British Masters

Tuesday afternoon I was fortunate enough to head over to the Grove for the official practice day. My plan was to have a good nose around and watch some of Europe and the world's best Golfers. The day started off really well and the first player I bumped into was Ryder Cup player and defending champion Matt Fitzpatrick.

What I normally do is walk the course backwards against the flow of play to see if anyone worth watching is coming up the holes.

Well I was fortunate enough to bump into not one but 2 players I know from my junior and playing days.

Firstly Dan Brooks, who nearly won the Scottish Open last year behind Rickie Fowler and who is currently 101 on the Race to Dubai. I haven't seen Dan for a good couple of years so walked 12 holes with him, it was great to get inside the ropes and catch up.

When Dan had finished, I returned to the range at about 4pm and Andrew 'Beef' Johnston was on the range. I know Andrew from my county golf days and saw him last year when he came and opened a facility at a previous work place.

I saw him jump out on the course and I walked 4 holes with just him, his manage, his friend and myself. He didn't even have a caddy. 

He would then be playing in the Hero Challenge in the evening. Although I know these guys, and was able to walk in the ropes, even if I didn't I could of still watched groups like this with no crowds to see how they plot their way round the course.

For those of you who expected Tiger to be back this week, click here and see how the Grove encourages you to recreate his magic.


 

Lynx Are Coming

We have a Lynx Demo Day booked in for Tuesday 8th November, 5pm-8pm. They are re-emerging as a club manufacturer who are now developing products that match and outperform the big boys. 

If you want to try these clubs out, we recommend booking in your 30 minute slot, however, we will have a couple of bays available for anyone who would like to turn up on the night.

Please click here to book a slot


 

This week saw the penultimate match of this season. The Senior Captain, Graham Anderson Payne, and I took on Andrew and Nick. It had been a while since our last match as this was actually meant to be the September match but we were playing it in October. 

We have been guilty this year of getting off to slow starts and been on the back foot, having to fight back, but not this time. 3up through 4 holes and we never looked back. 4up through the turn and even when Nick and Andrew won 10 and 11 we were always in control. Especially when Graham won 12 with a gross par. The match was pretty much sealed when Nick made a par nett birdie on 15, and I followed in with my own birdie. Dormy 3. 

The match was over when I rolled in a nice 25 foot eagle putt, with my new EDEL putter, on 16 (my 2nd eagle of the match) to seal the game 4&2. Our final match is next week and will look forward to reporting on that result!


 

Edel Putters It didn't take long for one of the Edel Putters to be ordered. Last Thursday a new Edel putter was ordered for John. He is now eagerly awaiting the delivery just like I was after going through the fitting process. 

Well mine got delivered last week and so far so good, I had 11 putts through 7 holes as a little taster, and then shot 66 in the Captain and Pro match with 29 putts. Let's hope I start how I mean to go on!