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

[paulw4701]

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.

Cheers mate I've passed your message on to neil and Karl and it was an absolute pleasure guesting you all at swinley it's great to see the smiles on people's faces

 

[Deleted member 1740]

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..

What did you do with the sausage roll and cup of tea I bought you at New Zealand then?

The sausages at Sunningdale were loveleh, simply loveleh though they needed to be accompanied with some onions.

Coombe Hill's halfway hut do the best sausage sarnies though.

 

[Fish]

What did you do with the sausage roll and cup of tea I bought you at New Zealand then?

The sausages at Sunningdale were loveleh, simply loveleh though they needed to be accompanied with some onions.

Coombe Hill's halfway hut do the best sausage sarnies though.

I meant 'both rounds' as I was answering a comment about the Sunningdale hut.

The sausage roll was ok, not quite up to a Greggs standard though, but having you buy me it made it taste simply, simply lovleh.

 

[gregbwfc]

Well rested after the trip back up north yesterday so have had time to reflect on the trip.
Long been an ambition of mine to play the Surrey/Berkshire heathland courses and I think it's fair to say I started at the very top !!

Hard to add to what others have already said but the whole experience far exceeded my expectations.
I will add my thanks to Glyn, Scott and Peter - truly appreciate what you do to give us the chance to play such courses.
Was great to catch up with some familiar faces and a pleasure to meet some new ones.
Thanks to my playing partners, Scott, Callum and Roger at Cuddington and also Richard for arranging to host us.
Best greens of the trip, loved 3 putting on them :lol:
On the main part of the trip, spent time with Pat, Ian, Robin, Gary - I mean Martin (sorry man ) and Claire. Thanks for putting up with me :thup:
And special mention to Paul, Neil and Karl for hosting us at Swinley Forest - a sublime experience and one I won't soon forget.
Hospitality at all clubs was superb, basically been living off bacon rolls, roast meat and beer - fantastic.
I'll call the Sunningdale vs New Zealand carvery battle a score draw, you could drop me off at either

Cheers to all, hope we're all back home ok and that we catch up again soon. :cheers:

 

[HomerJSimpson]

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.

I'll pass your regards on when I see Pat on Wednesday

 

[Wilson]

I can only echo the praise already given to Glyn, Scott & Peter, for organising such an epic trip.

Sunningdale was exceptional, even finishing the New Course when it was pretty much dark, in the rain, couldn't dampen the experience! I preferred the Old Course, but that might have been due to my golf being average on that, rather than the below average I produced on the New! A big thanks to my playing partners over the day, who added to the experience.

New Zealand was also a great experience, despite my golf being horrific! Again a cracking round with my partners, Oxfordcomma and Diablo - apologies for calling Diablo the wrong name all round......

 

[richart]

Just like to add my thanks to Glyn, Scott and Peter for two fantastic days. I know how much hard work goes into these days, and all three of you are a credit to the forum.

Sunnningdale was superb, and though I had some dodgy partners over the two rounds, and I played rubbish, I really enjoyed myself. Cheers Glyn, Scott, Peter, Richard and Dave. I even learnt some new shots. The heather burner and dunch and run from Glyn. Scott was very impressive with his hybrid, which he used for nearly every second shot. The shorter the distance to the green the more he fatted it. I think they put me with them for my local knowledge, but unfortunately I hadn't playedd the old course for 42 years, and couldn't remember much about it. Both courses are superb, but the New course shades it for me.

New Zealand was a pleasure to play, and despite being in the heather on nearly every hole I managed a respectable score. Even had two heather pars.:thup: Thanks to Jim and Richard for their great company. Playing a nice flat course after 36 holes at Sunningdale was an inspired choice.

Both courses look after us all fantastically well, and made us feel like proper members for the day. Food was great at both, though New Zealand did shade it. Might be that I enjoyed it more knowing I didn't have to go out and play another 18 holes.

I was shocked at New Zealand to see a forum stalwart changing their shoes in the car park. Lee Park might allow that, but not sure exclusive clubs in Surrey do.

Thanks again Glyn, Peter and Scott, and I hope you are already making plans for the next forum golf fest.

 

[chellie]

Just want to add our thanks to Glyn, Scott and Peter for organising another fantastic trip. Was nice to meet up with the "old" and also to get out with new partners Nick, Martin, Claire and Callum. The golf was a mix for me hindered by heather and my arthritis. The food at New Zealand beat Sunningdale for us.

We also had the pleasure of playing Blackmoor yesterday. Another stunning course. Was more or less millionaires golf as well for the last 9 holes as the rain came in.

Good journey back home for us today which took not long over 4 1/2 hours even with the mess that is the M6.

 

[Blue in Munich]

Cheers mate I've passed your message on to neil and Karl and it was an absolute pleasure guesting you all at swinley it's great to see the smiles on people's faces

Thanks Paul, if you want to see me smile more often I'd be more than happy to oblige!

 

[TheDiablo]

Just adding in my thanks to the organisers for giving me the opportunity to play these fantastic courses in such a brilliantly run event.

