Old Hooky is just one of the real ales brewed by Hook Norton Brewery, Oxon, they have 47 pubs with a visitor centre and museum that is open to the public.
Hook Norton brew a range of core beers throughout the year and then seasonal ales and commemorative special brews.
Old Hooky is 4.6% ABV, was Gold Medal winner at The International Beer Challenge in 2009 and the brewers themselves describe it as “A beautifully beautifully balanced beer, fruity by nature, with a well-rounded body and the suggestive echo of Crystal Malt.”!!

Located only 4 miles from the brewery is Tadmarton Heath Golf Club and with a clubhouse that looks like this it is surely irresistible. *

The course itself sounds a delight too, The Times Guide to Golf Courses of Britain & Ireland describing it in glowing terms, “Tadmarton is for the traditionalist, for whom finesse is of greater importance than power…….plotting a way through holes…….which gives the connoisseur particular satisfaction.”

In the days of bomb & gouge this sounds an idyllic throwback to golfing days of old.
Donald Steel the renowned golf architect and writer has provided an evocative introduction to the course and if that doesn’t invoke a desire to look up Tadmarton Heath then you have no golfing soul

* I hope Tadmarton Heath GC does not object to my use of the photo of it’s clubhouse but if so I’ll happily remove it from the post.

Have you seen our Free customisable (is that a word? guide to all the Major winners and golf courses that have held Majors? Further details here!

Step forward therefore The Indoor Cafe Bar Leeds, as I mentioned in my last post I discovered this place and was very impressed, particularly with the practice settings on the simulator creating a virtual range. This got me thinking of the pros and cons of indoor practice on the simulator over a traditional driving range.

The most obvious advantage of the simulator is that it is inside and warm, let’s face it ranges are pretty bleak places, particularly on a dark wet Tuesday night in December. But beyond that I think the simulator has a particular advantage in that I always find it tricky to gauge the wind strength and direction from the range bays and if you don’t want to practice in a strong left to right wind then sometimes you might as well go home. On the simulator you can set the wind strength and direction to suit, which is an excellent option.

Range golf balls are notoriously iffy, even if they are in good condition many ranges now use golf balls that only fly a percentage of a “proper” ball. That’s just no use at all for practising distance control and besides the trajectory and flight of range balls is completely different to the ball you would choose to play in the course. On the simulator you can use your own ProV1s or whatever.

With inconsistent range balls it is difficult to gauge any meaningful feedback from a practice session without keeping a regular log and analysing over a period of time but the simulator gives instant feedback on every shot both accurate numerical data regarding distance, spin rates, direction etc but also a visual feedback. This shows a representation of every shot so it is very easy to identify patterns and trends in your shot making.

The range does have the edge on cost, on average the ranges I visit charge typically £3.00 for 50 balls that I usually take about 45 minutes to hit. The simulator, however, charges a practice rate of £10 per half hour.

NB. I cannot guarantee you a game on The Old Course but I can offer you a free round of golf on your birthday. See our free report. 

A quick whirl around The Old Course gave me enough memories to be able to say during The Open this summer “When I played The Road Hole I kept it out of the bunker and off the road!”

Actually I had used an indoor golf simulator before, abut 7 years ago but the quality of the graphics and accuracy left a lot to be desired. This experience was, however, much more like the real thing and I really enjoyed it. The added bonus was that the weather outside was horrendous, all the local golf courses were closed and the driving range wasn’t an attractive proposition.

In fact, Nick the Pro, showed me how the simulator can be set up on driving range mode so some serious work on your golf game can be undertaken indoors with the machine accurately measuring ball flight, trajectory, spin rates, carry distance etc.

So, for those golfers in urgent need of a fix or if you just want a laugh with your mates Leeds Cafe Bar Golf is an excellent location. City Centre Leeds very near the railway station.

The prices are reasonable (£20 - £30/hour depending when in the week you visit) and with Sky Sports on a big screen, good food and drink available I do recommend having a look particularly in the evening, the bar has a great number of social events organised for individuals and groups.

As a greenfee deal this represents excellent value, particularly for a fourball.

NB. I cannot guarantee you a game on The Old Course but I can offer you a free round of golf on your birthday. See our free report.

I just cannot understand why the marshalls put up with it or the rest of the gallery tolerate these idiots.

So, I’m proposing a zero tolerance policy of ejecting the clowns from the Championship as soon as these utterances spout forth.

To be named “Hoik the Oik” let’s hope the policy can be extended to all golf tournaments and the real golf fans can enjoy the action in peace.

Revised 2010

This idea was well received last year so I’m hoping we can continue the good work and reclaim the fairways for the real, appreciative golf fans.
Actually watching the PGA Tour on TV this season I haven’t noticed as many of these half wits as usual so maybe we are fighting back.
Just hope vuvuzelas don’t make an appearance at Pebble Beach!

If you are on twitter please “Tweet This” and RT Hoik the Oik 

Have you seen our Free customisable (is that a word? guide to all the Major winners and golf courses that have held Majors? Further details here!

