Probably one of the biggest single day golf events I have been involved with on course with the Mick Fanning Charity Golf Day at our club today.  I have certainly seen more sponsors covering more holes but the efforts of the sponsors to do something unique for the day was exceptional.  Not often I sit in my office to the ''doof doof'' of the RedBull disco on 11W tee and every so often the sounds of the Mirarchi band entertaining the players wafting across the course.  A perfect day of weather for the event and a very professional organising team who co-ordinated the day very well and fortunately the course was probably as dry as it's been for some time, especially given the size of some of the displays we had to get out on course.  And at the end of the day there was one empty can and two pieces of rubbish that hadn't been binned out on the courses and they have been left in a state that you would barely know anything happened out there.

NTP circle Balter style.  Hand drawn as well!!

Hmmmm the perfect day!!

Lululemon Airstream @ 4RT.

The Mad Hueys @ 2RT.

RedBull disco truck @ 11RT.

 

A big crowd on hand for the 18R shootout.

Speaking of the dryness of the course and not sure if you have seen the video at Grafton GC where they showed the second fairway and it was just mush.  They have only been able to play the course a handful of times since the first flood.  There are a number of high level clubs in Sydney that are carry bag only and quite a few that are nine holes only.  We are still as wet as I have seen it considering no rain for four or five days and that is one of the driest runs we have had this year!!  The greens are holding up really well but the fairways are still very soft and have some long term damage from the cart and pull buggy traffic.

The National Golf Foundation is an organisation in the USA that collects and analyses data for distribution throughout the golf industry.  I was staggered to read the following figures which perhaps shows why the equipment companies have so much leverage in the sport with a lot of business at stake.   Since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, we’ve chronicled the increase in active golf engagement – both participation and play. Broadly speaking, almost 1-in-9 Americans are active golfers, whether that’s playing on a golf course, hitting balls at a driving range, or swinging and socializing at a golf entertainment venue like Topgolf.

That’s 37.5 million in total, making golf one of the leading U.S. participation sports. Consider that more people played golf in some form last year than participated in basketball, baseball, tennis, soccer or skiing.    Amazing figures.