June! London!

[Brent Hutto]

Actually, it pretty much is a Deal trip. Just a very short one.

I'll catch the train from Gatwick to Deal on Tuesday morning when I arrive and then stay for four nights. Train back to Gatwick on Saturday morning, drop off my luggage and then hop into London for the afternoon and evening including seeing Macbeth at the Globe. Get back to the Gatwick Yotel toward midnight for a few hours sleep before departing early Sunday AM for home.

This wasn't going to be a year I could afford a UK trip but I caught a deal on a frequent-flier ticket and was able to squeeze in a very short holiday. Leave home after lunch on the Monday and be back in time for supper on the following Sunday. Not as much golf as my previous 11-13 day trips but an unexpected treat for less than 1/3 of what I spent the other three times.

[Brent Hutto]

Well the volcano has been quiet lately, the exchange rate is still in my favor and my "June! London!" flight leaves two weeks from this coming Monday. Now I know it's really summer.

I have three of my five days pretty much set. On Tuesday the 15th I'll be stopping off for a round at Crowborough Beacon which looks to be a lovely course and hopefully the hills and fresh air will help me shrug off the effect of 14-hours worth of Planes, Trains and Automobiles.

On Wednesday the 16th Jamie Barber is generously hosting me at Princes Golf Club which I have seen but not played. Looking forward to that wonderfully bumpy links turf.

First thing Saturday morning the 19th will be a match with Tony Muldoon at Deal. I think that says it alll...in my book it doesn't get much better than this. After golf it'll be a departure for London to meet up with Rob Miller for drinks and an early dinner after his arrival from Japan earlier in the day.

So my hopes are to play at Royal Cinque Ports on Thursday and again Friday, at least one round each day and hopefully 36 holes if possible. Anyone have plans to be around on those days? If so, let me know and I'd love to coordinate. Failing that I suppose I need to contact that club and see if they openings for any visitors those days.

Can't wiat!

[Scott Warren]

Thursday appears to be fully booked with a tournament, but Friday I can possibly do and there are spaces aplenty. I will discuss it with Mission Control and PM you.

You may have already visited Canterbury and seen its sights, but if Thursday is a no go at Deal, a trip to play Harry Colt's golf course at Canterbury would not be time misspent.

Or Knole Park is only £50-55 for a day ticket. It's at Sevenoaks, on the train line between Deal and London. Tony M and Mark C are big fans.

[Brent Hutto]

Thanks Scott. I'll cogitate a bit on the Thursday arrangements.

One thing I meant to ask about. Will television coverage of the US Open be carried on "Free TV"? If so I can watch at my B&B but I'm not clear on the other types of television viewing in the UK. I would like at least catch an hour or two of it on Thursday and Friday if practical.

[Scott Warren]

No, the US Open is only on Sky (pay TV - satellite/cable), so you'll need to do your viewing at the pub, but I don't imagine a US West Coast tournament is going to translate well as far as the time of the night it will finish!

LA is 8hrs behind England, so a 6pm finish there is 2am here...

[Brent Hutto]

You're right about watching the entire coverage, that's pretty much right out. But on Thursday/Friday the NBC coverage is 8-10pm in England and I was hoping to catch an hour or two of watching the afternoon groups (that's around Noon in California). On the weekend I'll be otherwise occupied anyway.

It's conceivable my B&B has a Sky TV downstairs somewhere, I'll check. The place I stayed in 2006 did and I remember seeing a bit of that one.

[Jamie Barber]

They might have, or if you have a laptop and they have WIFI, you can usually find free streaming video to watch it. Not the best quality but at least you can follow it.

PS don't forget to send me your phone number!

[Martin Toal]

Coverage on Sky will run from 6pm until about midnight on Thursday and Friday and about 8pm until close of play Saturday and Sunday.

The streaming coverage on the USGA website will only work in the US. There will be coverage on Sky's website, though.

[Jamie Barber]

You can usually find a free stream if you google

[Brent Hutto]

I've had a stroke of good fortune. The course atop my personal want-to-play list is Royal St. George's. I had asked back in March while initially planning my trip and was told they have various outings during the days I will be in the area. But I called back today to see if space for a single might be available on the Thursday and was happy to find that I could play that afternoon.

Given what I perceive as the great difficulty of the course, especially off the tee, I'm really just as glad to play there by myself rather than in a match of some kind. It's a very special place, an absolutely amazing piece of land with some very memorable shots presented. What a treat!

[Mark Chaplin]

Brent - Sandwich is a very special place, I highly recommend arriving early donning a jacket and tie taking a good look around the clubhouse and then enjoy the club lunch in the dining room. You will double your experience!

[Mark Pearce]

The beer does not even compete with the stuff in the US,

Obviously not true.  Whilst the US craft breweries and microbreweries produce some excellent beer (indeed the US produces some of the world's best IPAs and stronger Pale Ales) they don't yet produce "session" ales to compete with the best British brews.

though I have been known to drink a Coors Light every now and then to give me a taste of home.

Ah, my mistake.  I thought this was a comment about beer!  Coors Light (like Bud, Bud Lite, Miller) is an alcoholic beverage for the taste impaired.  To call it beer is to stretch the language beyond breaking point.

[Brent Hutto]

Mark C,

The lunch was mentioned in the confirmation E-mail sent by club and I was thinking it sounded like an excellent idea. My tee time isn't until 2.20pm so my thought was to arrive noon-ish and give the meal a bit of time to digest before embarking on my round. It is quite a fine clubhouse, I spent a fair bit of time wandering there during Amateur week in 2006.

