Eat Golf! 06

Ladies European tour: SHINING ON INTO 2007. PGAs OF EUROPE: DO WE GROW TOMATOES... OR WATER GOLF COURSES? INTERVIEW: ROSS McMURRAY, EUROPEAN GOLF DESIGN. GOLF TIPS: PSYCHOLOGY, NUTRITION, ALIGNMENT, CLUB FITTING

FREE - ISSUE 6. 2007 - SPAIN

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THE SPANISH CONNECTION EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEWS WITH SERGIO GARCIA & BELEN MOZO

gU\S_]U One year on with EAT GOLF! and we have made many interesting discoveries along the way. Some have accepted our presence with great enthusiasm, others not so readily - but hopefully we are slowly changing their minds. Golf magazines are traditionally only about tips and equipment, yet the response from our readers tells us that a golfers lifestyle involves so much more. Certainly tips and equipment are a high priority, but the modern golfer has an interest in fashion, travel, photography, the stars... the list goes on and we hope to continue and explore more of golf’s many facades.

The majority of people involved in the golf industry are there primarily for a love of the game, others for what they think will be an easy ride. Golf is not always so adept to change, but tradition does not have to mean insular, whilst up market should never mean staid. Our desire is simply to inform and entertain, and in doing so promote an industry rich in variety and with much to offer. Competition is tough, and as the sport grows it will get tougher - but it is vital we recognise that competition is healthy.

Golf on the Costa del Sol needs to be seen as a whole, and we must work together to promote it. To battle amongst each other runs the risk of being overtaken by other markets. The recent IGTM (International Golf Travel Market) held at the Marbella Conference Centre saw hundreds of attendees from nearly 50 different countries all vying for business, and the London Golf Show which takes place at Excel 26th - 29th April is sure to show the same.

Quality, value for money and service are the way forward, and can be found in abundance throughout the world of golf.

Complacency can breed neglect, running the risk of losing the faith of its most valuable asset, the customer. Let the IGTM be a wake up call to all those in need of it. You do not need to stand alone - there are many who are more than willing to help.

We have been fortunate enough to meet many who share our passion and ideals, and are honoured that they choose to use EAT GOLF! to communicate their message. Dennis Shaw has given us great support from the outset, telling an often witty and refreshing story about the pro active work done by the PGAs of Europe, whilst Bethan Cutler keeps us abreast of what is happening on the Ladies European Tour. Together: Allison Dyer, Juan Barberis, Patrick Brady, and David Poulton cover the mind, body, techniques and tools to make our game more successful and enjoyable. Meanwhile our newest contributor and former deputy editor of Golf World, Gary Firkins, explores a touch of golfing class. We are grateful for their continuing support, and for helping to bring our vision to life.

Whatever role we play in golf, we are all affected by peoples decisions and attitudes. If you have an opinion - we would love to hear it!

Email us at our usual address: postmaster@eat-golf.com 004

Belen Mozo ©Michael Denker, EAT GOLF! Issue 6 - 1st of 5 editions for 2007

GOLF! is distributed in golf clubs, golf outlets and luxury hotels from Huelva to Almería, Spain.

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16. WINTER FASHION GOLFINO & SUPEROCHO

26. INTERVIEW SERGIO GARCIA

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Felipe Ortiz-Pati単o Honorary President Derek Brown General Manager

34. INTERVIEW EUROPEAN GOLF DESIGN

46. THE ENVIRONMENT OF GOLF PGAs OF EUROPE

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50. SHINING ON INTO 2007 LADIES EUROPEAN TOUR

56. INTERVIEW BELEN MOZO

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www.peakperformance.com

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64. SPORTS PSYCHOLOGY

BY ALLISON DYER

68. PLAYING LESSONS

BY PATRICK BRADY www.clubdegolfaloha.com

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76. CLUB FITTING

BY DAVID POULTON

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80. NUTRITION & HYDRATION

BY JUAN BARBERIS

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...and all of our contributors, see page 8 for details...

S_^dbYRed_bc DENNIS SHAW, PGAs OF EUROPE Currently Media consultant for the PGAs of Europe, having previously been UK sports writer for a number of national and provincial newspapers, including, for several years, Midland correspondent for The Times.

A British Sports Journalist winner and also a Midlands Sports Writer of the Year. Author of two football books as a ghost-writer and formerly editor of Football Today.

BETHAN CUTLER, LADIES EUROPEAN TOUR Media Manager for the Ladies European Tour.

Principal news and features writer for the Tour’s official website and responsible for the overall production of the Tour’s annual media guide.

Also contributes to numerous publications as a photo journalist. Media point of contact for access to all players and officials.

ALLISON DYER, TOTAL SPORTS PSYCHOLOGY BSc MSc CPsychol, British Association of Sport and Exercise Sciences (BASES) Accredited Sport Psychologist and British Psychological Society (BPS) Chartered Psychologist. Allison works as a consultant sport psychologist to the PGA EuroPro Tour, and Positive Golf (Elviria), the official winter training ground for players on the EuroPro Tour.

PATRICK BRADY, PGA PROFESSIONAL Patrick is a modern and forward thinking golf professional with an enthusiasm and passion for teaching the game as much as playing it. It is a pleasure to have Patrick on board for his thought provoking and visual ideas which assist us all in improving our own game. This issue Patrick explains correct alignment and its importance both on the range and on the course.

DAVID POULTON, KZG WORLD TOP 100 GOLF FITTER David was selected by KZG, the world’s leading manufacturer of custom pro-line golf equipment, as one of the World’s Top 100 Club Fitters. The top 100 represent those who are the most skilled, the most knowledgeable, and the most committed to the process of custom fitting golf equipment, marrying technical expertise with a distinctly personal touch.

JUAN BARBERIS, FITNESS & NUTRITION EXPERT Juan works with amateur and professional golfers to improve their “golf shape”. He conducts thorough assessments and provides individualised fitness and nutrition programs that enable golfers to enjoy the game more by remaining pain and injury free and also by hitting drives further and more accurately on a consistent basis.

GARY FIRKINS, WRITER & BROADCASTER Gary is also a golf public relations consultant with more than 10 years experience working in the media. He wrote for national consumer magazines for seven years, focusing on special interest titles and was deputy editor of Golf World magazine. He also has experience as a freelance journalist, editing an industry magazine and writing for a variety of publications and newspapers, including The Sunday Times.

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LINKS

The PGAs of Europe represents 35 member countries whose national PGAs collectively represent some 12,000 individual club professionals. www.pgae.com

The Old Hall, Dorchester Way, Macclesfield, Cheshire SK10 2LQ. www.ladieseuropeantour.com mail@ladieseuropeantour.com Tel. UK +44 (0)1625 611 444 Allison Dyer

www.sportpsychologist.org.uk totalsportpsychology@fsmail.net Tel. UK +44 (0)7718 208 942 Tel. Spain (+34) 662 070 787 Patrick Brady Private tuition with Patrick Tel. Spain (+34) 607 827 021

In association with www.golf-us.com David Poulton Tel. Spain (+34) 685 990 138

Juan Barberis

www.mygolfadvantage.com service@mygolfadvantage.com Tel. Spain (+34) 670 565 590 Gary Firkins

www.landmark-media.com gary@landmark-media.com Tel. UK +44 (0)1780 752 790

FREE COMPETITION

ABOUT THE PRIZE The lucky winner will receive a 2 night stay for 2 people sharing a double room in the Pousada Convento de Graca in Tavira, plus a round of golf for 2 on either the Quinta da Ria or Quinta de Cima golf course.

About the Pousada Once the Convent of the Cloistered Augustinian Nuns which was founded by King D. Sebasti達o around 1569. It stands on the castle hill site of what was once most likely the Jewish quarter. Its most noteworthy features are the 16th and 17th century Renaissance cloister, the baroque style facade, and traces of Islamic archaeology.

WIN A 2 NIGHT STAY IN PORTUGAL WITH 2 ROUNDS OF GOLF The Pousada Convento de Graca in Tavira along with Quinta da Ria and Quinta de Cima are offering a luxurious golf break for two in our exclusive EAT GOLF! competition.

HOW TO ENTER Tell us who won the 2006 Ladies European Tour New Star Money List - was it? (a) Michelle Wie (b) Annika Sorenstam (c) Laura Davies The answer can be found within the pages of this issue.

Log on to our website - www.fairwaylife.com - to post your answer.

The winner will be chosen at random, and notified by email.

We will print the winner in the next issue of EAT GOLF! EAT

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Two spectacular courses: Quinta da Ria is in the Ria Formosa Natural Park, whilst Quinta de Cima is a formidable test from any of the tees, and a truly exceptional challenge. The whole area is blessed with a profound peacefulness.

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WINNER The lucky winner of a jacket courtesy of Peak Performance in our issue 5 competition was Ida Skarskog.

She answered correctly that the headquarters of Volvo Event Management are based in Brussels.

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INTERVIEW WITH COURSE DESIGNER PERRY DYE. TEE-OFF FOR THE PERFECT CAREER... AS THE ALL PURPOSE GOLF PRO WE VISIT ALMERIA TO TAKE ON THE CHALLENGING DESERT SPRINGS. PATRICK BRADY PUTTS YOUR GAME TO RIGHTS

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EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW

INTERVIEW WITH LEGENDARY GOLF COACH PETER COWEN. SEEING RED?.. SEEK HELP WITH SPORTS PSYCHOLOGY DENNIS SHAW MEETS FAMED COURSE DESIGNER DAVE THOMAS. PATRICK BRADY REVEALS THE SECRET OF DRIVING

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ARTICLES BY THE PGA OF EUROPE AND THE LADIES EUROPEAN TOUR. ALLISON DYER SETS UP YOUR PRE-SHOT ROUTINE INTERVIEW WITH GOLF COURSE DESIGNER KYLE PHILLIPS. PATRICK BRADY DEMONSTRATES THE GRASS ROOTS OF GOLF

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26. Sergio Garcia 34. European Golf Design

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46. PGAs of Europe 50. Ladies European Tour 56. Belen Mozo

MOST ANTICIPATED EVENT

26. SERGIO GARCIA “Since the summer I feel like my putting and short game are coming around.�

The stars that make up the professional golf circuit are shrouded in a certain mystery which often leads to conclusions being drawn about their character without ever really knowing them. We are probably all guilty of it on some level, as it is part of human nature to make judgement on what we see.

But without the facts can we ever make an informed decision?

Being in the spotlight has its own advantages and disadvantages.

For the professional golfer, our interest in them is what drives the sport forward, bringing higher prize money through outside investment from those companies wanting a piece of the action. But if they are not ready for fame, the speculation that can soon surround them could come as quite a shock.

Our interviews are an opportunity for the players to reveal a bit more about their character.

Sergio Garcia is an ambassador for Omega watches, and they invited EAT GOLF! to speak with him at the grand opening of the Tourbillon boutique in Puerto Banus.

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Aside from the interview itself, one of the most fascinating aspects of the evening was the anticipation which built up around the store prior to his arrival. There was a sense of something big about to happen, and the crowds gathered to see what it was.

Sergio arrived in a much more subdued manner. After driving in and finding a parking space for his unassuming BMW, he stepped out wearing a black t-shirt and jeans with trainers. Looking a lot less like the Sergio we see on the television did not stop the now mass of people from recognising the star and crying out his name in hope of catching his eye, perhaps to shake his hand, or even better get his autograph.

Sergio came across in person as a very relaxed character, and under circumstances that would make those not used to it feel pressured, was more than willing to talk with great enthusiasm and passion about the game he plays so well. A long time crowd favourite, Sergio is perhaps testament to the fact that our assumptions of these players are not always unfounded after all...

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Unbeaten on the first two days at The K Club, Garcia became only the second European, after Ian Woosnam, to win four points from the foursomes and fourball matches in The Ryder Cup. Registered a series of top tens on both sides of the Atlantic during 2006 including a share of fifth place in The Open Championship at Royal Liverpool Golf Club, where he matched the course record with a third round 65. Won in Europe and the United States in 2005, lifting the Omega European Masters in Switzerland and the Booz Allen Classic on the US PGA Tour. Ended another successful season in sixth place on The European Tour Order of Merit and tenth place on the US PGA Tour money list. Turned professional on 21st April 1999 after becoming the first Amateur Champion to finish low amateur in the Masters Tournament. Winner of 21 events as an amateur and also a professional

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event - the Catalonian Open - as a 17 year old amateur. Made the cut in 12 of the 18 European Tour events he entered before turning professional. Won the Irish Open on his sixth start as a professional and became the fourth youngest winner on The European Tour at 19 years and 176 days. Second behind Tiger Woods in the 1999 US PGA Championship at Medinah when attempting to be the youngest winner of a Major Championship for 129 years. Became one of only six players to claim four and a half points out of a possible five in The Ryder Cup when he helped steer Europe to a record breaking victory at Oakland Hills in 2004. Collected three and a half points out of five in a brilliant Ryder Cup debut at Brookline before returning to Europe to win the Linde German Masters and help Spain capture the Alfred Dunhill Cup. Named the Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year in 1999.

