Worman Sword Preview

The Intro;

The first of my major competitions of 2010 is the Worman Sword on 8^th May.

This is a 36 hole strokeplay event played at Wyke Green Golf Club.

The Background;

Wyke Green hosted the Middlesex County Championships last year, and in preparation I decided to play in this competition, as I hadn’t played the course before. I thoroughly enjoyed the course, and the County Championships a couple of weeks later, and decided at that point to make it a regular fixture in future years.

The Location;

The course itself is certainly not somewhere to get away from it all; there are planes, trains and automobiles wherever you look. The M4 motorway runs by the side of the 11^th and 12^th holes, it starts 2 miles east to take cars out of London, and will continue for another 180 miles until Swansea has been passed. The skyline on various holes, most notably the 3^rd, has aeroplanes virtually on the horizon, as they make their final approach into Heathrow Airport. In addition, if you ever fly into Heathrow and get the London Underground Piccadilly line into London, in between Osterley and Boston Manor you will pass through the middle of the golf course. Some people don’t like it – I absolutely love it, it is a reminder that you can get a golf course in one of the busiest cities in the world.

The Course;

The course itself is quite different from the front nine to the back nine. Holes 1-9 mainly consists of long par 4s, it’s all about keeping a card together with pars. The back nine is the opportunity to score, it’s filled with par 3s, short par 4s, and a short par 5. The par is 69, and the SSS is 70.

The Competition;

The maximum field is 72 players, and 10 of them will win prizes. The prize fund is £1,500, with the overall winner receiving £500. 58% of the entry fees go back into the prize fund, meaning that the green fees, lunch and sandwiches in the evening cost around £15 to each entrant – an excellent deal.

This year will be the 31^st time the competition has been played – in the last 26 years 25 different people have won it, and no-one has successfully defended it.

The Target;

Last year I shot 77 & 71 for 15^th place. This year I would like to finish in the top 12 places.

Updates will appear here at about 2pm and 7pm (UK) on Saturday.