Could this be the perfect golf club?

Finding the perfect golf club is a never-ending journey. A journey to discover something that probably doesn't exist. After all, one man's trash is another man's treasure. But I won't stop the search no matter how long it takes or where it takes me. And this week we are back on our travels to a far and distant land. That was a seven hour journey to play a round of golf and I very much hope it's worth it. I'm up on Moray Speyside and the first bit of good news is that rain has stopped. There's almost a glimmer of sunshine. Something nice about an elevated tee position. It just seems to swing a little bit easier. It's good to get one off. I'm not sure, first of all, I took forward. I'm not sure I would if I played the hole again. It probably only needs an iron off the tee. But anyway, we've got a good position. This could be a good start to the day. Come back. Do you know what? I like this golf course already. The wind has dropped. The sun is coming out and I'm really pleased to be back up in a region which I came up a few months ago if you remember I played a place called Duff House Royal and I also played Buck Pool. There's some real hidden gems up in this neck of the woods and I've got a feeling from what I've seen that Forres is going to fit into that same sort of category. And starting off with a birdie because I reckon I'm pretty confident I can nail this. Yep, what a start to the day. Right, second hole. We've got a bit of a blind one. It's always a bit of a, when you've not played a course before, it's always a little unnerving. So we've got to commit. Oh, that's gone high. Get away with that a bit. Yeah, we're still, that wasn't a great tee shot. The only good news is we're down the middle. I thought I should just show you this when I said it went off high. You can see that. I almost missed the golf ball. Not good. Could have stuck with the forward. Three holes, a little bit of a warm up and that's one over. That was a bogey on the last. Then you get to the fourth elevated tee position and some rolling fairways. Mature tree line. That's a, that's a tee shot, isn't it? I don't know, the green just took the little bit round to the left-hand side and hopefully we've got a bit of drone footage that shows you that now. It's 380 yards off the yellows. White's not much different, to be honest with you, but that is nice. That should be position A. Don't go too far around. Oh no. No, don't get hurt yourself, lad. That's a great angle in, right-hand side of the fairway. Yeah, really happy with that. It's right at the flag. The yardage is right. Yeah, that could be good. I'll play this hole well. I'm smiling. Oh, that was so close to the second birdie of the day. Well, I think the first thing I want to say is it's nice to be back. It's been only a couple of weeks that you've seen or not seen a Monday night episode. And back on the travels and oh my God, I love this. But to come. Sometimes you think it's a bit crazy traveling seven hours to come and play golf. Obviously, I'm going to do a few courses in this area. But that's the point. It's such a good region. And I think it's quite an underrated region as well. And there are so many courses that are off the beaten track. And I put forest in that category. And already, as you've probably seen, four holes in. You think to yourself, my God, just how good is this? OK, hole 5, 130. That looks a very small target. And a pin is just hanging on the right hand side. Have I got enough of the ball? Because it's right at it. No, I didn't think I had. Oh, that was almost so good. I just got a little bit off the bottom grooves. This is a bad miss on this green. Get to the top and fall. Ah, needed a little bit more pace. I missed on the wrong side there. And this little pin now, this has got another two or three inches outside the hole break, you know. Yes, happy with that one. Because that was no easy three footer either. But how nice is this golf course? What a par three that was. That's a golf shot. I'll tell you what, I've got off to a good start. What I like about this course in particular is every area that I've been to so far, it's definitely silence. So it's just so tranquil. And we've come to kind of almost like our furthest point from the clubhouse at least so far. There's no noise whatsoever, apart from the odd bird. And I think I played better in these calming conditions. So par five, I've just had a little walk to the top of the brow. I don't think I can get there in two. So I'm just in a seven iron, trying for a good position. Oh, I've gone too far left with it laying up. Can you believe it? I think I have anyway. We'll soon find out. This could be good if it's an iron club. We'll soon see. That's not a bad recovery. As soon as I try to lay up and block myself out. Ah, maybe a tad aggressive with the first put. And that's because these greens are just so good. I sort of got the pace early doors and laid off a little bit. But there's a little subtle camber that you don't often spot. But they're running so, so pure as well. But then to get that little horseshoe for another bogey is, well, a little annoying, I suppose. But so far, what I can say, and hopefully you've seen, is just A, how good the kind of variety of holes are that we've played so far. The layout sort of weaves its way through from tea to green, which I really like. And plenty of definition from the fairways, the fringes. Everything is just so well kept. And I've got to say, so far, enjoying every bit of it. Even though I'm a bit annoyed at that bogey. I just said off camera, and perhaps I should say it on, is that it's got very much a resemblance of kind of like someone like Formby, which is on the Southport coastline. And Formby, quite honestly, is probably £250 around because of where it's positioned and the company that it's within. And then you've got someone like Forres. And from what I can see, the most expensive green fee you're going to pay is £70. And that's peak time, peak season. But there's plenty of other offers to play this place for less than that. And it's just bewildering because, you know, obviously a lot of that has to do with location. I don't know where the prestige at Formby has, someone like that, I don't know. But yeah, this is, let me tell you, this is an absolute bargain at that kind of money. Ah, well, that certainly makes up for the bogey on the last. And the irony, again, it wasn't a great tee shot, but bunker shot, really good. And I said about, you know, kind of the perfect golf club, golf course, whatever you want to call it. And some of that can be from memories with the way you played the course. If you play somewhere particularly good, then you normally, it's a happy memory. That's the right shape as well. That is kicking on. Anybody who doesn't rate mini drivers is, well, probably don't agree with me anyway. As in on an opinion on mini drivers, that is. Could be good. Yeah, I'll take that. So this is that bit where you get involved in