East Sussex National Golf Club has been sold for £9m to a European consortium.

The blue chip club at Little Horsted near Uckfield, owned by the Kuwaiti investment Office, has been on the market for well over a year. Chief executive Wyndham Heyring cleared his desk last week and members and staff were informed of the sale by letter.

All other contracts have been transferred to the new owners. Incoming chief executive is Peter Button and the new operational directors are Richard Archer, an architect, and Brian Street. The trading name of the new company is Pensor.

When ESN was first put up for sale the looked-for price at £13-15m. Several false starts added to members' frustration and American Golf (UK) Ltd pulled out of negotiations at the last minute six months ago.

When the West and East courses and clubhouse were completed in the early Eighties the bill was a colossal £32.5m. No expense was spared in getting the top course architect from America while the club building drew mixed comment.

The European Open was staged there in 1993 and 1994 but attendances fell way below expectations. In total there are around 650 members consisting of 370 men, 120 women, 65 juniors and corporate memberships.

Recently the club made it known that no joining fee would be required - a sure sign that policy changes had been implemented. What the new owners have got for their money is not quite clear at this stage.

The 1,000 acres includes Horsted Place, a country house hotel, and 325 acres of farmland. The estate has planning permission for a luxury hotel and I understand such a development will go ahead.

Apart from hotel groups and major golf operators there was no shortage of inquiries from deep-pocket investors when ESN went on the market. The original development was begun by Canadian hotel tycoon Brian Turner who saw it as a UK version of Augusta National.

But when projected revenues failed to materialise, despite the exclusivity of the platinum card membership, the Kuwaitis stepped in, deposed Turner, and introduced new management.

A year ago membership fees started at £1,750 while every effort was made to drum-up society business. However, the Kuwaitis decided to sell because it was not a core investment. A complication for the professioal staff was the granting of a teaching franchise to the David Leadbetter Academy.

This meant ESN's pros not having the opportunity to instruct members or visitors. It remains to be seen if this arrangement will continue under the new owners.

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