Sam, Tom & Bruce are joined by Harry to talk about their time at The Golf House Club at Elie. The excitement from their afternoon should tell you all you need to know about this beaut of a links in Fife. It’s a wide ranging discussion from an afternoon in the sun, complete with information about the course, the iconic periscope and of course the grudge match. We also talk about our latest fit with TaylorMade and the new Stealth equipment which was in the bag!

hello and welcome back to another episode of the cookie jar golf podcast I
am Tom Mills and today I’m joined by Bruce Fitzpatrick
good evening do you think you could maybe just do me an introduction on one podcast one day
where you don’t you know what is such a precious little petal aren’t you come on
Tom get on with the podcast Sam Williams greetings Thomas pleasure to be here as always and a special guest
Harry Fitzpatrick brother of aforementioned Bruce Harry welcome to
the Pod gentlemen good evening pleased to be here what brings you to the jar Harry
what brings me to the jar well I’m actually um privileged to be on my second cookie jar tour
I think it was May 2021 I enjoyed my first tour with the Jaron I’ve clearly been better behaved this time because
now I’ve actually been invited on a podcast or rather offered a bit more band to this this time around but um
great fun today gents still the runner the runner of cookie jar the last time Harry came on tour I left and I forgot
to a third hole on a mountain back links which was Nan I realized I left my battery to my camera in the car Harry
you’re the runner mate we’ve got you here why don’t you jog back to the car it was about a mile away I like to think
that’s where I earned my stripes really that’s weird that’s where this appearance really began there’s nothing worse than doing this sort of one and a
half mile round jog back to the clubhouse when it’s minus three and you actually
build up a sweat there’s plans to actually freeze on your three or four days worth of free golf without con
without so much just picking up a camera to be fair I didn’t feel remember
you’ve got to cut your teeth haven’t you and you got it you’ve got to earn your stripes um
gentlemen what are we here to discuss we are on tour only a little I call it a
micro tour um we’re up in the St Andrews we’ve we’ve done a
um the purpose of our visit is a as a podcast that we’ve just recorded this morning and we’ve got that out of the
way and a little bit of play time and on the way up We we played Appleby which has been released already we did the
tour the course Diaries of apple b maybe maybe my releases before who knows
scheduling of podcasts now as well yeah yeah all of a sudden everything that I look after is chief executive the jiha
seems to be done oh here we go we’re opening up a can of worms yeah but we like to schedule live on air though and
we after our podcaster recorded this morning and we managed to get around at
Golf House Club otherwise known as Ely which was something I didn’t know a huge amount
about and I like to go into these things fairly with a fair amount of ignorance but
it was good well I’ve been very keen to see Ely
for some time and Bruce had taken over a bit of the logistics planning for this weekend so I
always like to take on the heavy Logistics it makes sense you know Saint Andrews
resident essentially aren’t you um and you said well where do we fancy playing on Saturday afternoon Saturday
is obviously difficult I think typically to play particularly in Scotland busy clubs members day
um but I did say I really like to see Ely to be fair with all the courses up here there’s no sounds I do I said I
said I’d really like I think I think I’ve had it on the record though I want I’m just saying I’ve always wanted to play second to Holland deal he’s been
the one that he’s always wanted yeah Holland and Healy are very much bucket list for me um
so yeah let me put you in charge of that and um yeah came up trumps and actually I think it’s
um it’s felt like a long time coming because we’ve really not had a sort of I know it’s a mini tour as you described
there Tom but we’ve not you know had sort of tall golf or played golf as a three for quite some time given you know
winter weather me starting work down in London sounds sort of frolicking off around various
golf trips here and there and um you know it’s it was just really nice to get back on on tour as it were yeah
you guys the last time we were all together was I suppose are fitting
which we which we we had with with a huge thank you to our friends over at
TaylorMade and we went down I think earlier on in the earth like early January wasn’t exactly yeah mid to like
mid to late January yeah we went down and and Danny Morris or Mickey as Rick
Shields would call him was uh putting us down in uh in Wentworth actually and um
and we got we got fit down there and and a few weeks later we got our clubs arriving we’ve never
really had the opportunity to to test I mean I think you know to be
fair it would be easy for people to think oh well you know three guys they all play a Blackwell together they must
play several times a week together the fact of the matter is I can’t remember the last time we played 18 holes of golf together
um it doesn’t happen that often so you know when we’re on tour typically is the time we do it and it was just nice yeah
I think we just we knew waking up this morning doing you know podcast with Peter Dawson and then going and playing
at Ely you just sometimes know you know today could be quite an enjoyable day and it’s fair to say it it absolutely
delivered in in every way didn’t it um so I don’t know what order we want to talk about I suggest we maybe
talk about Ely maybe did and and some other some of the fun and games around that yeah well you know keeping it light
and Breezy what’s your itinerary Bruce yeah well um I I think
to set the scene here have you played Ely before I have I played it a couple of times have you played Edie before I
have okay so it’s just me and Sam that hadn’t um so you see obviously you guys knew
what you were getting yourselves into but yeah but we all I knew about it was
a periscope literally that’s all I knew about it so what are your expectations going in based on what I told you what I
mean Sam I know you like to sort of read up on these things quite a bit before you yeah what are you expecting man marking
social channels we see a lot of pictures of golf courses so you know proximity to the sea was something that I was acutely
aware of you know felt like there’s some nice holes that are exposed to that um knew that it ran alongside the town
so I knew there’s the the 19th hole and there’s this sort of you know legendary Pub that people pop into after you know
a couple of holes is what I knew that transpires the third um the Periscope on the First Tee and and
apart from that just the fact that everyone I know that’s been to Ely really rates healing you know I’ve never
I’ve never heard anyone say yeah not for me or wasn’t it was all right I probably
wouldn’t rush back I’ve never heard that I’ve only ever heard glowing reports for me like so that’s usually a pretty
