Course Vlog | Minehead Golf Club | Breaking Par Series

Course Vlog | Minehead Golf Club | Breaking Par Series

Well, good morning everybody. Can you see behind me the sun? Every time I come to Minehead and West Somerset Golf Club, it is super early and today is no different. The time right now is quarter 6 in the morning. We are the first ones out on the golf course. We’re doing a breakass series and I’ve got a special guest with me. Everybody, this is Glenn Ross. Glenn is your general manager here. That’s right. Yeah. Yeah. So, Glenn’s going to join us today. We’re going to do a little bit of B-roll with Glenn playing with us. We’re going to interview as we go around cuz there’s a few things that we want to catch up on. We haven’t we haven’t seen each other for some time. It’s been a while. So, um anyway, looking forward to getting out here. This golf course looks proper lynxy as far as I’m concerned right now. Looks great at the moment. This is only short, isn’t it? It’s only 250 off this tea. Yeah, it is. Yeah, it’s a soft but a nice softy to get us going. Oh, I love it. Absolutely love it. What are you playing off now, Glenn? Uh three. Yeah. Right. 250 yards to the middle of that green. Um it’s a little bit of a a fair opener, should we call it, but there’s littered with bunkers. Um just get one uh get one down there as far as you can and see how we get on. If that gets a bounce, that could be that could work. It bounced forward, Glenn. I think we should be all right. Not a bad not a bad start to be honest with you. How is um Mr. Vickton doing? Yeah, he’s good. Yeah, he’s uh top man. We’re uh we’re very fortunate here. We kind of uh after John finished his European tour career, he decided that West Somerset was the place for him to live and um came and joined us down here. So, we got two joint head pros here. Um John having come from three wins on the European tour and Jordan who’s kind of homegrown talent came out of our junior ranks. So, it’s uh it’s quite a cool kind of scenario really. I mean, when we played with John down here last time we were here and um I mean the stories you must have heard quite a lot of them now I would think spending all the time that you have with him but the stories he’s got from life on tour is just fantastic. Yeah, it’s brilliant. I’ve done a few corporate events and stuff like that. We did uh Somerset Golf Captains recently. So, uh yeah, he’s he’s got some great tales. It’s good start for the break par Dan, isn’t it? Oh, tidy. Get in. Get in. Get in. Oh, hope you got that one. Happy days. Only a good shot of it in 10 years. I tell you what, you um you want to come out of retirement, Glenn. Get those sticks back out. I’m better with XL these days, D. So, you’re underpar now. What’s the lowest score you’ve had around here? Uh, in a friendly probably 62 62 in a friendly 65 in something with a with a card. What’s What’s the par? Uh 72 these days. Used to be 71. So you’ve had a 62 round here. Yeah. Yeah. Just in a friendly. Roll break. Get right. Referee. Right. A couple of birdies to start us off with then line here is that little bank just left of the short left of the green. Yeah, love that. Absolutely love that. Up in the air and forwards. Yeah, that that’s the line that you like. Yeah, it’s a hair to the right of where you want it, but a hair to the right of where you want it. Yeah. So, you want to be a hair left of that line my ball started on is the right line. It’ll probably kick down to the right, but it’ll be fine. Slightly trickier. Second, is it? Yeah, it’ll be fine. So, we’re the oldest links golf course. Well, the oldest old oldest golf course in Somerset. Yeah. Um, third oldest in the southwest after King’s Downtown and R&D. Oh, wow. King So, R&D. I didn’t know that. So, sorry. What year were you? 1882. Oh, 1882. Yeah. So, Church’s 1890. There’s a lot of courses around the 1890s, is there? So we were nine holes until 1901 when Johnny Allen from um R&D came and made it into 18 holes. Okay. And basically been pretty much exactly the same ever since. Couple of minor tweaks, but no real no nothing for the golf. Nothing really serious. Yeah. I’ I’ve found a couple I’ve got some really interesting kind of really old heritage stuff. Yeah. um that I found. Um but I found one plan which um had the first whole play from back by the clubhouse up to an area uh just to the right here. Yeah. Kind of you see where those kind of grass bunkers are down the right. Yeah. Um the 1932 plan that we have in the clubhouse um basically any depression you see would have originally been a a sand bunker. Right. Okay. Um, obviously maintenance- wise it’s it’s not something that you could kind of keep over a period of time, but you as we go around the golf course, you you watch any kind of depression. So you see the three down the right here, they were all bunkers. Absolutely. The one in the middle, the ones to the left up over that bank up there by 16. So would you say then this golf course years and years ago would have been a much harder golf course because of the fact that bunkers are or would you say those depressions are still I mean they still look hard enough to get out of? I think actually the reality is a slightly you know a grass bunker you know if you get it in there um you’re not going to end up with a great deal of a lie. So no no you’re you’re half you’re half a shot already. Um, and actually if you find a decent line in a bunker, you’ll probably be easier to get get it on the green from there. But, uh, we’ve I know we’ve had loads of dry weather, but is this kind of how this golf course goes? Brown like this it year on year it does. We we have a really weird microclimate if you look kind of around the the the the weather kind of comes in and a lot of time it actually splits. Okay. Which is great if you’re trying to play golf, but not great if you’re trying to kind of manage and prepare one. Um, so we end up with quite sort of droughtish area from that perspective. Yeah. Um, but this is kind of, you know, my head green keepers not loving it at the moment cuz it’s difficult for grass coverage, but um, golf course is designed to be played this way. Yeah. It looks stunning, especially the green greens around it. You know, it was designed with nothing in front of the green. So, you know, the opportunity to bounce the ball in is is always there. So, [Applause] chasing it in. Come on up you go. Quite just 80 yards I got to this flag. Just looking at Glenn’s, it kind of dug in a little bit on that green green p or greenish area at the front. So I do feel like you can kind of chuck them all the way today on these greens being a little bit softer. Spin on there then please spin. Oh, it’s a bit