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

[FairwayDodger]

Home safely after a great couple of days, as everyone has already said. Let me join the chorus of thanks to Peter, Scott and Glyn for all the hard work that went into organising things. It's all very much appreciated by all of us who just get to turn up and play golf.

Sunningdale didn't disappoint - an absolutely fabulous venue with two great courses. I think the new is arguably the "better" course but I definitely enjoyed the old more. Possibly because I played better round there!

New Zealand was always going to suffer in comparison but still a good course in it's own right, and a bit quaint. Could sure do with a wee cut of rough between the fairway and the heather! If I never see heather again it will be too soon! Big thumbs up on the food though - the lunch was better than Sunningdale!

My golf was definitely a mixed bag but enough good stuff amongst the dross to keep me happy. I particularly enjoyed my trait of missing greens on par 3s with nearest the pin prizes and knocking it stiff on the ones that didn't.

Thanks to everyone I played with; Fish, Karl, CaptainRon (twice!), StuC, PNWokingham, Blue in Munich, Paddyc and 2Blue. Great fun and I learned new swear words which always comes in handy!

Oh and I've caught a cold from someone so that's me done with kissing after a round!

 

[IanM]

Just got in after spending today in Surrey.... all been said , but again thanks to the organisers for a perfectly run meeting. Great to put names to faces and thanks again the the folk I played with...

Got a really sore left elbow from blasting out of the heather three rounds running...

And the really unique elements of the two days... "never been on a golf trip where someone takes a photo of the buffet!!!" And. .... the geordie lad orders a COKE at New Zealand and the barman goes out back and returns with a CORK! Ah, diversity at its best!

 

[Deleted Member 1156]

And. .... the geordie lad orders a COKE at New Zealand and the barman goes out back and returns with a CORK! Ah, diversity at its best!

I get this a lot too with my accent, now I ask for Pepsi instead :mmm:

 

[williamalex1]

I get this a lot too with my accent, now I ask for Pepsi instead :mmm:

Even funnier true story in today's Daily Record, was the Glasgow Celtic supporter who got a tattoo while on holiday in Magaluf.
Seemingly he asked in a drunken Scottish accent for "10 in a row " to be tattooed on his chest, instead he got, one saying " terry munro ".

The tattoo artist must have been a Spanish Rangers supporter :rofl:

 

[HDID Kenny]

Thanks Glyn, Pete & Scott for oganising a great trip, started with a drive down Wednesday played Burhill Wednesday night with Irip Paperboy & 2 Blue, followed by some food and beers in spoons with others.
Sunningdale Old
Spectacular on the eye, heather, undulation & bunkers. Only negative was as other have said greens were slow and for me a bit of a let down. Poor form for a course that charges so much. Facility's in clubhouse were fantastic showers that I could have stood under for an hour. Carvery was good and afternoon tea an unusual combination of sandwiches mustard seed dressed sausages with cheese and biscuits. Didn't get to sample halfway hut as we started on the 11th. Enjoyed the company of Scouser and his good lady Nic.
Ps got bitten to death by horse flys.....must not itch.

Sunningdale New
Unfortunately I only managed 4 holes before retiring so can't rate fairly.

Again managed a few beers with others in spoons.

New Zealand
Quant timeless masterpiece nice easy walking course reminded me of Blairgowrie Lansdowne course, loved the old fashioned sophistication of the half way house, young lad dressed up as a barman serving everything for soft drinks, beer to champagne & pimms bonus being you met it twice in the round. As I left after the morning round I missed out on the food. Good company with 2 Blue & Papas.

9 hours to drive home M42 & M6....Nightmare roadworks & torrential rain.

No more 36's please guys :thup:

 

[FairwayDodger]

9 hours to drive home M42 & M6....Nightmare roadworks & torrential rain.

Yikes! I had problems with the M6 roadworks on the way down but wasn't as bad today - 6.5 hours for me.

 

[adamwilliams]

I'd like to thank the organizer's as I had a couple of unforgettable special days , especially the old course ! Absolutely picture perfect . also thanks to the people who played with me over the two days for putting up with me

 

[HDID Kenny]

Yikes! I had problems with the M6 roadworks on the way down but wasn't as bad today - 6.5 hours for me.

You pay for the toll road to reach the queues quicker took 6.5 hours to cover 200 miles.
Good luck at Gullane tomorrow.