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“It feels like the European tour is more like a family, and on the US Tour everybody goes their own way.”

Do you feel comfortable with your game at the moment?

Yes. Since the summer I feel like my putting and short game are coming around. My long game is in pretty good shape. The whole combination of it is good and I feel comfortable with it.

Your driving and iron play is always fantastic to watch.

It’s usually in good shape so if my short game is in shape then I usually do well that week, and if it’s a little bit down I do fairly well but don’t feel on top of things as much as I would like to.

How much time do you spend on the physical training side of your game?

Well usually when I have a week off, when I’m not playing a tournament, I’ll probably work out for a couple of hours, four or five days a week in the gym. I do a bit of running and playing other sports also helps. Cardio and stretching - those kind of things.

Do you have a personal trainer to advise you? Yes I do.

And what about sports psychology? Do you have someone who helps you out with the mental side?

No I don’t. I’ve never been a big believer of that. I’ve always felt that if you are strong mentally you can tell yourself what sports psychology is going to tell you.

But at the moment I haven’t felt like I needed it. I have a good family and they give me support.

Do you plan to play a lot in the US through 2007?

We pretty much arrange it the same way every year. I usually play a little bit more in the US than Europe, but I try to play worldwide.

I go to Japan and down to South Africa, China and to the Emirates too. I probably play eighteen or nineteen events in the US and then around eleven or twelve in Europe and a couple worldwide.

Do your family come to watch you a lot?

Once in a while they do. My father is also playing on the European Senior’s Tour. When he’s off and I’m playing he tries to come and watch me play because he is also my coach.

Do you think it is difficult to keep your world ranking up by doing it solely from the European side?

It’s a little bit tougher. Mainly because it’s easier to get more world ranking points in a US tour event. Not all of them, but some of them. I also enjoy playing in Europe.

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“I try to work out to improve my game and my swing ... I have worked with my dad to reduce the lag and make the swing easier to repeat.”

I think Europe is awesome to play and we enjoy the atmosphere and the courses around here and that’s why we keep playing.

What kind of things do you enjoy doing when you’re not playing golf?

Well I enjoy all kinds of sports.

Mainly football, tennis, padel tennis and I love watersports, cars and formula one. I also enjoy reading.

What sort of cars do you race?

Do you race cars or just watch?

I enjoy my cars and I’ve always enjoyed fast cars! It’s good fun. A few months ago I had the chance to drive a formula one car for the first time and that was pretty extreme!

Swing images courtesy TaylorMade. www.taylormadegolf.com

Is there more camaraderie on the European Tour?

Yeah I think so. It feels like the European tour is more like a family, and on the US Tour everybody goes their own way. I have a pretty good relationships with some of the European players that play on the US tour like Luke Donald and some of the more worldwide players like Adam Scott, Reteif Goosen, and Tim Clarke - but it’s not quite the same.

Is it important to you to have those friends on the US Tour?

Definitely, yes. It feels like you’re not alone and you have friends there that you can go and have dinner with, maybe go to the movies and things like that.

So it does help a little bit.

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Your performance always goes to a new level in the Ryder Cup. What is it that inspires you?

I wouldn’t say it’s my performance but rather the whole team’s performance. It always seems to raise that week. I guess we all get together as a group, as a team, and it makes things easier for all of us to know that we have team mates pulling for us, cheering us and caring about us. It brings the whole team to a better and higher level.

It is said on the US tour that you laugh and smile a lot? Is that a natural part of your character?

Yes, definitely. I love to have fun in life. The way I’ve been brought up, I think that life is short and you never know when you’re going to be gone so I just try to enjoy it as much as I can. I’m fortunate in that I do what I love, and I love playing golf and I’ve managed to do fairly well at it, which helps! But also outside of golf I try to enjoy my family, my friends and enjoy everything I do as much as possible. I feel like the more you enjoy it the better you’re going to do it too.

“I think that life is short and you never know when you’re going to be gone, so I just try to enjoy it as much as I can.”

Do you work on your lag to increase your power?

No. I try to work out to improve my game and my swing, The lag is there and that is the way I have always swung. I have worked with my dad to reduce the lag and make the swing easier to repeat, but I wouldn’t say that I work on the lag to make it bigger or anything like that.

Where does your power come from?

It does come a little bit from the lag, a little bit of the speed of 032

the hips, the speed of the arms and body around the shot, and hitting the ball in the middle of the clubface always helps!

You use TaylorMade clubs and you’ve been using them for quite a while. Do you keep up with the technology?

Yeah I play the R7 425 - the new one. I pretty much play all TaylorMade clubs, and I’m also playing the new TaylorMade Red ball which is a very nice ball. I always try to keep in touch with what’s going on, and test new clubs and balls.

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European Golf Design ROSS McMURRAY

Featuring images of the 2010 Ryder Cup Course at the Celtic Manor, Wales

Some of the most passionate people in the golf industry are responsible for the design and construction of the courses we play, and Ross McMurray of European Golf Design is no exception. EAT GOLF! met with Ross at their studio based in Sunningdale, an exclusive area situated close to many of the finest golf courses in England. The Design Company for the PGA European Tour and IMG have a portfolio to match their surroundings, including the remodeling of Celtic Manor in Wales which will host The Ryder Cup in 2010.

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Hole 3. Par 3, 189 yards. The first of five par 3’s and the first of the course’s six signature holes, the 3rd presents a spectacular challenge with absolute precision required off the tee. A carry in excess of 160 yards over water leaves precious little room for error, especially if the pin is positioned towards the rear of the green. A sizable bunker protects the front of the putting surface and a deep depression will punish a failure to hold the green.

“We have worked with Montgomerie and Langer enough now to know what they like and we know the character of the course they want.”

What can you tell us about how European Golf Design was formed?

EGD was formed in 1992. Originally we were a design company for IMG. They decided to go into a joint venture with the European Tour, so it seemed a natural progression that the two would come together and create this new company which would handle all their design work. The idea was that we would do design work for IMG’s clients like Bernhard Langer, Nick Faldo, Colin Montgomerie, and then we would work with the European Tour players who wanted to get involved in design. A lot of the European Tour players get approached to do design work but they don’t have the facility to do it.

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So if Colin Montgomerie was designing a course for example, you would advise him on how to go about it. How much input would he actually have?

Well these guys are golfers so they don’t have the time or the technical ability to sit down and do plans. It’s a very complicated matter designing a golf course. We have worked with Montgomerie and Langer enough now to know what they like and we know the character of the course they want. We then basically run up the designs and make sure they are happy with it before it goes into construction. They have a number of visits before, during and after construction to make sure they are happy.

We are doing a lot of signature design work now. At the end of the 90s for a period of about five years signature design kind of tailed off a bit but now it’s really coming back, mainly because of the tremendous amount of markets opening up on the periphery of Europe. There is a lot of demand there for tourism and golf tourism in particular.

Added to that you’ve got the sale of residential plots and houses.

Places like Turkey, Greece, North Africa, all these Eastern European countries where you’ve got emerging markets - because they want to make their product stand out they go for signature design.

Why do you think it tailed off for a while?

I think the market changed. It was going through a transitional period where it was moving away from central Europe.

There’s always been Spain and Portugal, but that has become

Hole 10. Par 3, 212 yards. The old 12th from the Wentwood Hills course has been subject to radical re-bunkering and now presents players with a considerable challenge off the tee. A new bunker has been placed towards the back of the green to the left to defend rearward pin positions. Two deep pot bunkers now defend the front left of the green and the pot bunker on the right hand deepened and brought closer. With so much sand guarding surface, pinpoint accuracy off once again be imperative.

very saturated (though there are plenty of properties built all the time) but it has moved away from that area into new markets now.

There are more golfers in Europe now and they are all looking for different opportunities. A lot of countries like Turkey and Greece realised that if they wanted to take advantage of the tourism out there they would have to cater for golfers. It has been very good for the industry in the last two years. I see it progressing that way as well, particularly in Eastern Europe. There are more countries in the EU now and a lot of British golfers buying properties abroad.

People are opening their minds to different options and looking for better value for money.

As far as residential is concerned, how much do you have to take into consideration about surroundings, etc?

A huge amount.

Do you have control over what you are allowed to build or is that dictated to you from the beginning?

What we have to do is work very carefully during the master planning stage with the rest of the project team. What is usually the case is you’ve got a master planning company that are used to doing high quality developments and as long as they guide the project correctly you won’t have too many problems. We work closely with the architects, engineers and master planners to produce a plan right from the outset that shows where the golf is, where the housing is, where the hotel is, and make sure that they all tie together and everybody gets what they want. But sometimes it is a very difficult balance to achieve. There are safety guidelines to follow and occasionally there are some tricky discussions and priorities

have to be straightened out, but generally there are no problems.

If you are building golf courses where the course looks beautiful and the housing looks beautiful but there are golf balls spraying into all the gardens, it’s just not going to be successful. There’s too much tourism out there and people will just say ‘well we’ll go somewhere else.’ It is a hugely important issue and you do your best to advise your clients of the correct way forward.

So the process begins at the master planning stage. If you are employed to design a course is the land already purchased?

Not always. Sometimes clients will approach golf course architects before they even think of buying the land and ask if it is suitable.

We’ve seen too many sites where the client says I’ve got 300 acres and I want 150 houses and a golf course, and you turn up and the

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Hole 11. Par 5, 560 yards. Formerly the 5th on the Wentwood Hills course, the narrow fairway of this lakeside hole will challenge the bigger hitters who will aim to be on the green in two. A new raised pot bunker on the right hand side of the fairway is positioned to swallow up an errant drive and of course, anything loose to the left will suffer a watery comeuppance.

A new pot bunker nestles naturally towards the front left of the green and protects pin positions on that side.

contours are so steep and you have to say, ‘well it’s just not feasible.’

And that’s not good news for the client! We’ve had to say that a few times. Especially nowadays, the environment is so important you have to be wary of what you can and cannot do on a site.

Environmental issues are certainly very important when designing courses. In Spain golf courses have to be self sufficient regarding water, etc.

Yeah, in Spain now generally you have to use recycled water, and that’s really the only way you are going to get water in the long term.

Do you see that as something that will become the norm across Europe?

I am sure it will. We cannot justify wasting water. It is maybe one of the first questions we have to ask the client. Have you got the money, have you got the land, and

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have you got the water?! Three essential items a client has to have because without all those three he won’t have a successful golf course. It is becoming more and more of an issue now that golf is spreading into new markets in Southern Europe and North Africa where there can be a lack of water. We are all looking at ways of conserving water, and particularly using it more efficiently.

There is a lot of scientific study going into breeding grasses which are more salt and more drought tolerant which will help us in the long term. It is a difficult issue.

visual quality of the golf course, so quite often you are building a separate reservoir off site or somewhere that’s screened or hidden from the main development in order to allow that water to rise and fall - but nobody sees it.

What about lakes?

With lakes, if you are using them as aesthetic features within the golf course it is very difficult to use them as reservoirs because the water levels drop during the year (unless they are constantly being refilled) and then they are not attractive. That detracts from the

How important is the 3D computer visual side of design work these days?

Do your clients demand it?

I think the client sees it as a very useful tool and it’s a useful tool for us to show the client what their golf course is going to look like.

Particularly in the new markets,

How many designers are there in the EGD company?

We have four senior designers and then a couple of junior designers and guys who do all our CAD (Computer Aided Design) work.

They take the plans and plug them into the computer and produce all the 3D models, fly throughs etc.

Hole 14. Par 4, 421 yards. A brand new hole, the signature 14th brings water into play for both the drive and the approach shot with a simple choice presented off the tee. Long hitters will be tempted to carry the entire length of the lake to the right to leave a straight forward short iron or wedge into the heart of the green. More conservative players may opt for the safety-first approach of laying-up in the middle of an unguarded fairway. The embankment that surrounds the rear of the green will make this hole a highlight for spectators.

a lot of clients don’t know that much about golf. They don’t play, there is little history of golf in the country, so it is useful for them to not only see the plans, but also to see what the course is actually going to look like when complete.

It is also useful for them from the point of view of sales. They can show people what the golf course is going to look like, and very often you can see particular views from each house so that is very important for the clients sales pitch. It is becoming increasingly important and we are doing a lot of our work in this way now.

How long does it take to create a 3D model from the original drawings?

