It was six months ago that I was last in Scotland – but for the last couple of days I have been in Border Country. Specifically between England and Edinburgh, where they have some fantastic golf courses.
One of the tricky holes at Torwoodlee!
As before we use Freedom of the Fariways tickets – which are great value. We get six rounds of golf for £95. But this time we had some spare vouchers – so my six rounds cost £10!
The six we played were:
Lauder – 9 holes. Wet, windy and horrid conditions. In no hurry to go back – a very poor score!
Torwoodlee – We played 9 holes in the morning and 18 in the afternoon. Conditions had improved – and this was a great course. It’s hilly to say the least! A better score around here.
Innerleithen – 9 holes. One of my favourite Scotland courses. It’s old, tiny and very tricky. A good score (4 over par in 9) so I like it!
Peebles. This is a proper course, it’s big and long. I was hitting the ball well and hit my longest drive here – 282 yards. Conditions were good – and the courses is in superb condition.
Woll – 18. We couldn’t get onto our favoured last day course of Hawick, so Woll was the choice. I was enjoying it until I pulled a muscle in my back – at which point my game was over… It did give me a chance to write this blog!
We stayed this time in Peebles – the Green Tree Hotel. The are really nice people and it’s good value. It’s not 4*, but it’s not 4* prices either. It is clean and comfortable.
So that’s it I guess for my goldf tours of 2011. But we love these courses that I guess we’ll be back in 2012.
It does seem odd that I have played more golf in Scotland this year than in England?
I have never had a golf lesson in my life; my playing friends might suggest that it shows! I can normally hack around a course, but the flashes of brilliance are more than outweighed by some less than brilliant shots. Consistent I’m not…
But this isn’t a blog about golf lessons, but rather about the lessons we can learn from golf. I heard Rory McIlroy before his winning round at the US Open on Sunday being interviewed by the Sky Sports reporter. He was talking about “small targets”.
Small targets was a two-fold technique. The first, in golf, is easy. You aim at small targets – especially the 4 inch diameter one in the middle of a green. Hit it often, in few shots and you will win.
But Rory was talking about a technique of breaking a course down into smaller constituent parts. And this is a great method we can use in our lives. My late Partner in business, Alec Hardy, would always say that it was easier to have a job list of three matters than one of twelve. He could get through three and then start another three, rather than have the distraction of a large number of things. The larger the list, the more distracting the chatter from it all. This was McIlroys point – don’t worry about Hole 17 when you are on Hole five.
It is easy in our modern lives to get caught up in lots of jobs. My professional life is punctuated by hundreds of ongoing jobs – and sometimes trying to prioritise them is harder than the work itself!
So – bin all the long job-lists. Break them down into small targets. Make short wins – string a few together and you might win a US Open!
I am booked in for a golf lesson shortly. That will be interesting!
As you probably know I like my gadgets… I have a few (most made by Apple) but there are some others too…
Last week I played golf in the Borders in Scotland, as part of the Nottingham Squash Club Society. This was our third trip and seems to have become a regular feature in the Calendar. There are some stunning golf courses and through “Freedom of the Fairways” it’s great value for money.
It also gave me an opportunity to test out one of the very latest gadgets for golf. For some time now you have been able to buy a GPS unit and they have been getting more and more ‘intelligent’. The latest ones have colour screens which show you ‘trouble’ and then greens – with key distances. They are the modern replacement for the Caddy!
I had considered picking one up, but they are quite expensive – around £350.
Mine is a little different – it is in a watch. It doesn’t have a fancy screen, nor is it in colour. It just shows you the distance to front, middle and back of the green from wherever you are on the course! It ‘managed’ my 6 rounds of golf and it was brilliant. The accuracy is quite unbelievable – and the result on screen is instant. It even knows when you have left a green heading for the next tee!
The only issue is that all of my playing partners wanted me to tell them how far they were from the green…
It may seem like a bit of a cheat? I don’t thinks so as it didn’t help me climb any higher on the leader board than 7th place – although I did win at one of the courses!
The golf season has started for some of us. Some play through the winter, but I am a fair-weather golfer.
Augusta - easy really?
This week sees the start of The Masters from Augusta. I don’t watch much sport on TV, but I can make an exception for this one! There have been some great moments- Tiger winning in 1997 by 12 shots to become the youngest winner and Faldo winning in 1996 despite going into the final round 6 shots down the Greg Norman – were tow of the best. But the tournament has the ability to demonstrate some stunning golf shots.
And so back to my golf. I finished last season in the Squash Club Society at a 15 handicap. I played in September before hanging up the shoes for the winter. Then last week I played for the first time. It had been my intention to get on the range to hit a few balls beforehand, but work put paid to that as an idea.
So I turned up at Springwater Golf Course with a few minutes to spare and with zero preparation. I shot 84 and came 4th. And so the handicap tumbled to 11. This seems rather harsh, but the Handicap Committee work in mysterious ways…
What I do know with almost certainty is that next time the score will be low 90′s (where it normally is) and there will have been more golf played! There is no rhyme or reason to the game.
