Festival of Speed is our longest-standing Motorsport event, starting in 1993 when it opened to 25,00 people. We were expecting 2000!
Legend of Goodwood's golden racing era and Le Mans winner Roy Salvadori once famously said "give me Goodwood on a summer's day and you can forget the rest".
The red & yellow of the Racecourse can be traced back hundreds of years, even captured in our stunning Stubbs paintings in the Goodwood Collection
King Edward VII (who came almost every year) famously dubbed Glorious Goodwood “a garden party with racing tacked on”.
...plan strategy in an ancient woodland, enjoy award-winning dining then drive around a racetrack?
Built in 1787 by celebrated architect James Wyatt to house the third Duke of Richmond’s prized fox hounds, The Kennels was known as one of the most luxurious dog houses in the world!
Built in 1787 by celebrated architect James Wyatt to house the third Duke of Richmond’s prized fox hounds, The Kennels was known as one of the most luxurious dog houses in the world!
David Edney, head Butler dons a morning suit "and a smile" every day and has been woking at Goodwood for over 25 years!
Built in 1787 by celebrated architect James Wyatt to house the third Duke of Richmond’s prized fox hounds, The Kennels was known as one of the most luxurious dog houses in the world!
Spectate from the chicane at the Revival to see plenty of classic cars going sideways as they exit this infamous point of our Motor Circuit.
The stunning fish which adorn the walls of the main corridor are hand crafted and represent the fishing documents from Gordon Castle of 1864-1898.
Whoa Simon! A horse so determined and headstrong, he not only won the 1883 Goodwood Cup by 20 lengths, but couldn't be stopped and carried on running over the top of Trundle hill
The Fiat S76 or "Beast of Turin" is a Goodwood favourite and can usually be heard before it is seen at #FOS
Our replica of the famous motor show showcases the "cars of the future" in true Revival style
Goodwood Motor Circuit was officially opened in September 1948 when Freddie March, the 9th Duke and renowned amateur racer, tore around the track in a Bristol 400
For the last two years, 5,800 bales have been recylced into the biomass energy centre to be used for energy generation
"En la rose je fleurie" or "Like the rose, I flourish" is part of the Richmond coat of Arms and motto
The first public race meeting took place in 1802 and, through the nineteenth century, ‘Glorious Goodwood,’ as the press named it, became a highlight of the summer season
The red & yellow of the Racecourse can be traced back hundreds of years, even captured in our stunning Stubbs paintings in the Goodwood Collection
The first ever horsebox was used from Goodwood to Doncaster for the 1836 St. Leger. Elis arrived fresh and easily won his owner a £12k bet.
Leading women of business, sport, fashion and media, take part in one of the most exciting horseracing events in the world.
Leading women of business, sport, fashion and media, take part in one of the most exciting horseracing events in the world.
The first public race meeting took place in 1802 and, through the nineteenth century, ‘Glorious Goodwood,’ as the press named it, became a highlight of the summer season
Nick Heidfelds 1999 (41.6s) hillclimb record was beaten after Max Chilton in his McMurtry Spéirling fan car tore it to shreds at 39.08s in 2022!
Ray Hanna famously flew straight down Goodwood’s pit straight below the height of the grandstands at the first Revival in 1998
One of the greatest golfers of all time, James Braid designed Goodwood’s iconic Downland course, opened in 1914.
Our gin uses wild-grown botanicals sourced from the estate, and is distilled with mineral water naturally chalk-filtered through the South Downs.
The Duke of Richmond holds the title of Duke of Richmond and Gordon. This title reflects the historical association with both the Richmond and Gordon families.
...plan strategy in an ancient woodland, enjoy award-winning dining then drive around a racetrack?
One of the greatest golfers of all time, James Braid designed Goodwood’s iconic Downland course, opened in 1914.
One of the greatest golfers of all time, James Braid designed Goodwood’s iconic Downland course, opened in 1914.
One of the greatest golfers of all time, James Braid designed Goodwood’s iconic Downland course, opened in 1914.