long. That’s it. Okay. A little bit threw it. A little bit too far, but we’re all right with putting. Okay, Glenn, that’s good enough. Take that away. Okay. Quite a bit of swing out of the right on this putt. It’s going to work a bit that one. Looks good. Come on down. Come on. Not bad. Yeah. Good roll, mate. Considering how much movement was on it, I’m happy to take my par and uh give you that bit and run away. Thank you. Okay, steady start, mate. Right. Ping it straight buttland. Absolutely. One of those turrets will do you. Not down there. Okay. What is that? All right. Well, that’s a practice going or something down there. Yeah. So we we have that as a little practice ground down there. Um we also use that hole uh the furthest flag. Yeah. Um the fourth hole gets really wet cuz it’s right at the bottom of the water table. Okay. Um so in the last 18 months, not that we’ve had to use it very often cuz it doesn’t really we don’t have that problem very often, but we’re using that as like a a temporary hole. So we always stay 18 holes open. Yeah. Which is really important to us. Just down the left hand side of the fairway. Hold on there. I think that’ll be okay, won’t it? Yeah, I think that should be fine. Good angle into the hole from there. Not the best spot down here. Oops. You don’t want to go that way. Get right. Get right. Okay, you’re right. That’s not where you want to go. Yeah. 125. I got to trap it cuz I’m I’m in a bit of um as you get this time of year with a bit of links, it’s kind of quite gets quite sandy. So, I’m going to have to just put it a little bit back in the stance. Trap it a little bit. Make sure I get the ball first. I’ve just pulled it a little bit off there. Sit. Oh, no. No, no, no. Little left. Not easy from that lie, but you’re going to get him. It’s bounced on you. Come down. Come down. Little safe. I’ve got myself into a pickle here, haven’t I? Kind of would rather have been in one of the bunkers, I think. So, my thoughts here are just to play for a bogey now. I’m going to go see if I can go past that flag a little bit cuz there’s a bit of a back stop there. Um, and hope for the best really cuz it’s not the easiest shot in town. Sit, sit, sit, sit, sit, sit, please, that is tough. Just compounding the problems here at the moment. Okay. All downhill. Can land it anywhere really. And it’s all feed down. Come on down. Come on down. Okay, we’ll take it. Good with me down. Just the second shot killed me there a little bit in in Come around. Wide. Wider than wide. Easy. Nice. nice. Okay, we’ll take those two uh bogeies there. Slightly scruffy vibes, but yeah, this is like you got to hit a shot here, haven’t you? Path three kind of repels off at the sides as well. Yeah, it all moves this way. Yeah, a little bit. Yeah, repels off on all sides. You need to find the target. I’ll take that one. Yeah. Nice. What did you hit there? That was a little five for me. Little five. Yeah. Well, I mean it’s 187. 187 to that flag. So, it’s going to be I would think I would think this morning based on that. I don’t think five is a bad club, is it? Good flight. Fly a little bit on that line. Fly. Get the hop forward. Was good. Yeah, really happy with that actually. You’ve got quite an interesting story like your journey. I would like I would say my journey within the game of golf is is an interesting one but yours is we’ve actually not followed the same path but we’ve done similar stuff in some ways both turn pro so you turn pro yeah we both had a bit of a windy road haven’t we playing sailing is it the golf industry I’ I’ve been I’ve been very fortunate you know I’ve sort of had opportunities that have presented themselves and they’ve always worked out for me so I I I feel really lucky over a period of time I you know I I started my golf here in 1985. Yeah. Um when I finished kind of my exams I worked in the pro shop for a bit um with Ian Reed who was a golf pro here before uh Jordan and John. Um spent a bit of time in the shop with him. Um my dad went down to exit um where my both my parents are from exit. Um went down to exit on holiday. Yeah. Uh we’re looking for a game of golf somewhere. ended up playing at Fingle Glenn just outside of outside of Exter got ended up playing with one of the directors. Okay. Uh and two weeks later I was down there working in the shop. Okay. Um and then they kind of said to me, well, do you want to manage the shop? So kind of started down that road. How you playing off at the time then? I was off about three. Okay. So you were like in level to Well, I was I I was I kind of reached the point where, you know, a really good county setup at the time. I couldn’t get in the county team. Yeah. So, you know, there were there were 10 12 guys that were better than me. Um, so I’m quite a realist. So, I kind of thought, well, you know, playing golf for a living is not necessarily going to be my thing. So, I really wasn’t interested in turning pro. Yeah. Um, and I moved down to Fingle and when I ran and managed the shop for for the directors. Um, and uh, Golf Pro there at the time was a friend of both of ours, Steve Gold. Yeah. Gold. Um, and you know, Steve was very good to me. And he said, “Well, you know, we’re we’re doing a lot of coaching here. I’m struggling to kind of keep up. Um, at the time we were, you know, a lot of beginners coaching there. And Steve said to me, “Well, you know, you’re a half decent player. Why don’t you turn pro?” Okay. And I said, “Well, I haven’t really thought about it. I’d almost sort of cast that off in my mind as something to do.” Um, and I said, “Well, okay. I’ll I’ll start down that road.” And we we did an enormous amount of coaching. Yeah, you did. Yeah. Um, and you but you got into the county setup coaching wise pretty quickly, didn’t you? Sort of. Yeah. Yeah, we you know I sort of opportunities came along with driving range in the middle of exit. Um Steve got the uh the license to run that. Uh so I went and ran that for him. Um and did all the coaching there. So we were you know coaching in a couple of different places. Um also once a once twice a week I was also um coaching up at Portmore just up in Barnstable. Yeah remember. Yeah. Um, so I was kind of coaching junior sections from Saon and Ilfrakum and um, R&D because the guys at the time there weren’t that worried about coaching. So they’ve kind of come in my way. So I did an enormous amount of junior coaching. Um, and then, you know, after a lengthy period of time, I had the opportunity uh, I got approached by Woodbury Park um, to go and take over their coaching there. Yeah. uh when Nigel Manel was there. Um and spent a few years there. Let’s try if we can mosey this one up. Come on down. Come on