Og jeg hadde skaffet meg en spillepartner!, for dette var ikke en selvfølge ... Se bare svaret til Sunningdale Golf Club;
Dear "Amicisumus"
Thanks for the enquiry.
You would be welcome to play the Old Course around 10am but as a Single it would be very slow. The club don’t pair visitors up and we wouldn’t be able to put you with a Member unless you knew one.
To book we would need a contact telephone number and address and eventually pre-payment to confirm the tee time.
Kind Regards,
Sunningdale Golf Club
Å spille alene var ikke en option så det var bare å slenge seg rundt for å prøve å tak i en spillepartner ...
Jeg meldte meg inn i 4-5 golf forumer og golf Societies, etter en del kontakter var det en som ønsket å være med.
Og det var Rob fra Essex som var 38 år og med 12 i hc.
Fruen ønsket ikke å være med som caddy eller kartleser noe som ikke kom som en bombe da været hadde blitt "sunny" og hun ønsket å være igjen på hotellet og ligge ved poolen.
Så jeg satt meg i bilen for å kjøre 35 min alene, jeg hadde ingen gps men hadde skrevet ned vei nummer og hadde sånn nogelunde peiling på hvor jeg skulle ...
Men det viste seg å være lettere enn sagt ... Ingen fu***** skilting, etter å ha kjørt fram og tilbake og passert Sunningdale Ladies Golf Club 2 ganger begynte jeg å bli litt desperat. Heldigvis hadde jeg beregnet god tid og etter en stund åpenbarte det seg en golf bane!, jeg fant porten og etter å ha ringt inn åpnet de porten for meg!.
Først var det ett besøk i Pro-shop for der lå det en konvolutt fra club sekretæren hvor det lå en bekreftelse att jeg hadde betalt min £195 og hadde fått godkjent starttid 2.44pm on the 23rd of july ... Etter dette gikk turen innom caddymaster for den siste "godkjenning" ... Og mannen var streng! da han ikke kunne godkjenne sokkene! mine ...
De var for korte!. Han hadde selvsagt sokker til salgs, men det var ikke nødvendig da jeg hadde med mine egne "lange" sokker ... hehe ...
Etter alt dette tok jeg meg en tur innom klubbhuset, jeg har vel vært innom finere klubbhus men aldri hvor det har "luktet" så mye golf tradisjoner, storhet og skjult rikdom!.
Det var faktisk litt vanskelig å svelge alt og jeg listet meg rundt på tå hev i mine nye Ecoo Bio Hybrid sko med rød snøring!.
Etter å ha kikket på bilder av Harry Colt, andre gamle storheter og turneringer var jeg "ready to go!" ... Problemet var bare att min makker enda ikke hadde dukket opp.
Jeg trente litt putter utenfor klubbhuset og etter det ruslet jeg bort mot hull 1. Når jeg sto der å trente noen slag mot ett bur med nett så kom det en kar små joggende kar med bagen på ryggen, det var Rob min spillepartner. Han hadde fått problemer med trafikken da flere av veien rundt London var stengt for det opp kommende OL.
Men da var vi klare til å spille Sunningdale Golf Club og The Old Course ...
Litt facts om klubben og banen på engelsk
The first Annual General Meeting of Sunningdale Golf Club was held at the Café Monico in London on Thursday 29th March 1900.
During 1899 two bothers, T.A. and G.A. Roberts built a house in Sunningdale called “Ridgemount”. In one direction it faced what is now Sunningdale Ladies Golf Club and in the other the present entrance to the Club. The house on which it was constructed belonged to St. John’s College, Cambridge, which still owns a large estate in Sunningdale.
T.A. Roberts approached St. John’s College with a view to making a golf course and to creating leaseholds on the adjoining land for quality houses. An agreement was soon reached with the college and a Founder’s Committee was formed with the Roberts brothers as promoters. A hundred keen golfers were soon found to subscribe for £100 bonds. A contract was signed with Willie Park Jnr. On 4th December 1899, for the construction of the course for a price of £3000.