The 3D plan is something that we would generally create anyway because we can then work out from it the quantity in terms of land movement etc. The time consuming bit is the rendering,

making it look like a golf course, the artistic element. It’s several weeks work to create the fly through.

irrigation, etc. There are so many variables but I think it is important not to have one design style.

Is there a style of golf course that a golfer might recognise as belonging to EGD? Absolutely not. We adapt the styles to suit the site. And again because we do so much work with signature designers and their own styles change as well. For example, Colin Montgomerie is very keen on a more traditional style which features quite deep pot bunkering. We’ve worked in so many places now, from Scandinavia to South Africa. The designs always change depending on the site, the region or the space, the quantity of water available for

You create many courses that you know at some point will host a golf tournament, such as a European Tour event.

Is modern golf equipment affecting the way that you approach these designs, and what sort of challenges is that presenting, for example length?

It’s becoming more and more of a challenge in design terms. To try and design golf courses that are capable of testing the best players in the world, but at the same time for 99 per cent of the time it is for resort golf and you’re trying to get average players around in a

“The designs always change depending on the site, the region or the space, the quantity of water available for irrigation, etc.“ 039

“What we want to do is make a player plot his way around a golf course and think from the tee. Maybe driver is not always the best shot to play.”

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sensible time and in a way that is enjoyable and fun. You don’t want them saying well that was great but I don’t think I’ll go back because it’s so tough. It’s hugely difficult getting that balance correct, and obviously length is one of the aspects we need to use. We have to be aware of what can be done through maintenance, such as tightening up the fairways. The biggest problem is, because of the distances the pro’s are hitting the ball now the amount of land you need for a golf course. And it’s going to be a huge land issue if nothing is done. Sites are going to have to be bigger, more land needs more money, less housing, more maintenance, etc. It is a problem. I’m told that the guys who are looking at the equipment

issue think it is unlikely that the golf balls will be able to travel much further, but we’ll see. If we keep going on, the guys are going to be hitting the ball over 400 yards!

What about alternative solutions?

Some of the most challenging and enjoyable holes on the tour are often the shortest holes.

We always try and design strategically. What you want from golf course design is variety. You are going to have an element of penal. You want a selection of difficult tee shots, difficult approach shots, easy tee shots and easy approach shots. What we want to do is make a player plot his way around a golf course and think from the tee. Maybe driver is not always

Hole 15. Par 4, 365 yards. For many, the sharp left to right dogleg of the old 13th helped to make it the signature hole of the Wentwood Hills course. A number of strategic modifications, coupled with its position on the layout of the new course, means that it will be a pivotal hole. The most notable element of this hole is the fact that the green is driveable albeit with a well struck tee-shot carrying some 270 yards of mature woodland.

“But on the other hand I’m of the school where I think bunkers should be penal.”

One of the features that seems to be quite common in modern golf nowadays is the shelf drop off on the side of the green. It’s a difficult shot for the pro’s but for the amateurs it’s a very difficult shot.

The pros are getting used to that shot now. They’ll either putt it, bump and run it, or use their lob wedge. They hit it so hard to go such a short distance!

the best shot to play. Too many times on a par 4 or par 5 golfers just reach for the driver and don’t need to think about what they have to do, they just hit the ball hard and far. We try to vary this. If players have to think their way around they play better. When designing we think about all these things and come up with a course which has that variety, has that fun and an element of difficulty. But you don’t want to make it so difficult that the strategy of the golf course excludes the average player. If you always design the strategy towards the professional golfer, the average golfer is going to find it too difficult.

Shortening many courses and widening the fairway makes them more fun for the average player.

Do the designers advise the greenkeepers where the best pin position is for the amateur?

More often than not the pin is at the front left of the green with the drop off to the left!

We spend a lot of time doing up green details, and working on the pin-able areas. You’ll try and split the pin-able areas with rolls and depressions or steps etc. to make it interesting. The number of times I’ve gone and played on my own golf courses and found the pin is not where it should be, but actually on the step! Well yes, that’s a tough pin position!

But at the end of the day if you’re having a tournament, it’s up to the tournament director to set the pin positions, and they may often set it close to the edge of the green.

But generally the pin should be located fairly central on the green.

We try and create three or four flat, distinct pin-able areas where the hole can be placed in three or four positions within that area.

Another possible headache for designers is out of bounds. If a piece of land is small and tight, out of bounds is often the most unfair piece of golf design. How do you avoid it as a designer?

You can’t completely avoid it. With good design you can avoid internal out of bounds, but obviously there’s got to be an external property line somewhere, and that line is out of bounds. What we try to do in our designs is try and make sure that the golf is a safe distance away from that property line. Obviously when you’ve got residential, we try and keep that as far back as possible to keep it as safe as possible.

Bunkers are often cited as not challenging enough for the pro’s, but are still very challenging to the average player. What can be done about that? You could say that all bunkers should be pot bunkers, but then the amateur player is going to use six shots bashing their way out of a pot bunker!

You have to be aware of where the amateur is going to be hitting it and where the pro is going to be hitting it. You try not to put huge bunker complexes in the landing areas where the amateurs will end up. You need to be aware of where players of different standards hit the ball. But on the other hand I’m of the school where I think bunkers should be penal. Colin Montgomerie says that if you land in a bunker it

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should be a half shot penalty and I certainly agree with that. And that should be the case whatever level you play. In a way if you make them deeper then it balances it out, as everybody has to take a wedge to get out, whereas if they are shallow the pro’s have no problem. But you don’t want to make them too deep.

How involved do you become in the design of the practice facilities?

It’s all part of golf course design.

If the course is looking to hold a tournament, it has to have pretty substantial practice facilities.

Wide practice tees, long enough hitting areas for the pro’s, and with chipping bunkers, practice greens, etc. Most new developments are building good practice facilities because it’s important.

When you are designing a course what information do you use to work out how long the course needs to be?

Experience is key. There is no real data out there for how far people are hitting the balls, except for the pro’s. Amateurs aren’t going out there and measuring.

You are working on your own

experience. We all play golf and we all know how far we can hit it. But that is just one element.

There are lots of elements such as topography, altitude, etc.

On the Marriott courses that you have created, is there a different strategy to designing these courses when you know they are attached to a hotel?

With places like the Marriott, they don’t really want a course up to difficult tournament standard, but they want a golf course which their members and visitors can enjoy and want to keep playing.

Having said that, I did the course at the Marriott Worsley Park in Manchester and they have held championships there. The same happened at Hollins Hall in Leeds. The resort golf projects are nice projects to work on.

Do you prefer to start a course with an easy hole?

Yes, you don’t want to make the first hole too difficult, but it is not always feasible. The first hole at Celtic Manor on the Ryder Cup course is the longest par 4 I designed there. It is down-wind which helps, but it

Pictured left: Hole 17. Par 3, 201 yards The last par 3, the 17th plays along the line of the hillside towards a long, narrow green. Accuracy from tee to green will be vital in order to score at a hole that is heavily defended by deep bunkers. Anything off target to the right will be especially vulnerable with a collection of traps lying in wait. If the wind gets up at this hole, careful club selection will be crucial.

Images ©Steve Pope

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was just the way the golf holes worked within the space. So sometimes you can’t avoid it.

What can you tell us about the 2010 Ryder Cup course at the Celtic Manor?

There are three courses at the Celtic Manor. The Roman Road which is the original Trent Jones Senior course, the Coldra Woods course, which was a little resort course, a par 63 with 12 par 3s on it. Then Trent Jones Junior built the Wentwood Hills course.

The problem with the Wentwood Hills course was that you’d start at the top of the hill and play right down to the bottom of the hill, which is a long way down, and then you’d have to play back up.

So you had three holes going

straight down and the last five holes played pretty much straight up hill. I think given the land he did a pretty good job routing the golf course, but in terms of The Ryder Cup it is too much to ask players, caddies and spectators to go up and down the hill twice in a day.

Nine of the holes are down on the flat land of the Usk valley with a lot of lakes, so they wanted to retain those holes. They were looking for a way of attaching nine new holes to the golf course, which is where we came in.

We looked at all sorts of different options, but the best way of doing it was to retain the original nine holes. It has been an interesting project all round because it’s in the Usk valley next to the river

and it is a very sensitive area environmentally and ecologically.

There are doormouse, otters, badgers and all sorts of things we have had to consider in the design.

We had to create ecological habitat corridors for the various wildlife.

Historically it is very important because the local town, Caerleon was a Roman settlement and has a Roman fort. It was very famous for its pottery, but nobody knew where that pottery had been made. We therefore couldn’t build on a considerable amount of the site, and there were a lot of archeologists digging it up and finding ancient pottery sites.

So we had to work around that and change things on the ‘hoof’ a little bit. We ended up 043

Hole 18. Par 5, 595 yards. The signature 18th provides a long and dramatic downhill finish, as befits a course designed to host The Ryder Cup. A slight right to left dog-leg calls for a gentle draw off the tee for the right hander. A well-placed drive allows the possibility of reaching the green in two with a tough long approach shot across water required to reach the raised green on the other side of the valley. If the green cannot be carried, then a second shot will be played from a slightly hanging lie and will need to land short of a series of ponds that surround the front entrance to the green. Either way, the green is further defended by a pair of sizeable bunkers that can easily snare anything too ambitious and, at the last hole, perhaps in front of a huge crowd at The Ryder Cup, any player would be keen to avoid them.

redesigning the 17th which was originally a par 4. We had to make it into a par 3 in order to avoid important archeological finds.

That interrupted the flow of the last three holes, so I had to change the designs to make the 16th a par 4 and the 18th a par 5. But I think that in the end it worked out quite nicely. It’s quite good to have the long par 4 followed by a difficult par 3 and a fun par 5 to finish.

What we’ve done is design five new holes on flat land with a new practice area coming from a new clubhouse. They then join into eight of the nine holes we’ve kept from the old course. The final three holes are on the lower base of the hillside running back to the clubhouse, and have some spectacular shots over ridges and valleys.

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The original course was very much designed as a resort golf course, and as it is now going to be a Ryder Cup course they need 50,000 people to be able to go around it.

So we needed to put in spectator mounding and we’ve created some huge ampitheatres down the last three holes for people to stand on.

The viewing will be second to none! Above those areas built into the hillside we’ve had to create hospitality platforms. These look down across the golf course which again will be pretty spectacular.

Considering we have only really been building nine holes, it has been a huge, huge job with a lot of engineering involved. But we finished the seeding in September, and all has gone according to plan.

It is a fantastic privilege for a designer to be involved in creating a Ryder Cup course.

Oh yes, it’s been great and I hope that people will enjoy the golf course when they play it. It has been a very interesting project.

There are eight holes left of the original Trent Jones Junior course which are now not being used.

Colin Montgomerie has been asked to design a new golf course using two remaining bits of land, so I am back there with Colin creating this new resort course. In the end there will be the Ryder Cup course, the Colin Montgomerie course and the Roman Road course.

You sound like you get a lot of projects you enjoy?

Yes! I’ve been very lucky!

TO GET THE GREEN LIGHT FOR GOLF

doing nothing is NOT an option...

By Dennis Shaw, PGAs of Europe

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“We golfers have enough to fret about without the need to turn ‘green’. There’s the set-up, the stance and swing-line.

Bunkers, brooks and boundary fences...”

When the Costa del Sol led the rest of Europe into what might be regarded as a frenzy of constructing new golf courses - at least one new one a year on average, beginning some 25 years ago - they really started something, didn’t they?

So successful was the stretch of coast between Malaga and Gibraltar in creating new and tempting facilities, that Jaime Ortiz-Patiño of Valderrama fame, was moved to describe the region as ‘the Florida of Europe’.

We golfers have enough to fret about without the need to turn ‘green’. There’s the set-up, the stance and swing-line. Bunkers, brooks and boundary fences.

Out-of-bounds and almost out of your skull, some days.

Equally, the local tourist authority was more than happy for it to be regarded as the Costa del Golf.

So let’s leave the environment to the environmentalists...

The amount of wealth and prosperity that the golf boom attracted has been, and still is, beyond calculation. No-one would question that the Costa del Sol led the way in transforming large, previously unused acres of the landscape into a very special destination for golfers.

Since then, other tourist and development authorities have caught on to what they have at their disposal. Portugal, Turkey, parts of North Africa, Greece, Cyprus... and another region in Spain, namely Murcia.

The PGAs of Europe, great champions of the Costa del Sol, recently staged its Annual International Team Championship and Congress some 500 miles east-north-east of Malaga at the invitation of the Golf Federation of Murcia and of business interests there.

The theme of the Congress was The Environment of Golf.

Yes, I know... yawn, yawn!

But please don’t nod off just yet. I’m here to tell you that within minutes of the two days of presentations beginning, my interest in the proceedings was rapidly increasing, and the Costa del Sol of a quarter of a century earlier sprang to mind.