down. No break. Yeah, it’s pretty good. Take it away, mate. So, took over the coaching there. Spent about five or six years there. And that’s where I think I first met you. Yeah, we were I think you were um I seem to recall you coming to a county thing at the at the driving range in the middle of Exit. Yeah. And we did some equipment checks with you. My memor is not that bad. Yeah. Um I think that was my the first time we met. Um and then we had sort of I’d have a set of links links golf clubs back probably. Yeah. Yeah. But I definitely remember having um some junior coaching with you um at Woodbury. Seems like an awful long time ago now, Dan, doesn’t it? Right. slightly uphill initially and then working a little bit off that kind of right side. Yeah, it’s going to come a little bit from the right and then flatten out. Yeah. Then flatten out. Yeah, that’s what I’m seeing. Yeah, just didn’t quite give it flatten out that much to the right side at the beginning. I tell you what though, always take your PS on par threes and kind of run away, don’t you? Especially with five irons in your hand. Yeah, you know, and finding the target there is always a good thing. Yeah, that one captures a few prisoners from time to time. I bet it does. So, got par five here. Hole goes a little bit to the right. Internal out of bounds on the right, protecting the sixth hole. Okay, so really you want to kind of nudge something that goes about 240 up towards you see where the bush is on the left. There’s a bunker just to the right of that. And you want to be just to the right of that, but not so far right that it feeds down to the right. Okay. Um, so I’m going to 240. Yeah, 240 250 club would be fine. Um, I’m going to go with this thing that I use as kind of a 3-wood. [Music] That’s about the right line. Looks really good. RBZ still going then. RBZ is still cruising along. Um, constant constant presence. It always comes out. If in doubt, get this out generally is my thought. Perfect. Just just kind of nudge it down there. Really is kind of That’s perfect. The thought. As long as it doesn’t kick to the left, you’ll be absolutely fine. I’ve got my fivewood out. Little cuty fivewood. It sounds perfect. Yeah, I’ve got to kind of go exactly that. In fact, if I can hit a similar shot to what I hit off the tea, I won’t be It won’t be too bad. I’ve just got to make sure I miss this tree in front of me here. Oh, it’s unlucky. It’s okay. Where’d it go? It’s fine. Just on the right side. It’s okay, is it? Oh, criy. All I had to do was miss a bit too much tree. Looks pretty good. About 185 yards. You had just caught the edge of that trap. There you go. Trappies. It It’s okay. Depends on the bounce. Might be near the front edge, I think. Uh, want to get it about 8 You want to get about 8 ft left and put it up the hill. 47 y of the green. So, it’s just a little flick with a 60 and try and run it down towards the give myself an uphill putt. Kick forward then. It’s really well played. Yeah, that’s all you can do really from there. Don’t quite appreciate how much slope is there, Glenn. That is amazing. Couldn’t bring myself to hit it far enough to the right. Right, it’s just gone past 7:00 a.m. So, the sun is now starting to come up. Temperatures moving up to around 14°, which is good. Right, swinging a little out of my right. This would be a little bruisy if I could pop one of these in. I’ve rattled it. Why have I hit that so hard? I just thought that was uphill. It’s just It’s not a lot there, is there? Early morning moisture is just starting to disappear. Oh, lovely. It’s a lovely birdie. Well done, mate. Stay. Oh, dear. I’m not sure about that. Got that a little wrong. Up in the beginning and then when it gets to the hole, it runs away. That’s amazing. That is amaz I suppose this golf course you’re going to get you know because it’s it doesn’t play overly long let’s say on the card but the protection is going to be certainly greens isn’t it? They’re really subtle. You got there’s a few places where you know you’ve got some quite big slopes but um even even that which looks like an innocuous pin it’s actually quite if you approach it from the wrong place Yeah. then you know it’s quite it’s quite hard. I’ve not I’ve just not given it enough attention when I’ve gone over to it from the lower end of that when I was walking up to the ball, you know. Yeah. Yeah. Anyway, moving on. So, the out the internal out of bounds doesn’t go going this way. Otherwise, this would be even more fun. Just up the right half is the plate. Let it bounce down. Very narrow fairway. Not over there. Is that okay? Yeah, it’s fine. Down the right. Oh, that’s down the other fairway. Down the fifth fairway. Oh yeah. Is that your little driver? That’s the little one. Yeah, that’s the little one. That’s the one that comes out when I’m slightly scared. Didn’t I’m not getting the draw like I’m expecting today. Well, you can come chat to me. Yeah. 103 y the middle is what you’re seeing. Six. No. Get left 92 y. We’ve got or 90 yards. I’m playing it. So, it’s just a nice 60, I think. off this lie. Should get a little bit of spin. Help it being such a tight lie. Get left of it, please. Oh, couple yards short. Can’t see that down from there. It’s not very well played. Well, got away with that one. Not great, is it? bunker kind of caught. You can see it’s kind of trickled back in. So, I’ve got that a little bit wrong. Not the easiest bunker shot in town, not going to lie. But I’ve got a bit of a down slope to work down towards the hole. Spin there. Spin. Spin. Yeah, pretty good. Oh, good job at landing on that little ups slope. Just past where I was trying to land it. Chance of a par. You know, we’ve had all the easy holes and now we kind of go on to a main corner. Oh, hey. Are we going through the easy stuff? Yeah, the first six are good and then the next six are the tough ones. Travel. Oh, you got to hit it, Glenn. Travel, travel, travel. Take it away. Get up and in. Little sound save. So, par five. Fairways a tiny bit further to the right than you think. So, the commercial line is at the trees on the left. Okay. Just gets you in the light rough down the left. It’s a safe place. Yeah. Little bit further right. You’re going to give little bit more run out. Not seeing it. Felt like it went left. I’m assuming it’s cutting. Didn’t see it, but just absolutely that sun just absorbed it, didn’t it? It’s solid, but felt like a slightly left one. Left. That is left. That’s going towards a little area just in front of the sixth T. Okay. It wasn’t my best swing if I’m honest. It was a bit steery. Right. I’m in a bo I’m in a spot a bother. Got 283 yards which is not really a number. I’m just trying to hack this