To quote Miller Barber: “I don’t say my golf game is bad; but if I grew tomatoes they’d come up sliced.”
Anyone who has had the misfortune to play with me will take into consideration that I am keen but not naturally talented when it comes to the sport.
I have always been a huge fan of the Royal Golf Club’s (RGC) nine-hole Wee Monty because it’s such a joy to play and perfect for a couple of hours of fun with friends, before a hearty breakfast at Café T and a day in the office.
I always considered the 18-hole big course would be better suited for, well, the better players, and shied away for fear of embarrassing myself once again as I wandered around in search of my lost balls.
The RGC’s head of Golf Operations, Sam Hobday, however, convinced me to give it another chance and test the recent well-documented improvements for myself. He insisted that the course changes had made it more enjoyable and playable for all level of players of the great game.
It would have been rude of me to decline the offer as I’d press-ganged his parents, Barry and Sarah, to play with me in the GDN Media team at the recent AMH Island Classic as last minute replacements and we had such a fun time.
I had also followed young Sam’s career with great interest as I first wrote about his sporting prowess back in 2010 when more than 70 youngsters competed in the Royal Golf Club Junior Open that saw the then 16-year old St Christopher’s School pupil clinch the overall title with a gross score of 80.
He moved to Bahrain in 1997, went through the collegiate system in the United States, before returning to Bahrain and becoming a professional golfer in 2016.
Whilst ambassador to the RGC, in January 2017 as a touring professional he played many different golf tours all over the world before joining the Troon family at the Riffa Views facility just months before the course was set to start on a whole new journey as an international attraction once again.
As reported in the GDN, The DP World Tour is set to return to the kingdom for the first time in 13 years with the Bahrain Championship scheduled to take place at RGC from February 1 to 4.
Its greens, fairways and bunkers have undergone an extensive redesign and overhaul that took almost seven months to complete.
Its partial course facelift was sculpted by leading European designers and carried out by the best project companies in the world, and it is more than ready to provide some of the biggest names in golf, such as former Ryder Cup Captain Thomas Bjorn, a truly world-class experience, general manager Juan Manuel Fuentes, earlier told the GDN in an exclusive interview.
The proof is in the pudding, so they say, or perhaps in these circumstances, the putting would be more apt!
The front nine greens are fantastic and the whole course is currently looking particularly lush. The construction work has resulted in reduced contouring, raising and levelling of the greens to create more pin positions to make for a fairer game, less hard for the new or occasional player but still challenging for the professionals.
Jamie Faulkner, the director of agronomy, deserves a well-earned pat on the back and when our paths crossed he was inspecting the bunkers shining in the sunshine and glistening in comparison to the greenery of the fairways and picturesque surroundings.
For someone known to spend a fair degree of time in them, I can guarantee the crushed marble is going to look stunning on camera when the world watches the Bahrain Championship action on the small screen from afar, as well as those lucky locals securing free tickets to watch it in person.
Talking of action, Sam and I were playing Pairs Scramble in advance of the National Day competition featuring members and guests competing in teams each consisting of a Bahraini and an expat.
Apparently, the only difference between a golfer and an angler is that when a golfer lies, he does not have to bring anything home to prove it. I almost had rock solid evidence ... I emphasise the word almost. I played a blinding 15-foot putt on the third hole, seconds before our videographer arrived. He had been delayed by a traffic snarl-up near Sitra and missed my magic moment but Sam was there to witness a fine piece of play after complimenting one of my drives, no less.
Of course, Sam’s golden chip on Hole 6 was captured in all its glory and no doubt the video evidence will go viral once we post it on social media.
However, I now proudly possess a completed card showing 3-Under, yes I repeat 3-Under, at the Royal Golf Club’s championship course. I’m going to get it framed.
Forget about your last round, today is the one that counts.
stanleyszecowka@gdnmedia.bh
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