Finally it is about to happen...

Well, good morning everybody. It is an early morning. It's just past sunrise. It's 6 a.m. in the UK. We've got a 45-minute journey to our destination. It is a golf course and I'm pleased to say that those skies you're looking at are, well, very promising indeed. We've got a great day forecast in terms of weather and I've got an interesting little job that I need to do that I'm, well, taking you along for the ride and, well, keeping me a bit of company. I'll catch you when we get there. Right, so the first thing I should tell you is I'm down at Conway Golf Club in North Wales which is a Championship Lynx. I held the Curtis Cup here a few years ago and it's going to play host to an event that we've got starting in terms of filming next week. It's a real interesting concept we've got. I'm filming with Tom Atkinson who is the head pro at Heswell Golf Club. You've seen him on the channel before and me and him are going to pair up in a scramble format, take on five championship courses in what we're calling Chasing 59. That illustrious score that is a bit of a holy grail and obviously I've got no way of achieving it and, well, not many of us to be fair, but in a scramble format we're hoping we've got some sort of chance at least although the odds will be massively stacked against us. Now the first one of those starts at Conway next Tuesday in terms of filming that 18-hole challenge and what I'm here to do this morning is to capture the drone that you will see that will feature in the challenge in the video and it'll show you every hole from tea to green so you've got an idea of where we're playing to. So it's the kind of stuff that goes on behind the scenes if you like that nobody gets to witness just how much effort goes into these videos. So it's an early start, we're out before the competition, we've got an incredibly good day and, like I said, I've got quite a few things to chat with you about as well as showing you around Conway Golf Club and a little bit of a, well, a prequel to what's coming. As you can see from that footage Conway is, it's a special place to be honest, I've been coming to Conway for a long time let's say and it was always somewhere that was considered, you know, a special day out in terms of playing on the links and I love the place but I must confess that I've not been here for a couple of years and the changes that they've made under the guidance of Matt Parsey who's the general manager here and what a job they've done, really transformed the place up into another level to be honest with you that's visible right across the golf course so they're doing some incredible work. It's lovely to see it obviously in such good light and this is the first week of April so clearly, you know, you come back here in a month or two's time and also we're going to see a whole different golf course when we get a bit of warm weather come through as well so incredible things going on at Conway but I hope next week when we when we film a challenge at the conditions like this not only for the light but the fact that there's no breeze whatsoever so if we're going to have a chance then the wind needs to be well down a tad anyway because with with any good links then the wind the conditions is always part of its defense so yeah what a stunning morning to be out and it makes you glad to be up at 6am clocks have gone oh I don't know back or forward whichever way they went and it means we've got we've got more daylight it's it's so nice and yeah bit of dew on the ground sun in the sky and we've all got a bit bit more of a smile on our face let me know how you're getting on are your courses open yet because I know people watch them all over the world and we sort of open up at different times in terms of the golf courses so let me know are you out there yet anyway we'll crack on I'll carry on filming here and then next up we're going to get the sticks out and hit a few balls so before we get the sticks out interesting thing as I'm walking along continuing to get my drone footage is that what are the chances of us actually well reaching 59 breaking 60 effectively I'd like to know what the odds are don't forget I play off seven Tom is a professional golfer I'm not too sure what we'll do in terms of the rules and how many shots generally in a scramble each player has to get so many drives away two shots away so I'm not sure what exactly that ruling is but we'll get that one but it's a it's an incredible feat I think I think pretty sure 72 par at Conway so that's 13 under we're gonna have to beat to break 60 even at two pops each per shot it's a big ask isn't it what do you reckon doable so Tom let's play a few holes and explain to people what's going on next week you are my dance partner next Tuesday you realize I can't dance very well well I've got two left feet so okay so we're going to be playing a pair scramble at Conway Golf Club yeah first thing we need to talk about and in this case you're teeing off first I'm going second is how we're going to play it yeah we'll see how we feel but uh yeah if I show you the way uh then you do better than me then we're in good nick I think well take the pressure off is the idea maybe yeah away you go bud let's send one down there we good yeah we don't want that one back and deep that's what I like to see make sure you're doing that Tuesday so I can relax now Tom is the idea isn't it yeah that one down the middle so we should