A
Alex1975
Guest
As some of you may know I won an online competition with onlinegolf to have an afternoon at Bearwood Lakes. The prize was Lunch with David Howell and Srixon/Cleveland golf, a short game clinic with Dave(as I now like to call him, or ‘Howler’ as others do), a ball fitting with the Srixon guys and some product testing with the Cleveland crew finished up with as many holes as we could play on the Bearwood Lakes golf course.
I rolled up to Bearwood about 30 minutes early and as I had a little time I took in the car park view (fag break). Although very tidy it was not mind blowing and I would soon find out why. It all goes on out the back. The club house is set on a sharp hill/bank and is about five times the size it looks from out front. It is a modern building and a bit of a barn of a place but beautifully finished. The staff were very polite and not snotty at all and I was invited though to one of the bars for a meet and greet with all of the above. From the vast plate glass windows the course unfolds in front of you and looks friendly and inviting with its many raised tee boxes and lush green prefect fairways.
Just before lunch David Howell arrived and made a point of making his way round the room and shaking everybody’s hands “Hi David Howell, nice to meet you†while looking each person in the eye. The only other time I have seen a sportsman work a room as well was David Coulthard. Mr Howell is really one of the lads and a very likeable gentleman.
Only eight winners out of the twenty invited showed up and Mr Howell soon found a seat with us and started telling fabulous tales from the inner sanctum of the tour. I’ll maybe save them for another time but he had the whole room roaring with laughter.
Lunch was dispatched at a pace as now we are all hungry for golf. We were split into two groups for four and for me it was off to the short game area with Dave. At this point Dave asked us what we wanted out of it and somehow we all ended up in a bunker for the full 40 minutes, kind of gutting as I had so much I wanted to learn, but who’s going to knock it, it’s all good stuff.
Dave spent a lot of time with the 28 handicapper who was having a hard time with hitting behind the ball, when he came to me he asked “how you getting onâ€, “Pretty good I replied†not the right thing to say “ok†Dave said “I’ll leave you be†- I am not having that I thought and duly said that I could use a little more control. Over the next five minutes Dave helped me blow my mind, he had me open the club face so much that the tow was pointing at my right foot, so much so infect that he rested a ball on it to make sure I had it open enough. I guess in a review like this one should not talk too much about one’s self but I’ll break from that here and there as its all part of my day out. At this point Dave asked the other three guys to watch me play a bunker shot and described me as the bunker wise kid. No pressure then. I played a super shot thank god. It would be the last good bunker shot I played all day.
Off to the beautiful driving range surrounded on all four sides with thick trees and dripping down hill from the bays. I was first up for my ball fitting and it was a very similar situation to the Bridgestone fitting that someone posted about a few weeks ago. Trackman gave me an average swing speed of 93.5 mph and with my spin and what not I was reportedly a Srixon AD333 man sadly missing out on the Z-Star by a few miles an hour. I was given 15 AD333s for the road and a signed white Srixon cap.
At this point I think it was about three oclock and we had as much time as the daylight would aloe to play the Bearwood 18.
It is the most wonderful golf course I have ever played, beating Ashridge into a fairly firm second place. If the wonderful views and perfect hole lay outs, true as a knife greens and spectacular lakes were not enough the grass was like walking on a duvet. For me the most poignant thing about the course was said fairways. Even playing my usual shots not trying to get into the ball or push the shot in any way I was pealing perfect ten inch diverts that would fly fifteen feet away and give an incredible feeling of a solid shot. Under the divert layer was what seemed like a layer of sand and once the divert was placed back you could not tell it had ever been taken. On finer shots and chips the ground just exploded leaving the same feel of a solid shot. It was a joy.
David joined our group for the par five second and the par three third and we were all itching to see a tour pro hit a ball right there in front of us. We all got away well off the tee and then Dave steps up as well all find the vantage point we want to view this spectacle from. Mr Howell is not a big hitter but that’s not what it was about really, it was about the incredibly sure hit he made. He hit the ball and it stayed hit. We played on and chatted some more, Dave giving a few tips to people here and there and generally being a great host. When we got to the par three third Dave was again last to tee off and after his shot he turned to us with a big grin and said “oh that was a nice shot hu?†The guy from Online golf asked right away “so you still get that then Dave? Like we do, that great feeling of hitting a good shot?†Howler then explained that that was him being him, he replied to the Onlinegolf guy “you know I was talking to you earlier about getting back to being myself, well that’s what that was right there and yes I really enjoy itâ€
At this point, just before we went our separate ways one of the guys asked “Dave what’s that funny waggle you do before you make your shot, what are you trying to find?†Dave explained that it’s something his coach had just given him and it was helping him find this plain. So that’s all of us working on out swings, not just the armatures. The whole experience was a great one and one I will remember.
