Nine holes with MGP Nutrition

When I'd spoken to Cat Colman, Co-Founder of MGP Nutrition, about 40 by 40 at the beginning of the year, she was keen to support my challenge. Kindly she offered to send MGP Nutrition drinks and snacks to fuel me and my playing partners on every round.

If that wasn't enough, she also invited me to her home club Brocket Hall. We settled on a date in May with the promise of warmer weather and hopefully some sunshine.

This may only have been round 12 but to this point, I really hadn't been blessed with great weather and even had one round that had had to be called off due to torrential rain.

It was with great disappointment and with a slightly worn-out body that I drove through the rain to MGP Nutrition HQ to embark on my third round in three days. Not only was it wet it was pretty cold too.

MGP Nutrition HQ

Before heading over to Brocket Hall, I got a tour of MGP Nutrition HQ where I was met by Cash and Cub who believe they're the brains behind the business 🐾 (they even let me have a photo with them!) Then I had the opportunity to interview Cat, something that I had been wanting to do for a long time.

It was really interesting to hear about the journey of the business, but also Cat's relationship with golf and how that had changed over the years. You can read the full interview here.

As the rain finally eased, we drove over to Brocket Hall for a quick lunch before Cat and I, plus her friend and fellow member Linda took to the Palmerston course to play nine holes.

Brocket Hall, Palmerston course

The Palmerston course is regarded as something special by its famed architect, Donald Steel. Noting that it is like a ribbon through the Estate’s ancient woodland. The website told me that to take it on you need to be on top of your game, with thought put into each and every shot. The Palmerston finishes on a 5-par 18th hole with views of Brocket Hall.

After the previous two days at The Berkshire and Gaudet Luce, the last thing I felt was on top of my game. If you throw in the cold and windy weather, I was actually quite glad that we were playing nine holes rather than the 18, however, I was disappointed that I wouldn't be finishing with the views of the Hall itself.

I'd been to Brocket Hall before for the Rose Ladies Open, but the LET Access event had been played on the Melbourne course, a course that plays across the lake four times, with the final time on the 18th where you take a little ferry across with your clubs.

Luckily for me, there wasn't any water in sight on the Palmerston front nine. With more layers on than we had imagined, the three of us got our round underway. I found that most holes felt approachable, as in the fairways were nice and open and there wasn't any or too much difficulty off the tee.

Yet again I struggled with my driving but finally found something on the 4th hole, which was probably my favourite hole on the front nine. It was long with a dog leg round to the left dropping down to the green. It was followed by a par three from an elevated tee which was also fun to play.

Cat and Linda were fantastic company, especially considering that they could play the course any day and didn't need to be out on a cool and damp May day.

They were also very patient with some of my less-than-satisfactory shots. We kept our spirits up with lots of chat, where I enjoyed hearing about Linda's golf adventures and further discussion with Cat about how she finds working in the golf industry.

No matter the company, I think we were all pretty pleased to see the ninth green and the welcoming committee of Cub and Cash, with the highlight of the round being Cat draining a long putt to finish off her round in style.

40 by 40 - Round 12 ✅

As I drove back home from Brocket Hall, I reflected on the three rounds that I had played over the last three days. Although I work in golf and have done my whole career, I really do not play as much as I would like, so to play 45 holes in three days was impressive (to me).

What I couldn't understand was how my golf really did not seem to improve, in fact, it was so bad at Brocket Hall, I wondered whether I should be playing ever again!

It was time to head to the driving range, speak to my coach Rob and get my swing sorted, with the prospect of a trip to Scotland with Dundonald Links and Royal Troon the following week... I needed help and I needed it fast!

40 by 40 is also helping to raise awareness of the fundamental work that is carried out by the Golf Foundation to get more children active in golf across the UK. As well as raising funds for this fantastic charity via our JustGiving page.

40 by 40 Headline sponsor

Thanks to Simplify Consulting who are the headline sponsor of 40 by 40. Put simply, they are practitioners in financial consulting. They are experts in Operating Model Design, Project Delivery, Operations & Process Optimisation and Risk Management across Life & Pensions, Wealth Platforms and Asset Management.

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