A GWENT family who saved a golf club from closure a year ago say it’s out of the rough and back on course.

Benjamin Morgan, 40, and brothers Jonathan, 42 and James, 26, secured the future of Alice Springs Golf Club at Kemeys Commander, near Usk and its fifteen staff when they bought it last May.

Now director of golf James says the club is going from strength to strength despite being forced to close for two months because of the snow.

"It’s been superb to have it back in the family. We’ve managed to come through a difficult time and are pressing forward with exciting plans," he said.

A major development due to launch in December will see a 40 metre-long super-tubing slide created followed by a children’s activity centre.

"We’ve been granted planning permission to become the first golf course in the UK to feature a slide similar to that at Festival Park in Ebbw Vale. It won’t affect the golfers as it will be behind the driving range," said James.

"Golf is still the number one function but this is just a way of bringing people to Alice Springs," he said.

The club’s newest employee hospitality and events manager Yvonne Taylor-Dix, is expanding the function side of the business with plans for a wedding fayre, summer ball and a Ryder Cup weekend.

On the course the Morgans believe the greens are the best they have ever been.

"It’s been hard work but the response from members has been overwhelming and we’re thrilled the club is back in the family," he added.

Brothers rescued family business

The club was built by their father Keith Morgan, 64, in 1987 and named after his mother Alice who passed away in 1982 and the two springs on the course.

Membership was booming but Keith lost his wife Denise in 2000 to ovarian cancer and took the difficult decision to sell the business to his nephew Peter Morgan in 2002.

It was then leased to a private company, when it was called Alice Springs Golf and Leisure Club, under David Rowlands, but ceased trading in March, 2009. The Morgans launched the business under the new name of Alice Springs Golf Club Limited two months later.