Thursday, 17 March 2011

The Celtic Manor Wales Open will run until at least 2014

The Celtic Manor Wales Open has been hosted at this prestigious club in Newport since the year 2000 making this year its 12th, where we expect to see more major golfing names return back to The Twenty Ten course on Thursday 2nd to Sunday 5th June 2011.

Celtic Manor Resort Marketing and Commercial Director Gareth Rees Jones said:
“This year will see our 12th staging of the tournament and we are committed to host the tournament until at least 2014, so the total benefit over 15 years is likely to exceed £20m.
“The Celtic Manor Resort is also a substantial contributor to the local economy on a year-round basis with an annual outlay in excess of £14m to employees, suppliers and contractors within the NP postcode area.”

With the amount of money generated from this top European tournament, who can blame the club for wanting to keep hold of it just a little bit longer.

An IFM Sports Marketing Survey, commissioned to carry out the Economic Impact Study by The Celtic Manor Resort found that spectators attending the 2010 four day golf tournament where they watched Graeme McDowell claim The Celtic Manor Wales Open title spent more than £1.5m in Newport and South Wales. The large boost to the local economy generated from visiting golf fans, where almost half came largely from England and Scotland, spent money on accommodation, food, travel, tournament tickets and related costs.

The figures quoted from the economic impact study concentrated on the direct spend during the week of the tournament alone and made no account of the media profile brought by the tournament and other long-term benefits to Celtic Manor, Newport and Wales.

Wednesday, 16 March 2011

Tiger Woods - Triumphs and Tribulations

Tiger Woods  dusted off his clubs again for the first time since his shocking first round exit from the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship at the hands of Thomas Bjorn.

The WGC event at Dorral didn’t show Tiger Woods at his best either. Woods had two bad shots - hitting a 122 yard drive on the second hole, which did not even reach the ladies' tee, and then hitting a three wood off the 14th tee, making only 188 yards. However, the second shot 3 wood which carried 245 yards to near the front edge of the green made up for his previous errors.

Good to see that we mortals are not the only ones who can produce bad shots!

Woods’ games haven’t been all bad, with glimmers of a recovery which came at the Dubai Desert Classic, when Woods hit a tremendous 66 in the second round. But two days later, following a 72 and a 75, he found himself well down the leader board and involved in a spitting storm.
Woods unlucky streak is turning into a regular occurrence, as the former world number one has now fallen down to fifth in the rankings, having not won for 16 months and without even a top ten finish in his appearances this season.

Will Woods return to his former glory? Woods is rather blasé when thinking about this "When will I win again? Whenever it happens, it happens. I'm just going to keep trying to progress.”


With all this in mind, will Woods be ready for April's Masters? A tournament he has won on four occasions, the last of which came in 2005

Tuesday, 8 March 2011

FOUR Hole-In-One Successes

It’s a funny old world! You can wait for a bus for what seems a life time, and then two come along! but surely never four?

Most golfers go through a lifetime and never achieve a hole-in-one, however, for one client of Golfplan Insurance the skill of achieving a hole-in-one seems to be a given.

Barbara Langdale has not had just one Ace, not even two but four hole-in ones since being a Golfplan policy holder, the latest was achieved in February on the 7th par 3 at Hennerton Golf Club, using a 7 iron, off a handicap of 17, that’s not luck, that’s skill! Well done.

Mrs Langdale didn’t have to worry about the bar bill overshadowing the joy of her success as she is covered by Golfplan Insurance who provide up to £300 for hole-in-one bar bills to help golfers celebrate such an achievement at the bar amongst golfing friends.

Golfplan offers a range of fully comprehensive golf insurance policies, which are recommended by the PGA, These include a wide spread of benefits including New for Old cover of your equipment, for theft, loss or damage and many other valuable world wide benefits.

A Golfplan policy starts from as little as £39.95 per annum www.golfplan.co.uk