GM beats PING!

Well done Guys sounds like you had a great day.

What about the drivers you were fitted for.?????
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Didn't really get time yesterday. We have been invited up to Ping HQ in Lincs for a proper fitting, tour of the factory, spot of lunch and a free round of golf. If you don't want to do that you can attend a Ping demo day in your area and get fitted properly at one of those.
I may well take up the first option as I am off to Forest Pines for a week-end golf break in August which is very close to the Ping fitting centre and if I go a day earlier than the rest of the lads it will give me a good chance to look around and take it all in. Should be a very interesting visit.
 
Yes, well done fellas - great result! Sounds like a brilliant day. Hats off to the PING guys as well.

So that's PING seen off - any news yet on challenges thrown down by the other manufacturers?!!! By the sounds of it the TaylorMade / Adidas boys will need to put out Sergio, Retief et al to stand a chance!! :D :D
 
My turn. :D

There's the short version and the loooooong version.

Short version : Apart from those silly family things like kids, HID etc, yesterday goes down as probably the best day of my life.

Long Version :

Thanks to Ping for setting it up. When I was a kid I lived about 6.5 miles away fron Walton Heath, but never had the chance to play it, and never expected to, either. So for me, it couldn't have been a better place to play.

Huge, huge, HUGE thanks to Mike, Jezz and anyone else at GM towers who had anything to do with choosing the team, organising it, or anything I've forgotten. I seriously didn't expect to get picked, and tbh I didn't think I was worthy of being picked ( please note that I obviously didn't mention this to anyone beforehand, of course - I'm not that blimmin stupid ;) ).

Thanks to everyone at Walton Heath for making us feel so welcome. It was a suited and booted clubhouse, which I know some of you guys don't agree with, but, for me, it made the day even more special. I felt elitist, yes. But in a good way - one can be special without making anyone else feel downtrodden, or inferior. I used the same changing rooms as Nicklaus, Watson, Trevino, etc etc etc. I played some of the same holes as my Ryder Cup heroes of 30 years ago. A little bit of elitism can be good for the ego, and good for the soul :p

My game has never got close to the standards I used to play to 15 years ago, and I was really worried that I was going to let myself, and GM down, so an extra thanks to the Jouker for spending time and effort helping get my swing into something resembling a golf swing over the last couple of months. Definately time well spent on my part, and the support and advice from Jamie has been immeasurable.

It was brilliant to meet Jammiedodger for the first time. For those of you that don't know, he was kind enough to take pity on a complete stranger when I first joined the forum, and he donated his old clubs to me, rather than flogging them, because I just couldn't afford to buy any. If it wasn't for him, the rest of you wouln't have had to put up with me for so long. Not only is he a good guy, he was great company as well during our match, and a great addition to our team. Congratulations to Mike for picking a form horse for our side.

The main point of the day was to show off the new Ping Tour truck. We got a good look around, and I was told it was a £264,000 investment to create it. Basically they can build a new club from scratch for any of their tour pros in about 30 minutes. They have numerous machines to measure and change the loft and lie of anyone's clubs to within 0.1 degree accuracy. They can measure the swing weight of each club so accurately that they have to check weigh each grip individually, so they can make sure it doesn't throw the swing weight off, ensuring each pro is provided with a completely matching set. The truck is an absolutely fantastic bit of kit, and the lads that work in it were so enthusiastic, and rightly proud of it.
 
I hear Jezz let the GM team down...
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You're a naughty boy!

Jezz was solid and his putting is truly becoming the stuff of legend. Tony was in the mix on a good few holes too making a lot of bogey/nett pars - trouble is these were effectively cancelled out by Jezz's par - which were cancelled out by Danny's birdie...
:) :o

Danny was level through 6 (good start given the course) and then relaxed and turned on the style.

i.i.r.c. he was on all the par 5s in two and 2-putted for birdies and threatened a 2 on all the par 3s other than the first. He made 2 of those, so I reckon he was 1 under for the par 3s and at least 3 under for the par 5s.

- - - -

It was a privilege just to be there.
 
Not a lot I can add save to agree what a great day was had by all
well done to TonyN, Smiffy, TheCraw, JustOneUK, JammieDodger and Craphacker, ably assisted by Murph and RGUK
All top blokes who were all a massive credit to the forum and indeed Golf Monthly.
Gallery of pics to come later this morning
 
You thought you'd get away without me mentioning the match ?

