The ethos at Fiddlers Ferry is for the course to offer pay and play but with championship standards.

Chapman has also introduced a tiered version of membership at the club to encourage all levels of usage of the course.

“We think there’s a massive gap in the market where you can offer a great product with good greens and tees at pay and play prices,” he said.

“I was previously at St Michaels course in Widnes that closed down five years ago.

“We’d get in excess of 35,000 rounds a year there. If we get anything close to that here we’ll be delighted.

“We’ve seen the footfall increase at a nice, steady rate and the feedback’s been fantastic. We think we’ve got something a little bit unique here.”

Chapman was delighted to welcome rising star Rodwell to the course and revealed he is not the first Premier League footballer to tee off there.

“We’ve had a few of the Liverpool players down too,” he said.

“Daniel Agger has been down a few times, plus Jermaine Pennant used to come over when he was still at the club. We had Robbie Fowler on the driving range and John Arne Riise used to come down and use the range too.”