 

[FairwayDodger]

You pay for the toll road to reach the queues quicker took 6.5 hours to cover 200 miles.
Good luck at Gullane tomorrow.

Yeah, straight up the M6 Toll. No queues though - 50mph average cameras but at least it kept flowing.

I'm full of the cold, looks like I'll need to pull out of Gullane

 

[HomerJSimpson]

As an end piece (from me at least) I saw Pat, the Irish guy that started us at Sunningdale, today, and he'd like to pass on his thanks on behalf of the club to Glyn (and I'm sure others on the day) for the way it was organised and how easy it made their jobs on the day. He also said thanks for keeping the pace moving in the morning and was generally impressed by all of your commitment to travel so far to play the course and for your love of golf

 

[Deleted member 1740]

As an end piece (from me at least) I saw Pat, the Irish guy that started us at Sunningdale, today, and he'd like to pass on his thanks on behalf of the club to Glyn (and I'm sure others on the day) for the way it was organised and how easy it made their jobs on the day. He also said thanks for keeping the pace moving in the morning and was generally impressed by all of your commitment to travel so far to play the course and for your love of golf

Pat was an absolute gent,we had a good laugh with him on the 13th tee, an ex Royal Birkdale member too.

Send him my best regards please Homer.

 

[Deleted member 1740]

9 hours to drive home M42 & M6....Nightmare roadworks & torrential rain.

No more 36's please guys :thup:

It took us just over 5hrs to get home, we left New Zealand GC at 2:50pm and cut out the M25 went up past Queenwood and fox hills GC cut through the back end of Ascot and got onto the A404M and picked the M40 up near high Wycombe.

The M40 was pretty slow but surprisingly the M6 was ok until we got Upto the roadworks at jct 18, they were slow but not too bad.

I felt the 36 holes yesterday but Sunningdale was worth it.

 

[IanM]

No more 36's please guys :thup:

...I couldn't believe how tired I was on Thursday night ..... by heck, got 12 months to get fit for next year. I hear they're in talks with Pebble Beach! 75 quid including flights!:rofl:

 

[Green Bay Hacker]

Oh and I've caught a cold from someone so that's me done with kissing after a round!

Hopefully a Fishy tongue wasn't involved

 

[anotherdouble]

It took us just over 5hrs to get home, we left New Zealand GC at 2:50pm and cut out the M25 went up past Queenwood and fox hills GC cut through the back end of Ascot and got onto the A404M and picked the M40 up near high Wycombe.

The M40 was pretty slow but surprisingly the M6 was ok until we got Upto the roadworks at jct 18, they were slow but not too bad.

I felt the 36 holes yesterday but Sunningdale was worth it.

Glad you all got home safely fam. Great to see you again. Anybody in the North West that wants to get into golf get in touch with the boys on here. I will def be in touch as I owe Mrs Ad a weekend away. Thought I mght couple it up with a few games of golf and take some more scouse dollar. Catch up soon lads
F

 

[anotherdouble]

To the 3 guys who organised this trip thanks a lot. I don't see how it can be bettered. To Wookie thanks for your company over 36 holes at Sunningdale. A truer gent you could not meet. Pete and Murph thanks for the company at New Zealand. I know my golf wasn't great but I took the back 9 sweep and that meant scouse dollar coming my way. If anybody wants to feel on top of the world you don't have to travel far, just take scouse dollar. ADRIAN

 

[chimpo1]

What an amazing few days. As a newbie on the forum I could not have felt more welcome. Everything was organised to perfection. It seems I am one of the few that preferred the new course to the old? The par 3's were picture perfect and the greens were outstanding. I want to go back to get some more fruitcake from the halfway hut too! Thanks to my playing partners for the 3 rounds, great company. I look forward to the next one...
Thanks for all of the hard work that went into this guys.

 

[Fish]

I want to go back to get some more fruitcake from the halfway hut too!

I didn't use the halfway hut on either day!

I leaned over the shoulder of my playing partners on the first day to get a glance of this hugely talked about sausage feast only to see a sausage placed on a plain piece of bread!

I'm sorry but what's all the fuss about?

However tasty the sausage may have been, it was a sausage on a piece of plain bread that you simply wrapped it around.

Nothing spectacular IMO..