resounding Mark for it I think and the course itself
is old it’s like the third oldest golf course in the world yeah the actual course I
mean it’s the cause itself yeah undergone a lot of evolution but I think it dates to about the 16th century
um The Golf House Club was established quite a bit later in sort of 1875 but that you know we were lucky enough
um shout out to Jamie the uh the general manager who gave us a a little tour
around before we went out and played and um it’s just steeped in history and there’s there’s so much kind of brilliant memorabilia and like
historical artifacts that they’ve kind of beautifully preserved and it’s just it’s a very as great as the course is in
his picturesque as um you know that the setting is
The Golf House Club itself just is a fantastic Golf Club I think by all accounts the impression I got um from
just spending a bit of time there today lovely lovely Vibes yeah when you go into a pro shop that has got no golf
clubs on racks there’s I mean it’s minimalism in the bow shop to say the
very least it had an outstanding sock collection and that was about it really
yeah it really isn’t loads of stuff to buy in the Pro Shop but just a few bits you’re like this place is pure well it’s
just like doing the stuff but it’s doing it exactly and that’s what I mean it was just it wasn’t oversetting it’s just you
know the clubhouse and everything off the course to me was it’s just pure and okay so I’m front and center of the of
the whole experience really yeah the front side of the Pro Shop you go in they’ve got literally gloves hats balls
tees in in the time room and then this enormous Periscope in the middle of the
pro shop and I was like what on Earth is going on and I have at this point I mean even though you will pass in I’m
completely oblivious to everything in the world I haven’t clocked at the The First Tee shots blind
so you’re like did you think the Periscope was for then well this is it so like I haven’t really clocked where
you where the first hole was you’re like and you get well there’s parents go for and then you seeing people tee off
you’re like okay and then the the the the pro there is shouting out the
door right you’re ready to tee off now that’s picking that down the down the Periscope for everyone yeah you can go
now it was very very unique reputation of the jar was obviously you know the stock was high in five because you
didn’t seem to have too much difficulty getting us a tea time on a Saturday afternoon I thought that’s great I think that stock crumbled quite quickly when
Tom took over the Periscope said oh you can see out of it as well one of the most remarkable things I’ve
ever heard said in a pro shop um but they must have thought these these cookie jar crew are slightly
strength bunch I mean Sam I think has walked into the pro shop before we’ve gone and had some lunch I don’t even know if if he’s managed to utter the
words hello to the assistant we’ve always just made a b line and picked up a pair of long socks and a pair of short
socks which is extraordinary and two two bought logo balls for his ball rack just absolutely sort of dialed in I mean
seconds of crossing the threshold he’s already there ready to pay the poor bloke behind the desk is trying to you
know sign know that the people on the tail is actually ready to go he’s got one eye on the Periscope and one eye on Sam he’s like loading up logo balls
match play socks it was yeah it was sight to behold yeah
um and then Tom just completely oblivious to the sort of I don’t think I don’t think that I I was supposed to
just Bowl in and grab his Periscope I think that’s just uh well it’s part of the experience
you know because it’s iconic and anyone who goes you know plays there that is something that you just have to go and kind of uh just just look through and
it’s just a great feature really and there’s a nice little sort of board um to the side just talking about the
history of it and I think they purchased it for like sort of 75 pounds from the Navy or some deep Mission ship maybe
I’ve got a history slightly skew there but um yeah it’s it’s just a really cool way to start the round
um also shout out to uh the kitchen who delivered a phenomenal coronation
chicken panini which coronation chicken is something just does does not appear enough in golf clubs for me and if it’s
on the menu it gets purchased it was very very lovely a little Superstition it’s usually a good day yeah it’s a good
day if you’ve got coronation last time we ever did a filming job we had coronation chicken and subsequently if we’re together on tour and it’s on the
menu you have to order it don’t you yeah I couldn’t turn down the bacon bring cranberry we digress Gentlemen let’s
talk about the golf yes um the course I mean I I’m just gonna
preface this with like I was absolutely Blown Away by the golf course at elay
how do you want to do it do you want to talk about the course do you want to talk about the match we’ve had and we want to think about you know what we’re
playing for I I I don’t know okay we’ll we’ll do this chronologically yeah so we
played a little match play me and Harold against which is always me and Harold
even the last tour was me and Harold versus Bruce and the salmon are in a better ball format but at the same time
um there’s a video that that’ll be on social media
um very shortly to accompany this podcast which was uh one of the boxes the tailor-made centers
um had a rather wonderful probably six inch opening Sheamus
TaylorMade stealth leather leather pencil bag it’s single strap
shame as a I mean great great maker of bags and you know accessories and stuff
and the video for the little PR boxes very lucky to get our hands on that I mean that was
yeah it’s right up our alley of sort of you know the kind of traditional so we have to think about it and I mean I must admit I’d love to say you know I would
take credit for this give it away but I’d rather keep it no no no I’d love to take credit for the
idea but actually Graham Graham at TaylorMade said you know well I saw those you know we had these Sheamus bags
like I’ve got to get you guys one that’s all and he said I thought it’d be really cool if you guys just played a few matches with it as well like you know
keep it alternating I was like yeah that’s that’s a great shout actually so we agreed that amongst the jar and sadly
Harold is not an official member of the jar so he’s unable to win even though he would have taken out uh Harry so this is
a jar related conversation um and who said I’ll winner of the job with the winner of today in terms of
just a separate stable for the thing we’re playing gets the bag and then every time we play as a three we play
for the play for the stealth bag each other was pretty sweet so that’s like a little add-on to it anyway so yeah there
was a little little micro game taken on so we decided that on the First Tee and
uh Heaven’s opened I’d say just just a little bit just for 10 minutes just in the First Tee but yeah got to the second
shots wasn’t it that was literally it was just turned into glorious Sunshine pretty much for the