The first ever round of golf played at Goodwood was in 1914 when the 6th Duke of Richmond opened the course on the Downs above Goodwood House.
The iconic spitfire covered almost 43,000 kilometres and visited over 20 countries on its epic journey and currently resides at our Aerodrome.
The iconic spitfire covered almost 43,000 kilometres and visited over 20 countries on its epic journey and currently resides at our Aerodrome.
The iconic spitfire covered almost 43,000 kilometres and visited over 20 countries on its epic journey and currently resides at our Aerodrome.
...plan strategy in an ancient woodland, enjoy award-winning dining then drive around a racetrack?
...plan strategy in an ancient woodland, enjoy award-winning dining then drive around a racetrack?
We have been host to many incredible film crews using Goodwood as a backdrop for shows like Downton Abbey, Hollywood Blockbusters like Venom: let there be Carnage and the Man from U.N.C.L.E.
The origins of the collection lay in the possessions of Louise de Keroualle, Duchess of Portsmouth, and Duchess of Aubigny in France, to whom some of the paintings originally belonged.
Ensure you take a little time out together to pause and take in the celebration of all the hard work you put in will be a treasured memory.
Ensure you take a little time out together to pause and take in the celebration of all the hard work you put in will be a treasured memory.
...plan strategy in an ancient woodland, enjoy award-winning dining then drive around a racetrack?
The red & yellow of the Racecourse can be traced back hundreds of years, even captured in our stunning Stubbs paintings in the Goodwood Collection
Ray Hanna famously flew straight down Goodwood’s pit straight below the height of the grandstands at the first Revival in 1998
As the private clubhouse for all of the Estate’s sporting and social members, it offers personal service and a relaxed atmosphere
Our gin uses wild-grown botanicals sourced from the estate, and is distilled with mineral water naturally chalk-filtered through the South Downs.
The first thing ever dropped at Goodwood was a cuddly elephant which landed in 1932 just as the 9th Duke of Richmonds passion for flying was taking off.
The iconic spitfire covered almost 43,000 kilometres and visited over 20 countries on its epic journey and currently resides at our Aerodrome.
Our gin uses wild-grown botanicals sourced from the estate, and is distilled with mineral water naturally chalk-filtered through the South Downs.
Whoa Simon! A horse so determined and headstrong, he not only won the 1883 Goodwood Cup by 20 lengths, but couldn't be stopped and carried on running over the top of Trundle hill
Inspired by the legendary racer, Masten Gregory, who famously leapt from the cockpit of his car before impact when approaching Woodcote Corner in 1959.
The oldest existing rules for the game were drawn up for a match between the 2nd Duke and a neighbour
The iconic spitfire covered almost 43,000 kilometres and visited over 20 countries on its epic journey and currently resides at our Aerodrome.
A 20m woodland rue, from Halnaker to Lavant, was planted by our forestry teams & volunteers, featuring native species like oak, beech, & hornbeam
Find out the latest from our Greenkeepers in this month's Tee to Green.
The UK is experiencing its driest spring since the Second World War – and the impact is unsurprisingly being felt at every single golf course. Look out of your window and what do you see? Most likely, bright sunshine and blue skies, which is heaven for sunseekers but a problem for anyone who manages turf. To say we’ve experienced some weather extremes over the past couple of years is an understatement.
April 2024 was one of the wettest in nearly two centuries. Fast forward 12 months and, according to the Met Office, the UK recorded just over half the average rainfall it would expect to see in a normal month. That has been a trend in 2025. Following two of the wettest winters the UK has seen in decades, surely a period of sun would be beneficial. But we’ve gone from worm casts and mud to cold dry mornings, sun shear and not a hint of precipitation. Turf just can’t recover. We’re essentially no better off than we were at the peak of winter, despite it being drier. We have seen the early onset of turfgrass stress, especially with Poa annua being stunted, coming into the seasonal emergence of seed heads in mid-May.
These combined stresses have made it difficult for us managing the transition through spring and seeking surface refinement for main season performance. The fluctuation in unpredictable and extreme climatic conditions appears to be a seasonal norm.