 

[Qwerty]

Wow, what a fantastic couple of days that will live long in the memory.
Golfwise..Does it get any better than the 36 at Sunningdale?

Again a huge thanks to Glyn,Peter & Scott for putting this together.
Reading between the lines and observing on the day it appeared a huge amount of work had gone into organising this. It really is appreciated Fellas :thup:

I knew Sunningdale would be something special but it really went above and beyond what I expected.
I thought The Old course was just mesmerising,18 absolutely Beautiful golf holes and the New although quite different wasn't far behind.
But it wasn't just about the golf.. I always feel Theres a great sense of occasion on these large forum meets and what a place to spend The day with friends old and new, the lunch, the staff and simply the whole place was just flawless. Loved it, 14 hrs of Golf Heaven!

New Zealand was certainly different, I thought they did things very well, from the very professional starter to the amazing lunch on so on.
I thought the course was very good and not what I expected after hearing that most holes were a tickle with a hybrid then a Flick with a wedge. I actually thought it was good driving course and hybrid certainly wasn't an option on most holes.
My own golf though was shocking by this point as my back was ruined.
A charming place though, I half expected to see James Bond in the Halfway House. Interesting to hear they aren't in the EGU.
How would that affect Hcaps, Do they even Do Hcaps?
Preferred lies too..If you Prefer..

It was a close call but I thought the lunch at Sunningdale just edged it, Better roasties too and the sweetest of baby carrots and I'm still boring the wife about tales of the Desserts.Fantastic!!

Thanks again guys, I had a great time!

..and well Done again on the win Andy, 3 tidy rounds of Golf :cheers:

 

[Blue in Munich]

Well having been let off kitchen duties for a few hours I get the chance to add my gratitude to the 3 Amigos for their efforts in organising a fantastic 4 days of golf for me.

I started a day early by hosting some of the NW advance party at Cuddington on Wednesday afternoon. After a light lunch the weather cleared and we had 18 dry holes with the course in very nice condition to ease us into the serious stuff.

Sunningdale has to be, as someone said already, a little bit of golfing heaven. If there is a better 36 holes of golf in the UK then I want to know where it is. A fantastic clubhouse, two similar but distinctly different courses, superb food, excellent staff and one of the greatest views in golf from the 10th tee on the Old. I said when I was there that I couldn't think of a prettier view in golf; little did I know that 48 hours later I'd find better ones…..

New Zealand was a fantastic choice for the next day. A club that marches to the tune of its own drummer, and is all the better for it. Not members of the EGU, playing preferred lies all year round, jacket & tie for lunch, because that's the way the members like it and I thank them very much for allowing me to share it. The history around the club and particularly in the locker room, with the members names painted on and then crossed out on the locker doors as they move on being something I've never encountered before. Again, the staff were superb and the food great, but I felt the Sunningdale carvery edged the lunches slightly.

An early alarm call on Saturday morning saw me arriving at Swinley Forest at 7am. 20 minutes later we were off on a bright sunny morning to play a course that I'd heard much about, all of it good, and it didn't disappoint. As pretty as Sunningdale was, Swinley Forest takes views to the next level. The course was reminiscent in make up of the Old at Sunningdale, but just in a prettier setting; if you ever get the opportunity to play it, grab it with both hands. I particularly liked the social in the Artisan's clubhouse afterwards, reminded me of club matches against Walton Heath Artisans, no frills, just all about the golf and all the better for it.

So now for the thanks; firstly to Peter, Glyn & Scott for their efforts in organising this and putting up with numpties who send their money to the wrong people with such good grace, to Steve & Roger, fellow members at Cuddington who helped me by signing in & playing with the NW visitors, I hope you all enjoyed it, to Peter (again), Dave, Richard, Karen, Cameron, Callum, Andy & Scott (again) for their company on the course and to Paul for the invite & Neil as the accompanying member at Swinley Forest. Paul, if you read this, could you pass on my thanks again to Neil; I've never been made to feel so comfortable as a visitor at a course as I did with Neil, and if you, Neil & Carl fancy roughing it at Cuddington let me know & I'll be happy to host you. Andy, I saw Roger this morning & passed on your good wishes, he said thank you very much. :thup:

Sadly I won't be at Turnberry because of the Kent tour but I look forward to the next one.