Sunningdale Old & New and New Zealand 27/28 July 2017

[paddyc]

Big thanks to Glyn, Scott and Peter for all their brilliant work in organising. Had a great couple of days, Sunningdale should be renamed Stunningdale, The Old course is something else,Absolutely beautiful. Food fantastic. the New course brilliant as well.
Thanks to partners at Sunnigdale Ian, Andy and the mighty Fish and at NZ The Williams family in the morning and Dave and Karen in the afternoon.NZ was also superb as was the food, probably pipping Sunningdale.

The bar has been set very high now for future trips.

 

[Fish]

Suningdale Old

Thanks to my partners Karen (FairwayDodger) who needs to change her name because she nailed the fairways all bar 1 and was nice to watch some quality golf, especially some of the testing approaches to the greens, and Karl (Karl102) who hits a mean ball.

It was tough out there, if you were having a bad day with the driver (as I was) it was penal, anything not on the short stuff and in the heather cost you at least 1 shot, then to get up and down to some tough well protected greens was a big ask.

Grown ups course.

 

[Fish]

Sunningdale New

Thanks to my partners GregBWFC, Paddyc & IanM, everyone flittered in with some very good and some not so good golf as the round went on, and with Padyc getting a great birdie on a hole after being dead and buried in the rough not once but twice and never seeing the fairway after cutting across (not intentionally) a big left to right dogleg!

The new course was a totally different test of golf I thought, it was definitely tighter and you had to plot your way around far more, the greens were much better than the old (faster) and the layout was more geared up to catch you out in some well positioned hazards, as if the heather wasn't enough!

Again it was brutal and everything is dependent on getting your drives away clean, which I did much better in the afternoon although I used my 4w a bit more and didn't reach for the big dog I brought down to try (Titleist 917D) in the afternoon round.

 

[Junior]

Well played Andy - could see that you were hitting the ball well on Thursday :thup:

Cheers Phil !!

 

[Fish]

New Zealand

Thank to my partners Paul & Stu, it was, simply, simply lovely :thup:

It would be very unfair to judge or compare New Zealand after playing at Sunningdale the day before, but it is a typical Surrey top heathland golf course in very good conditions, and to be honest, the best greens as far as speed over the 3 courses.

I used my 4w most of the day other than a couple of late drives towards the end and found most of the fairways, I think I missed 2 not counting the brutal long par 3 with a long carry over heather where I found the pot bunker just short of the green.

Again a totally different test of golf which the scores confirmed because although short, but with more heather than Sunningdale which seemed to be more stubborn, nobody really blew it away.

Excellent meal afterwards and although all the lamb had gone, I thought the meal edged Sunningdale for me, far more tasty with the simply, simply excellent roasties.




Plenty still in the tank :rofl:

 

[Fish]

New Zealand

Thank to my partners Paul & Stu, it was, simply, simply lovely :thup:

It would be very unfair to judge or compare New Zealand after playing at Sunningdale the day before, but it is a typical Surrey top heathland golf course in very good conditions, and to be honest, the best greens as far as speed over the 3 courses.

I used my 4w most of the day other than a couple of late drives towards the end and found most of the fairways, I think I missed 2 not counting the brutal long par 3 with a long carry over heather where I found the pot bunker just short of the green.

Again a totally different test of golf which the scores confirmed because although short, but with more heather than Sunningdale which seemed to be more stubborn, nobody really blew it away.

Excellent meal afterwards and although all the lamb had gone, I thought the meal edged Sunningdale for me, far more tasty with the simply, simply excellent roasties.



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Plenty still in the tank :rofl:

See if this works, not sure why the pictures aren't showing

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[Fish]

New Zealand

Thank to my partners Paul & Stu, it was, simply, simply lovely :thup:

It would be very unfair to judge or compare New Zealand after playing at Sunningdale the day before, but it is a typical Surrey top heathland golf course in very good conditions, and to be honest, the best greens as far as speed over the 3 courses.

I used my 4w most of the day other than a couple of late drives towards the end and found most of the fairways, I think I missed 2 not counting the brutal long par 3 with a long carry over heather where I found the pot bunker just short of the green.

Again a totally different test of golf which the scores confirmed because although short, but with more heather than Sunningdale which seemed to be more stubborn, nobody really blew it away.

Excellent meal afterwards and although all the lamb had gone, I thought the meal edged Sunningdale for me, far more tasty with the simply, simply excellent roasties.



