General

8am Drop son at school, do I go to work, get a car park space, cup of tea, gentle start to the day, or go home do some chores then go in at 9am, get in a bad mood as there are no parking spaces left and  get landed with making tea for everyone.  Decide in everyone’s best interest to go in at 8. 

First task of the day, check emails hope there is one from Will, ex employee who emigrated to Australia two weeks ago.

Then Google Monty, Retief and Harrington to see if there is anything newsworthy for their websites. Also check out EGD and golf news in general.

Usually interrupted several times doing this to answer the phone, book flights, order loo paper etc etc. First cup of tea of the day.  At least another six will pass my lips by 5pm.

10am Front door slams open (see previous blog on Michael King)

Mid morning peace restored.  Quick Marketing meeting with Jeremy and Matt, currently putting together a strategy for the year, finalising what we plan to do.

Back to my desk. Working on redesign of EGD brochure so spend rest of morning searching our vast image library for suitable photos.  Find several unsuitable.

12 ish the “boys” set off for their daily pilgrimage to Waitrose.  Sit at desk eating something “diet” to make up for the biscuits I’ve eaten all morning.  Read through the latest golf magazines to see if any articles on EGD courses.

Afternoon.  Put together press release schedule for the year, answer calls from a golf writer keen to do a piece on an EGD course, a photographer calls wanting to go and take pictures of our courses in Turkey.  Send background info, photos etc to conference Jeremy is speaking at in the States, more tea to be drunk, flights to book, bit of office banter. Chase designers for updates on their project for the website.  Write Blog. Write up new project for website. Bit of typing for Stan.

5pm EGD Day over for me, back to my other life, chores, supervising homework, making sure men in my life happy, just like being at work!

When thinking about a blog to write I thought this top 5 may be entertaining. After a lot of editing I finally got the list down to 5 shots. This doesn’t include countless air shots when I was learning this annoying game! Worryingly most of my list comes from the last couple of years.

5. Carton House, The Montgomerie – 18th (2008)
A putt that I have already mentioned in a blog. Needing to sink it to halve the match against Will and Gary, I left a 20 foot downhill putt 3 foot short. In my first blog I said that I didn’t think that Dave had forgiven me after couple of weeks, a year on now and I think that he is still slightly bitter!

4. Gulllane no. 1 – 1st (2007)
Having stood on the first tee, in front of a few people and hit a nice 3 iron in the middle of the fairway in to a ferocious wind, I was feeling pretty confident over my approach shot to the green. I was trying to hit a punchy 6 iron, however, I managed to hit a low shank into the rough on the right, leading to a double bogey at the first. This form continued and I finished the round with 23 points. Having dished out around £80 for the pleasure, it’s fair to say that I was not pleased walking off the final green.

3. Epsom Golf Club – 6th (1994)
Anyone who has played the 6th (now the 11th) at Epsom will know that the road is a little close on the left hand side. When I was 13 I hit a big hook that landed on the bonnet of a Gold 1981 Ford Cortina. The owner was obviously not happy shouting “YOU LITTLE S**T! THERE ARE NO MARKS AND YOU WANT TO THANK YOUR LUCKY STARS FOR THE IMMACULATE PAINTWORK ON THIS BEAUTY!” A quote that I will never forget.

2. Casa Serena – 18th (2008)
Again one of my worst shots comes in an EGD match on an EGD course. We were on the 18th, Robin and I one down to Dave and Will. Having hit a good tee shot and the others struggling, it seemed a par 5 would be good enough to win the hole and halve the match. Taking a 6 iron for safety, I hit it high and left into the deep rough never to be seen again. Needless to say Rob and I lost the match.

1. Epsom Golf Club – 16th (2007)
The 16th hole at Epsom is fairly unique. A 288 yard par 4, down a narrow fairway with lots of trouble on the left. This particular day I decided to hit an 8 iron off the tee for safety, because it’s all downhill this would normally leave a pitching wedge to the green. Sounds simple. On this occasion however I thin shanked the shot, at this point, a pigeon was unfortunate enough to be flying across the flight path, not of a US airlines plane, but my Titleist 2. The ball struck the bird directly on the side of the head killing it instantly. Who needs a shot gun?

– 2008 was a great year for European Golf Design with 4 new high profile courses opening.

September 2008 – Casa Serena in the Czech Republic opened and hosted the Casa Serena Open on the European Senior Tour. The event was won by 2 time major winner Bernhard Langer.

October 2008 – The Montgomerie at Papillon Golf Club in Turkey was officially opened by Ryder Cup legend and 8 times European No.1, Colin Montgomerie.

November 2008 – The Montgomerie at Riffa Views in Bahrain opened and hosted the Riffa Views Invitational skins and was won by 2 time major winner Retief Goosen.

November 2008 – Euphoria Golf Estate Hydro in South Africa was officially opened by the greatest lady golfer of all time, Annika Sorenstam.

– Our courses also hosted the following events on the European Tour and Ladies European Tour:

April 08 – Panoramica Golf & Country Club in Spain hosted the Open de Espana Femenino on the Ladies European Tour.

May 08 – The Twenty Ten course at Celtic Manor plays host to the Celtic Manor Wales Open.