Tough :p

Jammie and I were teamed up, with Dave playing off 5 and I was off my ever optimistic 18. We were challenged by Dave Fanning, the European Marketing Manager, and James, another marketing guy, both of whom were off 5. So the other 3 guys were playing nett, and I got 10 strokes. Which was nice :). Apart from my driver, which I'm rather hoping to improve on fairly soon ;), I'm very happy with the rest of my bag, having aquired some pretty good Benross gear this year.

My game plan was to let the big boys play their games, and just toodle around with my 4W and hybrid, and see what I could pick up.

As expected I was absolutely terrified off the first tee, but somehow managed to clip my 4W a couple of hundred yards towards the 235 yard par 3. I think nerves were universal, cos we walked off the hole one up.

Dave showed a glimpse of his skill level on the 450 odd yard 2nd by hitting the green pin high with two mightly fine blows.

The 3rd is a very short par 4, and the other guys all went for the green, leaving me wandering the fairways miles behind them all alone. However, a gentle wedge to 6 feet, and I managed the birdie, for a win. We had the Ping boys rattled with our early form

The game went on in similar vein, with Dave and I gelling well together, him being long and good, me being short and straight, and we reached the 7th tee 4up. Then the Ping guys decided to start playing, and James made a beautiful birdie on the par three 7th.

Dave immediately responded with a birdie of his own on the par 5 8th, ( I'd weakened with my game plan and tried to hit my driver off the tee, straight into the right rough )

It seesawed back towards Ping on the 9th when Ping Dave played his greenside bunker shot to 2 feet to save his par. It was round about now I was grateful we had a bit of a cushion.

On the 10th another dodgy driver from me left me in the right rough, but a wedge out left me with a shot to the green for three. My partner saw his perfect approach get held up in the wind, and advised me to go up a club. Great advice because I put an 8I to within gimmie range for another par. They couldn't match it, and it was another hole to us.

We lost the 11th to another birdie, and James literally put his approach on the dogleg 370 yard 12th to a couple of inches for back to back birdies. He's only about 5'7" tall, but put every ounce into every shot, and when he got it right, it was spot on. The Ping lion was beginning to roar.

My driver let me down for the 3rd and final time on the 13th, and I ended up picking up, but my partner played a faultless 540 yard par 5 in regulation to win another hole for us. His chip to the green wasn't his strongest, and he left himself on the front of the green a massive 25 yards from the hole. He needed to 2 putt from there for the hole, and he nervelessly rolled a perfect putt to 18" to stop the Ping charge.

Or so we thought. My 4W came back out on the 14th, another par 5, but I didn't get a shot on this one. I hit the green for 3, with a nice, safe, uphill two putt par guaranteed. James played two grand hits pin high into the left rough, and proceeded to chip in for what I think was the only eagle of the day. The swine.

The 15th was another 400 odd yard par 4, and after both Ping guys hit the heather, my 4W, hybrid to the fringe gave us the hole without me needing to test my putting any further, and leaving us dormie 3 up.

Ping Dave proceeded to hit the green on the 510 yard par 5 16th in two, and after Our Dave's birdie putt lipped out, the Ping guys bravely took the game to the 17th with yet another birdie.

The 165 yard 17th saw James put his teeshot to within 10 feet, and Dave replied with a perfect 7I to less than 3 feet. After James missed his putt, he conceded the match to your victorious GM lads. In the overall score that put us 2-1 up, and in an unbeatable position, just waiting on Jouk and Smiffy to seal the victory.

We won 9 holes, lost 6, and halved only 2 throughout the match. Of the holes we lost there was one par, one eagle and 4 birdies. The Ping guys played some fantastic golf, yet we deservedly beat them

Dave was just a rock, being unflappable under pressure, getting stronger as the game progressed, and firing in with a couple of birdies.

And at the risk of blowing my own trumpet, I can honestly say that I played my best golf for over 15 years, and added a birdie of my own.

What a time and place to be able to say that. :cool:

All that, and the Ping guys were great company thoughout. :)

Like I said earlier.

Probably the best day of my life.