This has got to be the most unlucky locker in the clubhouse, you don't want this if your a newbie, the grim reaper is right behind you






































Plenty still in the tank, simply, simply lovely :rofl:

 

[Deleted member 1147]

My first trip organised by LQ, Liverbirdie & Birchy - thanks guys it was brilliant, I really enjoyed the courses, the food and the company.
I'll definitely keep an eye out for future trips.
Thanks again!!

 

[Karl102]

Wow! Just wow!

This forum presents so many opportunities to all of us! Whether it's a bounce game at somebody's club or a totally mind blowing experience like Sunningdale and NZ.

Huuuuuuuggggggeeeeee thanks to Glynn, Scott and Pete for organising. It doesn't go missing the amount of hours you guys spend doing this. Nobody can moan or pull their face at anything you guys do because you do it out of there goodness of your hearts and it has benefitted many of us, who would not get to play these amazing courses..... huge thanks from me personally!

To my playing partners across the days. Our kid, Dave, Iain, Robin, Karen, Chris, Matt and Sam. Great company top laughs, some good golf, some bad golf, but 3truly wonderful courses!

Hope to see you all on the course again soon!

Karl

 

[Scouser]

I know its been said many times before but once again many thanks to the 3 Amigos for arranging another excellent trip.

3 Stunning courses and a warm reception at both courses. Myself and Nic again had a wonderful time and enjoyed the golf with our playing partners Crow, HDID Kenny,Sam85 and Duffers. It was also good to see some familiar faces again.

Think may of us have made a new friend in Heather

I haven't been active on the forum in a long time and its good to see that the meets are still as active as ever and that you can turn up not knowing people and have a vey enjoyable round of golf. Its what this forum is all about.

Once again thanks to the organisers.

Ian and Nic.


PS I am trying to get a cut .....

 

[Deleted member 1740]

Another excellent forum meet playing 3 excellent courses.

Sunningdale was nothing short of exceptional. The old course has all of the charm and character of a well established golf course, it's clearly well looked after and an absolute pleasure to play,the only negative was the greens were very slow but I'm probably being too picky. The 10th hole on the old course is stunning, there can't be many better looking holes than that in the UK.

The new course was just as good as the old, not as many short par 4's on the new as the old, but I thought the par 3's were better on the new than the old. The stretch of holes from 4-15 were excellent, some really beautiful holes.

The lunch was worth the fee alone, plenty to choose from and it was all delicious.

Thanks to my playing partners Captainron,Kaz and slasher at Sunningdale, I had a blast!!

New Zealand was another beautiful track that had charm and character, not as good as Sunningdale but definitely a very good course. Not a long course but tight in places. The greens were excellent and ran at a very good pace, faster than Sunningdale's. The 16th was probably my favourite hole, a 200yd par 3 protected by 4 bunkers and you had to carry about 190yds of heather. It looked a picture.

All in all it was a pleasure to play and I'd definitely return. We were made very welcome at NZ and the lunch was exceptional.

Thanks to slasher and fishy, we had a good laugh aswell.

For those interested we had a 3way team match around the 2 courses at Sunningdale captained by myself NW,fishy BLUES and Ron waifs and strays and after a very mixed 1st round at sunningdale Rons team we're leading, but after a good feed and few beers at lunch the NW came out fighting to claim the spoils and take the cash with 1/3rd of the money going to H4H. I won't mention the miscount fishy :whoo: :whoo: :whoo:

So I'd like to place on record my thanks to all of my NW team, I had faith in everybody and knew we'd be victorious:cheers:

Sadly, my game was a shambles and I'm very ashamed to do this but over the 3 rounds I had a personal bet with a a fish and I'm embarrassed to say it was a whitewash in fish's favour

I know I've let myself down, my family down, the GM forum down and most of all the NW team down. If any mods think I deserve to be blackballed for such an inept display I'll gladly accept this punishment

Finally, Thanks to Birchy, Glyn and Pedro your efforts really are much appreciated.

 

[Fish]

Sadly, my game was a shambles and I'm very ashamed to do this but over the 3 rounds I had a personal bet with a a fish and I'm embarrassed to say it was a whitewash in fish's favour

I know I've let myself down, my family down, the GM forum down and most of all the NW team down. If any mods think I deserve to be blackballed for such an inept display I'll gladly accept this punishment

These aren't just any normal notes :smirk:



I can hear your kids from here crying as they've got no money for sweets this weekend, simply, simply lovey

 

[Deleted member 1740]

Bit of blinding sir?


