Nevil Bland

Hello Golfers,

Welcome to another edition of our newsletter, in this week’s mail we highlight results from the recent Pro-Am, my Pro’s Days are on the horizon, and once again we talk pitchmarks. Enjoy the read!

Course news

Pin positions

Well done to Simon Bright who tied the course record with a bogey free 64 on Sunday, his putt for a 63 finishing hanging over the hole on the 18th! The pin positions were the same ones as we had used for the Pro Am on Friday and the best score then was 65 by ex-Ryder Cup golfer David Gilford.

Head Greenkeeper Andy had asked me to decide the pin positions for this year’s Pro-Am and myself and Mike have been mapping the greens all year in an attempt to quantify what would constitute an easy, medium and hard pin position. Anyone who questions pin positions should have a go at doing it themselves, it’s so hard to get it right! Here’s an example why:

I divided a sheet of paper into 9 sections to signify each section of a green and with my knowledge of the green slopes, I wrote two hole numbers in each section to give the best spread of holes - trying not to have too many in a row which are on the right, at the back or in easy spots etc. Off I went onto the course a week before the event, armed with a spray can and a digital spirit level, I only managed to place two holes in the places I had nominated. Either the current hole was already there, or an old hole which hadn’t fully repaired was in the area, or the green surface was stressed in that place or, most annoyingly, a pitchmark was in the way which hadn’t been repaired. Almost every green had a large pitch mark on the front which stopped me putting a hole there. (More about the pitchmarks later on). Here’s a picture of one on the 9th hole from that evening with a ball alongside to appreciate the size.

Then, on the eve of the Pro-Am I went back out and checked all the positions. I had to change the 3rd hole because a pitchmark had been left unrepaired near the hole, I had to move the 12th because someone had gouged an area of the green with their putter and I decided to move the 17th as the wind was off the right and the hole was tight on the right side. Then at 6am on the Pro-Am morning, Andy rang me as some deer had run across the 17th green, exactly over the new spot!

I planned the flag positions for a green stimp reading of 9 feet, and Andy impressively got it spot on at exactly 9 feet the next morning. Which meant I predicted the winning score would be 3 under for the professionals and 18 under for the team, not too easy and not too tough and amazingly it was pretty darn close!

Pro-Am news

Brocton Hall Pro-Am

Our own Mike Dewsbury was the early leader posting a three under par 66 which was matched by three others and just pipped by David Gilford when he finished with two 2s including holing from off the green on the 18th. Here’s a picture of Mike receiving his runners up cheque wearing Luke’s jacket!

Luke finished with level par 69 and I was 71. A team from Leicester and Northampton made up the winning team score of 18 under par and two Brocton teams finished just behind them at 16 under.

This was our 15th hosting of the event and I’d like to thank everyone who helped make it a success. These days only run smoothly if every department of the club takes care of their business effectively and they certainly did ’Team Brocton' proud. Outside the normal staffing ranks, Katie was a stalwart during the day, Simon was running the halfway house for me on his 15th Birthday (for tips as well!), Max Hunter helped me break into the halfway house and climb through the window as the door lock had seized and then he ran it for the morning. (Well done shooting a nett 63 to win the Bryan Baker trophy on Tuesday Max!). Peter Collier, Ian Smith and John Perkin were the ball spotters on the first hole, Ethan Evans turned up as a reserve in case he was needed and the Captain welcomed everyone and awarded the prizes. Of course, sincere thanks to the sponsors and competitors and to the rest of the membership for allowing the event to take place once again.

Winning Pro David Gilford

Pro-Am winning team

I’ve posted a list of the winners in the clubhouse and also on my Facebook page.

This is a showcase event for the golf club and we’ve witnessed a great deal of positive feedback on social media, here are a few:

Craig Shave - Steady 66 today, great day again @BroctonHall, course in great shape!

Lee Clarke - Bridesmaid for 2nd day running! @BroctonHall was in amazing condition! A must venue to visit!

