Welcome to another edition of our newsletter, in this week’s mail we take a look at the Club Championship playoff which we caught on video, we visited South Staffs for the Dartmouth Bowl, and The Open Championship gets underway. Enjoy the read!
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And the winners are… Lots of iconic competitions this week and many congratulations to the Lady Captain, Trish Franklin on a successful day and evening last week. Amanda Horne shot the best score with a scintillating nett 64 and can be seen here receiving her prize. |
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The Club Championship took place on Sunday and for the first time ever we had a playoff with Josh Nesbitt (71,71), Simon Bright (72,70) and Neil Johnson (73,69) playing down the 1st hole. It was a great advert for golf at Brocton as all the participants followed the group down the 1st hole and watched Neil clinch the win, capping a memorable week for him after setting the course record last week. Josh’s consolation was winning the nett trophy with his cumulative 10 under par 36 hole score - well done Josh! Course management plays such a huge part in putting a score together, especially at Brocton Hall and was evident in the playoff. Ok, it’s easy on insight at this game to deduce that a plan of action was either correct or detrimental - do you remember Bubba Watson blasting his drive right over the corner at the 13th at Augusta or Mickelson playing a miraculous shot out of the tree on the same hole? They both won these events but if they had messed that shot up then it would be easy to say that was where they lost it. No strategy is the wrong strategy if you pull it off but sometimes you may want to play the percentages. I played in front of PGA professional Andrew Willey when he shot the pro course record of 61 in the pro-am a few years ago and he didn’t drive any of the short par 4s, he laid up with a 3 wood and chipped close instead. I feel where course management has the most relevance at Brocton, is when we get to the greens. Our greens are so small and sloping (which is why we can’t go above speed 10 on the stimpmeter), and that producing a good score when leaving the ball above the hole is virtually impossible |
In the playoff, Neil had a 15 footer from beyond the hole, right to left, which was infinitely easier than Simon and Josh’s 15 footer’s from above the hole, left to right. They didn’t leave the ball above the hole on purpose and it was easy leave it short as the ball would gather sped the nearer to the hole that it got, so the difference between leaving it short and rolling it 15 feet past is almost indefinable. Uphill curving putts are so much easier because the ball is slowing down as it reaches the hole whereas downhill putts will be maintaining their speed or slowing down at a much lesser rate as they reach the hole, meaning you’ve got to be more tentative. Here’s a video of the playoff putts, Neil’s for birdie and Simon and Josh’s for par. |
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Perhaps we don’t celebrate enough the fact that we play for what is thought to be the oldest trophy in the history of inter-club golf matches in the whole of golf - the Dartmouth Bowl, played between ourselves and South Staffs golf club each year. The match began in 1894 and winner’s names can be seen engraved on the trophy from that year. It became a team event in the 1980’s and this year we went to South Staffs leading 18 - 17 since that time. As often happens, the home team won and the tally is now 18 apiece. I’m happy to say the Captain and I won a great tussle and we had a great match played in fitting spirit for the 125th anniversary against Captain Paul Glossop and professional Matt Jacques. |
Starting just 23 years earlier was the Open Championship, which kicks off at Royal Portrush today. The forecast is for showers but not much wind so not a typically Irish links week - which means it’s anyone’s game this week on the coast and will likely be a putting contest with possibly the lowest winning score ever for The Open and I could see a mass playoff here too. I favour John Rahm, Matt Fitzpatrick and Webb Simpson to be in the mix with Tyrell Hatton and Abraham Ancer good outsiders. We’ve been taking lots of green fees and future green fee bookings this week as news of how good the course is must be getting around. The County card scheme is popular whereby the weekday green fee of £50 comes down to £35 and is a benefit to any member of another golf club. Don’t forget you can use yours which you automatically get with your membership at Brocton, plus we have reciprocal arrangements with South Staffs, Fairhaven and The Leicestershire as well as all the 1894 courses listed on our website.
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Golf clothing has come a long way from the old-style knickerbockers worn in the early 1900s - you can hardly imagine popping to the supermarket in a pair of those today. Fortunately, these days, golf brands make clothing that is high performing on the course but looks good enough to set the trend off it too. |
Take this polo from FootJoy. The attention is certainly in the detail with the foulard print trim on the button placket offering a classy addition to an already smart-looking polo. Even technology comes to the fore as the top's moisture-wicking properties make sure that, when it comes to the course, you are primed for performance. This polo is a worthy addition to any golfing wardrobe, so come in and take a closer look at FJ's range next time you're down the club. |
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