Shandon Park Golf Club - Renovation of Swing Room

Aim

Shandon Park wish to continue the development of our current facilities, to further enhance all members experience and cater for new members

Who are we?

Shandon Park Golf Club is a gem of a parkland golf course, situated in the leafy suburbs of East Belfast just fifteen minutes (3 miles) from Belfast city centre.

Consistently regarded as one of the most competitively successful golf clubs of the modern era having won no fewer than 23 Men's and Ladies' All Ireland Senior titles and back to back European Club titles in 2000 and 2001. Shandon Park Golf Club is also considered to have some of the best parkland greens in Ireland.  We have a thriving membership with more than 1,000 golfing & social members.

The Shandon Park course combines a tough championship layout with some beautifully sculptured holes, great views of the city, Stormont Estate, and the surrounding area.

Tour speed summer greens and a clever layout makes this one of the great Irish parkland challenges.  The course record is just six under par despite the best efforts of some of the world’s finest golfers.

At the 19th hole you will find a modern clubhouse with welcoming lounge, bar & restaurant, all overlooking the course. 

Why are we crowdfunding?

During our Centenary year in 2026, Shandon Park wish to continue the development of our current facilities, turning our attention to our indoor swing room and bringing this facility into the modern era. To do so, we aim to avail of the Olympic Legacy Fund that is available through Sport NI and the Department for Communities. However, we also need the support of our community to help regenerate this facility, which has been neglected for some time.

We intend to introduce modern day technology into the current swing room, revamping our current facilities and future proofing our membership by providing an enhanced experience for adults and juniors alike. 

The new facility will also help to further support our high performing players, by providing both them and our coaches with a modern day facility to further develop their golfing ability through technical metrics and coaching tools. The data driven approach that new ball tracing technology provides is key to supporting the development of these players, helping Shandon Park to get back competing for some of the highest accolades in Irish Golf. 

The new swing room will also help to attract new members, by providing an opportunity to introduce golf to new participants in a safe, indoor environment, which will help to foster good habits and an initial love for the game. We can then progress these participants onto our Championship standard golf course, to further develop their ability and support their love for the game. 

The facility will also be available as a membership benefit for current members, allowing them to play golf indoors in the darker evenings and when the inclement weather hampers on-course activity. 

We truly believe that by enhancing our indoor golf simulator offering, we can ensure the long term sustainability of our club, by providing an enhanced member experience, whilst being more desirable to new prospective members. Given that 2026 is our Centenary, we hope to be able to launch the opening of this revamped facility, to further cement the club's legacy. 

Golf has never been more popular amongst our under-represented groups, with the introduction of golf into the Olympics helping to bring new eyes to the sport. To ride the crest of this wave, and ensure the Olympics leave a true legacy on our sport, we hope that our enhanced facilities can continue to provide opportunities and accessibility to for new and existing golfers. The support of Sport NI and the funding available through the Olympic Legacy Fund is key to our success, and we hope to be able to collaborate on this.

As a teen, Rory McIlroy was a member of our fantastic club, and we hope to further support the next generation of Olympic medallists by providing top of the range practice facilities to further support their development. 

How we’ll spend the money raised

To enhance our facilities we require a significant investment to regenerate our current building that houses our current swing room, as well as fitting it out with a top of the range practice facility that includes ball tracing technology. We aim to generate the funds required through match funding available through Sport NI and the Olympic Legacy Fund that the Department for Communities have allocated. 

The swing room will be completely revamped, to make this facility a more pleasant, comfortable and accessible space for members and visitors to come and play golf. To do so, we will completely rip out the current room, and refurbish it with new flooring, insulation, lighting, heating, fire alarms and CCTV. This will make the room more accommodating for our indoor simulator fitout, that will have impact absorbing walls and ceiling to ensure the safety of all participants.

The facility will be regenerated with the long term aim of having two indoor-simulator bays. In the interim, the revenue generated from this Crowdfunder campaign will go towards the refurbishment of the building and one initial simulator bay with ball tracing technology. 

The high-tech impact screen and ball tracing technology comes at a considerable cost, and so we hope that our members and wider community can support us on our venture. 

Budget breakdown:

Building refurbishment - £13,000 excl. VAT

Services - £12,000 excl. VAT

Ball tracing technology - £23,000 excl. VAT

Community impact

Shandon Park is a club based in the heart of its community. As a club, we often open our doors to our community to come in and join our members at social functions and events. 

We also actively recruit under-represented groups in golf from those in our local community, helping to share the opportunities and experiences that golf can provide wider society. One of the ways in which we achieve this is through our Women's Get into Golf programme, which currently has 40 females involved, helping them to progress from a non-golfer to a full member of our club. This facility would be an extremely useful tool for these new women to get comfortable playing golf, in a more fun and relaxed environment in the first instance, before taking to the fairways to sharpen their skills.

We also have in the region of 200 junior members, the vast majority of which are from our local area. To recruit these juniors, we have been highly proactive in engaging with schools, girls brigades and scouts clubs, to provide opportunities for these kids to try out golf in a controlled, safe environment, with the ambition to get them into the membership pathway and be an integral part of our junior programme. For the now 200 junior members, these new facility would bring a new sense of excitement to their membership, and provide exciting opportunities for the juniors to socialise in an indoor golf space for the first time ever, taking part in coaching and competitions when the weather doesn't allow for on-course activity.

How you can play your part

There are four simple ways to help us reach our target, and make this project a reality.

1. Make a pledge. Don’t delay if you’re going to support us because momentum is key to our success!

2. Spread the word. Share our project on your social media pages and tell the world to get behind us! The more people we reach, the more support we will get.

3. Offer rewards. Get involved if you are a local business by donating things we can offer to our supporters. We will give you a shout out!

4. Fundraise for us. If you want to run your own fundraiser – maybe a sponsored activity or similar – use the 'contact project' button at the top of our page to let us know. Setting up your own page only takes a few minutes and you won’t need any bank details. Just a fun idea!

Funding method

Keep what you raise – this project will receive all pledges made