:D
 
It was a fabulous day and a superb experience. To be able to play that course and off white tees was an incredible experience. That was the best part of the prize for me. Walton Heath was a joy to play.

Mike and I had a fantastic game and John and Neil from Ping were superb company and great people. Mike and I really ham and egg'd well all day never being out a hole together and we both played some great golf at times. Mike's explosive driver off the deck at 13 (I think? I'm sure he will confirm if it was 13 or 14.)with a cavernous bunker 10 yards in front of him was not only an extremely brave shot it was an awesome golf shot! Driver off a lie that tight and with that bunker right in front of you was braver than the Pope walking through Govan! That was shot of the day for me Mike!

Great to put faces to names and a huge big thanks to Smiffy who came out his way to pick me up at my hotel and drop me back off at Gatwick airport. Thanks again Rob.
 
Mike's explosive driver off the deck at 13 (I think? I'm sure he will confirm if it was 13 or 14.)with a cavernous bunker 10 yards in front of him was not only an extremely brave shot it was an awesome golf shot! Driver off a lie that tight and with that bunker right in front of you was braver than the Pope walking through Govan! That was shot of the day for me Mike!
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Very kind of you to not mention my next shot...a knifed wedge 20 yards through the back of the green and then a heavy flop shot followed by a flick up with the wedge, into the pocket and on to the next tee!

Crawford also set the world record for horse-shoed putts!
 
Added on behalf of thecraw:


These wont be as good as the ones Mike will soon post but its a wee taster!

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Danny Willett on the first tee.

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Danny Willet teeing off on the first.

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Mike Harris on the fairway.

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Neil from Ping on the 11th tee.

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General view!

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Mike H on the green.

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The clubhouse at Walton Heath.

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The huge and excellent putting green! Our green keeper take note of that green stuff, its called GRASS!

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The rather impressive looking Pro shop!

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Me modelling my new Ping GM wind top!
 
My game has never got close to the standards I used to play to 15 years ago, and I was really worried that I was going to let myself, and GM down, so an extra thanks to the Jouker for spending time and effort helping get my swing into something resembling a golf swing over the last couple of months. Definately time well spent on my part, and the support and advice from James has been immeasurable.
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OY!...only friends get to call me Jamie ;)

You are most welcome. I'm so pleased that your play came close to your expectations... if not better.

As a result you can call me Jim :D
 
Sorry for not posting earlier but last night was a 4 1/2 journey back and I went out like a light when we got home. I think everyone has pretty much covered the day however i'm still going to say my thank-yous.

Big thanks to Mike and Jezz for giving me the opportunity to take part in what to me was a very special day. The Ping lads were very friendly and true golfing gents to a man. The WH staff looked after us splendidly and the 3 course lunch was magnificent ( Clive had a couple of my courses I think ;))

Great to put faces to names and tried to get a quick chat with everyone in the short time available before battle commenced. Brilliant to finally meet up with Craphacker (Clive) as he's been keeping me updated regularly with how his golf has been coming along over the last year or so.

A tour round the Ping truck and plenty of photos before heading to the first for some nervous banter and more action photos. We met our opponents for the day (both off 5 and thoroughly good company for the day),thanks Dave and James. Clive started to make me nervous by saying how nervous he was and wondering if he'd get the ball off the tee. Needn't have worried as he played a super round of golf and used his shots as good as anyone could wish for in a partner. Most of the day my pars weren't needed as he'd already knocked in bogey/nett par or par/nett birdie putts (cheers ;))

Clive's already given a complete blow by blow account of our match and he summed it all up very nicely. I will add though that my shot to win the match on 17 was stiffed and not 3 foot away :D

Clive has a lovely tempo to his swing and one we could all learn from. As commented on by Ping's Dave he also gets into a wonderful position at the top of his backswing so I feel there are good golfing vibes ahead for you Clive.

I thoroughly enjoyed the course and loved hitting off those fairways. A word of caution for anyone who hasnt played a heathland course , "keep out of the heather" it's nasty,tangly, horrible stuff and grabs your clubhead something rotten.

An extra thankyou to Mike for lending me a jacket and tie. I had already been on the road a couple of hours and wasnt inclined to go back and Mike very generously brought a spare for me to use. Pink and Yellow quarters isnt my colour though Mike :D
 
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