In true golfer style we even got a claim for The Players Championship to be counted as the fifth Major! Nice one Sergio I mean @mchamberlin

http://twitter.com/mchamberlin - “Does TPC at Sawgrass count? They sometimes call it the fifth major, right?”

and I wonder if @davechen has qualified for the US Open this year?

http://twitter.com/davechen - “haven’t played any major course yet, but I should be playing Congressional some time soon.”

My twitter profile is http://twitter.com/greenfee look me up and twit some golf with me, if you haven’t got a clue what I’m talking about this link should help you out.

* I don’t think these courses have held a Major but they may go under a different name. Did you know that 114 different golf courses have held “Majors” for the full list on the free download go here.

It would be great to hear comments, courses played and twitter username below and I’ll be happy to include them.

The document is available free for you to download just click here or on the cover of the book. I hope you find the data as fascinating as I have.
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* Updated to include Phil Mickelson’s 2010 Masters win.

Researching this further I found over 320 clubs offering Free Birthday Golf
(all in the US & Canada I’m afraid, UK wake up!!) and I’ve put them together in a report.

Check it out and claim your free rounds. Click here or on the book cover.

The idea requires you to register with the course online and you get a day pass or voucher to be used on or around your birthday or in the case of winter birthdays a more suitable time when the weather is improved.

Now, I appreciate that club will send you follow up emails etc but lets face it we get so much spam and rubbish anyway we might as well get some information about something we are actually interested in for once!

A criticism I have of golf clubs, particularly in the UK, is that in general they are pretty poor and unimaginative in their marketing but this innovative approach creates a win win situation for all concerned. The club gets to showcase it’s course, clubhouse, facilities and atmosphere and the golfer gets to enjoy a memorable free day out and may well come back again in the future. Loss leaders have been used successfully by business for many years to tempt customers into trying their products for many years and I’m sure golf clubs would make up any reduction in revenue very quickly as word got round.

As all golf clubs are facing a very difficult and uncertain financial future it’s great to see something different being tried.

These must represent the ultimate great golf green fee deal!

Don’t get me wrong I love watching Tiger Woods play golf but heretical as this may seem only when he’s in contention and when he’s actually playing. Unbelievably during the weather interrupted 2008 PGA Championship SKY TV in the UK showed a re-run of Tiger and Rocco Mediate in the US Open. Even when Tiger isn’t in the tournament the media find a way of squeezing him in somewhere!
Similarly, we had endless speculation as to whether the US Ryder Cup team would miss him. When the team played magnificently and won the cup we even had analysis into whether Tiger would have enhanced the victory.

I accept Tiger Woods is a magnificent golfer and if he ever wins 19 majors I’ll concede he’s the best ever but in the meantime I wish the media would give a more balanced coverage to the game and remember golf has been played for centuries and will continue to be played long after the Tiger Woods era.

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I’ve mentioned Seaton Carew GC before in a blog post but it wasn’t until recently that I’d actually played the course and I’ve got to say
WHAT A MAGNIFICENT GOLF COURSE!!!

At that time I referred to it in a context of urban golf due to the industrial skyline but I can honestly say that doesn’t detract from the golfing experience one bit.

So let me explain the deal and then I’ll wax lyrical about the course:

Monday – Friday October 27th – March 27th between 09:30 and 10:30. £20.00 for coffee and bacon butties and 18 holes on the 10th oldest golf course in England, a genuine championship links that will test your golf, stamina and character.

The course itself has 22 holes that are configured into the “Old Course” 1-18 holes and then a possible 4 other layouts. As you would imagine of a traditional links the wind is a massive factor out on the links and as the Old Course is a straight out and back layout you are fighting the wind for at least half of your round. It is true to say that you never quite get back any luck playing with the wind that you lost playing into!
Add into the mix sand dunes, heavy rough, gorse, slick undulating greens and deep links bunkers and you get a stern examination of your game.

Here is an extract from the club’s website to give you a flavour of what to expect:

Don’t be put off by the industrial surroundings of chimneys and chemical works; this excellent golf course is one of the best in the East of England, a real MacKenzie treat. There are a few ridges of sand dunes and the fairways undulate gently, but otherwise this is a relatively flat links course, always at the mercy of the wind.

The 17th hole, called “Snag”, is one of the Club’s many great holes. The late Derek Hornby, a historian and author of the History of Seaton Carew, poetically described the 17th. “The seventeenth’s dangers are countless, beginning with whin, gorse and dune, the rough and gathering bunkers, and the green’s undulating tune. To veer even slightly is fatal, the cost distressingly high, many the cards that’s been torn up, just here with home, oh so nigh”.

So that’s the course but a mention ought to go to the welcome you will get at Seaton Carew. This is a most friendly golf club with members always willing to have a drink and chat. Whilst I was there last a gentleman told me a fascinating story of how the club had relaid the seventeenth green because generations of golfers playing out of the greenside bunker had gradually built up a ridge on the green with countless layers of sand. Obviously, that wasn’t in the original design and careful renovation using traditional methods was needed to restore the green to it’s original state.

I do urge you to look up Seaton Carew it’s a memorable experience.

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