entirety of the afternoon a good a good healthy wind across the links but um but
for Glory of sunshine really and I think
I think it’s a shock to the system when you get to the first green uh Ely and you you’re looking at the we
had a with a front front pin it was we all pretty much had downhill putts when you’ve got basically no idea on how to
stop the ball anywhere near unbelievable absolutely
glass but the land’s Sublime isn’t it like yeah back to the original Point they’ve played golf here you know from
the you know 1500s 1600s you know this is It’s kind of in in the same fold of
old Course North Beric in terms of the you know the provenance of the land
itself that you’re playing on it’s just pure golfing terrain like it’s and it’s
a strange one isn’t it because obviously North Barrack being East Lothian you
know they’re in different parts of Scotland well they’re only looking they’re quite close together and they’re
overlooking North Barrack from Italy you can see bass Rock it’s you know you’re looking straight across at North Barrack
pretty much from the second so the second is that sort of elevated path forward it’s probably drivable for you
for you big boys um but you get up to the top and you get this reveal as you get onto that second
green where you get a whole town you get the crashing waves and then you can see you know bass Rock North Barrack and all
that stuff and you know in and all that area is just absolutely blessed with the lynx Turf I
should just interject that you mentioned reveals and I think today Harriet’s Beth say it was a bit of a baptism of fire
for you wasn’t it in terms of golf course architecture lexicon you know just plenty of your thoughts on that oh
yeah I think we need to be careful here not to when we’re not jumping it too far ahead um but the the reveals that Eli are
something to behold I think the juicy term that you have the trans the transitions as well is something I’m
sure Sam will come on to and you know uh only sort of um surpassed by the number of quality half power holes
it was an education today and um no it was an absolute absolute Delight I think
yeah but for me that what came across other than what was most impressive is I think the first time I played it was
August time and we had a cracking day it was it was beautiful weather and the wind was up I think is the elite
terminology when the wind’s up at Ely there’s nowhere there’s nowhere better but the condition of the course today is
March it’s been tricky we had a downpour yesterday and you would not have been able to tell that the the turf is
perfect and it was rolling firm and fast all right so pop quiz
you you’ve been around jar members for for the last what 24 hours and
Sam’s got a habit of making up so let’s imagine that people don’t know what those terms are explain to me one
what’s a reveal well to be honest I’m not sure I actually fully understand but I would
take the reveal to be is where you approach something that is
potentially partially blind and for instance the second whole you’re playing
up towards a raised green that that hides a lot behind it and I think the reveal that a lot of people would say is
the expanse Behind the Green um and and the the the scenery that you
have behind it as Tom mentioned bass Rock and this is an exam style answer I’m really trying to Waffle along
take a pick up as many marks as I can here but that was my understanding
um transitions have we got we’ve got a correct answer does he get marked on this yeah I’ll give them that’s good okay he’s getting
he’s got a good grasp on this stuff okay transition what’s a transition
again I couldn’t really get too excited by this one but I’m I think it it mostly
refers to finishing one hole and starting the next which you know the
routing of a course is extremely important I think that’s what Ely does so well in in in in in in in the main
but I think yeah the the transitions that Sam was waxing lyrical by the third
hole I did need to remind him Sam we have I don’t think we’ve had enough of these transitions to really be sure that
they are quote the best he has ever seen is that a fair comment that’s a perfect
segue actually because um you know those of our most attentive listeners
will know that that we always like to have a bit of competition when we’re on tour amongst the jar there’s always a fair bit of jousting and passive play
um and you know if anyone was layering assumption that having not played golf for a few months together as a as a full
compliment we might just sort of you know enjoy the moment and keep it relaxed and chilled and he’s just
embracing one another’s company and enjoying good conversation you’d be sorely mistaken there because uh yeah in
keeping with tradition the Sam was absolutely just dialed in from the get-go uh after a couple of putts went
went awry on the first few holes he is his sort of pace of play picked up by about a good sort of factor of maybe I
don’t know 20 25 or so and he was really really frog March yeah so it’s good that
nothing’s changed no by the fourth hole Yeah
The Tee Box of the fourth hole we you’ll hear our t-shirts and you just you just
went but the tables we’re not going to get around here
he’s an incident where we almost had the equivalent of what would be a Streaker so we had someone come up and came over
to me with his arm extended shook my hand and said Jimmy I said
oh yeah I’m Tom nice to meet you Jimmy he said no you’re Jimmy I’m Jimmy no Tom
great to meet you Tom okay let me shook everybody’s hand and he’s like oh well I’m really glad to meet you because I
only met Kevin and then I had met George I said I’m really sorry I don’t know what you’re talking about he’s like you
want Jimmy I said no I’m Tom you guys had thought somebody has got wind like
almost like a tiger practice round at the open someone had caught wind that the cookie jar boys with three holes
into an exhibition we’re getting free cash down to the fourth and started to build you know I think you know scenes
of Cyprus Point with you know Venturian Ward was sort of starting to spring to mind that this guy come out to watch us
and he was like oh no it’s the grip behind isn’t it it’s like yeah he’s just wanted the group behind us but at this point me and Harry are kind of in
stitches that were like what’s gone on and we’re we’re just sort of trying to point this guy in the right direction
and Sam’s off without the Fairway just marching away we’re never going to make this voice so I think I think no no
names in in absolute fairness um but Bruce is a heinously slow goal for at times
point Express and Alignment alignments on golf ball yeah
alignment you know yes exactly it’s like aim Point full version
um and jokes aside you know we’ve obviously
talked on this podcast before about you know East lothium 20 miles or 10 miles whatever across the Estuary and um
you know these guys like to play quick it’s a Saturday afternoon there’s rugby on they probably want to get around and
I was acutely aware of that and these you know back to the point of you know great golf clubs are welcoming places
you know bad golf clubs don’t make you feel welcome Ely could not have made you
