General

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.

After last week, when many of us were out of the office on site visits, the reverse is true this week, with all but Dave and Jeremy in the office, everyone else will be concentrating on reports and design work.

So, what is the office like at EGD Towers?

We’re based in Sunningdale, a small town to the south west of London, close to the famous heathland courses of Sunningdale, Swinley Forest and The Berkshire, as well as a few minutes from Wentworth where one of our parent companies, The European Tour, is headquartered. From the office to Heathrow is a journey of about twenty minutes, Gatwick is forty minutes in the other direction. To the centre of London takes about forty-five minutes on the train, the station being a few minutes walk from the office.

The office itself is on the top floor of an old stable building, dating back to the 1830’s. The main area of the office is open plan, with several of the designers having their own offices off of this room. The open plan area is the nerve-centre – it is from here that the financial, administration and IT functions operate. It’s where people congregate to tell stories of amazing sights, or amazing sites. It’s where we have lunch together every Friday. It’s also home to the EGD indoor putting course. While a very popular game for us, it is less popular with the restaurant downstairs who claim that there is a direct link between the celebrations of a holed putt and their lights swinging from their ceiling (our floor).

One of the other main features in the office is the drinks shelf. We have rule that whenever one of us goes to a new location, they need to bring back the cheapest bottle of local alcohol they can find. In very nearly all cases, ‘cheap’ and ‘tasty’ don’t go hand-in-hand, so while there’s a lot of alcohol on the shelf, very little of it ever gets, or ever will get, drunk.

It was an early start on the Friday, our flight left at 6.15. Will resisted (just) the temptation to have a beer at the airport! We arrived in Dublin, picked up the hire car and headed to Carton House, stopping in Maynooth for a suspect Irish/English breakfast along the way.

We teed off at 11:30 on the Montgomerie Course, fortunately the rough was trimmed and from tee to green we all put in a good show. After many bunker shots, good, bad and ugly, Will and Gary were victorious against Dave and I, winning on the 18th green after I had left a putt short that we needed for a half! A couple of weeks later I think Dave is still angry with me!

After a short drive to the Portmatnock Hotel, a shower and a change, we headed to Dublin for a few pints of Guinness. Gary took us to a rather dodgy ‘locals’ bar but fortunately we survived the evening!

We teed off the next morning (a little blurry eyed) at 9:00. After a mix of good and bad golf again, Dave and Gary won beating Will and I rather easily! That left myself as the only person to lose both matches! The ‘shot of the holiday’ came at the 18th at Portmarnock Links, Gary hitting a 3-wood to about 6 feet from 240 yards out, the surprised look on his face was unforgettable! All in all we had a really good trip and it was great to play two excellent courses designed by EGD!

A big thanks to Dave a Stan for organising the golf!