be on the green and two shelter it's all doing it yeah all you need to do is imagine one's already gone down there and that's the shot yeah I'll tell you what see how relaxed that swing was you were weren't you yeah very good right Tom so we're taking your ball what have we got in 78 yards to the flag okay probably about 60 to cover the pond at what pond I hear you say you're in the zone which is good so for me it's like a hundred yard club slightly into the wind but just take a little bit off and see how we get on well I'm following you as ever slight pull it's going to go a bit further but no we're not putting so hopefully you do better than that Andy great you put the pressure on already you're testing me aren't you yeah I get you I know where you're coming from yeah it's drifting a bit to cover the pond been high well done partner that's okay hold on chance from there so Tom you've you're a YouTube I mean regular now aren't you you've played against Finch didn't you I played against Peter Finch yeah that's right he beat me but I definitely played him yeah and you've been obviously people have seen on my channel last year with a with sort of we did the training series which was really good yeah so how's your own game at the moment how would you describe it playing okay considering I uh I've been playing the game for a while and when I was younger I used to hit the ball further I'm a lot wiser now I can get my ball around the golf course a lot better than I used to be able to okay it's early season so I might have a little bit of rust on but generally quite happy with where I'm at okay good man good man let's see this birdie go in then and let's see if we can get so what we don't want to do here we don't want to give the hole away we know there's a right to left slope on it just stayed a little bit high probably through the break to be honest with you but it wasn't a bad putt I mean I was too busy filming you but it was uh how far right I gave it I thought it would break a bit more maybe the sand's keeping it straight I gave it about two holes right and it was probably about a hole right okay it's not as slow as you might think with the maintenance work but okay it's essentially a free putt in it so you don't want to be short definitely not short through the break yeah just too firm yeah the line wasn't bad you've sort of tricked into thinking it's going to be really slow with the sand but no that's fine well you can finish off and we've got our par that's a good start so Tom do I have license to give it a whack I'm gonna hit me forward yeah you're not going to lose it left on this line I don't think if you get it in play give us about 120 in yeah and then if you know if you are in play we need to squeeze a bit more out of mine we can give it a go right yeah see the uh see the sort of dusty colour bushes in the back left yeah that's where you want to hit it I've got the line bit right under the wind good shandy but because you've picked that shot you've picked a good place to aim you've you know you've bottom grooved it you're in play yeah it's not the end of the world the end of the world so I will follow suit so to speak with a mini driver generally you'll find with it a less lofty club off the floor hitting down on it you're not going to move it right to left very often so you can factor that into your aim it's all good in theory you know what one incredible strike as well and I've just done exactly what I said shouldn't happen yeah so that's a really good shot on completely the wrong line yeah that's the shape you're going to get in it when you're trying to squeeze a bit more out of one oh friendly bounce so you don't want to go long on this hole here but you've got to really respect that breeze so I'm going to take too much club and just try and take it down under the wind a little bit oh it's a lovely strike that is beautiful shot oh quality mate well done just staying a bit straighter than I wanted but happy with that you know you get on the green here in three in this wind you're doing all right absolutely yes we have a good effort today and this was stiff breeze stroke one at Heswell yet I hit my best drive and then went to pieces after that but thankfully you kept it in play we used your second shot and we're now on the green just on Conway as a golf course Tom how many times that's the venue for next week's first episode have you played it much? Played Conway lots of times used to go down there when I was younger as an assistant here with the members on New Year's Eve been down there with a couple of lads more recently I would say I've played there in excess of 25 times yeah right so do you think we've got a chance there what would you say par fives offer up a bit of a chance at times if the wind's blowing the right way? Yeah no golf course is easy yeah yeah but every golf course lends to a good shot you've got to get the ball in the hole it's usually a short game experience making a good score Conway as you know gets tighter and tighter as you get closer to the clubhouse so we're gonna have to be on our knock all the way through but if we both bring our A game we've got a chance of having a good score Andy definitely yeah 17's the one and it'll be a knee knocker there if we're doing any good yeah somebody needs to get it in play and we might even take a bogey there you never know ah well let's see if we can get a let's see if we get a birdie on the cards here okay great