None of the speakers actually said as much. But, during those years that developers and golf course architects in the Marbella vicinity have been at the cutting edge of satisfying the green lobby, major lessons have been learned from which others can benefit.

Here’s a good example: Jeremy Slessor, of European Golf Design, tackled the need for the housing developers to realise just how crucial it is now for dwellings to be kept well away from the fairways.

For insurance indemnity purposes alone, the clearance used to have to be 70 metres. Now it’s 120 metres and, with the new golf ball and the hot-faced drivers, even that’s not enough. Players may preen themselves with satisfaction as their drive easily

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flies the fairway bunkers that once they couldn’t even reach.

But, add a hook or a slice, and that flying golf ball can end up in a swimming pool where the kids are splashing about with their blow-up dolphins, it can crash through a car windscreen, or clatter onto the patio and bounce into the breakfast marmalade...

Developers, naturally enough, are not too happy to hear this. While, for understandable business reasons they don’t like fitting fewer housing units into their overall plan, if Jeremy Slessor has it right then, unless a compromise is reached between the distances golf balls fly, and the amount of clearance that developers will allow, this essential public safety issue ‘will kill golf/housing development...’

That was one important lesson, but the ‘green’ lobby is, of course, as much about the protection of wild life and plant life as of human life, and in this regard there were some fascinating stories to be told.

In Antalya, Southern Turkey, for instance, it was turtles, hundreds of them, on a glorious, golden beach, that prevented the construction of what would have been one of the few truly great links courses outside of the UK and Ireland.

“Quite apart from the necessary protection of the species, ‘turtles are worth more alive than dead’!”

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On investigation it proved that the instruction delivered by the development company funding the proposed design, to ‘clear the beach of turtles’, would have been illegal and subject to prosecution.

There are 1.5 million Turtle Tourists in the World. They spend some 300 million euros each year on pursuing their interest. Quite apart from the necessary protection of the species, ‘turtles are worth more alive than dead’! Jeremy Slessor and his colleagues pulled out of the deal. Another company took over... and were prosecuted, he said with a smile.

The fact is that any company planning the construction of a new golfing complex must observe increasingly strict guidelines if they are to get the precious go-ahead. The Ryder Cup is not immune from this.

When Celtic Manor, Welsh venue of the Matches for 2010 was being re-designed, it had to take on board the protection of a precious archaeological site at a cost of £500,000, while also ensuring the on-going well-being of bats, water rats, badgers, and dormice.

For me, the opening speaker Joaquin Aranda Gallego, a specialist from the local University of Murcia, got right to the root of the challenges facing his region and all the other expanding golf destinations around the world where water is in short supply.

The region, in its role as the fastest-growing in Spain, is facing the question “Do we use our water to grow tomatoes…or to water golf courses?”

Five golf courses have been opened in Murcia in the last five years and 20 licences have been granted for further development schemes. Some are well advanced in planning terms. That’s how the Costa del Sol was in, say, 1980-ish.

With these golf courses come large housing developments attracting growing numbers of tourists and residents. All this in a varied region that, while rich in fine culture and enviable tourist attractions, earlier employment was concentrated largely on agriculture and the growing of tomatoes, lemons, oranges and pimentos, and where lengthy periods of drought are commonplace.

Ah, yes, the dormice... Unhappily, when the first proposed plan went in, the furry little creatures had been overlooked. It took an expensive 18-month delay to provide the necessary ‘corridors’ for them to happily pursue their normal lifestyle.

“Murcia can be a pioneering region in researching the impact of golfing growth on water resources…and a model for golf tourism...” he said, but added: “Where is this extra water we require coming from?

If we don’t do things properly we won’t get proper results... only criticism from the media.”

Getting everything in shape for Tiger & Co. in four years time is one thing. Looking out for the dormice, well that’s something else entirely...

Or, as Jonathan Smith of Golf Environment Europe emphasised:“Environment issues are fundamental to the future of golf.

Doing nothing is NOT an option.”

SHINING ON INTO 2007 REVIEW OF THE 2006 LADIES EUROPEAN TOUR

In 2006, the Ladies European Tour brought passion and drama to the fairways.

There were six first time winners and yet the familiar faces refused to be ignored.

The French, who amassed six victories between them, were never too far from the spotlight.

Laura Davies

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Gwladys Nocera

“...with seven missed cuts in a row in America, Davies had wondered if she would ever win again and admitted that she was feeling miserable.”

By Bethan Cutler, Ladies European Tour Photos ©Tristan Jones / LET

Frenchwoman Gwladys Nocera claimed the most tournament victories but it was Laura Davies who secured the New Star Money List. It was a welcome return to the top of the tree for Davies.

Having begun the year in the worst possible fashion with seven missed cuts in a row in America, Davies had wondered if she would ever win again and admitted that she was feeling miserable. On her return to Europe she turned her game around, firing a 66 to tie for the first round lead at the Deutsche Bank Ladies Swiss Open.

Back to her old self again, she played in 11 events and finished second six times. She won her 67th title at the SAS Masters in Norway and, as European no. 1 for the first time since 2004 and the seventh time in total. Her quest to top the New Star Money List provided a gripping sub-plot to an otherwise eventful season.

Fittingly, World no.1 Annika Sorenstam announced the season officially open with a victory for Sweden in the Women’s World Cup of Golf at the Gary Player Country Club in South Africa in January. A win for Sorenstam and her playing partner Liselotte Neumann was almost predictable; however none would have predicted what happened at the next stop on the 2006 Ladies European Tour schedule – the ANZ Ladies Masters in Australia.

Amy Yang, a previously unheralded 16-year-old South Korean amateur living on the Gold Coast, won at Royal Pines in a one-hole playoff against US player Catherine Cartwright in February.

Yang became the youngest ever winner on the Ladies European Tour at the age of 16 years and 191 days and was also the first amateur to win on the Tour in 22 years.

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Lynn Brooky

She continued to impress with appearances at the Evian Masters and the Weetabix Women’s British Open, before finally turning professional in October.

Due to being below the 18 years of age usually required for membership, Yang was granted a special exemption from the LET and, on her professional debut in the Dubai Ladies Masters, tied for fourth place in a quality field.

The second first time winner of the season was Finland’s Riikka Hakkarainen, who came from a shot behind to defeat Spanish rookie Tania Elosegui in the Tenerife Ladies Open at Abama GC in April. New Zealander Lynn Brooky claimed the Spanish Open, winning for the first time in

three years at Panorámica GC in Castellon in May. The Kiwi, who set a course record 65 in the third round, defeated the up-and-coming Nocera, who settled for her fourth second place finish in 14 months.

However Nocera compensated by winning the Deutsche Bank Ladies Swiss Open a week later when she became the Tour’s third first time champion. It was to be the first of her three victories in 2006. She also took the BMW Ladies Italian Open at Sheraton Parco de’ Medici in Rome in June and then the Catalonia Ladies Masters played at Golf Club D’Aro near Girona, in July.

Nocera topped the New Star Money List for much of the season, until Davies overtook her at the Wales Ladies Championship, in August.

In the mean time, Davies was forced into second again when Italy’s Veronica Zorzi successfully defended her French Open title at Le Golf D’Arras in May. Stephanie Arricau claimed her third LET title in June at the KLM Open in Holland, which had moved to the Harry Colt designed Eindhovensche Golf. It was the first of her two victories in 2006. She also won the Estoril Ladies Open of Portugal three weeks later, overcoming gale force winds at the cliff-top Quinta da Marinha Oitavas Golfe.

Arricau, who interestingly also won twice in three weeks in 2004, gave a masterful display of putting on her final nine holes, which she played in just 29 strokes.

“Stephanie Arricau claimed her third LET title in June at the KLM Open in Holland, which had moved to the Harry Colt designed Eindhovensche Golf.”

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“Nocera topped the New Star Money List for much of the season, until Davies overtook her at the Wales Ladies Championship in August.�

Michelle Wie

Stefanie Arricau

At the OTP Bank Ladies Central European Open in Hungary in July, Rebecca Hudson became the fourth first time winner. The former darling of the English amateur scene came from a shot behind to win in her fourth year on the LET after settling in to life as a touring professional.

She would remain in contention all season and ended the year in a highly commendable eighth place on the New Star Money List.

Former world no.1 Karrie Webb clinched the biggest purse on the schedule against the strongest possible opponents on a drama filled final day at the Evian Masters, at Evian Masters GC, in France.

Davies, faced with an eagle putt and the chance to force a play-off, missed it by a whisker to tie for second place with Michelle Wie.

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Some of the more established faces regained the limelight at the Weetabix Women’s British Open at Royal Lytham in August, where Juli Inkster of the United States led for the first two rounds in tough conditions. On this occasion, Sherri Steinhauer, 43, also of the United States, emerged as the oldest winner of the championship.

Steinhauer claimed the title for the third time, but for the first time as a major. When she won in 1998 and 1999, the event was not considered a major championship.

A hop across to Sweden saw in effect a duel between Annika Sorenstam and Mexico’s Lorena Ochoa, the respective numbers one and two in the Rolex Women’s World Rankings.

Playing at her home course, Bro-Balsta Golf Club, in Bro, near Stockholm, Sorenstam kept the advantage, but she was tested

by Ochoa until the 72nd hole.

Sorenstam won with a birdie and promptly jumped into the lake with her mother, Gunilla and her sister, Charlotta.

“Sorenstam won with a birdie and promptly jumped into the lake with her mother, Gunilla and her sister, Charlotta.”

Annika Sorenstam 054

Dubai Ladies Masters Trophy

Driving range at Emirates Golf Club

Continuing the Swedish trend, Linda Wessberg became the fifth first time winner in the Wales Ladies Championship of Europe at Machynys Peninsula. Steered to victory with the help of a local caddy, she beat off a fast charging Davies, who finished second.

Davies was nominally the defending champion at the SAS Masters in Norway – having won the title when it was last contested at Oslo GC in 2002. She cruised to a six shot victory and was back in the winners’ circle once again after more than two years.

Virginie Lagoutte, having finished third the previous week, won the Finnair Masters in Finland in September. It was her second LET victory and the sixth French win of the year.

Meanwhile Karen Magrethe Juul gave the home crowds something to cheer about by becoming the Tour’s sixth first time winner at the Nykredit Masters in her native Denmark.

Sophie Gustafson, having been inspired by Davies’ victory, came back to Europe to claim the Siemens Austrian Ladies Open, this earning the 20 points necessary for Lifetime Membership of the Tour.

Her fellow Swede Cecilia Ekelundh won her third LET trophy at the wet and windy Ladies English Open at Chart Hills GC in October and it was a Swedish triple when Sorenstam claimed her second European title by six strokes at the inaugural Dubai Ladies Masters, the final event on the 2006 calendar.

The World no.1 went wire to wire, with The 2007 Solheim Cup Captain Helen Alfredsson, also of Sweden, finishing six strokes behind in second. In theory, a win for Gwladys Nocera would have seen her claim the New Star Money List, but it was not to be and Davies clinched the title. Australian Nikki Garrett was the Ryder Cup Wales Rookie of the Year after a fantastic debut season when she finished 12th on the New Star Money List and she is well set for 2007.

There is no reason to believe that 2007 will be any less eventful with new tournaments planned for Scotland, England and Northern Ireland and The 2007 Solheim Cup will be held at Halmstad Golf Klubb, from 14-16th September.

It should bring Helen Alfredsson to Europe on talent scouting missions.

Let’s see if the likes of Zorzi, Wessberg, Hudson and Arricau, can make the next step and make the European Team, following on from the selection criteria changes which were made last season.

After a close battle on American soil in 2005, the Europeans are already gunning to reclaim The Cup. The countdown to the contest begins here…

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belen mozo Belen Mozo from Spain captured both the Ladies’ British Amateur title and the Girls’ British Open Amateur Championship in 2006, a first since Mickey Walker completed the same double in 1972. EAT GOLF! caught up with the 18 year old, who has a handicap of plus four, after a round with the Peak Performance staff at the exclusive La Reserva Golf Club in Sotogrande.

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“I just try to go to the golf course and play my best, and try not to think about people expecting me to win.�

How old were you when you started playing golf?

I started at eight, but I started tournaments at the age of ten.

First I was having lessons when I finished school. I was doing tennis, basketball and golf, and I decided to keep with golf.

Did your parents encourage you?

My parents are not golfers. Just my brother, who is a professional.

My mother has started playing now.

Coming onto the golf scene quite young seems to be the trend now. Does it pose any difficulties or pressure for you?

With pressure I play better and of course everyone has pressure and when you are younger there is maybe more.

Do you feel there is a lot of expectation on you to succeed?