In February 1900, the first Club Committee was formed and it was resolved that the Club should be a Member’s Club.
Sunningdale Old Course was designed by Willie Park Junior and opened in 1900. It was laid out in the last days of the gutty ball, over a mixture of hills, heath and woodland that had hitherto not been considered as suitable for golf course construction. Urns containing fourteen iron-age Skeletons were excavated during its construction. The course was considered extremely long and its popularity owed much to the development of the Haskell ball, initially imported from the United States.
Willie Park’s design was considered revolutionary at the time, and within a few years Harry Colt, the Club Secretary, had modified several holes and drastically altered others. Bernard Darwin in “Golf Courses of the British Isles”, 1910 believed that several of the holes had been greatly improved by the Colt changes.
The Old Course is considered one of the best inland courses in the UK and is regularly found in various “100 top courses” rating lists. Many amateur and professional golfing events have been played here including the News of the World Professional Match Play Championship, numerous European Open Championships, many Ladies Open Championships, the Walker Cup, and more recently the International Final Qualification for the Open Championship
Mitt spill denne dagen var heller dårlig da kroppen min ikke var helt i lage og jeg var vell også preget av å spille denne litt vanskelige og tradisjons rike banen ...
Rob sitt spill var heller ikke så mye å skrive hjem om ...
Banen var bare herlig med masse perler av hull og alt var så fint og vell stelt.
1st hole, 492 yards, par 5 ... Teebox på hull 1
This opening par 5 has been altered recently to encourage the drive to be played to the left of the fairway. The “bumps” in the middle were an iron age burial site. — at Sunningdale Golf Club.
1st hole, 492 yards, par 5 ... Greenen ...
2nd hole, 466 yards, par 4 ... Langt hull og ganske trangt utslag og vanskelig ...
The 2nd tee has been pushed back over the years, and the low handicapper will need to draw his drive. The second shot, holed by Karen Stupples, Ladies Open Champion in 2004 , must be stopped on a green that slopes from front to back. — at Sunningdale Golf Club.
2nd hole, 466 yards, par 4 ... Greenen ...
2nd hole, 466 yards, par 4 ... Greenen ...
3rd hole, 292 yards, par 4 ... Ganske kort Par 4 hull, hadde birdie putt her men det ble en "tapp in" for par.
Recent bunker changes have greatly improved what had become an over easy drive and pitch. The ease of the approach is affected by the placement of the drive. — at Sunningdale Golf Club.
3rd hole, 292 yards, par 4 ... Greenen ...
4th hole, 157 yards, par 3 ... Ett helt nydelig par 3 hull ... Det var bratt!, mye brattere enn jeg trodde så jeg landet kort av greenen.
A short to mid iron up a hill to an awkwardly sloping green. — at Sunningdale Golf Club.
4th hole, 157 yards, par 3 ... Litt nærmere Greenen ...
5th hole, 407 yards, par 4 ... For ett hull! ... Helt nydelig ... Hadde en god drive her og planen var å gå for "glory" ...
A Drive from the high ground with bunkers and a pond to avoid. The pond is more of a hazard for the poorly hit second shot. — at Sunningdale Golf Club.
5th hole, 407 yards, par 4 ... men etter ett heller dårlig slag så ble det ett stort plask i enden av vannhinder ...
6th hole, 386 yards, par 4 ... Mye "heather" på dette hullet ...
The drive is over heather, followed by a challenging second over more heather with bunkers short and right, to a green which slopes severely from the back. — at Sunningdale Golf Club.
6th hole, 386 yards, par 4 ... Fra bakkant av greenen og bakover ...
7th hole, 393 yards, par 4 ... HELT blindt utslag, men bildet er fra fairway ... Bommet birdie putten, men en "tap in" for par var veldig bra! ... Reddet mye av dagen faktisk!.