Looking forward to hearing how the courses are, as playing Sunningdale on Tuesday!

You will not be disappointed mate.

 

[Deleted member 1740]

These aren't just any normal notes :smirk:

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I can hear your kids from here crying as they've got no money for sweets this weekend, simply, simply lovey

Try spending them

 

[Deleted member 1740]

Well done Andy mate :clap: some solid shooting there

sounds a great trip, no 36 holders next year eh fellas!!

Definitely going to be 36 holers from now on :ears:

 

[Fish]

Sunningdale Team Event

As has been mentioned above, there was a team event between the North West Migrants, Blues Brother & Sister and the Waifs & Strays.

The AM on the Old course threw up some great scores (41, 40 & 38) for the Waifs & Strays and averaged a commendable 31.1 (311) points over the 10 best scores.

The Blues Brothers & Sister were hotly in pursuit with an average of 30.8 (308) points with the North West Migrants trailing back on 28.8 (288) points.

Those who came out the traps flying in the morning all came in with 10 points or less than they had scored in the morning recording only 269 points and thus dragging their averages down significantly allowing the NW and Blues to not only make up ground, but push the Waifs & Strays into 3rd place for the GM Spoon with a total of 580 points.

The Blues also faltered on their mornings scores scoring only 279 points to give them a total of 587 for the bridesmaids dress.

The NW Migrants put in a sterling round on the New Course between them recording an excellent 305 points to give them 593 points in total.

Only 6 points difference but an excellent comeback from our northern friends of which each of them won £20 each with the remaining £120 going to Help for Heroes, which I thank you all for:thup:

Well played everyone

 

[Crow]

Lincoln Quaker, Birchy, Liverbirdie, a massive thanks for all your hard work in organising a seamless mega-meet, the two days ran like clockwork, SUPERB!

Thanks to all my playing partners over the two days, enjoyed every minute of it.

Sunningdale

I try not to go to a new course with any expectations but Sunningdale would have exceeded them even if I had.
The whole place had a wonderful feel, the welcome from all staff was warm and genuine and you really did feel like you were a member for the day.
The clubhouse had just enough wear around the edges for that homely members club feel. As for the the courses, they really do have to be seen to fully appreciate their beauty, so many stand and stare views, especially on The Old which just stole it for me.
Cracking lunch and I'm sure that the afternoon tea was equally good but being one of the latter groups out there wasn't much left!

New Zealand

Another timeless golf club with genuinely welcoming staff, smaller in scale than Sunningdale but the more intimate because of it.
The course wasn't as easy on the eye as Sunningdale (how could it be?) but nonetheless an absolute pleasure to play and the greens were superb with some cunningly invisible breaks, I think the hole position on the 17th was a dry-run for a "Greenkeepers Revenge" competition.
Another great lunch (and I agree with Stu, edging it over Sunningdale) followed by the final round where the much forecast rain kindly stayed away.

My golf was for the most part pitiable, as usual, scoring 23, 20, 26, and 28 points, but the score is immaterial, I've got so many fantastic memories from the two days that will last a lot longer than a good score.

So again, many thanks Lincoln Quaker, Birchy, Liverbirdie, Sunningdale, New Zealand and everybody else involved in bringing this together.

 

[Crow]

I'd also like to thank Wilson who very kindly collected some clubs for me (Browning 440 irons and woods for anyone interested) and brought them to the meet but wouldn't accept any petrol money, asking instead for it to go to the H4H 2017 fund, duly done and thanks again!

 

[Jimaroid]

Thanks guys, it can't be said enough, the effort that goes into these meets is very much appreciated. My extra thanks to Anne, Simon, Glyn & 'Ron's sideline taxi services too.

All courses were superb. Greens were excellent but New Zealand's welcome, old-school ambience and finishing holes left a huge impression. I felt it had more of a genuine class about it. Not as great a course in places but the 15th - 18th are a brilliant set of finishing holes.

I was in so much sand on Sunningdale Old that I forgot to stand back and take some of the splendour of the course in. "31 points, 4 blobs and no shanks." was a great result considering my recent form and lack of course time.

The New was, of course, superb in different ways and I can see how people rate it so well. That downpour we had was epic, and adds to the ever expanding forum-meet catalogue of legendary weather moments.

*Great* to put faces to names, see friends, meet new people and generally share in the company of everyone who plays this stupid game.

 

[Karl102]

New Zealand
simply, simply excellent roasties.

Yes yes and yes..... I said... not to offend my missus, but these would rival hers!