feel more welcome and these guys who are a tubal we weren’t slow we were playing quite quick golf
clearly made a conscious effort to actually not just dial not buy any
pressure to us because they would have definitely caught us up and we let them through I think eventually on about the 13th or 14th I want to say but you know
the fact that they just clearly made no effort to put any pressure up behind us I was just like
that was just a really nice touch of that we had to go we were just because I think I wanted to Ping the Drone about a bit and I was yeah I was like we had to
go out of our way to try and get these guys to come through it was like yeah dude you wanted to come through yeah but it’s quite quiet in general wasn’t it I
think the course isn’t sort of overly packed and and everyone’s just you know everyone who did see out there was so
welcoming and friendly and just all enjoying a really nice like sort of Saturday afternoon in March in the sun
on on a fantastic golf course but that’s the original point I was really excited about seeing Ely
um you know I kind of thought it was going to be a good day I don’t think any anything prepared me for quite how good
I thought the course was I I you know you we threw some stuff around on the
course I’m talking about it you know for me it’s it’s you know I said it’s my number
two and five you know I put that out there straight away um I’d say it’s probably the best courses we’ve played on tour
I I was I was genuinely in awe of some of the holes the fact that just at a really at a macro level that course is
two par threes and 16 par fours and at no point are you aware that you’re just
playing path or after Par Four like you’re just never aware of it and I think to to have a course where it feels
like that and it’s maybe back to your point Harry of when the wind’s up at elay it’s good because the routing has really varied in terms of the directions
you’re playing against yeah Jokes Aside there’s a lot of half power holes
there’s not 16 part fours because there’s like there’s a there’s there was about 3.5 there were about eight Par
Four Point fives yeah so so yeah but they are genuine half part I you know
the back nine I think I made like one par on the back nine because there’s loads of really scorable like
semi-reachable or scorable fours oh no I’m not sure and there’s loads of really
tough ones as well though I think no well actually I think I probably flip that round and say a UK is slightly
dependent on wind but I think by and large the front nine seems Seems more scorable
um in terms of the selection of par fours that you have there like one okay it’s a slightly blind tee shot but you
know you get a good t-shirt away on two it’s fairly short you can get up and down make make your birdie there
um three is is a long and a tough par three there but then as you start going through sort of four five six seven
there’s some chances um but yeah I mean I totally agree with the point you’re making which is that the
variety of holes the structure on the turn is just Sublime isn’t it you know that
we’re not really good reviews
back to eclectic 18 you know and there’s an immediate revision on um my eclectic 18. you know that that
just goes straight in 10. yeah this is one of the most passionate and
no I’d have to have a hole from Ali now my collection I couldn’t I couldn’t sleep
well this time yeah it was on mine but I think I said
yeah it was a simple decision to make it doesn’t need a lot of rework and I could probably go back to drawing board a more
complicated way but there are holes at Ely that I would like you know no but there are genuinely really good
contenders I thought there are some really really really good golf holes 13
Ely is an outstanding golf hole but really good like I know I know there’s
no shortage of hyperbole from me it’s genuinely like crazy good goal
feeling like crazy well I think but it’s interesting because I think the as you say like
I don’t know it’s maybe not a fair comparison but somewhere like a North Barrack where maybe uh forgive me if
this isn’t totally wider the markers as sort of amateur psychoanalysis exercise but you know North Barrett was something somewhere that you’d seen obviously
quite a lot on on social media and and various other channels where you kind of um you know looking at a lot of the
holes there in detail and you’ve got a fair preview of that before you even played I wonder whether with Ely
you know maybe not having seen quite as much coverage there it’s just it as you say not it kind of knocks you for six
really when you go there because you’re like wow I just I just didn’t really know what to expect and um this is just incredible like the the
mixture of of sort of strategic varied golf with stunning vista’s uh brilliant
backdrops you know half bar holes reveals and and actually on the point
about transitions it never actually feels like much of a slog like it’s fair to say it’s not a
championship course but that is just a totally positive attribute I think in this instance because it just feels like
the easiest walk um going you just you can just skip around there you could cut out holes
play different Loops if you wanted um it’s just a it’s just really really fun to go and play yeah it was good and
uh of course we were we were we were playing two different forms of matches across this wonderful links and
uh Harold and I battled well for 10 11 holes and then
kind of got the screw turned on us a little bit didn’t we Harold and they kind of got a couple up well yeah Sam just started burying putts
really I think you know we uh we felt like we played the better golf on the day but then suddenly
these putts are dropping from all over the shop and you know Testament to Elise greens when I think I can’t remember
which hole was it where two consecutive sort of 25 foot as we can 14 14 I think
and then I I you left yeah which yeah it’s a testament to the quality of the
surfaces really when you get when you get Sam Williams on a pure on a pure surface it’s just no hiding from him
with this 14 was the whole we let the two ball through and uh we’d all hit Source it’s decent drives down there and
then they they the etiquette was Sublime because they got to the green they’re very sharply moved off because we let
them through and they played 15 and we all put our approaches to
on the green to to possible distances and Sam’s walking all the way up the Fairway Road do you think they think we’re ball Strikers they must look at
some big ball Strikers though Harry Styles he was going standards boys I
mean this is just standards of play is just this is this is Sublime cookie jar
stopped rising in five again now after Tom’s remarks that he can see out of
periscope you know all of a sudden stock was Rising once again but um yeah it was
a good match though do you think it was really 16 and Harold stood on 16 and he
turned to me as partner and we were two down with three to play he said come on now let’s bury them which I thought was
ambitious an ambitious statement but um yeah we won 116. nice little birdie
there birdie from Harold this is going to be a lot about Harry um and then clutch power save on 17.