that comment section below, because what I want to know is where is your perfect golf club? And perhaps you can recall me the reasons as to why it's your perfect golf club. Was that down to the setting? Was that down to a memory? Was it down to the people you played with? Because as I've said, there's many, many things that make a golf club perfect in your mind. You know what? I could be having an absolute blinder around here if that's two putts now that have literally, or maybe three that have literally touched the hole, but don't want to go in. But better news is the sun's coming out. You know what I need to ask you for is to hit the like button. As I'm being told, that makes a huge difference to how successful a video is perceived to be in terms of that horrible word algorithm. So yeah, if you can, that's if you like it, of course. What I am liking is the fact that I'm one over, aren't I? Two eight drilling this thing today. What a difference it makes when you get the ball away off the tee and getting yourself in good positions and then as it progresses, the confidence starts to build. Right, okay, this would be something, we did a video a few weeks back about me wanting to play better. One of the things has been maybe a tad more aggressive in this type of shot. So it's two 28, there's a par five, don't forget. And if I'm honest with you, I'd normally kind of, my decision would be to lay up. But if we're here, I suppose we should be trying to get this ball as close to the green as we can and maybe on it. Ah, such a good strike. It's just leaked a slight tad. It could be in the green side bunker. Nah, it's a way short, way short. But it's really, that was a nice swing and probably a good decision. Right, so a way short was probably a little bit harsh but we're in this awkward sort of distance and that flag doesn't seem to be a great deal on the green. We'll try and pitch it into the sort of face, I think is the idea. Oh, I think I've played one there. Camera's on the green and hopefully that's close but well executed, I think is what they say. Yeah, I'm deadly from a foot and to be honest, I think I could have had one or two more if the putts had rolled in. But anyway, really enjoyed that front nine. Superb, every bit of it. And like I said, all the more better when you play well. You'll have noticed with quite a bit of the drone footage that just how close we are to that Murray Firth. And again, someone can explain to me as to why it's pronounced Murray when it's clearly spelt Moray. But anyway, so some great views from this hole in particular over onto the Firth itself. Oh my God, I've enjoyed so much of this front nine for a number of different reasons. One, playing well. Two, the design of the course. Three, the condition of the course. Then there's the kind of tranquility of this hole place. It is my cup of tea. There's no doubt about that. And of course, we need a photo of the week competition. So as ever, Tracy or Andy in the comment section below. I made my way to the 15th and not as much shot by shot on the back nine. And that's for the main reason being, I'm not sure how many of you want to see every single shot through a round. So let me know in the comment section below if that's something that you would like to see. And maybe what I can do is record them all and then play it at the end of an episode. And that way, I'm sort of keeping everybody happy because I know everybody doesn't want to see it. But I'm showing you 15 because it's a super teak position. I'm glancing over 383 or 371 from the yellows and it's stroke index five. But once again, just a real nice, when I say nice, I mean it's tight. It looks a decent golf hole. Come on, keep this driver going. And I don't know what's going on today. That is drilled right down the middle. And yeah, I'm still loving life. Let me know what you think of Forrest down below. And I've got another thing you can ask. I've been having a think as I've been going around. How good would it be if I could agree with the clubs that I visit that they provided you, viewers, subscribers, with a discount code of some sort so you got a little bit of discount off the green fee? Let me know down below and maybe just say yes, that'll be a good idea or no, it wouldn't. But you know what? Look at that, every time you get to a tee box, it's so impressive. I don't think I've come across a bad hole yet or a mediocre hole, but that is so nice. What a design, what a layout. Bit of water all down the right. And then it's so narrow. It's obviously a relatively short par four at 322. But it's all about getting your ball on the short stuff and getting that strategy right. I think there's a possibility looking at that, the way it's cut on the left-hand side. There's an option to go down the left. Yeah, which some might choose to do. It's so good down here, you know. But it's not like me to reach for or aggressive play. But I'm hitting the driver or mini driver in this case so well that we're going to keep on that attack. Let's hope that's a good decision. Well, it's at the tower and caught, but it's gone out the tower and straight. It's bouncing. Maybe it's gone in for longer stuff and maybe I should have took a more aggressive line because I've almost hit that too good. But I think it should be okay. I can see this is literally sat up in a piece of gorse. I know what will happen now with the camera on. This is going to move. I've all kinds of complaints. But yeah, we were not too far off being a good line. But anyway, this should be fun. Do you know what? That was nearly a shank. Okay, we're out. We're out. The aggressive play backfired on me. I knew it should not. That's frustrating. I can't believe a short par four's been me undoing. Ah, bogey. The first one for a while, to be honest. Yeah, I've been greedy, but never mind. After a couple of shots there, I think a bogey is deserved. Nice kick. Stop. One of those where you don't want to leave it there. So a tad aggressive. And again, I'm going to have to make a fair old putt to save par. Back nine got a little scrappier. Still only dropped. I was probably a birdie 10. And then I had three bogeys. There's still only a couple over. And this is, well, this would be three over on the back. Unless I can make the save. That's probably, the putter's been rolling well. But I haven't found a huge amount I've gone in the cup. Or have I? I don't know. It's been a good day. Anyway, whatever. And I think that this fits that remit off the beaten track. But I look at kind of websites before I come. And social media and things. And I'll be honest with you. I didn't expect this to be as good as it is. The layout was superb. Condition was superb. And everything about it, just so, so enjoyable. And yes, it helps when you play a good round. Was it the perfect golf club? Well, it was today, at least. Anyway, right, we're off. I'm on the travel straight from here. We've got another hour and a half down the road. And I'll see you next week for another episode.