County Championship 2026

Next year we will host the Men's County Championship over a long weekend in early July. This event was played at Cowdray last week, and by all reports we have a lot to live up to, but I am confident we will compare well. The Friday will be the busy day, as 60 players play 36 holes before the top 16 go through to match play over the weekend, which only requires a few tee times each day.

To avoid too many course closures for members, I have asked for one year off from hosting the Sussex Veterans Championship, which we have had for many years. That will return in 2027 and beyond.

Men's Invitation Day - Saturday 6th September

We are expecting the course to be at its best in early September as we host some big later summer events. One of the best is always Men's Weekend Invitation Day. This is a chance for male members to bring a guest, and show them everything that is great about Piltdown.

We have held the price the same as it was last year - which is £80 for the pair.

Each pair must be one member and one guest:

Coffee and bacon rolls on arrival, 18 Holes Fourball Betterball with a multi-tee start, Pimm's drinks buggy on Course, a 2 course Piltdown buffet, lots of prizes including nearest the pins.

Members and guests can play extra golf after lunch for free if they want to.

Start phoning round and line up your guest. Sign up is now open.

Sign up here

Course Update and Maintenance Plans

Growth has slowed due to the recent dry weather, so we're currently only mowing areas where we can apply water. Hand watering continues across key sections of the course, and we've applied a wetting agent to the greens, approaches, and tees to assist with the rewetting process during this drought period.

Work has been carried out on the heather mounds by the 18th, with tidying and weeding completed. We’re also in the process of replacing the drains between the heather mounds on the 1st hole, adjacent to the 18th tee.

The Grillo remains out of action as we await the arrival of a new clutch, and the Greens Iron is currently experiencing engine issues, which we hope to have resolved shortly.

Our plan is to carry out our essential course work this summer with as little disruption as possible. The greens have been healthy this season despite the difficult weather, so we plan to use small tines on the greens before top dressing with a small amount of sand.

Matt and the team will also take the opportunity to work on the fringes and approaches to the greens with a slightly wider tine, and again a thin dressing of sand which will be brushed into the holes.

There is no planned tining or sanding of the fairways in this period.

As per the diary, the work will take place week commencing 28th July. We will close the inner 9 on Monday and Tuesday, leaving a 9 hole loop of 12th and then 4th - 11th open for play. All being well, from Wednesday onwards we will re-open the inner 9 (1 - 3 and then 13th - 18th) and close the other half.

With good weather and a bit of luck all will be done in a week and we will be back in full action by the weekend.

Despite me saying this isn't too disruptive, you might want to think twice about bringing guests for the next week or two whilst the course recovers, but if you do, we will have some reduced price offers in place.