robbery there actually yeah it needed all of the right lip to help that one into the hole absolutely what did you
think it was sort of 20 foot ah I say 12 or 12 feet or so 25 30. very easy yeah
yeah it’s on the ground check it out uh Power saved it to take it to dormi and then um I managed to
to close out on 18 win 18 for half half a an extremely clutch like probably 50
50 footer like it was probably born at three yeah
before that three got it done it’s true gate
18’s a drivable um part four it’s 360 and it was it was a
mad down win and on the Tee Box all these three boys are giving it I think driver’s gonna be too much
they’ve all hit pretty pretty pretty good shots down there we all had miles left in I don’t know whether temperature
just dropped but uh I think the ball strike it was all pretty pretty solid to be fair it was a it was a good match
where there was no because I remember you saying on I think the fourth or fifth hole you said oh anytime you make
two birdies on one in a group make two birdies on one hole
and you said that and once you said that it was like the floodgates had opened to birdies because I think the next time we
looked we’ve done something like eight or nine birdies in the space for about four holes or something like it was it had gone wild uh so it was a really good
match it was good standard but yeah I want to come back actually a little bit to uh standing golf but I I want to just
linger a little bit more on the course if it indulge me um I’d much rather indulge you on on
your you know um Hyperbole and Just lording Praise on the course than lording praise in your own golf so
absolutely yeah yeah I encourage the former okay so
I’m curious to know uh your favorite couple of holes or so Atelier just just talk about some of the highlights of the
actual course itself because I think otherwise we’re in dangerous skipping past it with some you know banter about the match and stuff you know I do whilst
we’ve got the opportunity I do want to just talk about some of the favorite holes because I suspect they might all be different I suspect there’ll be ones
I buried for me I just think that’s the naturally the type of character I am but um yeah Mills why don’t you kicks off
um okay I think we need to ban any of us picking
10 because it was tens is just amazing so I think it’s too easy to say 10 and
I’m gonna go with six which is a 300 yard par forward plays
downhill you open these well you can see about 200 yards of it you reckon and then then it kind of goes over a Crest and you
lose the last hundred yards from The Tee Box you can’t see that but in that last hundred yards it is littered absolutely
littered with bunkers so if you try and take something on you know that goes beyond 200 yards you
are yeah you are literally well as the person who played the course you know a couple of times
um previously and obviously he was more than happy to give out some some course
management advice to you guys I uh I told you all that it was probably about four around about 200 yards shuttle so
that you wanted to lay up well short the bunkers and then proceeded to just totally ignore my own advice hit a really nice two Iron Dead out the screws
the only one who hit a relatively straight t-shirt off that hole right at the lip of a bunker and took six while
you guys all just sort of you know fanned it a little bit here and there knocked it on the green and uh and
Maggie birdies in your path so so yeah I totally agree with you on that he’s a very good a really good hole you could
hear anything of yeah eight iron up to driver in the bag off the tee which you
know we’ll know from you know my previous rhetoric on this podcast has been you know equality I think is
particularly desirable in a golf hole Yeah like the old like the old course 12th or or the fourth at St George’s
Hill anything you can play literally any club off it’s really all Hal
the thing is that you know we band 10 I feel like we almost need to ban 13 as well yeah we do the problem is 13 is
just absolutely my favorite I knew that going in I remembered that that hole from the last time I played it was
probably three or four years ago now that I I played the course but it is it is difficult to ignore that corner that
you that you play into and we that’s why we let the chaps through um and we were we were more than happy
to spend an extra few minutes in that part of the course weren’t we yeah 13’s uh it’s a brilliant little like shortish
powerful but the green is just I don’t know if it’s short it’s spicy is it not sure I think it’s touching forward it’s
a decent length yeah yeah it’s probably about 380 as I’d say maybe
400 um spicy very very generous width of favor you played almost through a little
channel of where the sort of sand Bank off the shore is up on the left and you know the profile of the ground raises up
on the right as well so you always got this little sort of half pipe you play through but then it’s the approach to the green where you’ve got this
you know massive elevation change I think and the green runs front right to back left and anything that is you know
anything like short of the angle you’re coming in on will find you you know what
you were there Tom were you like I’d say below you couldn’t see the but you
couldn’t see the box I think I pitched about eight yards away from the pin and
it just got spatter and rejected because I’ve pitched straight into the upslope of that big animation just kicked it
left into a little bowl and I’m yeah I’m I’m I finish about under 10 12 yards from the from the pin
and I and I can’t see it basically a huge sort of cliffs as well that
massive dramatic Cliff yeah so you see throughout most of the the course you’re right on that East Nook yeah it’s just
uh yeah well yeah what was yours Sam
I really thought about um great that’s your idea yeah no
I’ll jump in um I think the reveal off the second
degree is just incredible like I think that is where you really for me it really it feels like you’re just like
wow this is such a spectacular Place uh as you kind of walk up onto the the second Green Third t as well that’s just
a fantastic you know high point of the course where you’re looking at you can see the town below
um the 19th Hole actually yeah not that far away where we popped in for a drink after the round and a bite to each
really really cool that’s also probably one of my favorite holes that’s a one hell of a one hell of
a booze of that yeah um oh yeah I think that that that for me it’s a good home
um I mean coming back to it I think we would we’ve taken a few out of play for me which is which makes the exercise not
trickier because there’s a lot I’m I’m gonna say actually I think three
is an incredibly good path three-hole uh there’s only two par threes at Ely
but I thought three was really good you know downhill pre-stand test mental like
