{"id":643524,"date":"2026-06-17T12:47:13","date_gmt":"2026-06-17T12:47:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/643524\/"},"modified":"2026-06-17T12:47:13","modified_gmt":"2026-06-17T12:47:13","slug":"la-grande-mare-is-on-course-to-create-more-than-100-jobs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/643524\/","title":{"rendered":"La Grande Mare is on course to create more than 100 jobs"},"content":{"rendered":"

The reimagined course will open for play on 1 August, seven years after initial work began on its new layout, with the country club facilities set for completion in 2027.<\/p>\n

\u2018We want this to be a hospitality experience. It\u2019s not just a round of golf \u2013 it\u2019s an experience. And we need good people to provide that,\u2019 said Steve Lansdown, who bought the former four-star hotel at Vazon at the end of 2018.<\/p>\n

\u2018So we\u2019ll be looking to invest into that structure and that infrastructure and I\u2019d like to think we can recruit virtually all of that locally. We have confidence we can get the right people here and people that want to be here.\u2019<\/p>\n

And the hope is that the new team will help to create a world-class sporting experience, with more than 20 full-time staff already working hard on shaping and maintaining the course itself.<\/p>\n

\u2018The quality is what I hoped for and having played on some very good courses around the world in the past, this matches anything I\u2019ve played on,\u2019 said Mr Lansdown.<\/p>\n

Watch a full interview with golf course designer Robin Hiseman<\/p>\n

\u2018And I think it\u2019s a credit to Robin [Hiseman], the golf course designer, and Rick [Hamilton, course manager] and his team that look after the place that it is in such good condition. Obviously, the challenge will be to keep it in that condition, to keep it playing that way, but I see no reason why that shouldn\u2019t happen.<\/p>\n

\u2018All the problems we had at the outset, with planning and environmental issues, etc., that people tried to raise, are now in the past. I think people can see that what we set out to do was a credit to the island, a credit to ourselves, and very much protects the environment, as well as produce a fantastic golf course and a fantastic sporting facility for the island,\u2019 he said.<\/p>\n

The man charged with overseeing the operation is new managing director Ben Stimson, who has taken up the role after working in premium golf environments in the UK and middle east.<\/p>\n

\u2018This really is a dream job \u2013 there\u2019s no getting around that,\u2019 he said.<\/p>\n

\"NewNew La Grande Mare managing director Ben Stimson outside the Golf Performance Centre, which will serve as a clubhouse until the main buildings are completed. \/ Sophie Rabey\/Guernsey Press<\/p>\n

\u2018I\u2019m so grateful and humbled to be in this opportunity to create something really, really special at La Grande Mare, for Guernsey, to help drive tourism to the local economy, but also to support local employment.<\/p>\n

\u2018We\u2019re going to have a team of over 100 associates, ranging from agronomy to landscape, to food and beverage, HR, finance, golf operations, events, membership, spa, leisure \u2013 there\u2019s so much involved,\u2019 he said.<\/p>\n

\u2018The course itself is genuinely as good as it gets. The redesign of the golf course from European Golf Design is spectacular. They\u2019ve designed multiple Ryder Cup venues, European tour venues, and other tour venues as well \u2013 and La Grande Mare fits that,\u2019 he said.<\/p>\n

\u2018In terms of my experience, drawing from working at high-end facilities, I can bring that hospitality side to it as well, to make sure that the overall experience matches the quality and conditioning of the golf course.\u2019<\/p>\n

While the hope is that that quality will attract visiting golfers to come over and experience the new offering, its focus \u2013 at least until the country club opens \u2013 is on a local market.<\/p>\n

\"OwnerOwner Steve Lansdown said the elevated experience on offer at La Grande Mare will justify its price. \/ Peter Frankland\/Guernsey Press<\/p>\n

\u2018We know that the word will get out very, very quickly and we look forward to welcoming guests from off-island as well. But our main objective from August and for the rest of 2026 and early 2027 will be focusing on having local golfers and non-golfers to experience what we\u2019ve created,\u2019 said Mr Stimson.<\/p>\n

For the time being, no membership will be required to play the course \u2013 with green fees, the price of a round of golf per person, set at \u00a3200.<\/p>\n

That compares with a day rate of \u00a3110 for visitors to Royal Guernsey at L\u2019Ancresse and green fees of \u00a3150 at La Moye in Jersey.<\/p>\n

But its owner said the elevated experience on offer at La Grande Mare will justify its price.<\/p>\n

\u2018People are buying a golfing experience, or just an experience of being in a very special place. So in that sense, I think you have to value it,\u2019 said Mr Lansdown.<\/p>\n

\"EarlyEarly design work for the revamped course began back in 2019. \/ Sophie Rabey\/Guernsey Press<\/p>\n

\u2018I think the island has to value these things. We won\u2019t please all the people. There\u2019ll be people that will be unhappy with what we\u2019re saying and what we\u2019re doing, but they\u2019ll understand when they see the course. It won\u2019t be for everybody, but I think a lot of people will recognise the value and will want to be part of it,\u2019 he said.<\/p>\n

The opening of the course follows the completion of the driving range and Golf Performance Centre last October as the years-long, multi-million pound investment into La Grande Mare\u2019s redevelopment comes to fruition.<\/p>\n

\u2018I look at Vraic restaurant and Bella Luce that\u2019s being built \u2013 those are two quality establishments. And I think that\u2019s raising the bar with everybody else. Everybody else is thinking, we\u2019re going to have to raise our bar, and that\u2019s just good for the island. It has to be,\u2019 said Mr Lansdown.<\/p>\n

\u2018I\u2019m very optimistic, really. I\u2019m optimistic for what we can achieve here, and I\u2019m optimistic for what the island can achieve generally.\u2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The reimagined course will open for play on 1 August, seven years after initial work began on its…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":643525,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[5904,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-643524","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-golf","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/643524","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=643524"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/643524\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/643525"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=643524"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=643524"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=643524"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}