Seaton golf club looking forward to the future

WITH the club crest proudly on show, the welcoming committee stand proudly in the pro shop, reminiscing about the past and considering a bright future, while the sea fret and drizzle descended on Seaton Carew Golf Club.

During the renowned course's 140-year history it has played host to some of the finest amateur competitions around - and will do so again this year, next year and beyond.

But this summer will be the first time one of the most challenging courses in Britain will welcome a professional tournament to its fairways. The English Tour, a new development tour, will begin this Thursday at The Belfry and a further 17 competitions will take place around the country before it ends at Royal Birkdale on October 16.

Round ten of the Tour will be on the North-East coast, where the wind regularly blows and the sun sometimes (not very often! ) shines. Over two days and 36 holes starting on July 31, Seaton Carew will aim to prove it is capable of welcoming the English Tour back in 12 months time.

There are no doubts in the clubhouse that there is already a great excitement about being one of the inaugural members of the 18-legged English Tour.

It is not a bad year to be captain and the 2013 incumbent of the role, David Lithgo, 64, whose family and friends have always been members, said: "This is also my 50th year as a member of Seaton Carew Golf Club, so it's a nice year to see this arrive. I have been to pro events before to watch the real top professionals, but it is always nice to see them playing your own course.

"We have played this course often enough, but it's nice to see how good professionals can play it too.

This year we will also see the top amateur golfers in the area playing the Durham County Championship (May 18/19) here. There will be a comparison there too."

EXCITING TIMES: Seaton Carew Golf Course, which this summer will stage The English Tour, the first professional tournament to be played on its fairways

Seaton Carew is regularly touted among the top 100 courses in Britain, which is why Lithgo says they "are regularly asked" to host the Durham County Championship, which they held originally in 1908 and the last time was four years ago when Dinsdale Spa's Callum Tarren claimed the title.

There will also be Durham Ve terans Ladies Day that month, while the Teesside Golf Union Team Championship will be returning, not to mention the usually well subscribed Seaton Salver.

Then next year it will welcome back the prestigious Brabazon Trophy for only the second time in June. The only other occasion was when Peter Baker, who became a Ryder Cup player, and local talent Roger Roper shared the crown in 1985.

In the years since the Boys Under-18 Championship, the Carris Trophy and Seniors Home Internationals have all arrived on the course designed by the Augusta architect Dr Alister MacKenzie by the North Sea dunes in the mid-1920s.

And while 22 holes mix up five different course lay-outs, when some of the most promising golfers around turn up for the Brabazon - the English Men's Stroke Play Championship - and the English Tour they will face the most challenging 18 holes.

"We still only go to just on 7,000 yards even on the Brabazon Course's back tees, " said the club's marketing manager, Roy Leonard, a 65-year-old who joined the club eight years ago.

"That's still a relatively short course in this day and age but as soon as the wind blows here, it doesn't matter how short it is, the way MacKenzie designed holes it is not easy to find greens.

"The English Tour's organiser, Duncan Carey, wanted to try to get a good mix of venues, some parkland, links, clifftop and so on. He was looking for courses that were in the top 100 because he wanted a good standard of venue.

"He wanted a good geographic spread, so I think we are an obvious choice in the North-East. Dr Alister MacKenzie managed to produce an absolute gem of a course on this piece of land.

We have not really done a great deal since but it is going to be a real test for everyone who comes here."

Seaton Carew pro Cliff Jackson, 39, knows exactly how to play the links course and has matched the 66, course record, over the Brabazon in his time, even if it was not in competitive action.

But if there is one thing he is certain of it is that no matter how well players have prepared, the conditions will have a significant effect on the outcome whether it is in the English Tour, the Brabazon or for the Durham County Championship.

"The greens are key, but the wind factor is huge, " said Jackson. "A lot of people will come here who are used to parkland and will just not know how to play the approach to the green.

"Here you are looking for the ball to react and it just doesn't. Are you going in with an eight iron? And you leave it 80 yards short of the green. There are so many factors. There's a lot of things to take in to consideration."

If the next 14 months are successful, Seaton Carew have another intention. They might not have the infrastructure in place to welcome a major sporting event like The Open, but would love to have a part to play in qualifying for it.

"We are hoping the English Tour will be back again next year and if it takes offwe would like to become a regular member, but our next ambition is to get Open qualifying status, " said Leonard.

"We are hoping that with this and the Brabazon that we prove to the R&A that this should be an Open qualifier course. For a large event we don't have parking, spacing for a village, so we are limited in that sense.

"But there's nothing wrong with the course, it's probably the best links course between The Wash and the Scottish borders, so we would love it to be noticed more nationally and Open qualifying recognition would be ideal."