Mark P,

I've had a confusing set of experiences with "IPA" or "Pale Ale" in England. Some of the best pints I've enjoyed there were "IPA" but I've also had a couple of "Pale Ales" served that I thought were pretty much undrinkable. That name seems to cover everything from a hoppy but smooth beer I can drink alone or with any meal all the way up to some stuff that seems more akin to grain alcohol than ale. The best of the lot was a locally-sourced IPA that Craig Disher recommended when we were at Walton Heath and Littlestone.

When I'm back home if not at a brew pub (in which case  just saying "Bitter" seems to generally result in an acceptable-to-very-good glass of beer) the only remotely acceptable mass market brew is "Sierra Nevada Pale Ale" which is halfway decent in a bottle and quite enjoyable on draft. But generally speaking I just do my beer drinking each summer in England and stick to the red wine at home (preferably something Italian with little or no oak).

[Brent Hutto]

Well I believe my final details are pretty well set at this point, exactly a week before arrival day. The last bit was booked just now when I phoned the professional's shop at Royal St. George's.

I've been looking forward to playing there ever since first seeing the course in 2006. But one concern is the requirement for fairly precise aiming on many tee shots and the considerable undulation in the ground on most holes in the fairway and near the green. Even having walked the course four times back then it's a daunting prospect to navigate my way around the course for the first time playing solo.

So my first thought was to book a caddie for my round and depend on him for navigational guidance. But the last few time I've used caddies it has detracted from rather than added to the experience. Somehow the extra chitchat and advice makes the game too much a verbal rather than a visual and kinesthetic exercise. Plus I'm just used to having my bag and clubs in hand and caddies take me out of my normal shot-to-shot flow.

For this round, I've instead arranged to play along with one of the assistant professionals. To my mind the best way to experience a new course is in the company of player(s) who can hit good shots on proper lines, watch someone else's putts roll on the greens and just generally absorb the course by seeing another ball or balls in addition to my own in the air and on the ground.

Has anyone ever done this at an unfamiliar course in lieu of (or in addition to) taking a caddie? I'm really looking forward to it, plus on the phone this fellow had a wonderfully impenetrable Scottish accent...nothing else makes you feel like you're really playing golf than hearing those inflections, no?

[Jamie Barber]

Even at unfamiliar courses I'm usually happy to play alone or with playing partners (I've not used a caddy and would be a bit intimidated playing with a pro!)

You might be interested in the local weather ... after a warm couple of weeks it's become more unsettled here with more rain. What this means for you is that likely by the time you're here the rough at all three links will be a factor!

It was already noticeably thicker last weekend at Prince's.

[Brent Hutto]

Hmmm, if you keep this up I might have go dig through the closet for my 64-degree wedge. The one with the razor-sharp leading edge. Impossible to hit off a fairway lie but it will advance the ball 20-40 feet out of heather, fescue rough, wire grass or 'most anything else made of cellulose and not steel. I keep it around in case we get a rainy spell in late August and our Bermuda rough goes out of control until it dries off enough to run the rough mowers. But probably not, best to just aim for the fairway next week!

Regarding intimidation, as you will see next week with my game I ought to be intimidated by anyone who can break 80 from the back tees. But club professionals in particular aren't particularly unfamiliar to me. I have a friend who I've played an occasional round with over the years who is a teaching pro. It's always fun playing with someone who actually knows where his ball is going and even (usually) how far!

[Tony_Muldoon]

Sounds a great idea to me Brent.  The Professional, Andrew Brooks, is a real joy to meet and I have to believe any assistant he picked would be great to play a round with. Plus you will hopefully pick up some gossip re the Open to share with me - ok us.


Between the showers the weather is now just the temperature you prefer. See you next week.

[Brent Hutto]

Isn't the prevailing wind at Deal and Sandwich from the Southwest? Or something more or less Southerly anyway?

How does the course at Deal play in a stiff Northeast breeze? There's a forecast for 20-25mph on Wednesday (Princes) and Thursday (Royal St. Georges) with 10-20mph on Friday (Royal Cinque Ports) all from a North Northeast direction. That should be an adventure, no?

On the one hand it ought to make the closing four holes play pretty short but on the other it'll make all those fun hole (like the 6th) and easier holes (like the 3rd and 4th), well not so easy. Maybe still fun, though.

[Scott Warren]

Brent, others will disagree, but I staunchly believe the "prevailing" wind is a myth nowadays, but one that is still perpetuated in pretty much every media report I read (Golf World mentioned it just this month), probably thanks to lazy reporting overly-reliant on Google and Wikipedia.

The wind I have found to be most typical comes from the E/NE, with Northerlies probably next most common. But maybe that's just a recent phenomenon.

[Mark Chaplin]

The north easterly is a common winter wind and a tough summer wind and IMO far harder to score on than the usual "2 o'clock" back nine wind, 10-20mph is nothing to worry too much about though.

Have a good flight and see you at Tonbridge station tomorrow morning!

[Jamie Barber]

Agree with Scott, the wind on Sandwich bay is always moving. We had an almost 180 degree switch over about 6 holes a fortnight ago as the tide changed.

It's freshening quite a bit here now though so I think it'll make things interesting.

[Mark Chaplin]

Caddy Lee-Preston is forecasting chilling strong winds for the next few days.

[Jamie Barber]

MMMMMM Caddy Lee Preston. Nazaneen Ghaffar MMMMMM

[Scott Warren]

Neither of them holds a candle to Lucy Verasamy on Sky News. She and Charlotte Hawkins on the screen together... end of argument.

[Brent Hutto]

I'm figuring on having the full experience that my friend had in 2006, playing Princes and then Sandwich in the wind with summer rough.

Of course he actually knows how to control his ball...or thought so until that week at the Amateur.