Seniors Hunting for glory at Slaley

Jun 25 2009 by Tim Taylor, The Journal

IF you win a local league title as an amateur footballer, will that get you a fixture at St James’s Park or the Stadium of Light? We all know the answer to that one.

But if you are a golfer living in Northumberland or Co Durham and you win your club championship, will that get you a seriously competitive round of golf on Slaley Hall’s Hunting Course, the toughest track in the North? Er, yes.

For the first time, the De Vere Collection PGA Seniors Championship and The Journal Champion of Champions on September 6 are being played on the same course this season.

That means the North East’s amateur hot-shots will be following in the footsteps of Ryder Cup-winning captains Ian Woosnam and Sam Torrance, who tee off in the first of four rounds in the Seniors today.

Also in the field is former Open champion Bob Charles.

So whether you’re one of the big names of golf reading this over breakfast at Slaley Hall Hotel, or Joe Bloggs who fancies himself for the 2009 club cup, who better to mark your card about the Hunting Course than the single-figure golfer who knows every inch of it.

Step forward Steve Cram, golf’s first celebrity greenkeeper who has built a private nine-hole course for Tyneside mogul Graham Wylie in his time – and played schoolboy football against Alan Shearer.

In expressing a widely held view, Cram (right) says: “The Hunting Course is the best test of golf in the north of England. You’ve got the length of 7,088 yards which is a factor, but a lot of the shots you have to play are all carry. There is very little run.

“You have got to hit the right part of the fairway. It’s not just a matter of hitting the fairway.

“Take the first hole for instance. If you hit to the right, which is a bit of a bale-out, you have a horrible shot to a green that is going away from you and across the narrowest part of the green.