Tag Archives: Golf Equipment

My Day Out At The BMW PGA Championship Practice Day

I went to watch the practice day of the BMW PGA Championship today at Wentworth, Virginia Water and what a lovely day to choose to go.

The sun was out for the first time in about 6 weeks and some of the top players in the world were in touching distance as it’s normally pretty quiet on practice days.

Watching these guys on the range and chipping green is a real treat and makes you appreciate how good these players really are.

If you are new to the game then going to watch tournament golf on a practice day is a great experience as you are generally allowed to walk a lot nearer  to the action than you would normally be allowed to, and you can learn a lot by listening to what the player’s and caddies are talking about and what they are thinking.

They’ve got course looking great this year and the new greens are looking much better this time around after a few complaints over the last couple of years. They’ve also dropped the 18th green by about 18 inches to make the long approach a little easier.

Tomorrow is the pro-am, so why don’t you get yourself down there and enjoy watching the golf without the big crowd!

Here are some of the pictures that I took today!

Golf Lessons West London
Golf Lessons West London

Golf Lessons West London

Golf Lessons West London

 

Ice Cool Dufner On Winning Streak

Jason Dufner holed  a superb 25-foot birdie putt on the 18th green to claim a dramatic one-stroke victory at the Byron Nelson Championship yesterday.

It rounded off a memorable few weeks for Dufner who won his first PGA Tour title in New Orleans at the end of April before getting married to wife Amanda.

The American is only the second man to win multiple titles on the American circuit this season, and is set to make his Ryder Cup debut in September when America host the Ryder Cup.

Dufner who led by a shot overnight started poorly in his final round and surrendered his lead after dropping shots at the second and third.

He bounced back with birdies on the fourth, fifth and seventh to take his score to nine-under through seven holes, but that was  still only sharing the lead with playing partner JJ Henry who made an ace at the fifth.

As the tournament was reaching a close a host of players were  fighting it out for position at the top of the leaderboard with Dickie Pride making an unlikely par on the 18th be tied with Dufner.

Dufner hit his best drive of the day on the last leaving him 109 yards to the hole. He didn’t hit the best approach and left himself a downhill right to left putt which he brilliantly holed and left veteran Dickie Pride alone in second.

 

Great Golf Courses | Number 8 | Walton Heath

Walton Heath Golf Club is a located just outside Walton-on-the-Hill in Surrey, England.

The golf course was founded in 1903 and open in 1904 and comprises two 18-hole championship courses, the Old and the New.

First to be opened was The Old Course and as of 2009 is 7,462 yards in length and is well known for it’s heather which covers most areas of the rough.

The New Course was originally a 9-hole course back in 1907 but was later extended to an 18-hole course by the end of 1913. It is now a 7,026 yards in length and also boasts large amounts of heather to make it even tougher!

Both the Old and the New were designed by Herbert Fowler who was later to become a designer of a number of courses in the United Kingdom and the United States.

The courses have held many a competition including the US Open qualifying rounds. But is better known for hosting the 1981 Ryder Cup  and hosting five editions of the European Open between 1978 -1991.

It also hosted the Senior Open Championship last year.

 

 

Irish Open To Hit Record Sales

Today the European Tour announced that it’s taking the unprecedented step of telling all fans who are planning to attend the Irish Open to buy their tickets in advance to avoid disappointment of missing out on the action at Royal Portrush Golf Club in June.

At the Northern Ireland Tourist Board headquarters in Belfast, the European Tour, as event organisers, also told about detailed Traffic and Transportation plans including adding a Translink coach, rail and Park & Ride services. These are designed to ensure that spectators have ease of access to the event, and to minimise the disruption to the neighbouring community on the roads surrounding Portrush.

Pre-tournament ticket sales for the event, being staged in Northern Ireland for the first time in nearly 60 years, have exceeded all expectations.

The first day of the tournament is on the 28th June,

McIlroy Says Missing Last Years Players Championship Was A Mistake

Rory McIlroy (who is at number one again) is keen to improve on  a poor record at the £5.8m Players Championship, which starts at Sawgrass in Florida tomorrow.

The Northern Irishman has yet to brake par and has  missed the cut on two previous visits on the 7,215-yard par-72 course.

McIlroy and Westwood chose to miss the event off their calender last year but both have returned to the so-called fifth major.

“It wasn’t one of my brightest moments,” McIlroy admitted. “I’m glad to be back, it’s a very big tournament and one that I’d love to win one day.”

McIlroy lost in a play-off at last week’s Wells Fargo Championship in North Carolina, as American Rickie Fowler won his first PGA Tour title. So he is keen to put that behind him and come out all gun’s blazing on Thursday. Another interesting week ahead!

BMW PGA Championship – Strong Line-Up Announced

The world’s number one and number two golfers Luke Donald and Rory McIlroy will compete against a strong field at the forthcoming BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth.

The line-up at the Surrey course boasts a host of major champions, including Ireland’s Padraig Harrington, Spaniard Jose Maria Olazabal and South African Ernie Els.

Donald beat Lee Westwood in a play-off to win in 2011, a victory which saw him lead the rankings for the first time.

The tournament starts on Thursday 24th May 2012 and runs across the weekend.

Wells Fargo Latest Scores

Rory McIlroy has returned to action for the first time since The Masters at The Wells Fargo championship in North Carolina.

You can check out the latest leaderboard by clicking here… 

McDowell withdraws as McIlroy sets his sights on victory in Quail Hollow

Northern Ireland’s Graeme McDowell has withdrawn from this week’s PGA Tour Wells Fargo event at Quail Hollow.

The 2010 US Open champion said that he was feeling “under the weather” at last week’s Zurich Classic in America.

” I Very much wanted to play Quail Hollow but didn’t want to go there undercooked. Practice and rest for me this week,” McDowell said on Twitter.

McDowell’s fellow countryman Rory McIlroy will be in action at the Quail Hollow event where he won his first PGA Tour win in 2010.

Super Rory will defend his US Open title at the Olympic Club in six weeks’ time and is expecting the course in San Francisco to be a lot tougher than last year’s venue at Congressional.

McIlroy knocked four shots off the US Open championship record when he shot 16 under par last year.

“The thing that made the scoring low was the fact they got so much rain before,” said McIlroy.

The US Open will be held between the 11th – 17th June

Dyson ready for Irish title defence

It’s been 15 years since somebody successfully defend the Irish Open, but Simon Dyson will try and do so and take the trophy at the €2million event which takes place at Royal Portrush Golf Club from June 28-July 1.

Dyson shot 2 rounds of 67 over the weekend at last year’s Irish Open which earned him his sixth European Tour title, and the Yorkshireman is now trying to follow in the footsteps of Colin Montgomerie, who won the title in 1996 and 1997.

With only dropping 3 shots at Killarney Golf & Fishing Club last year in a fantastic display which he labelled his “best of the year”, Dyson is hopeful those memories will act as the catalyst for a successful title defence  at Royal Portrush who are holding the Irish Open for the first time since 1947.

Scott favourite for first win in Korea

Adam Scott is looking to tread on new ground this week in Ballantine’s Championship just outside Seoul.

Scott has won four titles on Asian Soil out of his eight European Tour titles. He’s had victory’s in China, Singapore and Qatar (twice) but no victory in South Korea.

The Australian hopes to put that right at the Blackstone Golf Club this week and he’s the favourite to do so.

“It’s true that I’ve enjoyed playing in Asia over the years and I have had a certain amount of success which is great,”

Scott’s last tournament was The Masters where he finished eighth so he’s happy with his game ahead of his 0730 tee-off time.

He is playing alongside Alex Noren and local Bae Sang-moon.