Huxley Golf specialises in the supply and installation of all-weather golf surfaces – mainly greens and tees – to individuals, courses, academies and hotels, both in the UK and Europe and also throughout the golfing world.
As the only official supplier to all of the UK's top golfing bodies – the PGA, the English Golf Union's National Golf Centre at Woodhall Spa, theGolf Union of Wales and the Scottish Golf Union – the company has installed golf practice greens at home for seven Major Champions and numerous Ryder Cup and European Tour Players.
Huxley Golf customers also include many Open Championship and Ryder Cup venues including St Andrews, Carnoustie, Royal Troon, Celtic Manor and Gleneagles.
Sir Nick Faldo, for example, is a client, along with the likes of Ian Woosnam, Niclas Fasth, Bradley Dredge, Soren Kjeldsen, plus several England footballers, rugby supremo Sir Clive Woodward, cricket legend Geoff Boycott and tennis ace (and scratch golfer) Tim Henman.
Not content to rest on its laurels and celebrity endorsements, though, Huxley Golf is "moving forward", says Paul Huxley, "particularly bearing in mind that in a lot of businesses connected with golf there is so much doom and gloom."
He adds: "We are making a lot of progress outside the UK, both in Europe and in golfing countries worldwide.
"Now we have distributors all over the UK, and we also cover pretty much every country in Europe – not just traditional golf destinations like Spain and Portugal, but also France, the Benelux nations, Germany, Scandinavia and Ireland.
"We recently received a big order to install greens and tees in Austria, and we have appointed Huxley Golf Distributors in North Africa, Russia, Turkey, Cyprus, the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
"We're also pushing hard in China, Hong Kong and the Middle East and it's great to see Huxley Golf sales in those areas increasing at a very healthy rate."
Huxley says this is part of a deliberate strategy: "We realised when the financial Family values the key to success at Huxley Golf crisis began about four years ago that growth would be restricted in the more traditional golf markets.
"It's still a tough market in the UK and Europe, but our figures are going up at a nice rate. We have continued to push hard to maintain and improve standards and this hard work is definitely paying off."
The company was founded immediately after the Second World War by the Huxley brothers' father Edward, a former fighter pilot in the RAF and Fleet Air Arm.
"...Huxley surfaces can provide consistent top class standards at minimum cost and, where necessary, help to take the pressure off natural turf."
For many years, the Huxley name was associated with horticultural machinery, then it expanded into machinery for golf and sports ground maintenance and was the UK Distributor of the Cushman Turf Truckster for a long period from the mid-70s, when Paul and Barry joined the business.
"We imported machinery specifically for maintaining golf courses," says Paul Huxley. "Then we got involved in manufacturing and exporting grasscutting and turf maintenance machinery for sale to customers throughout UK, Europe and even as far as Japan.
"But in the late 90s we decided not to compete with the very large multinational manufacturers who had come into our marketplace and made it unprofitable. We sold the manufacturing side of the business, but kept the buildings.
"Huxleys had an excellent customer base and first class reputation in the golf course industry built up over many years, and we had dabbled a bit with synthetic turf. We didn't mind hard work and we've always liked a challenge.
"With golfers increasingly wanting to play and practise all year round, Barry and I could see that there was an obvious need for high quality all-weather surfaces. We identified what we believed to be a niche market with the potential to grow, provided of course that we could provide the standards and specifications that golfers and golf courses needed."
These days Huxley Golf's expertise and reputation has grown to the extent that it provides services to hundreds of top golf courses throughout the world, to many top Tour players and coaches and even provides practice greens and nets for the R&A's Swingzone at The Open Championship.
Paul Huxley explains that it is essential for potential customers to try out Huxley Golf all-weather surfaces and also speak to existing customers before they commit to purchasing. "Every appointed Huxley Golf Distributor is able to demonstrate the benefits of our tees and greens and put you in touch with existing customers.
"We have very close, excellent relationships with suppliers in different countries, including the UK.
"We focus only on golf... not football, tennis and so on. It makes it easier for us, and customers know that we are specialists in our particular field of expertise. We don't get side-tracked by dabbling in other sports."
A great deal of the company's business, both home and abroad, involves the supply of all-weather practice facilities, for outdoor areas as well as indoor coaching studios. However, Huxley all-weather golf course tees are used successfully by many hundreds of golf courses and Huxley golf greens make economic sense where short seasons, difficult weather or maintenance issues cause problems.
"The installation is at least as important as the material," says Huxley. "We are happy for customers to come and try our products, go to courses that use our services or ask the PGA for recommendations."
Huxley points out that the company's products are low-maintenance, not no-maintenance, and feels that attitudes are slowly but surely changing.
"When we first started there was a lot of prejudice against synthetic turf, sometimes understandably," he said. "But those that have tried Huxley all-weather surfaces now know that, in the right place and for the right purpose, Huxley surfaces complement natural grass and give distinct benefits.
"For example, regardless of climate and money, it's almost impossible for natural grass to provide perfect surfaces all year round. Both outside and indoors, high quality Huxley surfaces can provide consistent top class standards at minimum cost and, where necessary, help to take the pressure off natural turf."
It's a fascinating story how a British company, once well known for supplying grasscutting machinery to top golf courses, has changed direction to become a world leader in the supply of grass for golf that does not need cutting.
For more information about Huxley Golf premier all-weather golf surfaces, visit about us page or call +44(0)1730829608.