I try not to think about that. I just try to go to the golf course and play my best, and try not to think about people expecting me to win. If you have too much pressure on you, you don’t play so well. You have to pressure but not that kind of pressure.

You are going to America to study. Are you studying anything golf related while you are there?

Yes, I want to study something with relation to golf so I will study business. I want to have something more than only golf.

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“Monday to Friday I work out for three hours a day: running, sit ups, weights, and doing a lot of work on the back.”

How often do you get to play golf at the moment?

Right now I’m in Madrid. We practice five days a week and then have the weekend off. We go to the course twice a week.

Do you do much physical training?

Yes, that is very important.

Monday to Friday I work out for three hours a day: running, sit ups, weights, and doing a lot of work on the back. I have a quick warm up before I play a game.

La Reserva de Sotogrande

Do you hope to learn something about the psychology of golf?

Yes, I like that. In America you can have two majors instead of one, so maybe I will study psychology also. I’ll have to see how it goes!

Do you hope that the competitive environment in America will help to raise your game even further?

Yes I think so, because in the States you are going to practice more, and play maybe twice a week. So you are always playing, whereas in Spain you may have one tournament a month. So I am looking forward to playing a lot over there.

What has been your most memorable golf event to date?

I really enjoyed the World Championship. It was my best event ever. I was in South Africa with my two best friends. I think my other best one was the European Singles because it was the last one I won, and it is my most recent memory.

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And you took part in the Weetabix Women’s British Open.

How was it to play in a Major?

It was a great experience. I went there with one goal and that was to make the cut. And then when I made the cut, I thought, what now? So I changed my mind and thought okay I just have to enjoy it. After I made the cut I played very badly on the last two days.

But as I said - I told myself that I just had to enjoy the experience.

How did you find links golf?

Was that your first experience of it?

No I am very used to it. First of all, before winning the two British, I hated links golf but I think now I know how to play it.

Do you have a favourite golf course?

I grew up on a nine hole course.

I like all golf courses, so I don’t have a particular favourite.

What do you think about the way Michelle Wie plays and takes on the men?

She doesn’t really play any junior events so she doesn’t compare with junior amateurs. I have practiced with her on the driving range. She’s a great player. She hits the ball very far and very straight.

What parts of the game are your strongest?

The short game is my best.

When I have practiced and have confidence then my putting is very good. Then my long game is good too. I always hit the fairway.

Do you have any golfing heroes? Who do you look to for inspiration?

There is one guy who is a Norwegian player, Marius Thorpe, he is a great friend of mine. We met at the Junior Ryder Cup a few years ago. I think he has a lot of talent and he is going to be a great player.

I prefer to get inspiration from someone who is nearer to myself.

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64. Sports Psychology

i_eb WQ]U FAIR COMMENT

68. Playing Lessons 76. Club Fitting 80. Nutrition & Hydration

MOST EXPENSIVE

26. LIE ANGLES “the top 3 selling drivers on the market only custom fit 15.6% of their drivers sold.”

Whilst the majority of golf club manufacturers claim that they are doing everything they can to make the game easier to play, there is one vital solution they are yet to bring to the market - club fitting.

Club fitting is the way of the future.

Blinding the mass market with gimmicks which promise much are more often than not delivering a quick fix solution which threatens to have negative implications on a golfers swing in the long term.

Of course quick fix solutions have their place - encouraging beginners and allowing them to take up the game more quickly.

But what about the rest of us who have a reasonable game and take the occasional lesson?

Looking at the lie angle of modern drivers reveals some disturbing results, and more worryingly this trend is seeping its way into the latest off-the-shelf irons. After David Poulton did a driver fitting for EAT GOLF! it was revealed that the correct lie angle required was 50 degrees. The nearest we could find off-the-shelf was 56 degrees - 6 degree difference.

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Tour professionals have the facility to change the loft, lie and face angle readily available through tour vans - and they use them. Ask the majority of pros what the first thing is they have changed from a standard off-the-shelf driver, and they will surely tell you it is the lie angle.

Phil Mickleson’s collapse over the last few holes in the final round of the 2006 US Open left him wondering what went wrong.

Carrying two drivers in prior tournaments gave excellent results including a major, but perhaps by allowing technology to interfere with a well grained swing tampered with his golfing instinct. Patrick Brady warned of the dangers for better players using a draw bias driver back in issue 2 of EAT GOLF! It’s a pity Phil didn’t read it.

We would gamble that whichever manufacturer is the first to offer made to measure drivers fitted for lie angle will have the market entirely to themselves.

Until then, take a lesson, and go and have your driver fitted...

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golfing goals!

ACHIEVE YOUR

By Allison Dyer, BSc, MSc, C.Psychol, Total Sport Psychology

What are your golfing goals for 2007? Do you want to lower your handicap? Improve your short game? Qualify for a specific tournament? Perhaps you want to win a particular event. In this article I will explain how committing to an effective goal setting programme can help you to realise your golfing ambitions.

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Most of us are great at setting goals.

Unfortunately we tend to be less successful at achieving these goals!

In my experience this is often because they are unrealistic, too vague, or take too long to achieve.

If you don´t know where you are going - you could end up somewhere else!

Achievement in your golf will largely depend on three basic factors:

OUTCOME GOALS

1. Being specific about what you want to achieve.

PROCESS GOALS

2. Being clear about the sacrifices you will have to make to get what you are aiming for.

3. Being prepared to make those sacrifices.

Doing the first two is easy!

Being prepared to actually make the sacrifices is the hard part.

Completing a goal setting plan will give you a clearer idea of what you want to achieve and how you plan to go about it. Goal setting plans allow you to decide what you want to achieve long term, and then create a plan that allows you to move step by step towards the achievement of the long term goal through the achievement of short term goals. Long term goals are your destination. Short term goals are your map of how to get there!

There are three types of goals that you can set and they are interlinked:

PERFORMANCE GOALS

OUTCOME GOALS can be highly motivating and are important to set because they are concerned with the end results or ambitions.

For example: To win a specific event.

PERFORMANCE GOALS are largely within your control, they are usually personal standards or targets of performance you set yourself: Dropping 2 shots from your handicap Performance goals are most effective in the medium term - they are the targets that keep you on track to achieve your long-term ambitions and also give you a sense of achievement along the way. Performance goals provide a vital stepping-stone to achieving your outcome goals.

Outcome goals are generally most effective in the long term - they give you a clear direction about where you want to go and can be the inspiration that drives you.

PROCESS GOALS are about the detail, they relate to the processes that you need to control if you are going to achieve your performance and outcome goals: To complete one long game and three short game, 45 minute quality practice sessions every week.

HOWEVER it is important to acknowledge that these goals are not wholly controlled by you.

For example, you can play your best ever golf at a competition and not win because the other competitors also play well. If you always set outcome goals, it is possible for your confidence to be dented often.

Process goals are important because they aid the achievement of your performance and outcome goals by helping you to focus on the way that you need to perform rather than the desired outcome.

The process is how you get to the endpoint. Process goals are most effective in the short term.

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Set yourself outcome goals, but place your focus on your performance and process goals!

Have a think about why the goal ‘I will play better golf’ fails nearly every SMARTER requirement!

If you want to succeed you need to be SMARTER.

Below is an example of a SMARTER goal setting schedule.

It will give you an idea of an effective goal setting plan.

• Effective goal setting means identifying goals that follow the SMARTER principle (Specific, Measurable, Adjustable, Realistic, Time-phased, Evaluated and Reported).

• SMARTER is a useful acronym to remember whenever you are evaluating goals that you have set for yourself. The SMARTER principles are easy concepts to grasp, but don’t underestimate their fundamental importance!

• Your process or short term goals should adopt the SMARTER principle.

SPECIFIC - If a goal is too vague, you will be unable to assess whether or not you have been successful.

MEASURABLE - If you cannot measure a goal in some way, how can you assess if you have made any progress?

Goal 1 Date this goal was set: 1st January 2007 To lower my handicap by 3 shots.

Time Frame: 1 year

Intermediate Goal Goal 1 Date this goal was set: 1st January 2007 To complete one long game and three short game, 45 minute quality practice sessions every 2 weeks.

Time Frame: Two months

Short-term Goals

ADJUSTABLE - If your progress is particularly fast or slow, you need to be able to change your goals in order to set the most appropriate target.

Date these goals were set: 1st January 2007 Goals for week beginning: 1st January 2007

REALISTIC - A common error is to set goals that cannot be achieved.

If you never manage to complete a goal, you will ultimately lose confidence in yourself and give up.

Goal 1 To complete one long game and three short game, forty five minute quality practice sessions every three weeks.

Time Frame: Three weeks

TIME-BASED - You should always identify a point in time when the goal has to be achieved. Without this target date or time, a goal will have less motivational impact upon you.

EVALUATED - It is important to evaluate your goals. Reflect on them. Review your goals on a regular basis. Make time each week to evaluate how well you did in achieving your original targets.

REPORTED - You should always write your goals down and leave them in a visible place. In this way, you cannot hide from them and it lets everyone around you know what you are trying to achieve.

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Long-Term Goal

Goal 2 To practice my pre-shot routine for ten minutes at each practice session I complete.

Time Frame: Three weeks

Time for you to have a go!

It does take time and practise to become an effective goal setter but the examples above should illustrate how to get started. Be clear about your outcome goals and the performance and process goals you will need to achieve to fulfil them. So what are you waiting for! Get started now!

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068

alignment

By Patrick Brady, PGA Professional When I was starting out as a young PGA Pro I used to put shafts down to show my pupils where I wanted them to aim.

They would hit the ball fantastic, leaving me confused as to why I was teaching them at all.

But results were not transferred to the course. Moving on to a playing lesson suddenly revealed all, the golfer in question could not aim the clubface at the target. Everything was aiming right and they looked a different golfer from the one I had seen on the range.

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on the range “Why do I hit it so well on the range and so badly on the golf course?!”

People hit the ball great when they don’t have to aim at anything. This is the main reason why most of us hit it better on the range than on the golf course. Where you aim determines how you swing.

Here is one of the reasons I hit the ball so well on the range.

My alignment is done for me, via the markings etc. that separate the bays.

Without these aids things get trickier.

Here I am trying to aim at the blue post.

Aiming from my hips (something I regularly see) leads to big problems.

Aiming with my feet first has caused my alignment and the distance I stand from the ball to be way out - leading to a shocking posture!

If the alignment is good weight transfer can happen a lot more naturally. Unlike the golfer pictured left who is going to have some serious problems!

Take a tip from the professionals...

...find a good alignment aid to practise with.

When practising on the driving range it is important to pick out a target. Aimlessly firing shots into the distance fails to take into account the most basic principals of a good routine which leads to good alignment.

It is vital to remember that the clubface should be aiming at the flag, not your feet. The old adage about visualising train tracks gives a false impression, as this image suggests that everything leads to one point. This might be true when looking towards the horizon, but in golf we are only travelling 300 meters - if we’re lucky!

People always ask me how far they should stand from the ball.

If you set your club first, then everything else begins to fall into place. If you set your feet first then it is guesswork, and you will never feel comfortable.

Practice aids work because they allow you to convince yourself that your aim is correct, and this will in turn help you to push yourself further on the golf course. The aid pictured on the far right can teach me ball position, stance width and distance to stand from the ball.

If you are hitting the ball great on the range but not on the course, the first thing to check is your alignment. Aim is the most difficult fundamental of golf to change, so we need to try and establish a routine that is going to help us...

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on your mark Picking out a mark as close to your ball as possible is the easiest and most reliable way of ensuring you align correctly.

I have come to the par 3 course at Aloha Golf Club so that you can see the ball and flag clearly.

I will look for a darker or lighter piece of grass, grass cuttings, an old divot, or leaves - anything to give me a new target that is within a meter of the ball. This is much easier for me to aim at than a point which is 150 meters away.

From behind the ball I will walk slowly around to the side of it.

Picture 2 shows how deliberate my movements are. I will not look at the flag, just focus on the new target I have selected.

Putting the clubface in place first, it now becomes quite easy to know where to put my feet - the ball position and my stance will fall into place. Look at any of the top professionals and you will see that the last thing they commit to is their foot position. All the alignment is done with the clubface.

Having now built my whole setup around the target line by bringing my point of aim closer to me I have visualised the shot from the correct angle. I can feel secure about it in my mind, and I can now confidently make a free swing just as I have been doing on the driving range.

I will look for anything to give me a new target that is within a meter of the ball.

Whether it is a pitch, a chip, a drive or an iron shot I will follow the same routine. I wouldn’t dream of hitting any shot without lining up in this way.

“Look at any of the top professionals and you will see that the last thing they commit to is their foot position.�

Aim the clubface at the marker.