I managed to play pretty steady over the 3 rounds, barring the front 9 of the New which really chewed me up. The Old was my favourite (although the greens very slow), and 33 points with a couple of birds in there was very pleasing.

Andy - congrats on the W - 34 points when we played I think and you didnt hole a putt outside 3 foot so I thought a score might be coming your way!

Thanks to all my other playing partners too, including you Wilson, it was a long couple of days and I'm not that precious over my name; I've been called worse than Simon before!! I hope to get the chance to play with you all and many others on here in years to come.

 

[Deleted member 17920]

Wow,

What can I say, thanks to everyone that has said thanks, its truly appreciated.

A truly fantastic trip from start to finish.

Cuddington Wednesday with BIM and his mates Roger and Steve.

Thanks for signing us in gents, you have a fabulous club and course :thup:

Then onto Sunningdale for the 36 and what a venue. As so much has been said about it I wont add much to it. Best 36 hole venue I have ever been to.

The Old was my favourite course of the 2 but the New is a tougher course.

I want to say how welcoming Sunningdale was, the way the club have been through this whole process has been exceptional.

We shall be re visiting :thup: but we wont be doing the 36 in a day again with 66 as it was a few too many as it was a long 2nd round as it was tougher than the Old, I will try my best to get them to do 18 each day.

New Zealand on Friday was a real surprise, I knew it would be good but its better than good.

Again the starter made us feel totally at home and as an organiser he was solid as a rock in helping and he made sure we left happy. I had one person who forgot to bring a jacket and tie and the club lent him one for the day :thup:

Presentation over and then it was finally time to relax so I went out with Peter Scott and Cameron and we had a match, I drew Cameron Anyway the boy turned up and played quite well, he even managed to keep it on the course for most of the round.

18 holes later we ended up all square so it was play off hole time, disappointing Peter thinned one from the tee to the edge of the green and got up down and I hit the green so we halved the match

Saturday morning and it was another early start and off to Swinley via a 20 minute detour to pick its only 4 mins out of your way Liverbirdie!

Paul thankfully waited for us and Neil and Carl took out the others in the group.

Wow, what a course, the views are incredible and to me its a real close call between Swinley and the Old course. The changes at Swinley over the last few years are paying massive dividends for the club.

So we had a match and Liverbirdie draws my guest Fraz and then announces since he isn't on the same side as me its £3 front 9 £3 back 9 and £4 overall He is thinking easy money as that's Peter all over.


Anyway he refused to hand me the £10 once we had kick his backside so he handed it to Paul :ears:


Thanks Paul and the artisans section for letting us come and play, you really are lucky but at least you know it. The club atmosphere in the artisans section is what all clubs should be like.

Cheers to Birchy and Liverbirdie for been part of this team, this was the biggest event we have done with 66 people and personally I think it went OK.


Next up we have Turnberry in March and then we will see what other average course we can offer for next year

 

[Deleted member 17920]

And I did forget to thank one person.

Thanks to Gary Region 3 for all of the work with the spreadsheet as its a massive help for individual scores :thup:

It was also really good for the team challenge as well, if only someone had waited though for confirmation before doing the prizes eh Fishy

 

[mashleyR7]

"Thanks Paul and the artisans section for letting us come and play, you really are lucky but at least you know it. The club atmosphere in the artisans section is what all clubs should be like."

Good to hear this as I've just joined Littlestone Artisans Club.

 

[Deleted member 1147]

Wow, what a course, the views are incredible and to me its a real close call between Swinley and the Old course.

I recon if you swap the par 3's on the Old with those at Swinley you'd be hard pushed to find a better course anywhere

 

[Junior]

Andy - congrats on the W - 34 points when we played I think and you didnt hole a putt outside 3 foot so I thought a score might be coming your way!QUOTE]

Cheers Matt. Funny really...........I think I only holed a few putts outside 3 ft all three days ! Thanks for the game Thursday morning. I enjoyed yours and Murphs company and echo your comments about playing with everyone again !!

 

[paulw4701]

Thanks Paul, if you want to see me smile more often I'd be more than happy to oblige!

:lol:

 

[IanM]

Had a cuppa this afternoon and reread the Yardage Book for Sunningdale Old.... the Key in the front has "gorse" on it but no "HEATHER!"

Crikey!

 

[wookie]

Bit late to this but just to add my massive thanks to Scott, Glynn and Peter for a great couple of days golfing which must have taken some serious organising.

More thanks to Another Double and his mate Phil for their company and helping look for my ball at Sunningdale and Paperboy for the same at NZ. (Getting beaten by a bloke with the shanks is not a good look )

Course wise was very impressed with NZ and would happily return. I thought that the New takes the top prize at Sunningdale albeit not by much.

 

[Junior]

This time last week...........now I'm looking into a lap top trying to find an excuse for not reading emails. I have Sunningdale withdrawal symptoms.

 

[richart]

This time last week...........now I'm looking into a lap top trying to find an excuse for not reading emails. I have Sunningdale withdrawal symptoms.

At least you have fond memories from playing so well. I am still having nightmares about the heather. Good to see you again Andy, and very well played.