Our second annual Christmas Party was held at Urban Golf on the 8th December at Smithfields in London, and what a wonderful way to celebrate a great year of golf with like minded souls. A bitterly cold winters’ day, with the rail strikes planned didn’t dent peoples enthusiasm with Tom & Sam both turning up late for their own party to be met with crowds of faces, some familiar and some enjoying their first Cookie Jar event. A link to our film from the evening can be found here This was however the first time we played competitively. An excitable James Day had pitched the idea of a one-club knockout - to be billed as ‘The Crump Cup of British Indoor Golf’ - earlier in October, however after (a frankly unnecessary) number of phone calls to finesse the idea, we realised the initial format he was proposing would have taken [...]

words by Sam I’ve been visiting Porthcawl since I was about 9 or 10 years of age, and there is a certain magic about any club that you see infrequently over what is sadly now more than a quarter of a century. Every time I return I find myself saying the same; ‘it’s the best I’ve ever seen it’ by which I do not mean just the course itself but the club as a whole.   Royal Porthcawl which is situated in the small seaside town between Cardiff and Swansea happens to be famous the world over for their annual Elvis convention that they host. It turns out this is the largest Elvis convention outside of the USA, where pink Cadillacs, jet black wigs, novelty sunglasses and garments that are frankly far too spangly descend on the town at the end of September.  The course at Porthcawl was originally laid [...]

A week to remember in the desert. An event long standing on the European tour, now given a facelift under the DP rebranding, the Dubai Desert Classic gave us exactly that - a classic Sunday that has kick-started the season for many golf fanatics. This excerpt will start at the end and work backwards. Alongside the pod brought out this week, this post will hope to peel back the layers to provide some extra insight in to the top performances this past week. Beauty and the beast In that theme, let's start with the last two standing on Sunday afternoon; Viktor Hovland and Richard Bland. Games that couldn't be more opposite if they tried.   Even their strokes gained radar plots look away from each other with disgust. Bland, a golf game from a land before time, oozing class, feel and touch, and Viktor, a modern machine built to destroy the [...]

Preface A few weeks ago, I was plodding my way down the 12th hole at Blackwell admiring the renovation work to the green site as part of the winter programme when Richard Pennell (@pitchmarks on twitter) from Woking Golf Club called me out of the blue. My initial thought was that I was in trouble for something I had said, but after some premature apologies and general well wishes between us Richard quickly got into the reason for the call. He wanted to write more about golf… An art form within the game which is sadly in decline, he asked whether he could put some essays together for us at Cookie Jar linked to some of our other forms of content. Our supporters will know we are only too happy to stand behind other people's professional endeavours and bask in the reflected glory so the answer was of course yes! [...]

Words by Sam Of the many hallmarks of the quintessential British Golf Club - the musty smell in the locker room, tongue and groove panelling in the bar, hair combs drowning in blue barbicide next to a vintage bottle of talcum powder in the shower room - one small golfing tradition seems to be in decline.  Kummel, an aniseed and caraway infused liqueur has been loitering around our clubhouses, keeping golfers hydrated, stomachs-settled and their first-tee nerves at bay for over a century now, but there is a serious cloud hanging over the future of this famous spirit and its place in the game.  It enjoys iconic status throughout the golfing world, affectionately referred to by many as ‘putting mixture’ - consumed (sometimes copiously) at many of Britain’s historic and well regarded clubs, famed for its fabled ‘game-improvement’ qualities - it usually makes an appearance during club matches [...]