Wentworth with GM, and Srixon/Cleveland

[BTatHome]

Well that was a day and half, I've been spoilt rotten by the guys at GM, and Srixon/Cleveland today. Along with two other winners I've spent the day at the tour van complex and received an absolute huge stash of goods to see me through the rest of the year.

Having been invited to Wentworth I was met just outside the club by Tom from Srixon, soon to be followed by the other winners (I'll leave them to reveal themselves ... although GM followers will already have seen the pics as Mike was there to witness everything). So having briefly watched a few groups tee off the first and some using the putting green I also saw a pretty glum Rory arriving too. We were whisked away to the tour van to be given a run down of the days events and to be given the bad news that Graeme McDowell wouldn't be joining us as planned as he had a family matter and had pulled out of the tournament.

So a brief run down ... we would be given a tour of the tour van, where they would make up a wedge, there and then, to our specification and add any custom stamping that we wanted. Our prize fund would consist of a Srixon standbag and umbrella, 6 dozen of the new AD333 Tour balls, six Srixon Cabretta gloves, and six ltd edition caps, a Srixon shoe bag and towel too ! Basically all the kit we would need to try and achieve our original aims as set out in the competition entry.

Spending quite a while looking around the van and speaking with the tour manager Iain we got a good insight into what the van can do and what they achieve whilst at the events. A photo opportunity then presented itself (there were lots done , so I guess Mike must be preparing some gallery of them soon enough), but it did give us the chance to see our prizes for the first time and be overwhelmed with the generosity of the competition !

Our wedge specs were taken and after careful consideration I've gone with a new 58* 588 CB wedge with my initials and LFC on it ... hope Mike can get a good pic of it to put into the magazine

A brief meeting with Shane Lowry and Soren Kjeldsen, for yet more pictures and finally some video interviews for the magazine too.

So there we have it, a great insight into the tour van, and a huge prize list for us to use in our quests, but that's not the end as we also also get go to the London Club in October for the Matchplay then Mr McDowell should be available then speak to us, and when hopefully we have all achieved our aims

GM, Srixon, Cleveland and all the parties involved thank you so much for a great day !

 

[ADB]

Nice experience and write-up, sounds like a top day!

 

[srixon 1]

Saw the list of goodies on Twitter, a good hoard there. Hope that you didn't injure yourselves carrying that lot back to your cars

 

[JackieD]

Sounds like a wicked day....not jealous at all....

 

[LinksTurf]

Even without the goodies, that would have been a great day, but the kit just makes it extra special

 

[matt71]

Wow that sounded like a quality day! Shame you have ruined your wedge with "LFC" stamped on it ha ha

 

[hines57]

What a fantastic day that you had and what generosity from Cleveland/Srixon and Golf Monthly. Your write up gives an excellent insight to your experience!

 

[HickoryShaft]

I was one of the other two lucky winners of this competition alongside BT – what a fantastic day.

Having never been to a professional golf event before I was doubly excited about the day, the chance to meet the players alongside the exclusive opportunity offered by Srixon to become one of their ambassadors for the year and the chance to see how the pros do it on a historic course.

My better half came along even though she isn’t a golfer herself. I had a bit of a panic on when the journey from the hotel we had stayed overnight in to be close to the course ended up being four times longer than expected due to the M25 traffic and then once close to Wentworth being directed miles away to the Park and Ride to get to the course itself. I just about made it in time for the meeting and headed straight over to meet up with the other winners and Tom & Chris from Srixon. We were then taken to the tour van where we met Iain who is the tour manager for Srixon Clevelend and of course Mike Harris from GM.

Iain welcomed us and gave us a great tour of the van and what went on in there and after asking him a few details on how the pros use the van and what their usual requests were, it was then onto the photos.

We were presented with loads of goodies as part of the prize as detailed by BT above and then posed with these for the various photos looking suitably overwhelmed by the generosity.

On top of what we had been first told about we also had the chance to have a wedge of our own choice built there and then. We each selected something suitable for our game and for mine I opted for a new 54 degree sand wedge from the 588 range. The shaft length was set up for me (being taller than most), the lie set and the team in the van even put on the same red & black Golf Ride midsize grip I have on the my set so it formed a perfect complement to the rest of my clubs. The finishing touch was having my initials stamped and paint filled on the back of the club – I could really get into the whole golf diva bit!

The guys in the van clearly knew their stuff inside out and everything was done with minimal fuss and they helped with the options on offer to select something that worked for each individual – big thanks must go to the Cleveland van team for that part of the day.

We then had the chance to meet Shane Lowry and Soren Kjeldsen – both top guys and they had a few friendly words to say to each of the winners and bit of a laugh and a joke. The impressive thing for me was just how relaxed they were bearing in mind they were getting ready for the tournament and the fact that they made us all feel welcome in what must have been a hectic schedule for them on the day.

The video session was about us setting out our goals for the season and Shane and Soren also recorded a piece for that. Lets see how we all get on with each of those – mine are about getting the handicap down and a few less obvious ones. Thanks go to Mike for the calming interview technique and sublte prompting and for Chris for the video my ugly mug must be quite a challenge to make presentable.

After the tour van experience I met up with Mrs HS in the hospitality area (fortunately she had kept away from the Moet tent !) and found that she had been snapping lots of golfers and got some video of Rory for me. After the awesome start to the day we then headed out to watch some of the golf still going on – the Celebrity Pro-Am. Working back down the course from the 18th green and watching the various groups along the way. Not only were the pro’s impressive but some of the celebs had solid games also – considering some had higher handicaps than me it must have taken some bottle to play in front of the crowds. One of the most impressive for me was Eve Muirhead – she plays off 3 and looks very long and straigh off the tee and the couple of other shots I saw her play looked impressie as well. I reckon she was the one to watch in that particular grouping.

I sneaked a few autographs on tee boxes and between holes but only the golf pros and ended up with a hat full (literally got them to sign my hat !)

We then caught up with the Lee Westwood group and being a bit of a fan followed that group round to the finish. The crowds round that fourball (which included Glen Hoddle also) were significantly larger than most of the other groups and getting an autograph proved tricky. I pulled it off as he came off the 18th green and headed to the first (shotgun start) by saying ‘just sign this for a fellow northerner Lee’ and getting a big grin and told 'pass it over and keep up then cos I am walking to the next tee' – lol. I had a fresh hat ready so that’s getting pride of place in a frame with the ticket and programme.

The weather was fantastic on the day (looks like we had the best day), the whole experience was surreal and I still can’t believe my luck


A big big thank you has to go to GM and to Srixon / Cleveland for such a memorable day and I haven’t stopped smiling since – thanks Mike and looking forward to the meeting everyone again at the Matchplay in October already.