We then made our way off and played 15 awesome holes, we did hit balls on the last three but I did not see any of them after the drive. I think everyone in my four hit at least one camera shot, either a chip in or long putt. I made birdie and went out in a pleasing 44.
Sorry it’s such a wall of text but I wanted to do it justice.
Alex
I rolled up to Bearwood about 30 minutes early and as I had a little time I took in the car park view (fag break). Although very tidy it was not mind blowing and I would soon find out why. It all goes on out the back. The club house is set on a sharp hill/bank and is about five times the size it looks from out front. It is a modern building and a bit of a barn of a place but beautifully finished. The staff were very polite and not snotty at all and I was invited though to one of the bars for a meet and greet with all of the above. From the vast plate glass windows the course unfolds in front of you and looks friendly and inviting with its many raised tee boxes and lush green prefect fairways.
Just before lunch David Howell arrived and made a point of making his way round the room and shaking everybody’s hands “Hi David Howell, nice to meet you†while looking each person in the eye. The only other time I have seen a sportsman work a room as well was David Coulthard. Mr Howell is really one of the lads and a very likeable gentleman.
Only eight winners out of the twenty invited showed up and Mr Howell soon found a seat with us and started telling fabulous tales from the inner sanctum of the tour. I’ll maybe save them for another time but he had the whole room roaring with laughter.
Lunch was dispatched at a pace as now we are all hungry for golf. We were split into two groups for four and for me it was off to the short game area with Dave. At this point Dave asked us what we wanted out of it and somehow we all ended up in a bunker for the full 40 minutes, kind of gutting as I had so much I wanted to learn, but who’s going to knock it, it’s all good stuff.
Dave spent a lot of time with the 28 handicapper who was having a hard time with hitting behind the ball, when he came to me he asked “how you getting onâ€, “Pretty good I replied†not the right thing to say “ok†Dave said “I’ll leave you be†- I am not having that I thought and duly said that I could use a little more control. Over the next five minutes Dave helped me blow my mind, he had me open the club face so much that the tow was pointing at my right foot, so much so infect that he rested a ball on it to make sure I had it open enough. I guess in a review like this one should not talk too much about one’s self but I’ll break from that here and there as its all part of my day out. At this point Dave asked the other three guys to watch me play a bunker shot and described me as the bunker wise kid. No pressure then. I played a super shot thank god. It would be the last good bunker shot I played all day.
Off to the beautiful driving range surrounded on all four sides with thick trees and dripping down hill from the bays. I was first up for my ball fitting and it was a very similar situation to the Bridgestone fitting that someone posted about a few weeks ago. Trackman gave me an average swing speed of 93.5 mph and with my spin and what not I was reportedly a Srixon AD333 man sadly missing out on the Z-Star by a few miles an hour. I was given 15 AD333s for the road and a signed white Srixon cap.
At this point I think it was about three oclock and we had as much time as the daylight would aloe to play the Bearwood 18.
It is the most wonderful golf course I have ever played, beating Ashridge into a fairly firm second place. If the wonderful views and perfect hole lay outs, true as a knife greens and spectacular lakes were not enough the grass was like walking on a duvet. For me the most poignant thing about the course was said fairways. Even playing my usual shots not trying to get into the ball or push the shot in any way I was pealing perfect ten inch diverts that would fly fifteen feet away and give an incredible feeling of a solid shot. Under the divert layer was what seemed like a layer of sand and once the divert was placed back you could not tell it had ever been taken. On finer shots and chips the ground just exploded leaving the same feel of a solid shot. It was a joy.
David joined our group for the par five second and the par three third and we were all itching to see a tour pro hit a ball right there in front of us. We all got away well off the tee and then Dave steps up as well all find the vantage point we want to view this spectacle from. Mr Howell is not a big hitter but that’s not what it was about really, it was about the incredibly sure hit he made. He hit the ball and it stayed hit. We played on and chatted some more, Dave giving a few tips to people here and there and generally being a great host. When we got to the par three third Dave was again last to tee off and after his shot he turned to us with a big grin and said “oh that was a nice shot hu?†The guy from Online golf asked right away “so you still get that then Dave? Like we do, that great feeling of hitting a good shot?†Howler then explained that that was him being him, he replied to the Onlinegolf guy “you know I was talking to you earlier about getting back to being myself, well that’s what that was right there and yes I really enjoy itâ€
At this point, just before we went our separate ways one of the guys asked “Dave what’s that funny waggle you do before you make your shot, what are you trying to find?†Dave explained that it’s something his coach had just given him and it was helping him find this plain. So that’s all of us working on out swings, not just the armatures. The whole experience was a great one and one I will remember.
We then made our way off and played 15 awesome holes, we did hit balls on the last three but I did not see any of them after the drive. I think everyone in my four hit at least one camera shot, either a chip in or long putt. I made birdie and went out in a pleasing 44.
Sorry it’s such a wall of text but I wanted to do it justice.
Alex
