2020 in review

So, 2020 has come and gone. For me it started with great expectations and some carefully laid plans. It is an understatement to say that it did not quite turn out as anticipated. I should start by saying that I am, in no way, looking for sympathy! My golfing issues do not stand any comparison to the travails of the year and inconceivable difficulties it has caused to vast numbers of people.

When the year started few people would have thought that the country would be completely locked down from March to May. Even fewer anticipated that there would be restrictions and further lockdowns for the remainder of the year. As golf is played outside, with no physical contact and over a vast “playing field”, it is naturally suited to sport in the “socially distanced” era. Consequently, those of us who play rejoiced when we were allowed back onto the courses in May. With few other options available, those who had not previously considered the game also suddenly flocked to play.

Winter golf and a trip to the North West

The year had started in a fairly normal way. The traditional winter combination of wet weather followed by frosty weather had meant that my course (I was a member at Ealing at this point) was frequently closed. Opportunities to play were limited further by our decision to move house, with completion occurring at the end of January. Not only did this take up quite a lot of time, it also took me rather further away from the golf club. I would need to find a new club to join that was a little closer to home, but there was no rush, right?

In February, Willo and I ventured out for a round over the Himalayas and Shore 9s at Prince’s in some fairly arctic conditions. Then in early March, Blair and I went to the North West to play West Lancashire and to start the Quest at Royal Lytham. This also ticked off my first two courses on the England Top 100 list for the year. I cannot speak highly enough of Lytham and the fact you can play it at a weekend really sets it apart. The Dormy House is another real bonus. There is definitely an article on courses with a Dormy House, but that is for another day.

The lockdown and a return to golf

After almost exactly 2 months of lockdown, the courses were allowed to re-open in May. I had a problem, however, as I was now without a club. Unsurprisingly, my membership application was not at the top of the priority list as the clubs re-opened, so I would have to wait. In the meantime, everyone else was also looking for a tee time and they became a precious commodity. My first two rounds back were at Park Wood Golf Club in Surrey. It was 2-balls only, but even with that we queued on the first tee and then stood for 25 minutes waiting on the 2nd. Still, we were back on the course!

June saw further progress made through the England Top 100 list. A trip to Norfolk to play Royal Cromer and Sheringham, and then an invitation to Bearwood Lakes ticked off 3 more.

A competition at Swinley Forest on the European Amateur Golf Tour and a return to Walton Heath’s Old Course got the Quest back on track. I had played Walton Heath a few times back in 2010/2011, but back then my golf was pretty ropey and I had not appreciated it. This time I felt I really got the most out of the course. It helped that I played the back nine +1 gross and that I could share the experience with one of my closest friends.

Back to the North West

By the time we got to August, I had played 36 rounds with 7 new courses. The World Top 100 count was now at 3 and the England Top 100 count at 38. I had hopes (at this stage) to get the England Top 100 count to 50 …

August brought trips to Rye, Formby and Hoylake before I headed off on holiday to the Lake District. Whilst there, I managed to persuade my (long-suffering) wife that we were close enough to Silloth-on-Solway that I should take advantage. I am delighted that I persevered, as this proved to be one of the most enjoyable rounds of the year. It is a little out of the way, but it is very much worth the effort!

Golf in Scotland

I still don’t know how I had come this far without playing any golf in Scotland. I did my best to make up for this on our second week away. We travelled to Arran which is a little golfing heaven. The courses are not long or challenging, but they are in great condition and command phenomenal views. A chance encounter at Machrie Bay – I happened to have my clubs in the car – opened the account. 9 holes on a beautiful evening, completed in a little over 45 minutes.

Then a trip to the 18 hole course at Lamlash, the 12 hole course at Shiskine, 9 hole course at Corrie and finished with the 18 holes at Brodick.

Shiskine, with its quirky 12 hole set up, is the only course that is widely known. It is also the only one of the courses which is played over true links conditions. It would, however, be a crime not to investigate the other courses. I cannot emphasise quite how much fun they were to play. In addition, the conditioning was amazing. How the single green-keeper at Corrie GC produced greens of that quality, I will never know!

The Autumn and a return to Norfolk

Having returned from Scotland, I managed to slip in another trip to Norfolk. Chris and I had re-arranged the trip we had planned to Bay Hill and TPC Sawgrass for early September. We had thought that this would give time for the restrictions to be lifted. We were wrong. So, a shorter trip to Norfolk was arranged in its place. We were joined by DTH and Amber for a round at Hunstanton and then headed onto Brancaster.

If you haven’t played Hunstanton, I would be wary of doing so on a Sunday afternoon when the weather is good. The 9th hole (which is a brute of a par 5) plays over the footpath which leads to the beach. With no marshalls to control the pedestrians, it was very difficult to concentrate on what was the most difficult of tee shots. As it transpired, we were playing into the wind and I am not sure any of us actually cleared the path!

An invitation to Centurion topped of an excellent month in September through a contact made on Instagram. Instagram is, generally, a great place to share pictures, experiences and ideas. It lends itself very well to golf and there are, seemingly, a lot of like-minded people out there. Until this year I had never really been much interested in social media, but I have come to really enjoy the interaction with the Insta-golf community.

An unusual Pilgrimage

Our yearly golfing Pilgrimage to Europe was another casualty of 2020. We had originally arranged to travel to Lisbon and play Praia D’El Rey and West Cliffs. When that looked to be in danger midway through the summer, I started looking into other options. This was always going to be difficult as only 10 of the 12 regular Pilgrims are based in England. Finding an option which would work for the guys coming from Finland and France is difficult enough when not in the middle of a pandemic!

So, I thought this might be an opportunity to incorporate a World Top 100 course into the Pilgrimage. What better way to add another course to the list? Woodhall Spa, for those who do not know, is not only a highly ranked golf course, but it is ridiculously well priced. For £400pp, we could play the Hotchkin (54 int the World and 8 in England) twice and Bracken once, with two nights accommodation, dinner bed and breakfast. When you think that the Open roster courses or Sunningdale will set you back between £250-£300 for a single round, this is amazing value.

Sadly, the Tier system imposed additional restrictions which meant we couldn’t share rooms or eat together inside. So, a new plan was required as we would have to go home after each round. After much negotiation and discussion, I managed to secure tee times at New Zealand GC, Hankley Common and Hadley Wood. It was not the Pilgrimage any of us had expected, but it was a great success and hugely enjoyable. As much as anything, it was just a great opportunity to see and catch up with everyone.

What have we achieved?

The second lockdown was announced during the Pilgrimage. For me, it coincided with a particularly busy period at work and so I suspect there would not have been much more golf in any event. Frustratingly, the work rather got in the way of writing and so I am a little behind with my posts. Look out for reports on the courses from Arran, Hunstanton, Centurion and the New Zealand GC which I hope to release over the next few weeks.

In terms of numbers, the year looked like this:

World Top 100 – 5 courses played

England Top 100 – 12 new courses played, taking the total to 43

Total Rounds – 64 rounds across 39 courses (19 new courses)

Best round – 77 @ New Zealand GC

Blog Posts – 20 posts

Instagram – 191 posts with 1,585 followers

Pretty pleased with all of that. Let’s see what 2021 has to bring …