back out. Got my sand wedge. Hack and hope. That’s done really well out. Okay. It’s probably gone about 80 yards. So, I still have 200 in, but it is a par five. 225. You got 225. This might be a bit too much. Try and feather one in off the left if I can. Hold there. Hold there. Right at it now. Stay there. I don’t I think it might have just run off the right side, but I think it’s pretty good. It’s good shot. 177 we’ve got left. I’m going to hit um seven iron only because I just think anything just short should just keep up. Landing 165 running on. Perfect. Yeah, that’s what I’m thinking. It’s just so weak. So weak. Let’s not kick too far right that cuz that was too far down the right side. Playing for a draw that is not drawing this morning. Maybe I don’t draw in the mornings. I don’t know. Maybe. Right, I need to settle down here cuz making hashups. Okay, I’m going to go with a little 56 and just kind of push it forward just short of the green and let it pop up from there. Miss that. Go, go, go, go, go. Nearly. I landed that about a foot or so short of where I needed to really, but it’s all right. It’s done well. Steady, steady, steady. First bounce, wasn’t it? Just got going from you. I didn’t play it very well. Something that uh I saw it the other day on a on a video and I didn’t It’s something that we all know, but we just sometimes lose a little bit of track of it, but it’s trying to keep the club to travel at the same pace as your arms. Yeah. And that’s where you feel like there’s that connection thing there. And I just I know it’s like we all know it, but actually just rehearsing it, going through it, it’s amazing the amount of difference it makes. Keep going. Keep going. Okay, Glenn, take it away. Rather a weak effort. All right, looking at Glenn’s, it definitely swung a little bit that way. That is both the par fives with bogeies sadly. Okay. It’s a good job it’s not windy. Otherwise, we really will be struggling. Shortage bar four. Yeah. Only 3 370. Yeah. 370 as with most of the golf course. Left is right. You can generally play from there. You got your normal driver. Is that No, this is the little one. It’s just little one. There’s no trouble other than one right because cuz the trouble’s to the right then uh this one tends to go straighter. The other one peels to the right. So this one comes out on these holes usually. Very commercial indeed. Yeah, that’s good. Do you say you draw that one and then fade the other one? Well, this one goes straighter. This one goes straight and doesn’t fall to the right. And the other one falls to the right. Yeah, that’s fine. It’s a better hit. Should be just in the left side of the fairway. Yeah, at least it’s going forward and straight, you know, which is a positive. Good start. Tell me then, when did you cuz you obviously then became secretary of the uh of the region. Yep. You started working for the PGA. Yeah. Uh what year did you do that? Uh so that would have been 2010. Okay. And how many years were you there? Uh nine. So basically what what is running the PGA regional PGA? What does that entail? What’s the sort of job description for that? I you know it’s a real it’s a really interesting job because you you’re you’re dealing with everything from uh setting a tournament calendar um of proams and order events for for for PJ professionals in the region to play but also kind of looking after sort of the welfare um you know at the time I think we had 760 PJ members and assistants in the region. Yeah. Um, you know, spread from the depths of Cornwall all the way into the into the far reaches of South Wales. Yeah. Um, so quite a bit of land between. Um, and yeah, dealing dealing with everything from, you know, supporting golf pros with contractual negotiation, kind of welfare. Yeah. um training um and you know a calendar of tournament play you know involving proam events, order them out events when I kind of took over. Yeah. Uh the region was having a little bit of a flat time. Uh and again we were fortunate to work with some really good commercial partners and we got to a point where we had really seven seven good order of merit events at the time. Yeah. um developed a a bunch of good relationships with people and and had some really good events. 150. That looks really good. Be the number. Go on then. One out of the memory banks. Front middle pin. I would think just right at the hole for you. I’m gonna try and thump a Sandy only because my wedge might just bounce on too much. Picture about 110 if you can. 110. Is that the ideal? 10 106 front 120 middle. So 110 be good number. Don’t drift too far left. Go forward. Okay. I think it’s fine. Putting, isn’t it? I think so. Yeah. My long sight eyesight’s so bad these days, though. Yeah. I think it just scooted around the edge of that trap on the left there. Should be fine. All right. All right. Come on then. Let’s get a couple of birdies. Yeah. It’s about time, I think. It’s tied outside. Spirits. All right. Referee. Just need one to drop, don’t we? That was smelly that one, wasn’t it? Okay. Just a par. Couple of pars. thro one hole, but um today pretty benign. Yeah, just a straightaway driver. It’s a ditch at the end, but we can’t reach it. Um I’ll hit the little one again because I don’t really want to go to the right. So, and if I get it bounding down the fairway, we should be okay. I love it. Hold that. Left rough. Okay, another commercial one. Take your chances with the lie. That’s the one. Have a think at that little pill that pill box down there. Yeah, that’s perfect. Oh, I think there might be that’s a little fairway stat that we got one. We’re just talking about um so obviously Glenn being a PJ pro got his amateur status back and then obviously how that actually feels for to to do that and it didn’t feel great at the beginning. No, it was it was it was strange, but I’d kind of come to the point where I was, you know, I didn’t really want to, you know, it it never really been about competing. I I know the standard. Yeah. Um in the region and it’s incredibly high. Yeah. So, you know, it was never about that. So, it was about me coming back here and enjoying some golf with buddies and and do you do you feel like Yeah, I do. Do you feel like you got your bit of competitive juices flowing with it? I love it. Yeah. I you know we come out and play and I’m still trying to kind of I’m still trying to better myself is you know that’s the journey you know there’s lots of talk about handicap system that will go on forever and for the rest of time it’s been going on since the beginning of time and it will carry on no matter what the system um everyone will still think it’s unfair but at its heart the game is just about self-improvement