The historic Dartmouth Bowl was played in a great spirit, and taken very seriously on Saturday at South Staffs golf club. The oldest trophy played for between clubs in the whole of golf, established in 1894, was competed for by 40 golfers each side and eventually won by the home team 12 - 8.

It was originally played as an individual stroke play event but the most recent engravings show that over the last 32 years the spoils have now been shared 16 a piece - it should make for a great event next year back at Brocton Hall.

Looking at the bowl, it's amazing to think that it's survived two World Wars and is 121 years old - apparently the winner in 1914 took the bowl to the trenches with him and unfortunately he didn't make it back but the trophy did!

The Captain and I played against Captain Keith and Peter Baker who showed us their intention as they were 7 under par after 8 holes!

Pete may not have played much this year but he still hit's a great ball and shot 4 under par easily, every time he had a wedge in his hand his next shot was a 6 footer for birdie.

Have you played golf lately at Brocton? Noticed anything different about the putting surfaces? More info next week.

Well done to the golfers in the Mixed Invitation last Sunday. I was working all day as Luke was playing in a pro-am at Enville and I'd only seen 2 people by 11am. Then when the Invitation started it proceeded to chuck it down for the rest of the day. The greens held up very well to the rain but I'm sure the golfers had preferred the course had been unplayable for them!

Powakaddy still have the fantastic offer on their FW7 trolley where you receive £150 of free goods when you buy one of the trolleys - either £399 with a lead acid battery or £549 with a lithium version. The premium bag is no longer available as they have sold out but you can still get the deluxe nylon model and some free accessories. The offer will finish shortly so click here if you'd like to reserve a trolley. As well as the choice of batteries you also have the choice of colours (black or silver) and trim (brushed steel or carbon effect).

The Cleveland promotion - Buy 1 wedge and get another at 1/2 price - has been so popular that the same offer is available on the Mizuno TP5 wedges. Two wedges would cost you £150, saving £50 on the normal price. The Mizuno wedge comes in two different colours and has a full range of loft and bounce angles. Many golfer are confused about the effects of bounce on wedges so I'm going to hold a wedge clinic shortly where I can demonstrate the effects of different bounces and sole grinds on different surfaces. Sometimes if I use the pupils wedge when demonstrating during a lesson, it can be very difficult to get the club to work properly as these properties wouldn't be suited to the conditions or my technique. That would be the second aspect of the clinic, most wedges don't need extreme soles to counteract the golfer's technique, simply improve the technique.

Check back in the newsletter next week for the clinic date.

I played with Simon this week in Newquay which is a course I've walked through lots of times over the past 20 years and it was nice to finally play it. What makes it unique is there are some greens which are stuck right in the corners of the course and a few holes where you have to hit over people walking through a trench to the beach, definitely some different views than we get in the Midlands!

  

We're going surfing today so if you see me with a sling on my arm next week, no need to ask how it went!