I've had a few people milling about in the Pro Shop lately, enjoying the freshly ground coffee and talking about the amount of stock we carry. Surprisingly to us, they were mostly under the impression that the goods in the shop are all supplied by the companies on a 'Sale or Return' basis. I've heard it a couple of times before and these golfers are always startled to hear that everything in the shop, all £60,000 of it has been paid for by ourselves. One even remarked that I must be a millionaire! All I can say is that if I am, Katie's done a very good job at keeping it from me, don't tell the Bank and don't tell our Simon, as the cupboard he lives in will seem even smaller to him! 

Joking aside, it's nice when people suddenly realise the effort that we put into the Pro Shop, the service we aim to provide and the hours invested in it. Thanks for filling in your Equipment Surveys recently, it all helps to ensure we source the gear that you want to see and the £20 voucher that you get sent can be used for my Click & Collect service. Simply place your order on the website and get it delivered to the shop. 

Katie and I had a good day at the British Masters last Thursday at The Grove. We were invited by Mizuno to spend the day there as they were key sponsors as their star player, Luke Donald was hosting the event. We had some fun as when I posted a picture of the invite on Facebook, a number of people thought I was playing in it!! When we got there, Richard Bland was on the leaderboard and they didn't list his initial so we posted a couple of photos that might suggest that it was me on the leaderboard which fooled a couple of you - hee, hee.
 
I dragged Katie out of the corporate pavilion by the 18th green to have a guided tour of the Mizuno Tour Truck, the official workshop of The European Tour for 25 years. I was pleasantly unimpressed as the machinery they use is older and in many ways, more basic than mine. They don't have a frequency analyser, they use manual swing weight scales instead of my digital one and their loft and lie machine is the same as mine, just an older model. Of course this if no bad thing, it just goes to show that custom club building is not a new skill and doesn't involve anything fancy. Having said that, the machines I have that are the same as theirs cost a lot to buy in and are essential to do a proper job, such as: 

- Mitchell Loft and Lie gauge from Ohio 
- Frequency Analyser from Arizona 
- Digital Swingweight Scale from Taiwan 
- Dust contained shaft cutter from Taiwan 
- MOI measuring machine from Colorado 
- Bench Grinder, Pillar Drill, air compressor, shaft extractor, bench sander, gripping station, heat gun all from the UK

 

The Nations Cup took place on Saturday with 120 golfers getting involved in what has become the 'must play' social golf event of the year. Apologies to my team as I was double-booked and couldn't play as I wasn't going to be available for the evening event. However, congratulations to them all as they won the team event with the rightful Captain, Richard Nicholls taking the helm alongside Stu Beaman (43 points), with John Nicholls and Mark Hudson (42 points), Roy Douglas and Ian Price (37 points) and Simon Harbridge and Bill Stewart (41 points). Stunning effort from the 'Tuesday Social A Team' to win the Nations Cup.

Bill Whittle and Steve Witton won the Eric and Ernie Trophy with 46 points (which was also the winning score last year), and well done to all the newer members who got involved and gave it their all, both in terms of getting involved with the day and 'going for it' with regard to the fancy dress! Anthony Dell performed his wonderful Jools Holland effect and it his him we have to thank for re-installing this event as a key signal for the winter fun golf to begin.




I like winter at Brocton Hall these days, the course remains open and plays well over the winter, the same number of golfers play in a shorter period of time so it seems busier, we get really busy with club-fitting and indoor coaching and the golf competitions are geared towards fun formats. Keep an eye on the diary for future events including Better-Ball formats, Texas Scramble, Fur and Feather and Turkey Trot in the men's calendar plus many ladies, juniors and mixed events. 




The seniors played for the Felthouse Cup on Monday, an even more sought after trophy since Peter Bright won it a few years ago and declared it the 'International Felthouse Cup'. This year's winner was Terry Perrin who won by 1 shot from the Seniors Captain, Steve Hirst, with 40 points. Steve received his own trophy as John Murdoch had bake him a fantastic cake to celebrate his year if Captaincy.




The Captain and I played our last two matches of the year last week and the course condition was very impressive. The greens were ironed on Thursday and they were so incredibly true the next day. This was confirmed by a member of more than 50 years who remarked that in all honesty the course was the best he has seen it, summer or winter, in all that time. Well done to everyone involved, but of course your greens committee and green staff are always looking to improve it further - well, once they've finished clearing up all the leaves that is! 




NEW in the Shop this week: 

Men's FootJoy HydroLite shoes - Special Offer. RRP is £89, we have 8 pairs which are £69.99 

  

Ladies - new autumn clothing 




New shafts in my Driver demo Matrix 

- ProLaunch Blue - higher launching 
ProLaunch Red - lower launching 
ACCRA Tour Z Extreme - lowest and most stable tip 
Graffaloy Blue - lower launching 
ACCRA i-series 42gram - More ball speed

In the workshop this week: 

Mizuno MP5 irons 4-pw - Project X 6.0 shafts 
Mizuno JPX EZ irons 5-sw - KBS Tour-V Shafts 
Callaway FTi driver - Reshaft ACCRA i-series 
KZG 3 wood reshaft ACCRA i-series 
Callaway Steelhead 3 wood - PING ALTA re-shaft 
Tom Wishon 979SS irons 6, 8, p, s - UST Mamiya shaft 
Mizuno JPX 850 ladies hybrid and fairway wood 
Nike SQ driver - Re-shaft Mitsubishi Diamana Blue 
Srixon 355 4 iron - KBS C-Taper Lite shaft 
Mizuno JPX EZ 3hybrid - ACCRA i-series hybrid shaft