and about trying to find a way of making yourself better and even though you know I’m in my 40th year of golf I’m still kind of you And I don’t play a great deal now, but I still kind of want to I’m still motivated to kind of want to try, you know, to try something different. And, you know, we’re all crazy like that. It’s you’re still trying to find something that makes it better. Well, this is the uh the crazy lofted 26° hybrid, which is set set more lofted than that. So, little grip down one. I got one I got 190 center. Okay. Okay. So, a little grip down one should just pitch short and bundle its way up and hopefully come out of this little nesty lie. Sit down. Come out a little hot. Turn over. Turn over. Steadying out back of the green. Still putting though. You’re all right. Okay. Uh, what do we think? Is there a little bit of hurt there or not? Just a little bit off the right I think. So, for you probably I got 146. It’s just nothing much doing. If anything, it’s a hair from the right. So few. If anything, it’s going to help a little. Straight at it. Hold that line. Hold that line. Sit there. Steady. Yeah, that will do. Another firm bounce. It did. And it kicked it a little bit left, but all in all, I’m happy with that. Right. You got You’re coming across a bit of a spine here, aren’t you? Yeah. This is uh not the best leave over here. So, I’m going to need the new one to behave. Come on down. Come on down. Keep coming. Keep coming. Keep coming. Yeah, that’s such a good putt. I’ll take that one. Very tidy. That you give me a lot of those short ones, mate. You haven’t seen me putt very often. Well, when you come like that, I don’t mind giving them to you, to be honest. Just keep your confidence flowing to me. I was talking to we had an interview with Ra Rasmus near guard Pedison the other day. Oh yeah. Yeah. Right. And something he said was about if you spot a player coming onto the onto the golf course with a really worn grip. Uh just watch out for those players because they they they’re obviously good putters. Yeah. Been in the bag for a long time. Change. However, if you see somebody coming on with a fresh grip and a fresh putter, that’s me. I you know you know not to give them much. travel. Yeah. Had to come. Keep fighting, DH. Keep fighting. Uh, a little bit of a back pin here. So, you a little bit further than you think. I zapped it at 147, which is basically the same yard as adding into that that second shot into that um ninth there. Maybe it’s further forward than I think it is. Then, what’s um what’s yellow flag mean? Uh that’s um we because the greens are really close together. Yeah. We have red flags front nine. Okay. Um and yellow back nine club. You got I’ve got a little eight. Okay. Right to left crosswind is a little hurt wind for me. So one extra for me or I pull it. Cut a bit. Cut a bit. That’s not good. That’s it. Get lucky. That’s got past the traps though is it? So you got Not very good. That needs a little bit of ground help. Go forward. Bit heavy. Go forward. It did. It got a little kick forward. It’s just on the front edge, but it’ll do considering the strike wasn’t as good. Didn’t kick left like I thought it might off there, but she kicked to the right. That’s okay. Must have spun it over there. Come on. Let’s keep that rolling going. Yeah. Okay. We got this a little. It should just want to wiggle that way considering Glenn’s putt kind of came down the hill. Travel. Travel up. Travel up. Lucky. Never really got going. I’m afraid. I didn’t want to rattle it, but it’s another par three, which I’m always happy with. Travel, travel, travel. Specway. speculative effort. So, par five, really slloy green, slopes away with a ridge running right through the middle, little ditch that runs up through the left. So, uh you know, all about hitting a decent decent T-shot. Yeah. Uh for me, it’s just that that bridge and just letting it work to the right. For you, it’s going to be kind of at the right hand corner of the bank down there. And first time we get to see the sea. Absolutely. From here, um few ships parked out there. Yeah. Yeah. Is this does this beach get busy? Not this end. No, no. Sort of beach further down by the town is uh Oh, that’s the busy part. Is is busy. Few dog walkers out here, but uh not much else. Love that. It’s perfect. Absolutely perfect. Just about there. There you go. Some say you can’t cut an auximity driver, but you can. Little fade for you. We’ll give you just a drifting on the wind with that one. Not giving me the fade. That to me in my mind that looked like about 30 yard 30 yard movement from left to right. 209 210 to that flag. Anything short running up? Yeah. A little right of that hole. Don’t want to miss it on the left. No, cuz there’s a big McKenzie off the left, isn’t it? Correct. Okay, I’m going to go with a four iron. 10 right of that hole. Just right of the hole. Okay, it was a bit bailey that one, Glenn. Very in fact now. Oh, it kicked right as well. Oh, not swinging it the best today. But just got to try and get it round when you’re not well. Ah, what did I tell you not to do? Don’t miss it on the left. Cut back. Not much fing there. That’s going to be fun. I kind of I don’t know what to do here. Whether to try and bumble one down there, which is my thought really cuz I don’t really want to I got to be quite precise with a strike if I’m going to try and play it and throw it all the way. So, I’m going to try and land it on this shelf at the top here and let it hopefully push it down there and just see what happens. Come on. Up we go. Go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go. Ah, played like link specialist. Yeah, that was proper links, wasn’t it? I’m quite happy with that result. Keep coming. Keep coming. That needed literally one more roll and that was right up there. Now it’s downhill. It’s all steady. Well, I de greened it. Steady. Hey, this look difficult from 197. You get a 490 par five. It normally plays into the wind. So, it norally plays a bit tougher than this. Yeah, on a day like today, but but it’s just once you get up, it has its defenses, as I’m soon finding out. It’s a quality six from 190. frustrating. I know the feeling. I’ve had two of them already. You You’ve passed the par five bat on to me. Sorry about that. Which is better for your score. Yeah, nice work. Yep. That was a proper lynxy up and down as they said. Good miss over there. Yeah, it’s not a bad spot to be honest with you. Favorite hole then? Yeah, absolutely. Oh, it goes straight forward par five really. And then they got a tough par three to follow it up. A par four. Good good good strong par four. Normally playing hard into the wind. Yeah. To me, you know, going to