Shropshire Star

Deep pockets with a hole in one!

A real bunker mentality has seen one Shropshire man's driving ambition pay off. The Star's Ben Bentley says "putt it there, Albert Minshall".

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Albert Minshall puts in a few practice holes at the golf course he built."Never get into a golf buggy with Albert Minshall," says Albert Minshall - before it's too late.

What follows is a 20-minute white-knuckle ride around one of the most spectacularly scenic, and undulating, golf courses in Shropshire - Hill Valley in Whitchurch.

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This is Albert's very own field of dreams and he knows it like the back of his hand. Thirty-five years ago it was nothing but a rough farmers' field in need of a lot of tender loving care.

The remarkable story of how he transformed the 260-acre site into a championship golf course is told in his new book, In a Wonderful Lifetime.

After leaving school at 15 without much in the way of education, Albert, from Whixall, picked up his first brick and by the time he was 17 was running his own construction business.

By the mid 1960s he was making good money, buying land and building houses on it. But by 1971 he was restless.

Staring out of his office window and reading the local paper, he spotted a farm on Tarporley Road for sale, met the auctioneer selling it and a deal was struck faster than it takes Tiger Woods to tee off.

"It was all done in an hour-and-a-half to buy 180 acres for £180,000, but we needed another farm to make up the 260 acres," says Albert, now 74. "That day I said to my MD Les Welch, 'Go and see if you can buy another one'.

"I thought I would like to have a go at creating a golf course because there was nothing like that in this area.

"I should have stuck to the building trade because I was making money then."

But Albert admits that maybe he was a bit bored and wanted a bit of fun. He also had a vision - to build a championship golf course to equal anything in the region and one to develop into a club to rival the best in Britain.

What followed was several years of hard labour. After securing planning permission, work began on ploughing the entire site, planting 40,000 trees and building a clubhouse - which Albert constructed himself.

He summoned the services of Ryder Cup players Peter Alliss and David Thomas to design the course and by 1975 Hill Valley was in full swing. Within a year the club hosted the Midlands Open and a £3,000 pro-am tournament and it has continued to host officially recognised PGA events every year since.

Woosnam worked for several years as a greenkeeper and was the club's junior captain between 1975 and 1976.

"He was living in one of the rooms we used for staff rooms and also lived in a caravan here. He was always around.

"We paid him £10 a week - £5 for digs and £5 for food."

During his tenure, Woosnam also worked behind the bar and planted many of the trees along the right of the third

In the book, Woosnam himself says: "My years at Hill Valley put me on the road to success. Albert let us be boys, be young lads. As long as we worked hard he let us have fun and we did both."

Albert, meanwhile, had moved into a large cottage right on the course.

"I live on the ninth fairway and there are always balls landing in my garden. I've had the back window of the Rolls smashed twice - it costs me more to repair those windows that it costs to give all the balls back."

On closer inspection, a quick look at Albert's old Roller reveals more than a few small, ball-shaped dents on the metalwork.

Other celebrities Albert has teed off with include Johnny Mathis ("we went on the buggies because we were both bone idle"), Norman Wisdom, Howard Keele, Bill Roache and a chap "who had made 110 films but I can't remember his name".

The point is, Albert doesn't care much for celebrity. A proper salt of the earth fellow, he has as much time for his greenkeepers.

Albert's vision for his "farmers' fields" entered a new phase in 2003 when he went into partnership with Macdonald Hotels and the venue was transformed by an £11.8 million investment which has led to the creation of an 81-bedroom block, conference and banqueting suites, restaurant, lounge and new golf facilities.

Of course, builder Albert was drafted in to lay the first bricks. A brand new leisure centre was opened in December and today the venue is known as

Macdonald Hill Valley Hotel, Golf and Spa, with Albert still overseeing the golfing side of the operation.

There are more all-singing modernisations proposed and Albert jokes that in comparison "we were a bit Fawlty Towers, but we had a lot of fun".

He says: "I was not educated at all but I had a talent for visualising the things I wanted to do.

"I had a vision of it completely finished. Sometimes a vision does not turn out as you thought, but this vision was always to have it look like it does today."

He adds: "I wanted to change my lifestyle but it was not the wisest thing because I was making more money before and most business people said it was a bit crazy.

"But it's been 30 years of happiness."

Albert Minshall puts in a few practice holes at the golf course he built.Albert Minshall puts in a few practice holes at the golf course he built.

Hotel manager Lee Bye takes a look at Albert's new book.Hotel manager Lee Bye takes a look at Albert's new book.

The farmland that Albert Minshall transformed into Hill Valley Golf Club.The farmland that Albert Minshall transformed into Hill Valley Golf Club.

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Ian Woosnam worked for several years as a greenkeeper and was the club's junior captain between 1975 and 1976.Ian Woosnam worked for several years as a greenkeeper and was the club's junior captain between 1975 and 1976.

nextpageSandy Lyle would cycle over for a round or two.Sandy Lyle would cycle over for a round or two.

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