BRIAN Rumney, a former Sunday Sun golf columnist, must have thought one tale of the unexpected is enough for one year.
However, two more have entered the rich history of the 103-year-old Cramlington club Arcot Hall, including an unusual double hole-in-one feat by a 15-year-old junior member Josh Brookes.
Switching towards the other end of the age scale, 50-year-old Rumney made his debut in the Slaley Seniors this season, having played only six pro-ams in two and a half years, and pocketed a £2,300 cheque for a top 25 spot.
At one stage he was tied for tenth four shots off the lead. Then it was away from playing against guys like Sam Torrance and back to the day job. Or was it?
The Arcot Hall secretary/manager and the club professional Carl Nicholls were invited to apply for one job – Club Manager. Nicholls moved to Longhirst Hall while Rumney has been appointed to the new role of running the professional’s shop on behalf of the club as well as carrying out the secretarial duties.
Despite Rumney’s romantic “Tin Cup” impact on the European Senior Tour event, most of the club coaching is done by the Arcot assistant Dan Hookway.
Rumney said: “Dan has just passed a set of PGA exams with distinctions. “I shall just be doing a little bit of coaching now and then.
“He is a well-rounded, mature PGA assistant in his twenties who came into the sport by a different route to normal.
“He has a law degree from Durham University and a business administration degree from Northumbria.” Rumney added: “There are rumours going around that the club are in severe financial difficulties and those rumours are completely untrue.
“We have a healthy balance sheet, we own our own course and clubhouse, we have half a million pounds in assets on the books and we are in no financial trouble.”
During his club pro and general manager days at Parklands and Blyth, Rumney was a serial winner on the local circuit for the North East and Cumbria pros, capturing both the strokeplay and matchplay titles.
Brookes, four months past his 15th birthday, has clocked up the second ace of his fledgling golf career, using a five wood at the 212-yard fourth. His first arrived at the age of 11 when a two wood did the trick over 187 yards at the ninth.
In both instances, the ball took a couple of bounces and rolled in.
A pupil at Monkseaton High School and a six handicapper, Brookes has won a club men’s competition at Arcot and three junior tournaments.
Rumney added: “Josh has been a good player for some time.
“He’s hard on himself but he’s very keen and works hard at his game.”
The system Arcot use for running the show has been in place for three and a half years at Prudhoe, where John Crawford, like Rumney a PGA professional, is the professional and gold manager.
Richard Hannam, a former Prudhoe chairman and captain said: “It was successful from the outset and as time has gone on increasingly so.”