looks pretty straightforwards, but you know, you to get a decent line into the green, you got a bunker front left corner of the green, which kind of protects it. So if you take the slightly safe line down the left hand side, then you got a tougher second shot. Bit like St. Andrews is designed. Yeah. You know, if you take it down the tight side, then you’ll have an easier second that’ll feed into the green. [Applause] I love that. Such a good shape for this hole. That’s perfect. That’s that smothery one again. I lean into it and then I’m It’ll be fine. Pull it. That’ be okay though, would it? Just a Just exactly what we were saying. Just gives you a slightly more challenging second. Yeah. 178 y I’ve got to that flag. Uh bail out a little bit right Glenn. Yeah, the members players front right corner and just let it feed in. Forget where the hole is. Oh, sit down. That’s come out like a knuckle. Sit. Soft. Sit. Luckily, that landed in the UPS slope, didn’t it? Yeah, that’s absolutely fine now cuz that come out with not a lot of spin on it to be honest with you. We’re all right, though. We’re fine. Panic over. Let’s try and hit it in the middle of the green. If I pull it, it’s fine. Slightly nasty lie. Not sure how that’s going to come out. Oh, not like that. Come down. Come down. Sit. Sit. That’s okay. Just short of all the trouble. Trouble. Squirt it out of there. Fine. Tripping a putt. Not my finest hour. Feed down then. Go on. Oh, I dug in on that first bounce there. I thought I was going to run away down there. I thought I was really going to release right down the hill. Oh, wants to move a little bit from left to right. Yeah, this pin is uh sat on a bit of a hill. Swing right. Swing right. Yeah, not bad. Not sure how that stayed there. Yeah. Do you think that should just I definitely saw it working. I probably started it a little bit out to the left a bit too much. Come on then. Get up and down. The same as you. Yeah, it just doesn’t want to move a bit too much. Never mind. Easy. Not a good second. Yeah, you’re going to get penalized, aren’t you? If you’re going to if you’re not if you’re not on it into the greens around here. Yeah, it’s it’s going to it’s going to ask questions, isn’t it? Yeah, it’s tough. Pins are slightly tricky today. Yeah. Oh, okay. So, we’re going over this. Yeah, I remember this hole now. Yeah. So, short ch shortish par four. Uh, three bunkers up in the hill. So, today there’s some potential of running it up into those. So, I’m going to go with the little one. Okay. Uh, but as straight as you are, you’ll be fine. Oh, yeah. Nice. That’s a great flight with that one there. Perfect. Absolutely perfect. Can I thread something there? Softly. Hopefully not going to run out into that last trap. No. It’s still running though, isn’t it? Criy. Got the little turn on that one. Yeah, I did. I finally got I kind of relaxed a bit more there. I feel like you’re relaxing me now, Glenn. You know what? By all the bogeies I’ve made. The one thing that I’ve noticed with a lot of these top players and even like when I was um filming the other day with Bubba Watson, they’re pin eye all the time. And I did say to, you know, I did say to Bubber, I was like, “Do you know do you work on numbers?” He’s like, “All the time.” It’s all I ever worked is is like I’m always trying to hit a shape, but I’m always hitting to a number. And uh I just find it Yeah, I find it amazing. I can understand why they do, you know, they all hit at decent lengths nowadays. But now that’s what you say about John, isn’t it? Like he just absolutely plays fantastic. Yeah, it’s just always always in there in the same place. I guess you take it back to when we were growing up and you look at the kind of order merits at Monty won and stuff and you know, he literally never hit it anywhere but pin high. No. What you got? H just a little gap wedge. I don’t know what I got numbers wise. 92 might be a bit too much club. It’s chip one. It’s a little flicky one. Skinny bite on there then. Yeah. Kill kill the front. Yeah. Nice. Really good. Perfect. Spin it in there. Nicely played. Very good. Spin it in. Stop there. Stop. Hit a little bit of a down slope there by the flag. Oh, look at it go. Still going. Okay. Uphill P. Right. Come on then. Roll roll this one in for us. I think uh it’s about time, don’t you? Yeah. Get on down there. Not one to race. One more. No, it’s not. One more roll. It was in, wasn’t it? Wow. There’s some slope on this grain going. Stayed there. Did not move that. Good. Yeah, it was a good part, but it passed. You You did your bit. Yeah, I did think that was coming that way, but maybe now I can see this slope this way a little bit. Not sure Newton was right. Um, you know, sometimes gravity fails. Yeah. 45 up the hill. Um, yeah. What do you think? A nice slip. There’s no no joy short here. No joy short. So 157 back edge. It’s a squeeze between an eight and a seven for me. My lack of golf. I think little grip down held up seven is uh probably the right play. Come on. Move ball. Just not moving on you today. That’s nice, isn’t it? That’s what I was trying to do. Yeah, that’s just didn’t curve it to the right. Be the club then. Well, we got a little friendly members bounce there, Glenn. Good shot there. Is that cuz you’re here? I get that or I don’t know. Do you give them out for that ship or what? I think you paid for that one. I paid for that one. So, any changes going to be happening around this golf course? Are you got anything in mind? Yeah, I think we sort a few gradual developments. Um it’s all all based on cost as most most facilities. Yeah. Um but we’re going to gra gradually try and redevelop the bunkering around the golf course. That might involve one or two coming out uh that are no longer really in play. Um but certainly look at re redeveloping some a lot of the uh uh a lot of the greenside par three bunkers. Um bit of investment. Um, we’re gradually trying to develop funds so that we can afford that to do it properly. Uh, and it’s a it’s a gradual process really. Good shot of yours in there, Glenn. Sorry. Good shot of yours in there. Thank you. Blind squirrel and all that. Look, Glenn. Never stop. They never stop. You see a good good general manager never stops. Rolls his sleeves up, gets involved, rates the bunkers when required. Another one to do over here. DH, are you doing another? You keep going. Now, unlike the last putt I had, this one definitely is definitely going to move. I feel off that right side. Similar sort of length of putt. Similar uphill. I’ve whacked it. Oh, whacked it through the brake. Had a few of those today. Yeah, just I think it’s more like just not not quite being confident with the read, you know? I