incredibly hot girl who was about 32. Rather than sitting down behind a desk we sat on a two-seater sofa next to each other. I thought this was just great. But I didn’t get the job. They said I was not keen enough.”

Wandering with him through the changing area of the Stoke Park spa as he grabs a member of staff to inquire why a particular shower head had not been fixed, that is certainly not a charge that can be levelled at the man now.

Executive Golf members wishing to play a round at this fantastic venue should contact the club at:

Website: www.stokeparkclub.com
Phone number: 01753 717171

Stoke Park, Park Road, Stoke, Poges, Buckinghamshire, SL2 4PG

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