run into the green on that front right um and it’s a true Bank up to the right
and I was in the bunker on the left I did a horrible shot really to be honest but I was in the bank and I
didn’t hear particularly good bunker shot either but I was consciously trying to play the bunker shot way past the
flag to almost because you could see it just pitch and roll back and yeah that’s just a really fun you’ve got the wall
behind and everything and just just remind me the third is the one just before you marched off down the fourth
Fairway and wouldn’t speak to anyone he was already marching down three actually the the concerns around pace of play and
just you know full disclosure we finished with about an hour of daylight to spare yeah so so these concerns were
totally unfair someone’s got to keep you moving at a golf course these comments will stick about places
yeah um and and and I just want to maybe just talk a little bit about our own game and
stuff because almost at that point in the season now where it’s starting to feel like we’re closer to the golfing
season um which you know if I’m honest you know I think we’ve all hit the ball pretty
good today you know I you know the best best I’ve seen it off the tea Tom for a kickoff I think you too let’s see
you guys are driving it both a lot better uh and I know that might sound like awesome marketing Guff whatever no
I genuinely think that both you guys are driving it significantly better I think you know Sam you’re the the driver set
up that you’ve got the moment uh as much as you love the sort of aesthetic visual Flex of having a bright orange tour a d
shaft in your driver which is fantastic I agree he’s going to tell you it genuinely works for you very well he’s going to take his extra stuff in a
minute and you’re taking you know yeah um look good and Tom I mean again like
same thing the launch you’re getting on it is just just a lot better just very quickly on this though because I mean like I think one thing it would be fair
to say on this podcast and keep me honest on this place but we are I think we are very mindful that
there is no shortage of marketing advertising stuff that happens
through golf stuff you know guns for hire and we’ve always been very conscious about any Partnerships and
stuff and and really kind of doing any of that stuff because it just it feels inauthentic at times yes no we’re very
lucky to have a very good relationship with the guys at TaylorMade who support us like what we do
um you know we like clubs and stuff and provide it but it’s also not on the basis that we have to Ram it down your
throats every 15 minutes what I will say is going and getting and spending a couple of hours down with with Danny or
Mickey um getting fit for for clubs a few weeks ago and really dialing in on the woods
and the and the long irons so like two irons and the Fairway woods and the driver
that’s not a massive benefit for me like I maybe got fitted for the Sim tool a little hastily because we did the full
bag but you know and I hit it a lot better when I went down I had that second run of the fitting and I feel
like subsequently I’ve now got a really good setup in the driver where yeah it’s just not spinning as much I
used to feel like I’d hit the ball really good but I just the high right spinner and that’s gone now like that
like it’s really good like yeah kit solid like I mean I really I mean I’m not stealth plus which is the low
spinning head you’ve got the stock one which is slightly higher spin
I I don’t feel like it’s hard to control that stealth plus I’m conscious that it’s maybe a bit tougher to get the face
under control because there’s not maybe as much forgiveness in the head I don’t know if that’s I think a totally okay points
there about how having a bit more time for us to spend on on the woods and Driver as opposed to
trying to do the whole bag absolutely really beneficial added to which you know the relationship we kind of have with Danny I think that’s the most
important you know him knowing our games a bit more and I think he really just speaks to having a really great fitter
who knows what they’re talking about and and you’ve kind of got a sort of and they’ve got an understanding of your game and you have some sort of
relationship with them and say well look this is the typical Miss on the course and this is what I’m really this is what I don’t like about my
current setup and being able to you know have that conversation and Come Away
with just like a brilliant a brilliant setup that that um you know
suit yourself I mean I’ve never carried a three wood so I’ve put three wood in the bag we’ve
got five wood um as well and two iron but like it’s
I don’t know how much the tech is really that that it’s obviously really
important but the important part for me is I go and see see someone who knows my game and it’s like yeah so we give you
this last time how’s it working how do you feel what’s the bad shots what’s what are you doing you talk it through
and through the process of being through it twice with the same person he’s like okay well we can tweak that we can
change this a little bit let’s make sure we get this like and and it’s just a refinement this is getting that for you
and that whole process I I haven’t hit um in my Woods as well as as though I
hit these and we’ve had you know we’ve had you know there’s been other people in in golf industry that you know very
one thing he quickly realized during the stuff and maybe it’s going off on a slight tangent but yeah people are very
willing to give product and service to you but there’s always an expectation back and I think you know we are lucky
there with the guys at TaylorMade because they what they do do is it’s just like it’s absolutely fine and more than anything there’s just a curiosity
of like how he finds it do you rate the product I think it’s quite good this driver you know really happy with that it was really excited about the new milk
around three wedges you’ve got the new so we haven’t got ours yet but you’re like yeah these are a step
forward these are yeah like you know a bit more sort of voc or whatever you
know they’re these are really good wedges prefer the shape a bit more kind of shapes your eyes loads of interaction with like I feel like it’s got a much
better interaction with the turf I could just nip it off like that I didn’t chip
on was it 14 or 15 today which was on the tightest lie and I was just like I
feel quite confident I could just pick this and just like Razz it in there a little bit more cool bunch of guys
and never say to you like yeah and by the way can you you know Flood YouTube some fitting films or do this and do
this and do this and it’s like yeah like a bunch of guys there they’re just quite happy doing that I thought I think yeah