think it’s my time now. Come on then. Did you enter the twos? Always travel. Travel. Same as the last one. Okay. Couple of hearts again. Moving on. Not going to kill you there. No. Pre’s take them. Supposed to be the easiest hole on the golf course, but can catch you out. A little bit of strategic bunkering down there. With the right wind, you can uh you can get one up on the green here, but very narrow gap to get it through. Uh and if you take it on, then you kind of play with the the hard rough down the left hand side and a couple of deep bunkers before. So, uh um easy to make a three, but another one of these little holes that can catch you out and easily make a five. I like it. Hold on the right line. Happy with that line. Yeah, that line’s perfect. Just needs the right bounce. Can’t see it down in the view. Little bit out the toe. Sure that’s going to end up. So anything up the left is the better. Yeah, the just inside the left trap is the is the spot is a good play. It’s not going to be the longest drive in town, but up towards kind of landing between the the two of them up there. It’s probably going to feed more towards the middle one. I think should be fine. We’ll see. So you talk about talk about course developments and you a lot of the time I think a lot of facilities looking at adding yardage on their golf course and trying to make it you know for the better players and for me there’s you know there’s relatively few advantages of that. One of the things that we’ve done here in recent times is actually look at you know developing new golfers. Yeah. Um and I have kind of 53 members over 80. So it’s really core to try and give them an opportunity where they can still play have fun. You know, it’s really important for some of those people because it’s their only social interaction. Yeah. So, here we’ve got the the 15th hole. So, we’ve got a little force carry over the ridges here. So, down at 238. So, for for newer golfers, on every hole we have a a set of purple TE’s, they play at 4,700 yds. Reduces all the force carries on the golf course. So, a new golfer can come get round get round in a reasonable time. They’re all rated. they can have a handicap card from these um and come have some fun and play some golf. The other thing that though and um something I’ve always thought about is that you you know you talk about 50 odd members over the age of 80, you know, the thing with it is you’re retaining members because amount of golfers that struggle they they they just sort of they they finish the game at that sort of age because they they can’t get over these carries and the TE’s aren’t in a position to be able to, you know, allow them to play like that. And what’s a perceived force carry for you and I is very different. Yeah. you know, some of our lady members, some of our older members, even a hole like the third hole that we played earlier where we’ve got, you know, 110, 120 yards rough that normally plays into the prevailing wind. So, plays more like 150 carry and there’s quite a lot of golfers that just can’t do that. So, then the golf hole becomes slightly unplayable for them and nobody wants that. And you and you think about like I think if you’re if you’re a single figure golfer, I believe you’re in you’re certainly inside the top three or 4% of golfers. So by lengthening a golf course for a scratch golfer, you’re lengthening it for 1% of the golfers in the in the world. Yeah. Well, you know, tiny, isn’t it? Our average our average uh managed handicap here is I think 21.8. Yeah. Um uh we’ve just managed to nudge it. When I first started here, we our average age of membership was 61. We’ve actually got that down this week actually to 59. So quite proud of that. Um we’ve done quite a lot of things with young golfers as well. Something I’m pretty passionate about. not you know so full membersh can bring their young bring a child or a grandchild and come play for free. Oh wow. Um and we have a real stage membership structure from you know all the way from under 10 are free all the way up to sort of the age of 30 where we have a a gradual kind of nudge so that you know it’s quite hard when you get to 25 26 and you’re looking to try and get away on the housing ladder and things like that. So, you know, the board’s really keen to encourage kind of youth development at all stages here as well. Great. Well done, mate. Good work. I don’t really want to land this any more than kind of 30 yards down there. Keep it just short of this pin would be ideal. Oh, it kicked left on me. That’s a shame. Good leave. Right on line with the flag. And I’ve left it in the right spot. Getting a stance generally the the tough bit. Try not to fall over. Unlucky, mate. Dug into the hill. Yeah, it’s not easy off those up slopes to be fair. Keep going. Keep going. Yeah, very good. Very tidy. Good enough for me that. Right. Time to strike. I feel if we’re going to be going under path today, I feel like now is the time to just pop one in. Okay. Right. Just feel like they got to move. They’re just not like I think they should go, you know? Okay, there’s another par. Steady, steady. You kind of want to make sure you’re under par by the time you’re 18, don’t you? Well, these these these three although uh you know today pretty benign. Yeah, they’ll uh they’ll they’ll jump up and bite you is normally playing into about a 20 30 mph wind here. So 16th hole which is a par five, but it looks blooming tight down there. Uh Glenn, well there’s there’s probably slightly more room down there than you think. You got three big big deep bunkers down the left which are pretty much like a onestroke penalty. Okay. Um, obviously the the out of bounds sneaks in down the right. Yeah. So the temptation is to ease a little bit in land and take your chances with the rough and the bunkers. Yeah. Yeah. So for me it’s just sort of at those bunkers and just try and peel it back into the ferry. See if you can run it down. I like that. For you just down the right center just pretty much at the green and hold it. Open the blast doors. Cut, baby. Cut. Cut. ground cut, I think. Might might have got the last one. Might have got lucky. Get to that. That’s that squeezy one again. I just That out of bounds is in my ey line. Keep going forward then. It’s so hard to get your brain to not look at those out of bounds markers. And I’ve got a draw driver, which you think I shouldn’t be worried. What’s up in front there, Glenn? So, you got the second green on the left. Um, pretty nothing really in front. There’s a bunker short left and there’s a bunker about 40 yards short on the right that you can see. This is brave. Let’s grab a seat there then. Just up to the tea. It’ll do. It’s the