So the course was booked, 18 teams registered by suppliers, a great list of distributors recruited to walk in the footsteps of legends, and all the planning and organising done. It was now time to let the golf do the talking at the second annual, PPD Masters.

This year’s industry golf event took place on the Brabazon course at the world famous Belfry resort near Birmingham. The Brabazon course is known throughout golf as the venue of the Ryder Cup. The course has played host to the tournament more than any other venue in the world, most recently in 2002 with Europe coming out victorious on 3 of the 4 occasions. It’s because of this history that any player walking onto this course can picture some of the game’s most famous legends and imagine the feeling of performing at the highest level.

This event aimed to allow all competitors to feel like a pro for the day, from arrival and reception early in the morning the players got together on the range talking business but more importantly preparing for their round. Thanks to the excellent hospitality of the Belfry staff, all the players got as prepared as they possibly could, as well as taking part in the pre-round putting competition, which was in turn won by Gary Cable of BTC Group.

Prior to the course being filled with 72 keen competitors everybody was asked to gather together for a briefing of how the competition would be run, a four ball team event of 18 evenly matched teams. It’s fair to say that despite Aidan Brown’s best efforts to inform all the guests of the ‘rules of the day’, many people’s attention was focussed on the unusual site being constructed on the signature 10th tee. This was a bit of an unknown surprise for the visitors as it was to the Belfry staff, when prior to the event was asked from a health and safety point of view, to see if there was anything flammable around the 10th tee. So thanks to our corporate partners TaylorMade, every player on the day would be given, not only the chance to drive the 10th and win a brand new TaylorMade driver, but also get a once in a lifetime chance to hit a ball through flaming fire cannons whist being professionally filmed by the Adidas film crew.

Naturally this was somewhat of a new experience for all, so as to give a demonstration of what to expect, resident YOB Golf professional Paul Stancliffe took up the challenge to show all 80 watching spectators how it could be done. Despite some doubters, he grabbed this chance with both hands hitting a stunning effort through 10ft high flames, over water, bent around the protruding trees to lands softly in the centre of the green, as the biggest cheer of the day greeted the now, bull dancing hero, as he greatly embellished the somewhat unexpected outcome.

Published on: June 16th, 2015