and that’s why we quite enjoy the relationship and I think it’s fair to use a bit of a few minutes there just to kind of talk about that so it fits in as
well because you know it’s like I think you can all we’ve all been there where we’re trying to convince ourselves that
we like a new bit of gear and actually it’s not the thing for us or maybe it hasn’t made that much of a different style game but given that this is the
first time we’ve played together as a three in quite a while and certainly since the fitting um yeah it’s good good having that
validation from people who who know your game and and you’ve played with before to say I know actually like you’re
hitting that thing really nicely like like that’s great to see and obviously udis are pretty pretty healthy they’re
bad as well like we’ve got up to a 15 Club dealer now so I’m subbing the five
wood Sam’s gonna go graphite shafts through the bag now he’s got a graphite after two on you know it’s the first
time he’s found in the middle of the power with an iron for you know for months it’s like it’s going hazardous
smoke through the bag but obviously we were the the the the original cjg boys were having our
internal comp for the uh for the Sheamus bag and to my deepest regret
we are going to be playing the Jubilee tomorrow and Sam Williams is going to be rocking a lovely little sort of six inch
open pencil bag and he you did take the biscuits 35 points across the course
actually didn’t know he was just flying through the front line yeah he’s got a few birdies there which is of course
he’s never played before I think that’s possible absolutely stone cold to be fair
yeah it was tough to say but I I thought ball striking was good today it’s great it’s just great fun when you have a
little 2v2 heads-up match uh and it’s you know it’s clutch and it’s tight and you know birdies are winning holes
you’re not getting anything for cars um but there’s there’s absolutely no get away from the fact I thought that Ely
was an absolute star of the show like that was yeah it was very good yeah quick how many half power holes I think
would be right to just end on this how many half part holes did you have it at 18 no not 18 and a half bars I’m curious
you know Harry what do you think is that just absolute nonsense rhetoric for me there so
and now I like the concept of half I think there are yeah there’s definitely um there’s definitely room for that what
I am surprised that Sam is that you’ve used the term par threes in this podcast probably on at least three occasions and
I based on today’s conversations I thought that term was now illegal and actually we just refer them exclusively
as short holes um or one shot is but you know I’m glad someone’s keeping I’m happy to keep
learning and maybe maybe a bit of variety and then maybe it’s good have you also noticed that when you’re uh
when you’re out in the course with with Sam and he you know you’re or even maybe you’re on a short hole or a one-shotter
and or you’re all driven to the same spot and he pulls out his his range finder and you can’t be bothered to like
Sam want to go over there it’s either one of two things he just says either 70 when it’s 170.
or buck 70. there can never be 170 he’s like 70. yeah well okay that’s what they
call on tour don’t they just be like it’d be like looking again it was about 70. I actually played some of them once but how far is it I said like 65. like
65 yards it’s like pulling away she was like no no no it’s
165.60 I do I would say half bottles is something in the region
of I would say north of 13 which for me that is the largest collection of half
power holes I’ve ever seen in the wild I don’t know I don’t know what about you shout out half pocket yeah I mean he who
obviously exclusively off half a hole switch I thought was remarkable and we made him a
scorecard of decimalized that’s amazing have you ever seen that
many half pass I I yeah I don’t think I don’t think it’s double digits I really don’t think it’s do you started
challenge you on this one explain yourself well okay first things first just to
sort of so we can make sure we establish first principles here do you accept that there is such a thing
as edges just a straightforward path forward like that that’s actually about how it plays yeah I’d say the first is
is is very much close to a regulation part okay so that’s the regulation part four yeah we could say the second is
we could say the second is it we could say the second is it it is a half pot hole I’ll grant you that two yeah two’s
a three and a half threes are three and a half I’m not sure it is actually as well it’s a two yard par three with quite a
severe front to back green wins in play it feels like a three and a half though okay well I’ll give you that
I’ll give you that so we’re at two right now the fourth is just a straight away part four
I think you know it’s easy to drive in a short iron but I think with what we were hitting in today you might hit a wedge
in now driving a driving a full gap wedge but it feels absolutely launched one down four how is it a drive hang on
hang on look not many people on the planet I do know what the easiest way to to Define this is
there needs to be I think it’s it’s it’s got to be a half par hole it can come
down it can come down 0.5 if you have anything less than 65 into the green
I think that becomes no no because it’s just too like and again you can’t judge
that on the base of just the wind that we’ve had today so yeah exactly the wind is a massive factory it is we’ve already
said when the wind is up and that’s what that’s what brings a lot of the variety as well as the difference in whole
lengths so Tom is the resident statue here and someone who likes to try and keep us sort of um statistically unbiased if that is
a guide up our assumptions yeah yeah you would say that it would be it would be confirmation bias it would be a small
sample size I can’t just sit here and listen to Sam
just nauseatingly talk about it’s about half power there is no defined
right I’m going to get four as a straightforward purple so right now we’re two from four yeah but then
there’s no question five six because we just wanted to we want the
transition to be good well no we went yeah we minimized transition in the I shortened the walk
um so played off yellow too played a slight front box we saw a short shot yeah I started 50 yards in okay I I
would say it’s a half power Maybe not maybe six and seven I’d give you half past six seven hundred percent half
power yeah um eight good good solid power four
I mean you were chipping your shots in okay I mean I’ll begrudgingly I’ll fall
back and say it’s maybe not half per nine is 100 half power in the right again dead into the teeth though yeah I
know but it was still either way like I drive a two I know the absolute buzzer
and like technically you made a birdie because it was because you made it yeah