shape I wanted, but maybe a little bit too cuty. Okie do. Spot on. Great T- shot. Cheers. See if we can follow up with another one. [Music] Cut hard. Cut hard. Another commercial one. Yeah, the left. That’ll be okay, would it? Yeah, it’s fine. 68 yards to that flag again, I think. And then short is not a bad option here. And try and just check it into the front of that green. Let it check forward from there. Keep going. It’s dug in a bit. Oh, I just thought I could run it up there a little bit more than that. Disappointing. [Music] Go on, Chase. Ah, it did the same as mine. It just dug in a little bit on you. Right, I’m way short here, unfortunately. Got that really wrong. Just see if we can get our two put and run away. Should we now pace? Steady, steady. Cool. Didn’t that run away? Really not taking advantage of these pars today. Keep going. Keep going. Keep going. Go on. Good roll, mate. Better roll. Take it away. That’s your par. Yeah, absolutely. Well done. Good recovery. It was a recovery, was it? It felt like I was on the recovery truck with that whole hole. It’s another one of those holes you think, got to be able to take advantage of that. And you still got to make a number, ain’t you? Yeah, I know. I know. It’s just that those white stakes all the way down the right. I am level par with two holes to play. 17th is a tough par three. So, I need to need to make you birdie here, D. I need to make I need to make a birdie here. There have been twos at the last before, but you might feel you might feel happier if you make your three here. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, 329 off this tea again. Just thread it, isn’t it? Absolutely. Love it. Is that that little little Yeah, that’s the one that doesn’t go to the right. Yeah. You can have one of those in next week, aren’t you? Well, I’ll be certainly experimenting then. You know that. Okay. Come on. Let’s nut one to finish. Here it is. Get down there hard. Big bounce. That faded, didn’t it? Did Would you say that hit a fade? Soft fade. That’s a one of those one of those straight fades. straight breeze out the left. I definitely go on then be the number. Yeah, I love it. Go on. Up you go. Yeah, nice. Well played. You know the club I need right now. Did a little um review with an 11 chipper yesterday and I reckon a little chipper would be perfect from here. So the club that I’ve got that’s as close to that here’s a seven iron and I think feed it a little bit when it hits the green. Is that going to go a bit left to right or right to left? It’ll go a little left to right the end. Come on up you go. Come on up you go. Keep going up. It’s the right club in it. A little little chipper. I’d like to see you under par DH though. That wouldn’t that be nice? Wouldn’t that be nice? Perfect timing. Be one of the first this year. Actually, if we can actually achieve this goal once, would be nice, wouldn’t it? It’s a shame it’s not a little bit closer I could give it to you to be fair. Yeah, I know. Well, but it’s not going to be a problem. You’re going to make it anyway. No, I mean it’s it’s all character building stuff, isn’t it? Short pace again. Figured away. A bit negative coming in. Not seeing a great deal in that. It went right, which I probably should have read that because it is slightly uphill to that flag from where I was coming in. It just wanted to kind of go that way. Well, there’s a lot of pressure on the last, isn’t there, to hit the shot of your life. 18th hole, then this is it. Yeah, this has uh shot your life moment. Been been been the pleasure and failure of many. I bet it has. And you’ve got the clubhouse lurking in the background. 210. Bit more room down there than you actually think, right? Um but you know, looks pretty narrow. It certainly looks narrow to me. Can you land it shy and then let it Yeah, you can get you can get like a little shooting one through our kind of little valley of sin. Okay. Um but proper shot kind of lands it up there and stops it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, I’m going to try and do that cuz actually the further you go, the more it opens up. This is one I wake up with cold sweats in the middle of the night over. I got sweats just stood here watching you with it. Come down. There’s a lot of times I’d be happy with that. Be friendly with the kick. Then get up a little. Get over the bank. I don’t know what’s over there. I mean, oh, that’s fine. There’s a little little ridge. If it’s carried far enough, then what do you think the carrier is to that then? That’s going to be 208 210 to that corner. No, it’s not going to carry that bit then. So, just a quick one. The talk about the clubhouse. Was that what building was it? Was it always the clubhouse? Yeah, it’s you can kind of see that it’s gradually been built onto over a period of time. Um was was um I believe it was built by one of our first golf pros, AJ Hobbley, uh back in the 1800s who pro pro and a builder. Yeah. Yeah. No, he he he built it to live in it. Um and um the sea came over I think in the early uh uh the the early sort of the late 1800s, early early 1900s. and that’s happened a few times here. Um, and it flooded his house and uh he moved up to Cleave Hill after that. He was one of three brothers. I love it. Man, a crowd. There he is. There’s the man. Is it? There’s the man. Three time European tour winner. High praise indeed. Dan. Keep your eye on those. Um, okay. I did watch it come down, so it’s pretty straight back up towards that pin. A all day long. I knew I had to do the damage before I got to this hole to be honest with you. But hey ho, all day long. A was close, wasn’t it? Well done. What a tidy three that is. I take that every day of the week. Very good, mate. Well done. Okay. It’s not a break par, but it’s one over. If you’d had a If you’d had a decent caddy that could have given you a few good lines, you’d have been about three or four under. Thank you so much, Glenn. That was superb. Yeah, good fun, mate. Thank you very much. Well, it’s another round not breaking par, but I just want to take this opportunity to say a massive thank you to Glenn to allowing us out here to play here today. This golf course is in fantastic condition. Please come and check it out for yourselves. Link down the description to the website. You can come and book your own tea times and come and see Glenn. Come and see John Bickerton and have an amazing day here. It’s not break par. It’s a big thank you to Auximity as well for sponsoring this uh particular series and we’ll see you again on the next video.

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We are trying to Break Par again…..

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