Kalixa Golf Day 2011 - The Shire London Golf Club
September 23rd, 2011: The venue for the second Kalixa
Golf Day of the year was the beautiful Shire London Golf Club - the
only course in the UK designed by the late, great, Seve
Ballesteros. Located in Barnet, the course is just 30 minutes from
London Heathrow airport and just 2 miles from a Zone 5 tube
station, which all meant it was an ideal location for our
contingent of international guests from Italy and Austria; not
forgetting Kalixa-sponsored Paul Lawrie who once again joined us
for the day.
While it's not uncommon to have good weather in mid-September, I
don't think any of us could have imagined the outlook when we made
the booking earlier in the year. But when the day arrived, it could
easily have been the height of summer given the clear blue sky and
temperature of the sun
Guests were greeted with coffee and bacon rolls in a private
room overlooking the 18th green - a pleasant view were it not for
the worrying crescent-shaped lake protecting the front of the
green, hinting at the type of water hazards that mark out the
Ballesteros 'Masters' Course.
Despite his 4am alarm call and 500-plus mile trip, Paul was his
usual cheerful self, chatting to guests before hosting a short
informal discussion with the group, expanding on his own
experiences, his relationships with other tour players and the
achievements of the next generation of young golfers.
The format for the day was teams of three playing a Texas
Scramble, thereby allowing Paul to make up a four ball as he joined
each match to play a few holes. This encouraged the group to
interact with each other and provided more opportunities for the
less-consistent. This was aptly demonstrated on the island that is
the 1st green, where several of the matches saw their
choice of ball selection removed with multiple tee shots peppering
the fish in the lake!
The drama continued on the par 3 seventh, as the third match saw
one of our international guests score a hole-in-one, much to the
delight of all watching - including one spectator new to golf, who
then assumed that this was a common occurrence!
With beautiful weather and scenery, the guests took the
opportunity to enjoy drinks on the terrace and revel in watching
others take on the water surrounding the 18th. To the
delight of all attending, Paul also presented his Claret Jug
replica from his Open Championship win. It's hard to tell it's not
the original and golfers of all standards were queuing up for a
photo with the prized trophy.
Kalixa wasn't able to offer prizes on the day of quite the same
calibre, but the presentation concluded a great day and a great end
to the 2011 season. Kalixa looks forward to welcoming everyone back
again in 2012.
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