The drive is a blind shot over a large bunker now disused. The major Colt change to the original Park course, altered a dog-leg left second over a now disused bunker to a green now deep in woods, up to its present site much higher and on the right. — at Sunningdale Golf Club.
8th hole, 168 yards, par 3 ... Vanskelig par 3 hull ... Rob fikk par her ...
Possibly the most severe of the short holes across the side of a right sloping hill to a similarly sloping green, surrounded by bunkers, some quite severe. — at Sunningdale Golf Club.
9th hole, 267 yards, par 4 ... kort og ett ganske lett hull så lenge du slår ett rett utslag ...
This is probably the easiest of the short par four holes, and is viewed by stronger golfers who must wait for the two tier green to clear, as being a virtual par 3. — at Sunningdale Golf Club.
10th hole, 475 yards, par 4 ... Old Course sitt signatur hull ... Ord blir litt overflødig ... Bildene viser egentlig ikke hvor herlig dette hullet er ...
This hole presents one of the most attractive views on the course. Standing on the tee at the top of the hill, the fairway Is set out before one, with the Half Way House and its friendly reception to await one. — at Sunningdale Golf Club.
10th hole, 475 yards, par 4 ... Det ble boogie på meg, noe som jeg var fornøyd med da jeg ikke har lengden til å nå inn på 2.
10th hole, 475 yards, par 4
12th hole, 442 yards, par 4 ... Ett helt utrolig vanskelig hull ... Min score på dette hullet kan bare gå rett i glemmeboka ...
This is the stroke 1 hole with the drive penalised either side and a difficult second shot to a higher green protected by a mound on the right and a heather and gorse bank on the left: A challenge for any golfer.
12th hole, 442 yards, par 4 ... Du må ha ett langt utslag og du må ett langt andre slag for å komme over "ringen" av bunkere og "heathland" foran greenen ...
14th hole, 503 yards, par 5 ...
The longest hole on the course, the average golfer has to contend with an echelon of cross bunkers after threading his drive between a bunker on the right and rough on the left with barely 20 yards between. There is a hidden bunker to the green’s right.
15th hole, 239 yards, par 3 ... Langt par 3 som er beskyttet av Heathland ...
This hole is A long flat par 3 that many will require a driver to reach. A variety of tees on the left and right provide a variety of approaches for the handicap golfer. The green is bunkered on the left and short right, and a heather bank guards the right.
16th hole, 434 yards, par 4 ... Ett vanskelig hull, hvor jeg aldri fant igjen første utslaget, men reddet en dobbel ...
This hole plays longer than its distance due its uphill second shot with long iron or wood, and many regards it as a par 5 due to the cross bunker short of the well bunkered green. The drive between bunkers must be straight to give a chance of a par. — at Sunningdale Golf Club.
16th hole, 434 yards, par 4 ... Bildet er tatt fra fairway ... Se bunkrene som fanger opp alle dårlige 2 slag ...
17th hole, 425 yards, par 4 ... Hullet er svakt dogleg høyre ... hadde en god drive her, men innspillet var ikke så godt så det ble en boogie ...
A downhill drive between a copse on the left and a hidden bunker on the right leave a second shot over a cross-bunker to a right sloping green. — at Sunningdale Golf Club.
17th hole, 425 yards, par 4 ...
17th hole, 425 yards, par 4 ... Greenen sett fra fairway ... 2 slaget mitt havnet i bunker på venstre side ...
18th hole, 423 yards, par 4 ... Ett fint avslutnings hull på en nydelig bane ... Dere ser også min spillepartner Rob vandre opp fairway på 18 hull! ...
The drive falls away to the bunker on the right, which is a “par killer”.
The second shot is over a cross-bunker to a green partly protected by bunkers provided by the Luftwaffe in 1940, which remained when it was found that they improved the hole. — at Sunningdale Golf Club.
18th hole, 423 yards, par 4 ... Bildet er tatt på fairway ...
18th hole, 423 yards, par 4 ... Klubbhus og greenen på 18 ... Boogie på dette hullet også