great iron of yours in because that's a fair old wind that we're playing into got it about pin high I was expecting a little bit more uh you know help with the wind so we've got a sort of 30 footer there's going to be a bit of break on it the essential maintenance we've done on the greens here will probably the sand will probably keep the ball a little bit straighter than it normally ordinarily would do in the summer but uh let's give it a chance oh great roll so Tom so far took a couple of pars we wouldn't be breaking 59 at this rate we've got a par three now to mix it up we've got a four a five and a three lovely hole here as well this one yeah hole seven here yeah so this is a good because it's a similar yardage we've got in here so we had third shot on the fifth same wind direction so for me it's 155 yards to the flag which is at the back you don't want to go long but obviously short is water I'm going to take 170 yards worth of club and just try and keep it under the wind a little bit Andy okay good and hopefully take a little bit of pressure off your shot that'd be nice how's it looking looking pin high it's yeah it's pin high that's a decent result on here it looks like it's gone over the green but there's a little swale there so we're putting from about 15 18 foot for birdie there perfect good well done well Tom I'm changing clubs because I played you just said I want 70 club on my six iron ain't going there so I'm going to play this hybrid the speed of the ball off the face of a hybrid you'll be surprised you'll climb over the pond with ease and uh it won't take you much to get it back there Andy that's a belter yeah it's just just staying on that left side yeah good shot it's pin high as well it was a nice strike and I was always you know I've got that cut in me and I'd it actually stayed relatively straight it was no I'm happy with that I want to get that birdie in the on the card make before we start well if we're not making birdies in our quest to chase down that 59 number we're not going to do very well mate now come on then you got it oh oh he's sneaky wow that's as close as it gets without going in still got a chance with yours though nah stayed out there stayed out there three pars I'm afraid bud never mind work to do so we'll come back and have a final word with Tom a bit later on in this video that was great to get out Heswell and we'll have a little bit of a warm-up if you like ready for next week that first round like I said I'll be at Conway I hope the conditions are as they were earlier on on the day I filmed because we're actually on a different day later on in that same week I've now moved up to North Yorkshire and I thought I'd just show you what the day job looks like so I'm at Bentham golf course which is it's featured on the channel before you can see from the drone footage it's the sun is shining again I'm having a bit of luck at the minute place looks really really well it's getting ready for sort of season opening yeah what a place this is just well we've got a machine mowing in the backdrop right now it is idyllic in terms of quiet staying in the pods and I just love coming up here playing a bit of golf chilling out a bit and then a bit of work it's been an interesting video it's been like I said I've had a lot of work on so to speak this week so not an awful lot of filming in terms of golf it's just those few holes that well three holes are filmed on camera and we played a couple off camera as well that's been my golf for this week so I'll carry on with the drone we'll head on back to Tom and see what he thought of our performance at least and well what chance we've got of breaking 59. Actually before we get back to Tom I've just made a bit of a purchase in the pro shop at Bentham and I reckon these are an absolute bargain one pair left I'm putting these down I can't put them on the table because well that's bad luck in my eyes these are a pair of adidas s2g sl leather and they were a master's edition that was brought out last year he's got one pair left that fit me like a glove and they were 70 quid do you reckon that's gotta be an absolute steal surely love them bit of a retro look to them bit of yellow and green master's coming up no brainer anyway let's check it with some that one up mate three pars not good enough in a scramble we're gonna have to liven up mate we've got three or four days haven't we yeah we've got three or four days to work on our putting I think by the looks it hit the ball well didn't we yeah it was all right it was solid enough we've we've had a good little warm-up first time me and you have played for quite a bit of time we've uh you've had a look at my game in the past but we've never actually sort of looked a pair together so that was good hope you all enjoyed it we had a good look around conway this morning chasing 59 we start filming tuesday but in reality it probably hit this channel maybe in about four or five weeks from now so keep your eye out for that first time that or for some time that i've actually tried to put a card together of sorts at least anyway but still got someone to lean on yeah you have yeah yeah hopefully i'm standing up strongly enough right we'll catch you soon thanks for watching i'll see you monday night because we've got another episode of uh saint andrew's on a budget it's another belter so that's monday night at seven o'clock thanks for watching this one have a good weekend i'll see you all soon