May 08 – The Challenge Tour visit Marriott Worsley Park Hotel & Country Club, England for the Oceanico Developments Pro-Am Challenge.

July 08 – Portmarnock Hotel & Golf Links who will play host to the AIB Ladies Irish Open.

September 08 – The European Tour Qualifying School takes place at Fleesensee Golf Club in Germany.

October 08 – The Challenge Tour return to San Domenico in Italy for the Challenge Tour Finale.

November 08 – PGA Golf De Catalunya in Spain hosts the European Tour Final Qualifying School.

Golf has played a major part in my life. I grew up surrounded by golf, a 3 wood from Wentworth. My Dad played golf, talked golf, ate golf. All boyfriends I had whilst growing up played golf. I have spent over twenty years working in and around golf. My best friend and I met through golf. I met my husband on a golf course, he played golf, talked golf, worked in golf. My 11yr old son has now caught the bug. There is no escape from the game. I did catch the bug for a short while in my late teens and early twenties, but I think that had more to do with the assistant golf professionals at my club rather than the game itself. At my peak I played off 18, and when the sun is shinning, you’re not wearing five layers of clothes, and you’re playing with good friends and family then I do see how you can catch the bug.

Over the years I have worked at numerous golf clubs, organising corporate events. I’ve walked miles caddying for boyfriends playing the amateur circuit throughout the UK. I’ve walked hundreds of fairways with girlfriends in my “golf groupie” years (I’m saving those stories for my memoirs), hours spent on practice grounds watching a golfer, father, husband or son practising. There has been no escape, but I have loved it and still do love the game. I’ve listed my top ten courses, not for their deep revetted bunkers, rolling fairways etc etc but for their memories.

Wentworth East and West – grew up here, riding my bike over the course, caddying for my Dad (a treat was to hold the flag) and later playing many rounds with my best friend, who always beat me but we always had a lot of laughs.

Hours spent walking round the West Course watching tournaments from the Picadilly World Matchplay through to the BMW. Groupie days at their best.

St Andrews – first visited St Andrews on a very wet grey day and loved it. Never played the course but great memories of the 2000 Open.

Kingsdown and Walmer/Royal Cinque Ports – EGD Christmas do a few years ago. December on the Kent coast, frozen, but the sun shone and a lot of laughs. Never been so tired after two rounds of golf.

Goodwood – hours spent in the clubhouse waiting for my husband to finish playing golf. Very very hilly but the most amazing views on a sunny day across the Sussex countryside and English channel.

Gleneagles – spent a week here with my best friend for her 40th, played the Kings and Queens. Never laughed so much on a golf course, especially when Stephen Hendry constantly drove into us (you had to be there).

Royal Lytham– Coldest I’ve ever been on a golf course, caddying in the Lytham Trophy, 10 layers of clothing, but loved it.

Haggs Castle – the only time I outdrove my best friend.

West Sussex – Best golf club food ever.

The Belfry – Ryder Cup 1985. Was on the bridge by 18th green when Torrance holed the putt, amazing atmosphere.

Sunningdale Ladies – takes 2 hours to play, 2 mins from home. My type of course until by 11yr old son beat me recently. Time to retire.

On Friday of last week, Dave, Alex and I were lucky enough to take advantage of Robin’s very kind offer of visiting the recently opened Casa Serena course that he designed near Prague. The course is currently being prepared for it’s first tournament, a European Senior Tour event – The Casa Serena Open on 5th to 7th September.

We arrived at Casa Serena at 8pm on Thursday evening with just enough light for Robin to give us a quick guide to the course that we’d be playing the next day. Our initial concern was the brutal rough that encompasses each hole. We were all struck by the joy of the landscape and beautiful scenery that the course is set within.

After an evening with Stuart Burridge (the Head Greenkeeper) in the local town, Kutna Hora we awoke to be spoilt in having the course completely to ourselves. We threw the balls up and began our round (incidentally, I’d torn my calf muscle a week ago playing football and after a late Paula Radcliffe fitness test it was obvious with a lot of office pride running on the match, Dave wasn’t completely overawed at his luck of having me as his playing partner).

As the game went on, the rough was as brutal as we’d imagined with quite a few provisional balls being struck but the course was a joy to play and I particularly loved the shaping of the fairways. During the round, I noted a designer who is fully aware of the hazards he’s set out, isn’t immune from them. I also came to the conclusion Dave’s become the barometer or acid test for each designer at EGD as he’s always encouraged with his immense length to attempt to drive a short par 4 or to take on a long carry. Being his playing partner this can be rather stressful when he misfires but when he’s successful it’s thoroughly enjoyable.

On the 18th Hole, Alex retained his 100% losing streak on EGD courses as Dave and I were the winners of a tightly contested match, winning two up. It was apparent Robin was slightly frustrated at losing on the course he’d designed but with ever reason extremely proud to show it off to his fellow work colleagues (possibly the biggest critics).

On a final note, I have to mention my delight with Terminal 5 at Heathrow, especially after experiencing the speed and diligence of BA staff in retrieving the office camera (that has become the most popular toy here since the putting machine) I’d left on the plane. It would have been a long Monday explaining that one.