I made the mistake of engaging Sam in conversation on the way up to that green and you know another one sort of you
know semi-hidden as you’re walking up to it and you can just tell he’s not registering a single word that I’m
saying she’s too busy peeking over the crest to check how far his ball is from the pin not not a single word who’s
Landing there and yeah he’s obviously very pleased when he sees it sort of 15 feet left of the pin which yeah he gave
a very good run of the hole 2.5
that’s that’s a half par 11 is a 2.5
Fred who is from what I gather an authority on the subject of half bar holes globally I don’t know if that’s an
official thing I I challenged him and said that is is it possible to have a two and a half and he said absolutely
you can um I would say yeah 11’s up dressed benign very very short part
50 degree wedges not a two and a half okay I think it is then the next one is
a long cape hole 440 plus that’s a that’s a drive in there yeah you hit the
ball a long way what do you know that driver seven iron driver time so okay three three actually so
here we go 13’s not a half par 14 I mean we made it
look like a half past but it’s not I mean we littered that thing with birdies 15 15 back down that’s a shortish one
again that was a tough hole Yeah the wind today no this is just that absolutely yeah so so you think this is
so just dealing with the driver he’s a new TaylorMade Drive which he’s so happy he’s telling him about his Tour AD shaft
and suddenly every powerful that he’s hit drive from has become a half bar yeah so so I think we’ve just
established that we’ve just established there the 11 12 13 14 15 16. at the very
least regulation things
I’d probably be sitting in there listening to this game what are these guys saying I think you know the
takeaways is a lot of varieties first time listener to cookie jar this is just a bit of internal banter and and we’ll
obviously have a postmortem after this podcast but you know I think what I’m
what I’m trying to drive out to be fair more than anything with this is back to the original Point 16 par fours
this sounds like a poor Fest and I just couldn’t believe the variety of the golf holes yeah and I think we can
unanimously agree I think like amazing variety I think for me the biggest kind of
um you know thing for me is I was walking up 18 with you boys you know it was one of those days we’ve
all had a lovely day sun was shining and I you know I turned to you I was
like this is I think one of my favorite days of golf I’ve ever had
and it’s just like you said Bruce it’s not a championship course you’re not gonna it’s not Carnoustie or whatever like
it’s just it’s just not but if you want like a fun day on a golf course
Ely just delivers in Spades it was just absolutely I just had such a good day
even though I literally went off tour for like three holes in the middle and it just snap hooked literally the snap
booked the life out there there was a sad moment I think Tom’s found the only strip of deep rough on the course
consecutive holes and so that sadly left me too I don’t think I did I don’t I don’t how do we feature on those two I
think do we lose both of them I think we did yeah that’s where the wheels started coming off purely the rough manager I
mean just a little segue there because obviously we like to sort of pigeon wholesome economy references where where relevant but yeah uh that was the the
the the sort of main strip of thick rough at Ely given that they’re putting in quite a good
um sort of rough maintenance program chopping it all back so that it’s not too penal in the summertime uh so that was that was a little bit sad to say
wasn’t it but it was it was quite funny because I I have been hitting the the new driver quite well but I’ve been
hitting the sort of like nice little sort of draw little baby drawers and I’d started the day with Fades which I wasn’t I wasn’t I wasn’t liking so
I’m trying to work it back on the inside and I started hitting the snap Hooks and I hit two snap hooks on the balance of the driver and I walked up after the
second snap again but swings in a great place now I totally agree with you as my
opposition that day when you started pulling some other hooks into play I was really on board with that much better
Fades peeling off the left edge of the Fairway the smother Hook was no but I did say to you I was like I know I
I when I get that in that Snappy I know now I can just hold that face off and rip through it and then after that
nothing but yeah I actually do kind of agree with that I’d rather see you 100
disagree the other way what’s that you talk about your driver fitting and everyone’s different but I don’t mind
hitting a slightly spinny right driver to be honest I find it very hard to walk that back whereas if I’m if I’m smother
hooking it I feel like well I can actually Remedy that getting more into out on it
yeah if I just get more CF on this and just really really drop the club club
head behind me getting more trapped and underneath it and I think uh yeah I think that sounds like a very good
remedy Sam and on that note is there anything more to add on uh no only an apology to any Ely member that’s had to
listen to this we are going to do a blog post with uh maybe maybe a glossary of half bar holes
Transitions and reveals was that the stuff we are saying yeah
yeah there’s a fairly sort of narcissistical golf architecture terms but I think you think they apply I think
yeah they do have an analytics on the golf course and falling off a green to use Simon Holtz reference
and on to the next team ground is one of the greatest feelings in golf and you do that in Spades ideally and yeah for a
member that’s listened to I think crikey this is a bit self-indulgent they keep giggling at their own jokes I I I genuinely thought some of the some of
the aspects to aliens ago of course just absolutely flawed me today and I think as well the fact that we’re
here having this banter about the day that we’ve had you know as Tom mentioned it was it was an extremely enjoyable day on
on that course we’ve all had an absolute whale of a time um from the moment we set foot at the club we felt extremely
welcome and felt very privileged to be out there on such a glorious afternoon to be able to enjoy enjoy that links and
only have positive exchanges with with other people playing that course and who are also by all accounts having a lovely
time out there it was just it was an old time yeah it was an all-time afternoon day for the ages yeah
big thank you to um Gavin and also Jamie at Ely for for organizing it and setting
out making us feel so welcome um great to be back out on tour with you fellas Harry uh good to have you on the
Pod and all in all just just a brilliant brilliant day and uh hopefully we can have another tour
soon adios and until next time
adios