The duck tape holding the bath together was a clue. With another four stars gained this would have been a four star hotel. Scraping two was I think something of an aberration or mirage from the past.
Hawick - where I didn't get a hole in one
Still, it was undergoing refurbishment; we needed to excuse them whilst they did it. That wasn’t a question – more a mission statement.
My second trip to Irn-Bru (they now have diet Irn_bru apparently) Country to play golf this year was punctuated by a stay at the Abbotsford Arms Hotel at Galashiels (pronounced ‘Gala’). Their web site is undergoing ongoing refurbishment. This should also have been a clue. A big fat one.
Trip Advisor people were pretty forthright here. But it was a forgone decision as we had left the sleeping arrangements to my mate ‘Baby Brains Burton’. This won’t happen again. He is just rubbish at choosing hotels.
The Hotel cost £40 per night each. Whilst I don’t advocate wasting money there is a level at which you should aspire in life – and it’s some way above this. Especially for a holiday. It was better than the £24.99 he had originally chosen – that one had a commode in the corner. A tarpaulin strung between two trees would have been better.
The only saving grace at the Abb (as it is lovingly known – “Fab at the Abb”..) were the staff; who were very friendly. Even if the owner did sniff snuff! I think my Grandad used to do this? I declined the offer – it looks vaguely illegal snorting up lines of black powder….apparently they do a white one too. Yeah right.
The Abb staff were accommodating in providing a high chair for Steve. He is 48 (cm from the ground.) We thought it was funny.
The golf was the saving grace – as before in the Spring we played some fantastic courses in stunning settings. The locals are lucky – they have some excellent courses on their doorstep. Innerleithen is a favourite – only 9 holes but very challenging! We enjoyed Duns too and Minto is always good. Hawick, where the day before we played held a Pro-Am to honour the “Voice of Rugby” Bill McLaren. He was a member at the club and scored a hole in one at the 16th hole – which is probably one of the trickiest par 3′s I have ever seen!
So plans are afoot to return next year – and I am booking the hotel… I sincerely hope that my hotel in Shanghai later this week is marginally batter!
Looking forward is great…but looking back can be fun too?
When on holiday a few weeks ago, I came across that drink of my childhood – dandelion & burdock. The taste is wonderful, but the smell is better! No one else in my house likes it and I can’t fathom that at all! I have no idea what it is really – dandelions? And what is burdock? According to wiki – they are weedy things and the drink dates back to 1265…nostalgic indeed!
Then I bought a new ipod a few weeks ago – the others can’t cope with the enormity of the library – just around 140gB now – so the 160gB gives me a bit of headroom. I have been listening to the ipod on random – using the rather excellent genius results. Bowie, The Jam, The Rats and others. But reminiscing at its best! There were some dodgy songs too – including Dollar…. not cool. And quickly skipped (honest).
My youngest son, Jack, is learning to drive and he has been looking at cars. He is thinking about having a Ford Capri when he passes his test. Now that was a great car in its day. I never had one, until my boss went on holiday and lent me his (conditionally I dropped him at the airport and picked him up two weeks later!).
And then I sat down to watch the Women’s Golf – and the British Open last Sunday. It was at Royal Birkdale. This is close to where I lived for nearly three years – as I blogged about last month. I have very happy memories of this place; not that I ever got to play golf there! I do remember cross country running in those sand dunes – painful!
I am beginning to sound – and feel old.
Right, back to the here and now. Plugged in the new Coral album. Brilliant.
I have been enjoying my golf this year, although my handicap seems resolutely stuck at 17.
Me on the Old Course at St Andrews - alas without clubs!
I have played ‘twilight golf’ for the last few weeks – at a variety of courses in Nottingham. At least this way it doesn’t eat too much into my working day; and squash is very hot in the summer…
Watching the Open does make you realise the difference between us hackers and the pro’s – I have a huge amount of admiration for their ability to send that little ball so far and straight. Sometimes I can achieve one of these! The Pro’s do make it look very easy – which it most definitely isn’t.
I have always been able to hit an Iron reasonably well, but have a little gremlin in my head which tells me I can’t hit a driver!
But over the last few weeks I have been trying to hit the ball more consistently and at the weekend decided I had to try a new driver. I went to my golf shop of choice – European Golf in Arnold Nottingham. I have bought nearly all of my kit from them as I find the service friendly and not pushy. They also have an amazing computer bay for trying out clubs.
So I wandered in and tried out a number of clubs – expecting to pay around £180 for a driver. I hit two reasonably – both were £185. But the guy who served me wasn’t happy, I was putting too much back-spin on the ball and he though a different shaft could help. He produced another club which I hit most consistently around 275 yards – but was £229! Then the good news – it was in the sale at £99.
Deal done!