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Position the club first and then the feet.

tee it up The driver tends to spin the ball sideways more than any other club in the bag, and so bad alignment gets exaggerated from the tee. In this case golfers tend to compensate by aiming further out to the right or left.

This is not really an alignment problem, it is a clubface problem.

Golfer A is used to coming in with a closed face at impact, causing the ball to hook (right to left). Whereas Golfer B is coming in with an open face at impact, causing the ball to slice to the right.

So far we have looked at golfers who think that they are aiming at the target. The golfers pictured here are fully aware of where they are aiming, but are aligning themselves in order to compensate for the spin of the ball.

The more they allow for the slice or hook, the more open or closed the clubface has to be in order to get the ball to your target. If this exemplifies your game, then it is a problem that can quickly spiral out of control. I would suggest a visit to your local pro and get your grip and clubface fixed so that these compensations are never needed again.

In order to implement changes it can help to move to the opposite side of the tee to what you would normally stand, and use the logo or a line that you’ve drawn on your ball to line up to.

Correct alignment allows me to feel secure with my swing, leading to a good finish.

Remember that alignment can be the root cause of most swing faults. It should be the first thing that we check when things go wrong, when it is usually the last thing we expect to be the problem!

Photographs taken at Aloha Golf Club For more information visit: www.clubdegolfaloha.com

Golfer A normally has a closed clubface 074

Golfer B plays with an open clubface

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lie angles

By David Poulton, PGA Professional KZG World Top 100 Club Fitter 2006

Two things that still continue to astonish me in the golf market is that one, the public continues to buy drivers off the shelf and the second is that when they have that driver they haven´t the slightest idea that the toe of the club is not supposed to be six inches off the floor.

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“A recent survey revealed that the top 3 selling drivers on the market only custom fit 15.6% of their drivers sold.”

With an upright wood and a correct swing you will have the same effect as when a pilot tips the wing on his aircraft to bank to the left

A recent survey revealed that the top 3 selling drivers on the market only custom fit 15.6% of their drivers sold. As far as lie and face angle fitting with drivers is concerned - there is no need for a survey - because the result would be a dismal 0%.

If you are a social golfer who plays once a fortnight, never practices and doesn´t take instruction don´t concern yourself with lie angles with your driver - but be prepared for your technique to gradually deteriorate.

Any other category of golfer including professionals please be careful to check that the driver you are using has the correct head angle to encourage the correct swing action. Lie angle is the relationship between shaft angle and the ground line.

An upright lie angle will tend to tilt the clubs face plane to the left of the target. Whilst club manufacturers might tell us that this encourages a draw - what they don´t tell us is that you will probably lose distance as you react to the incorrect head angle of the club.

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“The loft on the bottom of your driver is only relevant if the clubface is square and your swing and lie angle are correct.�

When you are being fitted for a driver the head is the first component you choose. The club fitter should advise the loft, head size, lie angle and face angle, but it must be pleasing to your eye.

Actual loft and dynamic loft are very different. If it has 12 degrees on the head and the head is 2 degrees closed for example the dynamic loft is actually 13 dgrees.

If the driver is also upright in lie angle you will hit the ball even higher. The loft on the bottom of your driver is only relevant if the clubface is square and your swing and lie angle are correct.

A lot of the time the shaft gets the blame for a particularly high flight, whereas it is normally the 078

clubhead angles which have led to a swing fault - not the shaft.

I use a simple system that makes it easy for the golfer to understand clubhead angles for the first time, and advise them on the clubhead angles they should be using. This is something that is not available to the amateur golfer buying off the shelf.

The system I use has 48 different adjustable hosels for lie Angle and face angle combinations with 45 inch shafts. This is important because length affects lie angle and the majority of todays drivers are 45 inches in length.

If the customer already owns a driver the first thing I do is test it for lie angle by marking a line on the ball at 90 degrees to the ground.

These two heads may have the same shaft angle at set up, but the ball flight will be worlds apart

“I often watch amateur golfers trying to gain more distance with newly purchased drivers to no avail, as they are not aware that it is actually making the ball go straight up in the air.”

The driver is then hit by the golfer - transfering the line from the ball to the clubface - telling me if the club is too upright or not (very rarely too flat if it is a modern driver).

Through a system of elimination we arrive at the correct lie angle and face angle. If I am building a driver for a client I use these head angles to choose a club head before we do any shaft testing.

The head angles will encourage the golfer to swing the club correctly and more powerfully.

I often watch amateur golfers trying to gain more distance with newly purchased drivers to no avail, as they are not aware that it is actually making the ball go straight up in the air. There is unfortunately only one way to hit an upright or

closed face driver straight - and that is with no distance at all.

“Contrary to the poular belief that lie angle does not make a significant difference where drivers are concerned.

Our testing has not only shown improvements in accuracy but also with distance when the driver is properly fitted for LIE ANGLE.” This is a quote from a major club manufacturer who claims to be the market leader in club fitting - yet they no longer offer lie angle options in their drivers - why?!

Because it is cheaper to make one driver head for all of us.

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nutrition & hydration

Stephanie Arricau gets attacked with water by fellow French players as they celebrate her winning the KLM Ladies Open 2006.

Photo Š Tristan Jones / LET 080

By Juan Barberis Internationally Certified Golf Fitness Trainer

“The key to proper hydration is to drink high-quality water, a natural fruit juice, or a sports drink every 15 minutes.”

Most of my clients at one time or another say to me “I am definitely feeling the benefits of my fitness program and my game has improved... now how about learning more about proper nutrition and hydration?...” At this point, I reinforce to them that it has scientifically been proven that proper nutrition and hydration can take their games to a new level. This new level is achieved as the cells of their bodies start to communicate better with each other improving their coordination as well as their concentration.

I then proceed to review the basics of proper nutrition and hydration with them such as starting the day with a hearty, well-balanced, breakfast, and ensuring that their bodies are well-hydrated and fuelled throughout the day.

Breakfast is indeed the most important meal of the day in that it jump starts our metabolism and provides us with the needed energy for a successful morning.

Most golfers should take time to enjoy their breakfast and it should consist of mostly complex carbohydrates, some protein, and some essential fats. As an example, a proper breakfast for a golfer consuming 3,000 calories per day should consist of: (1) 12 ounce glass of orange juice, (1) 12 ounce serving of whole-wheat cereal with (1) 12 ounce serving of 1% fat milk, (1) whole-wheat roll with

(1) tsp of margarine and (1) tbsp of strawberry jam, (1) soft-boiled egg, and (1) cup of strawberries. I realise that a large percentage of readers are saying to me do I really need to eat so much early in the morning - and how about my coffee? Well, the answers to those questions are first, yes it is necessary to make breakfast a significant meal.

Sports scientists throughout the world have proven that a wellbalanced breakfast such as the one detailed above will enhance golf performance. Coffee, on the other hand, has been proven to deter performance as it causes golfers to become dehydrated. Lack of coordination and poor concentration skills are results of dehydration.

Now, if a golfer absolutely has to have his/her coffee in the morning, I would highly recommend paying close attention to the following paragraph on proper hydration.

A simple loss of 2% of body weight due to perspiration and lack of proper hydration will cause a golfer to under perform. This is a proven fact that golfers need to be aware of as most golfers play on sunny days with high temperatures and high humidity conditions - exactly the conditions that contribute to a rapid loss of body fluids.

I recommend that golfers drink at least (1) 12 ounce glass of natural spring water at least 30 minutes before starting their round and to take with them

(2) one-quart bottles of natural spring water so that they can take a small drink at each hole.

The key to proper hydration is to drink high-quality water, a natural fruit juice, or a sports drink every 15 minutes. One clear sign of improper hydration is when the body requests a drink - at this point it is too late and the body is simply acting on “survival mode”.

Apart from proper hydration, golfers need to be aware that they must fuel their bodies during the round in order to ensure their best performance. Scientists have determined that natural foods such as apples, bananas, nuts, or high-quality food bars eaten every two hours provides golfers with the adequate fuel to maintain their concentration, strength, and coordination skills.

I recommend that golfers purchase their preferred snacks and drinks ahead of time and pack with ample time so that they can enjoy their day on the golf course without any last-minute hindrance.

Golf performance, as with any athletic performance, is a combination of numerous factors.

Proper nutrition and hydration are important factors on this list and by following the above suggestions, golfers are sure to improve their games and their quality of lives.

Yours in health!

“A simple loss of 2% of body weight due to perspiration and lack of proper hydration will cause a golfer to under perform.”

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84. Woburn Golf Club

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88. Finca Cortesin 92. Costa del Golf Guide 96. Golf Class

MOST PLAYED 84. WOBURN GOLF CLUB “the par 5’s are up there with the best we have ever played...”

AN INVISIBLE CHALLENGE

La Reserva de Sotogrande, Spain.

We cannot get enough of this fantastic layout, which is an ideal challenge for golfers of all levels. www.sotogrande.com

MUST PLAY

Golf introduces a third party to influence the outcome of a match, and the most unusual thing about this is that they are never present at the time it takes place. This outside agency is the golf course designer - often raising the question over any golf competition - are we playing against the person we are next to or the one we cannot see?

The answer must possibly be both.

The mark that is left by the designer sets the challenge we must all take on, which is why

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golfers can be so fascinated by the variety available to choose from.

This issue we look at two courses to test your golfing prowess. One has a championship pedigree, the other may aspire to attain one.

Golf is also unique in that it gives us the privileged opportunity to play the same fairways and greens as the greatest golfers both past and present.

It could be said that if you have played a course on which Tiger has played, you have in some way competed against him. Even though he was not actually there at the same time, by taking note of his score there is a permanent record of what you would need to achieve in order to beat him. As profound as this example is, it serves to explain another strange aspect of the game.

Maybe the only person who can stop Tigers dominance is the designer who can build a course to tame him. Now there is a challenge...

Photo ©Evan Schiller www.golfshots.com

It is perhaps true to say that golf is one of the few ball games where the playing arena varies so dramatically between competitions.

Although tennis changes surface (grass, clay, hard courts etc.) it is always confined to the same boundaries defined by painted white lines. These boundaries ensure that the two or more competitors are always the focus of our attention, and that the battle which ensues can only be influenced by each others actions.

The K Club, Ireland.

The Ryder Cup might be over, but perhaps now is the ideal time to go and relive that emphatic victory. www.kclub.ie

MOST WANTED

Valle Romano, Estepona, Spain The first nine holes are due for completion soon, promising a superb venue with high class facilities. www.valleromano.co.uk

Woburn

MARQUESS COURSE Most of us will occasionally treat ourselves to a very special round of golf. It might be a trip to a far off destination or something a bit closer to home that we have always wanted to visit. The Marquess Course at Woburn Golf and Country Club, set within 200 acres of woodland on the boundary of Bedforsdhire and Buckinghmashire is another ‘must play’ to add to your wish list.

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The Marquess Course is the third and latest addition to the club. Opened in June 2000, the project was initiated in the late eighties when Lord Travistock commissioned architects to design a championship course, but things came to a halt after he suffered a serious stroke and were not resurrected until 1994 when the Peter Allis, Clive Clark Partnership put forward completed designs which finally gained full planning permission.

Alex Hay, Peter Allis Golf Ltd. and Ross McMurray of European Golf Design were finally responsible for seeing the dream come to

“With so many great golfing minds having contributed to the Marquess it is perhaps no surprise that the results are so successful.�

strategy from the tee, the fact that it was playing long due to the rain meant that our round required more of the risk. Hence we were forced into realising the difficulties each hole has up its sleeve.

It is true to say that the challenge of every long hole on the course begins from the drive, and before you even pull a club from the bag there are decisions to be made.

Clever contouring of the fairways means that a drive with the correct shape, trajectory and length can get a meaningful kick into the

ideal position leaving a much easier approach shot to the green.

The added distance will always bring more hazards into play than teeing off with a shorter club, but this alternative means a very demanding second into what are well protected and tricky greens.

So The Marquess Course provides a very stern but fair examination of your game, yet approached in the right way any level of golfer should be able to see their way round in a good score for their handicap.

Accept that on finding trouble the

The par 5, 7th hole. Featuring a split fairway divided by majestic pine trees which dominate the view from the tee.

fruition when construction began in 1997. With so many great golfing minds having contributed to the Marquess it is perhaps no surprise that the results are so successful.

A short, pleasant walk from the clubhouse through a forest track gives sufficient time to contemplate what lies ahead, and although it was a very wet day when EAT GOLF! visited, nothing was about to dampen our spirits. True we had interviewed Ross McMurray the day before, which had only served to heighten our anticipation. Having been told that one of the features of the course is its risk reward 085

10th hole. Par 4

“We would say that the par 5’s are up there with the best we have ever played, and the seventh is without doubt one of the most beautiful and intriguing holes on the course.”