Dan Whitby-Smith - 67(-2) today in @BroctonHall Pro-Am to finish T7th. Always enjoy going to Brocton, great course and hospitality.

Rich O’Hanlon - Great to be back home where I started my golfing career @BroctonHall in @PGAMidlands Pro-Am, love playing this place! Great test of golf and a huge thanks to @nevilbland for putting together a top event.

David Peters - Great Pro-Am at Brocton Gc… ...Well organised Nevil Bland

Adam White - Happy to shoot under par yesterday around Brocton Hall in the Midland PGA Pro Am. A nice slam dunk hole out at the last from 43 yards helped! Course was in very good condition, well worth a visit!!

Danny Taylor - Course was good, greens nice pace, staff nice, food really good, prizes good and prize fund good. What more could you want or do? Thanks Nev, Good job!

Wes Wilkes - Wonderful day, Forgot how nice that course is!

Dan Whitby-Smith - Great day thanks Nev. Team said it’s the best pro-am they’ve played this year in terms of value for money. The course, food before and after and also halfway was excellent.

Pro's news

Pro’s Days

Next on the horizon is my Pro’s Days for Ladies, on Wednesday 12th September and for men on Saturday 15th September. Both events will be the popular Texas Scramble format and we’ll be mixing things up a bit. I’ve got a few things planned for the ladies event on the course and the men’s event will be using a different 1st hole. Your first tee will be on the lawn in front of the clubhouse, hitting over the water to the 9th green and when you get to the 9th tee, after we’ve plied you with food and drink, we’ll be playing a cross-country hole, from the 9th tee to the 10th green. The men’s event will be open for online booking shortly.

Tuesday Social Golf

We had the first repeat winner of the parking space this week as Harriet Fane (aka Harriet Painter) won for the second week with 23 points. Happily this saves us printer ink and paper so thanks Harriet! More of the same next week please. Full scores can be found at the Tuesday Social Facebook page.

Back to the ptichmarks!

We really need to take better care of our greens, especially as the greens are suddenly getting softer. Perhaps the most often heard cliché about this subject is when golfers say ‘I always repair my own and one other pitch mark.’ I would ask ‘why do you only do that when you’ve hit the green?’ and ‘why stop at just 1 more?’.

On Tuesday night Ken Skelton and Steve Hirst had a competition to see who could repair the most as they played their 9 holes - they mended a total of 72 and this didn’t include their own, or previously repaired marks or small scuffs, they were all proper pitchmarks. Two hours later I teed off and on the same 9 holes myself and Mark Hudson repaired 31 more. Some of these must have been older ones which Ken and Steve had missed as they were dry. To check this out, we went out again after the Tuesday Social had finished and I’m happy to say we only found 1 small mark which was on the 5th hole in an area where the green was bare so it could easily have been missed, but we did find a big one on the front of the 9th.

Bang for your buck

Sunglasses are becoming a must-have with the fantastic weather we’ve been enjoying in recent months. One brand you’ll certainly have heard of is Oakley, which offers a stunning range of sunglasses that can improve your vision on the course while keeping you looking great off it.

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If they're good enough for tour...

Simply put, if the best players in the world are wearing a specific shoe then it’s going to be offering them something that’s enhancing their game, whether that’s increased comfort or a more stable platform for generating power.

Try the tour look
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Spotlight: Cleveland RTX 4 wedge

Cleveland's wedges are among the best on the market and have been for many years, so when they bring out a new model it certainly grabs our attention.

The RTX 4 is due to hit our shelves in September and is already in the bags of Graeme McDowell and Russell Knox to name a few. It features Cleveland's sharpest ever wedges, helping to generate more spin than ever before, especially out of the rough, which is sure to make it a popular choice for many golfers.

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Video of the Week

Ahead of the Scottish Open earlier this year, the European Tour gave some of the world's best golfers the chance to roll back the years in this Hickory Challenge. How do you think they got on?

Get out and get golfing!

Brocton Hall Golf Club
Sawpit Lane
Brocton
Stafford
ST17 0TH

Phone: 01785 661485

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