Nevil Bland

Hello Golfers,

Welcome to another edition of our newsletter, in this week’s mail we recap on another successful Professional’s Day, Mike and I are off to play in the oldest professional golf tournament, and the new Srixon clubs are proving very popular. Enjoy the read!

Competition news

Professional's Day

Thanks to everyone who played for contributing to a brilliant Professional's Day on Saturday. It was hard work but great fun and I'm indebted to Mike Dewsbury, Katie Bland and Graham Southall for their help. But special thanks must got to our youngest son, Simon, who hosted the halfway house for 9 hours, your generosity there raised £105 for the Birmingham Children’s Hospital, so thank you.

I like to do something a little different for my competitions and expand the ‘Fun’ element of golf. This year was no exception and t’s quite possibly the first time everyone has been announced onto the tee by loudspeaker, then played a shot from outside the dining room, over the lake onto the 9th green, all with a Rocky training montage blasting out behind them. I'm sure that's not what Harry Vardon envisaged happening when he designed the course but I bet he would have loved the energy and camaraderie on display.

The special holes went down a storm and it was great entertainment on the newly invented 1st tee all day, watching the shots to the green, then running down to the edge of the lake to watch people tee off the newly invented 12th tee, over the lake down the 12th hole, creating a 569 yard par 5 with a super tight tee shot.

There were some spectacular shots, both impressively good and bad (or unlucky) and there were a lot of pars on the 14th where I’d placed the flag 2 feet onto the green. We’ve been mapping the greens this year and the summary is that you can’t put a pin on a slope which is greater than 5% slope. The one I chose on the 14th was just over 15% slope!! That said, two groups managed a birdie there!

Congratulations to all the winners and to Ryan Collier for achieving his first ever Hole-In-One on the 3rd hole. It was a very close finish with one team in on 50.2, to be pipped late on by a 50.3. Then another group scored 49.7 and if their final putt had not hung over the lip then they would have won.

Instead there was another 50.3 and the day wasn’t over as just for fun (but unknown by them), I decided we’d have a sudden death playoff over the lake to the 9th green. It was great to watch golfers testing themselves under pressure and was a great finale to a great day.

The Winners of the Texas Scramble stableford:

T1st - 50.3 points - £32.50 each
Billy Mackie, Ian Ashton, Jon Parkes & Richard Law, Alex Humphries, Paul Dunlavey

3rd - 50.2 points - £25 each
Steve Pick, Paul Crane, Tom Beasley

4th - 49.7 points - £20 each
Joe Phillips, Dave PArkes, Craig Nesbitt

T5th - 49.3 points - £17 each
Darrel Poole, Andrew Metcalfe, Karl Horvath & Steve Treadwell, Martin Hunt, Dave Taylor

7th - 48.5 points - £14 each
Mike Mazzitelli, Reza Satongar, Clive Griffiths

8th - 48.3 points - £13 each
Phil Musker, Stu Vaughan, Ryan Collier

Nearest the pins - £14 each
1st hole - Martin Hunt
3rd hole - Ryan Collier - Hole in one!
17th hole - Will Johnson

The four special holes had these average scores:
Hole 1a - 101 yards over water Par 3 - Average score 2.70
Hole 9/10 - 331 yards blind dogleg Par 4 - Average score 4.00
Hole 12 - 569 yards over water Par 5 - Average score 5.00
Hole 14 - 430 yards Silly Pin Par 4 - Average score 4.44

Thanks to Andy and the green staff for setting the course up and for allowing me to cause them some extra work with the pin position and tee position changes. I put some of the tees forward to speed play up and to allow higher handicappers to feature, plus I put most of the markers out to use the full width of the tee, not just half of it.

Pro's news

Midland Professional Championship

Mike and I are playing in the Midland Professional Championship today at Shifnal which is the oldest professional golf tournament in the world (and possibly the windiest this week!). Good luck to Mike as he currently stands 15th in the Midlands Order of Merit and a top 20 finish after this week would see him exempt for every tournament next year. He’s on good form too as he won the Robin Hood Pro-Am last week, shooting 5 under par in tricky conditions.

The list of winter pro-ams for myself, Mike and Luke is now out in the Pro Shop if you’d like to join any of us.

Also available is the Winter Coaching Package for 2018/19. It’s limited to 20 places and involves 4 x half hour lessons for £120 with guaranteed priority slots available in the Studio.

Click here if you’d like to reserve a slot.

It’s been a busy week as the new Srixon and Cleveland clubs arrived and I’ve already run out of the much anticipated driver. More are due by the end of next week and I have the demo woods and all the shaft options so you can have a fitting, pre-order them and make sure you don’t miss out.

RTX 4 now in-store

It feels like we've waited a while, but the eagerly anticipated landing of Cleveland's incredible RTX 4 wedge is finally here. Cleveland has been at the forefront of wedge design for many years and has used feedback from its tour players to make the RTX 4 wedge its best yet. It provides more spin than ever before, is more versatile than previous generations and has never felt so good off the face.

watch our video>

Pressure putts

With the Ryder Cup coming up next week, we can expect plenty of tense moments, particularly on the greens. You’ll probably notice that players on both sides will have the ability to hole out under huge amounts of pressure – who can forget Ian Poulter’s clutch putt on the 16th green at Medinah in 2012?

Find a putter you can trust
To replicate these kind of putts, whether that's in the monthly medal or playing for money with your friends, you need to choose a flatstick you can trust.

Why not try out the PING Vault 2.0 Dale Stealth putter?

It's a conventional shaped putter so will suit those of you looking for a classic option, and is also available in both Platinum and Copper finishes. If you have a slightly arced stroke, then we couldn't recommend this putter enough.

learn more >

A, V or X?

Choosing the right golf ball for your game is crucial to getting the most out of your time spent on the course. Luckily, Titleist has covered all bases and can provide you with a range of premium golf balls - Pro V1, Pro V1x and the brand new AVX – of which one will be best suited to your game.

The AVX is perfect for golfers who prioritise distance and extremely soft feel with a piercing, low ball flight, and has been engineered to be the lowest spinning and softest feeling golf ball out of these three models.

The Pro V1 is designed to provide total performance for every player and deliver consistency on every shot. It is softer than the Pro V1x and has a penetrating ball flight that sits between the other two models on show.

The Pro V1x gives you the highest launch of these three balls, resulting in extraordinary distance from the tee. As with the Pro V1, this ball features Titleist's renowned Drop-and-Stop greenside control.

explore Titleist's range >

Video of the Week

Mizuno's irons have been in the bag of multiple Majors winners in recent years and will no doubt be used in next week's Ryder Cup. With this in mind, Foremost TV has taken a closer look at their brand new JPX919 series, which is comprised of three stunning models.

Get out and get golfing!

Brocton Hall Golf Club
Sawpit Lane
Brocton
Stafford
ST17 0TH

Phone: 01785 661485

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