The challenging 12th hole

first priority is to get back in play, as trying to take on the impossible will inevitably see your card marked with some big numbers. The opening par 4 forms a relatively gentle start to the round and makes for a potential birdie opportunity.

There is more space than the tree lined fairways might suggest, but as with the majority of holes there is one side to avoid, and in this case it is right. Careful studying of the supplied strokesaver will always reveal the ideal line required.

Because every hole has its own unique character, selecting highlights becomes a golfers own

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personal choice. We would say that the par 5’s are up there with the best we have ever played, and the seventh is without doubt one of the most beautiful and intriguing holes on the course. A true risk and reward par 5 everything is visible from the tee with a split fairway divided by a group of magnificent tall pine trees. Going down the right side leaves a demanding second shot over a ravine to reach the green. From this angle it is protected by three very well placed pot bunkers which are guaranteed to catch any shot with insufficient length and carry, and it will take two of your finest for an eagle opportunity. Going down the left ensures the green can only be reached with three relatively straight forward shots, but either way a bogey is easily made with a slight misjudgment.

The par 3’s are a considered mix of distances, allowing the golfer who is in control of their iron play to enjoy the challenge these holes provide. With more undulating

“Fraught with danger, it is a hole that will certainly spark discussion back at the clubhouse, but we would suspect that most will shy away from the challenge!”

greens than elsewhere on the course, getting close to the flag is essential for a realistic birdie opportunity. Mid irons might see you on the 6th, 8th and 17th, but it is easy to get caught out by the run off areas and trees which form their defence. The 14th is a long and dramatic par 3 which plays downhill to a large green. It is a daunting tee shot which requires the purest of strikes to navigate a valley and the deep pot bunkers which closely protect the putting surface.

The par 4’s demand great strategy and shot making. The front 9 sees some good scoring opportunities and a few holes on which to savour a par. The third is a long and testing dogleg left which steps up the challenge considerably, and comes as a bit of a shock after the opening two holes. Followed by the only hole on the course without any bunkers, the fourth has been likened to the 17th at Augusta from the back tee, with the Eisenhower Tree matching in height, shape and position.

you take the risk of driving the green. Fraught with danger, it is a hole that will certainly spark discussion back at the clubhouse, but we would suspect that most will shy away from the challenge!

The closing stretch sees a strong slightly uphill par 5 into the prevailing wind, followed by the very testing par 4,16th which requires a drive tight down the right side in order to leave the best chance to chase the ball through the approach to the green.

However should you go too far right a well placed tree forces the player to have to shape a shot onto the green. The 17th is a great par 3 which offers a change of pace prior to a strong par 4 finishing hole.

The Marquess is a magical piece of design without any trickery.

A variety of questions are asked of your game with the challenge always beautifully presented and laid out before you. In short, this is a modern classic that deserves a reputation as one of the finest golf courses in Britain.

Woburn Golf & Country Club Little Brickhill, Milton Keynes Tel.: +44 (0) 1908 370756 Fax: +44 (0) 1908 378436 www.discoverwoburn.co.uk pro.shop@woburngolf.com

At the 10th hole you are welcomed by a quaint wooden hut serving refreshments. If you have a good score in progress this is an ideal opportunity to reflect on it. But don’t get too complacent, as from here the challenge steadily increases towards the finale. The holes flow from one to the other giving the course a rhythm more fluid than most, with the only disruption coming at the 12th, where water is thrown into the mix. Having previously acquired a feel for the questions the course asks of your game this is a very different challenge. Depending on your level and tee of the day a 3 wood or long iron will see you onto a fairway which is protected on three sides by the hazard. This must be crossed both on you tee shot and approach shot unless 9th hole. Par 4 087

finca cortesin GOLF RESORT

You know that you have found a special golf course when you are back playing it for the third time in as many weeks.

Cabell Robinson has left his mark on the Costa del Sol landscape once more, and it is another outstanding piece of design to add to a priceless collection.

Finca El Cortesin Ctra. de Casares s/n 29690 Casares, Spain Tel.: +34 952 937 883 Fax: +34 952 937 881 www.golfcortesin.es info@golfcortesin.es

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Finca El Cortesin is perhaps the most recent addition to the Costa del Sol golfing mecca, and opened for play in November 2006.

Considering their youth the greens make for a fantastic surface, and put many of its more mature rivals to shame. The course itself is fully completed, but the abundance of flaura which has been planted has yet to bloom and reveal its full potential beauty. There will also be much building on the boundaries of the course for some time to come, as this land is owned by Single Homes, one of Spain’s largest developers. Set to become one of the best and most exclusive resorts on the coast, with plans for villas, a limited number of apartments, a five star hotel with spa and a Jack Nicklaus Academy - it will be a serious contender when complete.

The area set aside for development has been kept a significant distance away from the course and never interferes. This bodes well for those luxurious villas which will afford fantastic golf views without the fear of a golf ball finding its way into the swimming pool, as even the most errant of shots cannot climb the elegant walls which raise the plots well out of reach.

Bearing all of this in mind, we will focus on the golf itself and consider the quality of the holes on offer. The first thing of note is that the scorecard reveals there are five par 5’s, five par 3’s and eight par 4’s which make up the par 72 layout. The course is also long, measuring 5,884 meters from the standard mens, up to a whopping 6,802 meters from the competition tees. Sensibly, the ladies will travel a significantly less distance of 4,852 meters. There are also sets of white and blue tees to extend or reduce the length from the standard as required.

“Playing downhill from the tee many low handicap golfers will realise the opportunity and take on the challenge of driving the green.”

One of the main characteristics of the course is the depth of the greens. The distance from front to back could see the difference vary from a pitching wedge to a seven iron, meaning that evaluating the pin position of the day is critical in order to get close. That is not to say that you will always be hitting your mid to short irons into holes. Some of the par 4’s here are monsters that require two courageous blows to reach. At stroke index 1 for the men (7 for the ladies) the 7th plays slightly uphill and doglegs to the left. A bunker on the left of the fairway encourages the player to take their drive down the right

side, which makes for a longer approach. The green is more open to running the ball in than the shorter par 4’s, and symbolises the designers awareness that golfers appreciate a fighting chance of getting on in regulation.

The fourth hole is a classic risk and reward par 4 with a lake that runs the full length of the fairway up to the front of the green. Playing downhill from the tee many low handicap golfers will realise the opportunity and take on the challenge of driving the green.

The alternative is little more than an iron to set up a shot to the

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green, hopefully taking water out of the equation altogether. It is an exciting hole that will probably see many more ‘others’ than eagles!

Shorter par 4’s are also found at the 9th and 14th, but Cabell has surely created the signature hole at the 13th. With a stream that wraps its way around the fairway from the tee area up the left hand side and back across the front of the green, a good drive should only leave a short approach. This could bring the water into play with a slightly wayward shot but is probably worth the gamble, as the view to the green which is nestled amongst the trees is one to savour. Par here is a very good score, but a birdie would certainly do the hole justice.

Four of the five par 3’s come in around exactly the same length on the card at just over 170 meters.

Though elevation changes mean a variety of clubs are called for, there is no getting away from the fact that these are challenging holes which more often than not require a wood to reach. If you enjoy hitting

“The 8th could well bemuse those not used to having to think their way around a golf course.”

090

irons into the shorter holes then the front tees are well worth your consideration. The 17th makes for a great hole which requires finesse to get close to the pin using a mid to short iron depending on where the pin is located on this kidney shaped green surrounded by bunkers. A steep run off area at the front protects the shorter shot, whilst any shot vying for a back left flag position needs to find a much smaller landing area, or a sandy lie awaits.

The par 5’s are very strategically designed holes, which with two well played shots should always leave a shorter pitch and a birdie

opportunity. Extremely well placed fairway bunkers could change such ambitious plans however, and decisions often need to be made after the drive as to where to place the second. Getting close to the green will always require some risk, and getting on in two will only ever be possible for the very good players.

The third hole, much like an extended version of the fourth, has a lake running all the way up the left side to the green. The safest option is to keep down the right of the fairway, but this hole is going to tempt many into cutting the corner which brings all of the

“Still not convinced that we have conquered every hole on the course, we will return again to take on this beautifully constructed and realised layout.�

trouble into play. The 8th could well bemuse those not used to having to think their way around a golf course. Even a good drive leaves the decision as to whether the cluster of bunkers on a narrow and sharply uphill area can be carried. The contours are such that any shot lacking in length will be gathered into the sand, but playing short of them will mean a very demanding third to reach the green.

The final hole is another par 5, and a slightly blind drive over the

brow of the hill reveals a generous fairway that gradually narrows towards the green. The now familiar bunker complex awaits on the second, but are relatively easy to avoid. The sumptuous clubhouse awaits in the background for those in need of a drink after what will surely have been a demanding but extremely rewarding game of golf. Still not convinced that we have conquered every hole on the course, we will return again to take on this beautifully constructed and realised layout.

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club directory HUELVA

COURSE GUIDE

Islantilla Arcos Gardens

El Rompido

COSTA DEL SOL

1

CADIZ Montecastillo Meliá Sancti Petri

Benalup Montenmedio GIBRALTAR

2

Alcaidesa 127

124,6 San Roque Almenara

Real Club de Sotogrande

Valderrama

La Reserva

133 La Canada

SOTOGRANDE 143

Duquesa Golf

146

Doña Julia

3

149 150

El Cortesin CASARES

Albayt Conutry Club Estepona Golf Valle Romano

ESTEPONA La Resina

162 166 167

4

Flamingos Golf

Atalaya 168

MEDITERRANEAN SEA

169

Monte Mayor

5

El Paraiso

Marbella Club

BENAHAVIS

Guadalmina

Los Arqueros

SAN PEDRO

RONDA La Quinta

La Zagaleta

6

Los Naranjos

Magna Marbella

NUEVA ANDALUCIA

Las Brisas PUERTO BANUS

Aloha

Marbella Golf School

Dame de Noche

MARBELLA

Monte Paraiso 185

Rio Real

CALAHONDA

7

Santa Clara

188

Marbella G&CC Greenlife / Positive Golf

192

Santa Maria

195

Cabopino

198

Miraflores / Golf Academy Calanova La Cala Santana

La Noria FUENGIROLA

COIN

200

9

8

El Chaparral 206 Mijas TORREMOLINOS

Lauro

Torrequebrada Grupo Suite

Parador

Alhaurin

222

Gaudalhorce

231 MALAGA

10

N-340 A-7

ALMERIA

Numbers represent the correct Kilometre markings on road signs

Desert Springs

Valle del Este

Note: This is a topological map and does not represent the correct scale or distances between locations.

©Eat Publishing S.L.

Antequera GRANADA

Please note that where possible all telephone contact numbers are for golf bookings. Dialling code for Spain: +34

