US Open
The US Open is just around the corner and we now have the SWEEP available to have a go at in the Shop. Its £3 a go, pick one of the top 50 players at random and watch with interest. There's prizes for the top three overall and for best and worst score each day.
The European Tour qualifying event for the US Open took place at Walton Heath on Monday. If you get the chance to go next year, it's a great day as there's no charge, you get to walk down the fairways with the players and there's only a couple of thousand people watching with lots of big names playing.
Andrew 'Beef' Johnston qualified along with Eddie Pepperell, George Coetzee and Paul Dunne. Spare a thought for Welsh amateur David Boote who shot 10 under par 62 on the Old Course in the morning, only to shoot 1 over on the New Course in the afternoon and miss a place in a playoff.
We also have 12 dozen Titleist ProV1 balls in a special US Open commemorative box, all with the number '69' on them as it's the 69th year of Titleist being the most played ball.
Srixon Performance Pack
Another golf ball offering is in the Shop from Srixon. The pack features a sleeve of AD333 Tour balls, a sleeve of AD333 and a sleeve of Ulti-Softs. This gives you the most popular ball in golf (AD333) and the chance to compare the softest feeling version (Ulti-Soft) and the most spinning version (Tour), all at 33% less price than buying the balls normally. Only £15.99 !!!
A Warm Week
The lovely hot end to last week wasn't ideal for some members as the course was booked but at least you got to come out in the evening and enjoy the cooler part of the days. We are constantly astounded at how quiet other days in the week often are - as golfers, we are such creatures of habit aren't we!
Dress Code
One area where Brocton has changed recently is in regard to the dress code with socks. The rule states 'Socks must be worn but may be of any colour or length' which was changed last year from 'socks must be above ankle high and white in colour'. I've worn a variety of previously 'illegal' socks to highlight the rule change and have been accosted on several occasions incorrectly - rather me than you! If you're unsure what the rules are, please just ask us in the Pro Shop. A lady member came to me last week to do the very same as someone had told her that the use of a 'chipper' was illegal!!
Seniors Open
Well done to Pete and Di Allder who choreographed another very successful Seniors Open on Thursday, we heard so many favourable comments about the course and club.
Millennium Bowl
On Friday Brocton Hall hosted the Millennium Bowl, played between a club from 5 different Counties, which is fast becoming a huge event in terms of historical value and showcasing the club. The President and Vice Captain were instrumental in organising a successful day, all the staff carried it off superbly and the 12 person Brocton Hall team brought the whole thing to a suitable conclusion, winning by an astonishing 40 points.
We've now won it 8 times with the nearest competitor winning 3 times!! The hot weather seemed to catch everyone out and Lewis was mobbed as he drove around the course with a beverage cart supplying extra fluid to the players - well done Lewis.
Brocton member Ken Skelton came to the aid of a visiting team player by lending him his new shoes to replace his forgotten ones and was rewarded with a drink behind the bar for him. The whole event was played in great spirit and reminds me of the (now almost expected) Ryder Cup closing ceremony line - 'The real winner today was Golf!'
The Millennium Bowl was initiated by Ken Bailey and the late Brian Baker and the players were intended to be found through a qualification process - Officials, Club Champion, Ladies Champion, Summer Knockout winner etc. Over recent years it seems that Kedleston, The Leicestershire, Northants County and Stratford have a more hand-picked team although I think it is becoming more performance based each year. It may not be the case but it seemed that we had quite a different age group and demographic of players compared to the other clubs which may be down to us sticking to the qualification process. I thought it was quite poignant that our team was diverse, drawing from every section of the club and I fear somewhat for the health of other clubs, not just the Millennium Bowl clubs, if the mainstay of the membership is perhaps the more stereotypical golfer to the outside world.
GC Quad
My new toy arrived last week, the GC Quad launch monitor. I've had 4 different launch monitors in the past, Vector Pro, Flightscope Kudu, SkyTrak and Flightscope X2. This new machine replaces the latter two for me.
It's a necessary investment these days as it's at the forefront of golf equipment testing and coaching. To spend twice as much as I'd spend on a family car allowing me to perform our services to the upmost level, but of course I don't begrudge the cost as it's a gadget and golfers can always quantify a new gadget, can't they??
The Quad is the world's first Quadroscopic launch monitor with 4 cameras taking hundreds of photographs of the club and ball in 3D as impact occurs. It can be used for all clubs in the bag including chipping and putting and gives an unreal level of detail for the fitter, coach and pupil. It is self-levelling, self-aiming, has a built in Altimeter, Temperature gauge and Barometric Pressure sensor ensuring that the projected ball distance is absolutely accurate for the current location, it even shows me to the millimetre where the ball was hit on the face, nothing left to chance there!!
Here's a photo of Simon practicing his putting, testing out the machine on the green. Click here to book a fitting of lesson using our new technology.
Pros fiddle results from the weekend:
1st - Steve Treadwell 43pts £22, 2nd - Mark Newman 42pts £19, 3rd - Karl Horvath 42pts £17, 4th - Nathan Cooper 40pts £15, 5th - Pete Hughes 38pts £13, 6th - Phil Birch 36pts £11, 7th - Andy Tarplee 36pts £10, 8th - Reg Sergeant 35pts £9, 9th - Paul Dunlavey 35pts £8.
(Each player chose a joker hole to double their points before teeing off)
Tuesday Social results from last week are on the Facebook page 'Brocton Hall Tuesday Social' - last week's winner was Chris Leonard with a superb 24 points for 9 holes.