My point is that he could have sold me a club for £185 or £229, but I ended up paying £99.
I walk away a very happy customer – this is not the first time I have experienced this level of service with them, so I tell all my mates – and my blog readers now!
The service is diametrically opposite that of American Golf – who 15 years ago I found to be rude, arrogant and unhelpful. I have never stepped in the shop again! Nor will I do.
I enjoy my golf; I just wish I could be good at it. There have been a few moments, but sadly they tend to be moments and not four and a half hours…
My mate Steve in quite a lot of trouble
A few years ago, golf course ownership was all the rage and there was a rule of thumb that the value was around £1m per hole. I never valued any courses – the Leisure sector is quite specialised.
There are some major players in the market too – the Guinness family have a vehicle, Burhill Golf & Leisure which owns one of my local courses – Ramsdale Park. It’s one of ten they own.
But there are wide discrepancies in the market place. Locally another of our golf courses at Cotgrave Place has been put on the market for £2.35m. It boasts a membership of 1,000 and sits on 240 acres. It was built originally by two local businessmen in the heady 1980′s.
If I am honest neither are great courses – they are good but not great.
And then there is the Loch Lomond Golf Course – where Barclays hold the Scottish Open. It is rumoured to be up for sale for a reported cool £100 million (it’s been on the market since 2008 after being put into the hands of a US firm of business recovery specialists). Lyle Anderson, the club’s Arizona-based owner, failed to re-negotiate his debts with the Bank of Scotland and they want their cash back!
Members have been told of plans to push up subscriptions from £3250 a year to £7000 for those based in Europe, and to £3750 for the rest of the world. Members are also required to pay £65,000 on joining, refundable when they leave. Clint Eastwood and Sean Connery might be able to afford it but I certainly can’t!
In fairness the Loch Lomond setting is slightly different (!) from that at Cotgrave, but it does demonstrate that location can still play a massive part in the value of property. But exclusivity has an influence too. In this case a very significant amount!
The alternative is for Connery and Eastwood to put their joining fees together and buy some real estate at Cotgrave….there are 36 holes so they could afford a hole each!
I went last week to Scotland to practise my Scottish – mostly because my daughter Jade is getting married to Andy (a Glaswegian). My wife reminded me that all of her side of the family are Scottish. Mine are firmly English.
and don't trip up on the fire extinguisher
So to practise, I went to Melrose. Primarily to observe and learn. Whilst there it would have been rude not to play a bit of golf – bearing in mind that it is the home of golf. Well St Andrews is – where I went last year.
My primary observation was that these lands north of Hadrian’s Wall are a cautious place. Not so much ‘red light’ more ‘amber’. Flashing.
Boiling water in our kettle in the hotel room was not quick. You could have had a cup of tea whilst you waited for it to reach boiling point.
Then there was the bathroom – not only was there a shower screen – there was a curtain too! I felt safe – two lines of defence against that water escaping.
There were signs in the hotel – helpfully telling you things you might not realise – that doors actually open. And it may be dangerous to you if you are stood in the wrong place. Like behind them.
Whilst waiting for my mates (who had been detained by a nice policeman for having slick tyres on his racing van) I was reading a glossy magazine in reception. Guess what – they have a special road safety scheme up there. Not just content with road signs they have a whole scheme! It’s like the cycling proficiency test for grown ups.
One night we had a drink in The Kings Arms – a pub that has been around since 1798. They must have been stung before, because they were insistent we paid for drinks as we bought them – this was even when three of the guys were two minutes behind the early doors boys. “No” they couldn’t leave the tab open! In fairness we do look like a group of 17 year old ‘runners’….
The golf was not cautious though – it was pretty average. I should have hit the ball a bit harder, but felt I shouldn’t…
I am getting to that age (!) when I am contemplating an electric golf cart. Being a web fox I have been doing some research today.
Hammond, Garratt and Lyle - hi ho silver away
And I have found the answer! It’s not what my golfing mates will be expecting (they too have purchased or are purchasing an electric golf trolley). But I think it will be cool…
I am thinking it can be no more embarrassing than Richard’s remote control buggy that seems to have a mind of its own – it nearly wrapped itself around a bunker! This was just after he had chased it after it went AWOL. “Teething problems” he remarked.
when I was in San Francisco with the Sheriff of Nottingham last year we hired Segways for three hours and went on an amazing tour. They are great fun – but perhaps ‘cool’ isn’t the answer. One of the reasons they have not taken off here in the UK is that there is no clear position on whether you can ride them on the pavement or the road. In San Francisco the rules were that you had to ride on the Road – which was, at times, quite challenging!
So there are no issues here – there are no silly rules on Golf Courses?
On the other hand – I might go for something a little more conservative! Like a Motocaddy!
UPDATE 17 APRIL
I was running out of time before I tear the Borders apart, so headed off this morning for European Golf in Arnold and splashed out on a PowaKaddy… It’s charging up as I blog!