We will look to verti-cut the greens in the upcoming weeks to improve the trueness and greens speed, to create a more consistent putting surface. This will be helped with the continuous sand dusting programs. We have also been doing lots of hand watering on the dry areas of the greens and aim to push this out onto the aprons to improve the greens complex. Water has been an issue around holes 11 to 15 with an electrical fault knocking out that zone, therefore we could not water at night and had to water the greens, tees and aprons during the morning set-up, which was not ideal from a playability perspective or an agronomy one too. However, this has now been fixed and we have gone back to normal watering. The irrigation certainly is pushing us to the limits this year, luckily, we start work on the new system at the end of September, meaning next year we should have a lot more resource hours to put into detailing the course.
Due to the lack of rainfall, nature has hit us hard on the fairways this year, with some of the shockwave slits opening, forming cracks. Unfortunately, there is not a lot we can do about this, as we need the rain to fall to start bringing these back. When the rain is predicated, we will apply a wetting agent and seaweed spray to assist in the aid of recovery.
The natural rough has started to grow taller now, this is slightly less thick than other years, due to the dry weather and the additional cut and collect which took place in late March. With the prolonged lack of rainfall this should stay thinner and wispier until we get some moisture back in. So, there are some positives of this weather.
The 5th tee is now back in play and markers will be slightly tighter on this hole (amongst some others throughout the course) to help with wear and tear on the tees. Thank you for your patience with this area, as it took longer to establish than expected.
There has been lots of sightings of hares, buzzards, deer this last month, which is pleasing to see. The ecology around the site is very diverse, with lots of transition areas blending the landscape nicely between golf and nature. We have also had some Orchids come through in the natural rough on the 14th and oxeye daisy’s coming through on the tunnel area.
See you on the course.
Rob Dyer, Head Greenkeeper, The Downs Course
This Spring has been beautiful, sunny, warm most days and still a strong northerly wind which can feel cold at times, certainly in the morning. With this has also come with a lack of any serious rain. Currently, this is the 5th driest Spring on record and could quite well end up the driest. The driest Spring on record was 1976 and most of you would of heard about the Summer of 76, hottest on record. All this is very challenging times for every golf course up and down the country.
The course is now looking like it does in July/August. Greens have recovered very well from maintenance from last month. These have just recently been fed with a granular fertiliser to get more consistent growth and we will start doing more top dressing. We are a little bit behind in dressing due to fact of the construction work on the bunkers and Copse maintenance. They are still performing well and speeds are up there but just not quite were we want them to be. Tees/aprons are struggling in this dry period. We are watering daily in the evenings just trying to keep them healthy. The fairways are starting to drop off a bit as well. In the pictures below is the 7th fairway same time last year and a pic from this year, quite the contrast.
All the new bunkers have been turfed. All of them have knitted in really well seeing how dry it’s been and thanks again for your patience with all the hoses out there. The next step which is happening right now is that the bases are being put in. This is a strong fescue turf which is laid upside down for the base then we will add the sand. We will give this a week or so to settle down before opening. Ideally we like to open 4th tee and bunkers at same time. The 4th tee is coming along nicely, heights have now been dropped and feed applied and then we will top dress. The surrounding area is also now being cut with same machine that does the main tees.
The Copse greens had maintenance this month. Due to age of greens and grow in process these naturally get high levels of thatch due to the amount of water and feed that is applied to get them to where they are now. We used 13mm hollow core tines then dressed with 2 ton of sand on Putting/Chipping green. The 6 Copse greens had slightly less dressing. This was then drag matted into the holes and profile followed by a granular fertiliser. One week later they are nearly fully recovered. In September we will use the GKB machine to remove more thatch and get them to a manageable level like The Park greens. Overall the Copse is presenting well in these challenging conditions and has continued to be busy, especially weekends with family’s now using the facility which is pleasing to see.
See you on the course.
Scott Peterson, Head Greenkeeper, The Park Course