Lots and lots to report about this week and a little bit of name-dropping too! 

Ok, I'll get the name dropping out the way first - I had an epiphany on Monday morning and somehow awoke with the realisation that it was exactly 25 years, to the day, since I'd been on a brilliant 2-day Masterclass with Nick Faldo and his entourage. 

Back in 1990 there had been an interview with Faldo, the present World No.1, in the Telegraph where he mentioned he would like to give back to the game and help aspiring professionals to get on the tour. I wrote to his management company, IMG, to suggest that if he was serious he should consider me and a couple of other people wrote in on my behalf also. Fast forward 6 months and I received an invite from IMG to a Masterclass hosted by Faldo due to them receiving 1,000 letters like mine. They chose 20 people from the letters and invited the 10 best amateurs in the UK.

So, the day after the PGA Championship at Wentworth finished in 1991, we were all assembled at Welwyn Garden City golf club, Faldo's junior home club, along with his caddie Fanny Sunnesson, his coach David Leadbetter and other coaches from the Leadbetter stable (Denis Pugh, Mitchell Spearman and Dennis Sheehy), Paul Ankers who was his personal trainer, his manager John Simpson and his wife Gill, plus the Mizuno tour truck was on site just for us. I remember Nick was in contention at Wentworth and three-putted the last to finish 4th, in the year that Seve beat Monty in a playoff. We were listening to the playoff on the radio as my Mum drove me down to Welwyn Garden City and I wondered if he would be in a bad mood because of his finish. Of course he wasn't and in fact he turned out to be great fun, a real joker and not at all the serious guy that the media portrayed.

I had just turned 18 and had turned pro 6 months earlier, it was an incredible experience, you can just imagine. 

What an inspiration it was and that was the era when Faldo and Leadbetter dominated the golf world, both on the course and with their videos and books. Of course the players were so less accessible than they are today - you simply never got to hear from them if they didn't want you to and Nick was very private. 

Here's a photo from the day, shot by the famous golf photographer Dave Cannon, who I happened to know as he was a member at The Leicestershire Golf Club and that's where I was as an Assistant Pro. See if you can spot McGinley and Harrington and see how long it takes you to spot 18 year old me!

I've still got the sweater and it still fits:

I recall Paul McGinley (an amateur back then) as being the quietest guy there and I only recall his name as he won the competition event that we had with a 68, to beat my 69 into second place. 

I was sat at lunch on the first day with a couple of really chatty, friendly guys called Jon Bickerton and Padraig Harrington, the latter just having won the Brabazon amateur trophy and played off Plus 2. 

I met John a few years ago at the Scottish Open at Gleneagles and reminded him that I beat him in the Masterclass but had to concede that he probably had the better career, especially as he won €500,000 for winning the French Open, slightly eclipsing my £150 victory in the Walsall winter alliance the same year. 

Back to present day and I sent a tweet to all the people mentioned, alerting them to the fact it was exactly 25 years ago. Within 10 minutes, Nick Faldo had sent a tweet back asking me if I had a photo, David Leadbetter Liked and Re-Tweeted the message and Denis Pugh and Faldo's PR company sent me messages:

   

That's the power of Social Media for you!

 

Tuesday Social

On the same day I sent a message out on Facebook to the Tuesday Social group and half of the golfers view the message in 2 hours - some of them within the first minute! If you search for 'Brocton Hall Tuesday Social' you'll find a private Group - ask to join and we'll include you so you can see the results and news before it appears here and check out the standings for the three Order of Merit leagues - Premier, Numpty and Part-timers!

This weeks results: 
1st - Daz Poole - 20 
2nd - Sean Nelson - 19 
3rd - Neil Johnson - 18 
4th - Mark Ferguson - 18 
5th - Bill Whittle - 18 
6th - Nathan Cooper - 18 
7th - Allan Cooper - 18 
8th - Adam HAwkins - 18 
9th - Peter Horsley - 17

A 3peat For Brocton?

Well done to the Brocton Hall team who descended upon Stratford-on-Avon Golf Club on the team coach to compete for the Millennium Bowl. It's played between Stratford (Warwickshire), Church Brampton (Northamptonshire), The Leicestershire, Kedleston Park (Derbyshire) and ourselves and we managed to retain the trophy, the third time we've won on consecutive years. Team members qualify through various events throughout the year, across the board, with Ladies, Seniors, Scratch and A and B division players, although I think Matt Perrin's 41 points (3 over gross) at Straford might qualify him for another year! 

I'd like to think my motivating team talk of "If you don't win, don't come back" played a large part in their victory.

   

Quen's Birthday Mixed Comp

The Mixed competition on Sunday was played in a red, white and blue theme in honour of the Queen's Birthday celebrations. Pictured are Kate Brookhouse, Maurice Howell and junior member Ellie Treadwell who had a very special day as she scored a hole-in-one on the 3rd hole! Well done Ellie!

         

A Perfect Role Model

If a golf club ever needs a role model for how to involve yourself and integrate within a golf club, Ellie is the one. She's been for lessons with Luke, plays in the Tuesday Social with her Dad but also mixes in with others. In recent weeks she's played with the ladies section, the Bank Holiday competitions. the Mixed competitions and dinners, the Pro's Fiddles and she'll be down at the club practicing in between times, in fact she came straight off the course after the hole-in-one round and went to practice. AND always with a smile on her face - keep it going Ellie, very impressive stuff!

American Golf Vouchers 

If you have any vouchers for the American Golf Discount stores, you can drop them into the shop if you like and we'll put them onto your account as credit. Some loyalty schemes award you with the vouchers and now you can use them to benefit from Custom Clubs or our huge range of shoes in store. I heard someone outside the other day saying - 'Have you seen the range of shoes in the shop!? More than I've ever seen anywhere - it's like a shoe shop!'. 

Our shoe wall is attracting a lot of attention with 140 pairs and we're adding and replacing models each week. The person followed up with 'I bet they haven't got any in my size though'. Hopefully nobody took that bet!!