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1. HUELVA - GIBRALTAR Islantilla Golf Resort (27) Tel: 959 204 500 Web: www.islantillagolfresort.com El Rompido Golf Club (36) Tel: 959 024 242 Web: www.clubdegolfelrompido.es Arcos Gardens (18) Tel: 956 704 131 Web: www.arcosgardens.com Montecastillo Hotel & Golf Resort (18) Tel: 956 151 200 Web: www.montecastillo.com Meliá Sancti Petri (18) Tel: 956 491 200 Web: www.solmelia.com Benalup Golf & Country Club (18) Tel: 956 424 928 Web: www.benalupgolf.com Montenmedio Golf & Country Club (18) Tel: 956 451 216 Web: www.monteenmedio.com 2. GIBRALTAR - SOTOGRANDE Alcaidesa Links Golf Course (18) Tel: 956 791 040 Web: www.alcaidesa.com San Roque Golf Resort: Old & New Courses (36) Tel: 956 613 030 Web: www.sanroqueclub.com Almenara Golf (27) Tel: 902 18 18 36 Web: www.sotogrande.com La Reserva de Sotogrande Golf Club (18) Tel: 956 785 252 Web: www.sotogrande.com Real Club de Golf Sotogrande (18) Tel: 956 785 014 Web: www.golfsotogrande.com Valderrama (18) Tel: 956 791 200 Web: www.valderrrama.com Club de Golf La Cañada (18) Tel.: 956 794 100 Web: www.lacanadagolf.com 3. SOTOGRANDE - ESTEPONA La Duquesa Golf & Country Club (18) Tel: 952 890 425 Web: www.golfladuquesa.com Albayt Golf Academy Tel: 952 804 702 Web: www.albaytcountryclub.com Estepona Golf (18) Tel: 952 937 605 Web: www.eteponagolf.com 4. ESTEPONA - SAN PEDRO La Resina Golf & Country Club (9) Tel: 952 885 313 Web: www.laresina.net Flamingos Golf (18) Tel: 952 889 157 Web: www.flamingos-golf.com El Paraiso Golf Club (18) Tel: 952 883 835 Web: www.elparaisogolfclub.com Atalaya Golf: Old & New Courses (36) Tel: 952 882 812 Web: www.atalaya-golf.com Guadalmina Golf: North & South Courses (36) Tel: 952 883 455 Web: www.guadalminagolf.org 5. BENEHAVIS / RONDA Monte Mayor Golf Club (18) Tel: 952 937 111 Web: www.montemayorgolf.com Marbella Club Golf Resort (18) Tel: 952 889 101 Web: www.marbellaclub.com Los Arqueros Golf & Country Club (18) Tel: 952 784 600 Web: www.losarquerosgolf.com Club de Campo La Zagaleta (18) Tel: 952 855 453 Web: www.lazagaleta.com 6. NUEVA ANDALUCIA / PUERTO BANUS La Quinta Golf & Country Club (27) Tel: 952 762 390 Web: www.laquintagolf.com Los Naranjos Golf Club (18) Tel: 952 812 428 Web: www.losnaranjos.com Magna Marbella Golf (9) Tel: 952 929 249 Web: www.magnamarbellagolf.com Real Club de Golf Las Brisas (18) Tel: 952 813 021 Web: www.lasbrisasgolf.com Aloha Golf Club (18) Tel: 952 907 085 Web: www.clubdegolfaloha.com Golf La Dama de Noche (9) Tel: 952 818 150 Web: www.golfladamadenoche.com 7. MARBELLA - FUENGIROLA Golf Río Real (18) Tel: 952 765 733 Web: www.rioreal.com Santa Clara Golf (18) Tel: 952 850 111 Web: www.santaclara-golf.com Marbella Golf & Country Club (18) Tel: 952 830 500 Web: www.marbellagolf.com Greenlife Golf (9) Tel: 952 839 142 Web: www.greenlife-golf.com Positive Golf (9) Tel: 952 839 605 Web: www.pgm.es Santa Maria Golf (18) Tel: 952 831 036 Web: www. santamariagolfclub.com Cabopino Club de Golf (18) Tel: 952 850 282 Web: www.cabopinogolf.es Miraflores Golf (18) Tel: 952 931 960 Miraflores Golf Academy Tel: 952 939 381 Web: www.sunshine-golf.com 8. FUENGIROLA - MALAGA Calanova Golf (18) Tel: 952 593 591 Web: www.calanovagolf.com La Noria Golf Resort (9) Tel: 952 587 653 La Cala: North, South & Europa Courses (52) Tel: 952 669 033 Web: www.lacala.com Santana Golf & Country Club (18) Tel: 951 062 560 Web: www.santanagolf.com El Chaparral Golf Club (18) Tel: 952 587 700 Web: www.golfelchaparral.com Mijas Golf: Los Lagos & Los Olivos (36) Tel: 952 476 843 Web: www.mijasgolf.org Parador Málaga Golf (18) Tel: 951 011 120 Web: www.parador.es Antequera Golf (18) Tel: 951 701 900 Web: www.golfantequera.com 9. MALAGA - COIN Alhaurín Golf & Hotel Resort (18) Tel: 952 595 800 Web: www.alhauringolf.com Lauro Golf (27) Tel: 952 412 767 Web: www.laurogolf.com Guadalhorce (18) Tel: 952 179 378 Web: www.guadalhorce.com 10. ALMERIA Desert Springs - Indiana Course (18) Tel: 637 861 591 Web: www.almanzora.com Golf Valle del Este (18) Tel: 950 3987 43 Web: www.valledeleste.es

A D & 20 H YE 06 o D Sp st ES an TO IG ish th N O e pe n

THE PREMIER LEAGUE OF GOLF A series of open tournaments in 2007

Featuring: Individual Stableford Tournaments Many Monthly Prizes Best Overall Player (5 Out of Possible 8) wins a Years Membership to the San Roque Club New Course Free Golf Clinic After Each Event BMW Z4 Hole in One Prize at Each Event Dates: 24.03.07; 28.04.07; 26.05.07; 23.06.07; 28.07.07; 25.08.07; 23.09.07; 20.10.07 The San Roque Club - A7 km.127 - 11360 San Roque (Cรกdiz) Spain Tel: +34 956 613 030. Fax: +34 956 613 005. golfres@sanroqueclub.com. www.sanroqueclub.com

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Arcos Gardens

The San Roque Club

Arcos Gardens was designed especially for an exclusive lifestyle. It is one of the lowest density luxury residential golf communities in Europe, with hotel, spa and highest quality residences built around a championship golf course - offering an enchanting, peaceful lifestyle in the heart of Andalucia.

Golfers can choose between the demanding par 72 of The Old Course designed by Dave Thomas, that winds through cork oak forests with superb mountain views - or The New Course created by legendary American course designer Perry Dye. Both courses provide beautiful and challenging holes for players of all handicaps.

T: (+34) 956 704 131 F: (+34) 956 717 932 www.arcosgardens.com www.underanolivetree.com

T: (+34) 956 613 030 F: (+34) 956 613 012 info@sanroqueclub.com www.sanroqueclub.com

Almenara Golf Club

La Reserva Golf Club

A 27 hole golf course where Dave Thomas has created a challenge for even the best golfers - with winding fairways and deep bunkers. The greens are among the best in the golfing world.

A golf course for thinkers, requiring good strategy from the tee.

People who have played on this course always come back for more.

La Reserva Golf Club boasts excellent facilities comprising a large 18 hole course designed by Cabell Robinson, and a splendid clubhouse based on the style of a typical Andalusian country house. The golf course opened in August 2003 and has already earned a reputation as one of the best in Spain.

T: (+34) 902 18 18 36 info@sotogrande.com www.sotogrande.com

T: (+34) 956 785 252 lareserva@sotogrande.es www.sotogrande.com

La Duquesa Golf Club

El Paraiso Golf Club

Designed by Robert Trent Jones, the course is located in the midst of a spectacular landscape. 18 entertaining holes require a variety of shot making and accuracy from the tee. Facing the Mediterranean Sea, highlights include the par 3, 17th which incorporates a dramatically elevated tee and a well protected green below.

Gary Player has created one of the best designed courses on the Costa del Sol. With magnificent views of the Mediterranean and a dramatic mountain backdrop - golfers will look forward to returning time after time. The club is also justifiably proud of the friendly, social atmosphere enjoyed by members and visitors alike.

T: (+34) 952 890 425 F: (+34) 952 893 005 info@golfladuquesa.com www.golfladuquesa.com

T: (+34) 952 883 835 F: (+34) 952 885 827 info@elparaisogolfclub.com www.elparaisogolfclub.com

Alhaurin Golf & Country Club

Desert Springs

Located in the Mijas Mountains close to the village of Mijas.

Designed by Seve Ballesteros, strategically placed bunkers and water hazards are reminiscent of American-style courses. With majestic views of mountains to the north and of Africa and the Mediterranean to the south, this is a fine course in a natural setting.

The 72 par international championship Indiana golf course was inspired by the top quality desert courses of Arizona; played thoughtfully, the Indiana can be both fun and testing, and it is always visually stunning; bright green fairways contrast vibrantly with the surrounding arid landscape of cactus, rock and flowering desert.

T: (+34) 952 595 800 F: (+34) 952 594 195 reservasgolf@alhauringolf.com www.alhauringolf.com

T: (+34) 678 679 387 desertsprings@almanzora.com www.almanzora.com

The biggest (and at the same time smallest) golfing craze to come out of Germany is now available on the Costa del Sol courtesy of

EAT

GOLF!

and Trä & Sten. This carefully crafted and beautifully styled executive toy combines a smooth pendulum action with a choice of driver, iron, wedge or putter to play miniature golf in a way you have never experienced before.

Transform your office into your very own interactive golf course. 99 â‚Ź

5QNF GZENWUKXGN[ QP VJG %QUVC FGN 5QN D[

For more information contact: Michael Denker, Tel: (+34) 635 024 358 or Daniel Holm Tel: (+34) 650 252 762. Fax: (+34) 952 90 86 01

golf class

By Gary Firkins

ANCIENT AND MODERN

While I’m no defender of British golf’s more silly traditions - the illogical long socks with shorts in summer is the one that really gets my goat - there is a historical appeal to golf that is undeniable.

Anyone who has pegged a ball up on the 1st tee at the Old Course St Andrews, surely one of the greatest golfing experiences in the world, will know what I mean. The clubhouse behind you, the town to your left, the beach to your right and a fairway as old as golf itself ahead. Unfortunately, the sense of awe that accompanies the first time visitor to St Andrews also leads to a peculiar ability to miss what must be the widest fairway in golf. I’m not the only one to have strayed out of bounds here.

So the discovery of a century-old golf ball on the beach at St Andrews by a couple out walking should come as no surprise. Uncovered by shifting sands, it must be one of hundreds of thousands of balls lost around the Old Course over the past six centuries.

096

This particular ball - a solid moulded rubber gutta percha, first produced in around 1850, replacing the old feather-stuffed balls used for the previous two centuries – is now one of golf’s most valuable pick-ups, worth an estimated £200-£400, according to Bonhams the auctioneers.

Interestingly, the ball’s branding remains clearly visible. It was made

by D Anderson of St Andrews and stamped ‘The Mecca’. Not a name that will be appearing on a modern golf ball soon, one suspects, but a foretelling of what St Andrews would become in the modern age of international travelling golfers.

St Andrews, of course, was also once a hub for golf club and ball manufacturing. While the vast majority of that activity now takes places overseas, I was heartened to discover recently that golf craftsmanship in the Auld Grey Toon has not died out entirely.

On the contrary, Heritage Golf, the world’s last traditional golf club manufacturer, is thriving.

Its authentic, period clubs are beautifully handmade in the company’s factory which employs six craftsmen and turns out vintage putters, spoons, brassies and niblicks, not to mention 10 to 20 sets of hickory shafted irons every month. Enormous skill is required to cut each shaft to length and then sand it down precisely so it has the right flex and feel.

Heritage Golf’s Hamish Steedman tells me the clubs are great fun to play with and as an average 20-handicapper himself, he can consistently clock up 25 to 28 stableford points with a set.

In the hands of a professional, however, a brassie can still be walloped a good 280 yards.

I’m particularly taken with the limited edition RT Jones Grand Slam Set, an exact copy of the clubs used by Bobby Jones in 1930 to win golf’s then four majors, and for which Heritage Golf was given exclusive access to Jones’ clubs at the Augusta National Golf Club. Exquisite.

CONTINUED

But before I become all bleary-eyed with nostalgia, I have to admit that I am a thoroughly modern man when it comes to golf technology. Give me the latest carbon composite driver (custom fitted, of course) and I’ll go and test it to distraction.

Which is why I am so excited about the next big thing – indoor golf.

Now, I like a sea breeze just like the next golfer, but over the coming 12 months we will see numerous new indoor golf centres springing up across the UK, based on the success of facilities in cities including London and Birmingham.

On a recent visit to the ultra-stylish City Golf Clubs in London, just next door to the Bank of England, I was astonished to find that the indoor game is no less addictive than the outdoor variety. I say game because that is precisely what it is. You’re not just hitting balls at a screen – although the amazingly realistic Full Swing Golf simulators do provide a virtual practice area for training and coaching – you are playing a full round on some of the world’s finest

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courses from Pebble Beach to, yes, the Old Course St Andrews.

Groups of friends can play fourballs (with drinks served to your bay) around a selection of more than 50 courses. What’s more, every simulator can be hooked up to the internet to enable international indoor competitions.

I chose to play the Old Course, St Andrews, naturally. Drives and iron shots are precisely realised thanks to a 360-degree curtain of infrared beams through which the ball passes. Depending on where your ball finishes, there are a variety of true-to-life lies to play from including two types of rough and a thick white grass into which the ball is nestled for bunker shots. Putting is also realistic and I am delighted when I sink my first birdie putt a 16-footer breaking left to right.

However, if I needed any reassurance of the simulator’s accuracy, it is provided on the Old Course’s 18th tee. Faced with the same double-width fairway that

“Give me the latest carbon composite driver and I’ll go and test it to distraction.

Which is why I am so excited about the next big thing indoor golf.” has given me so many problems in real life, albeit at the other end, my horrible snap-hook drive veers left (I knew it was a snapper the moment it left the clubface) and hurdles the out-of-bounds fence the other side of the 1st.

How depressingly true to real life.

Golf in centuries past, just as now, can’t be conquered and we’ll carry on losing balls forever, I suspect. So if you happen to be walking along the beach at St Andrews, do look out for old gutta perchas - and the virtual drive I hit in London, but which is now lost somewhere on the Fife coast.