Durham Women take a swing at golf

Durham Women FC players tried their hands at a new sport this week as part of an initiative to ‘get into golf’.

Brancepeth Castle Golf Club near Durham hosted members of the Women’s Championship squad, 24 hours after their excellent FA Cup third round win at Birmingham City.

For many of the players - Anna King, Olivia Bramley, Michaela Foster, Dee Bradley, Eleanor Ryan-Doyle and Carly Johns - it was their first taste of the game at the famous 100-year-old course, just six miles from their Maiden Castle base.

And after a session in the club driving range and putting green under the watchful eye of members Marianne Moore and Helen Morgan, the group will be back for more lessons in the summer with more team-mates, before heading out on one of the most popular, and testing, courses in the region. 

Brancepeth Castle is regularly voted among the top 100 in the country is welcoming first-time players from all ages and backgrounds, to its grounds and as part of the introduction to golf, where members teach them the basics of the game, including etiquette, rules and equipment.

And the Durham Women players clearly enjoyed their first-hand experience  

Midfielder Dee Bradley said: “It was a lot of fun and I’d love to do more stuff like this because it takes your mind off football and doing different things keeps your mind going.

“I love football, it's a journey, and it's a dream to play it, but it can get quite all-consuming at times, like anything, if you're doing it all day, every day, so to get your mind off it and focus on a smaller ball right than a bigger one, is quite nice. 

“And you don’t have to run around; you just walk after it, which is quite nice, or getting into a golf cart.

“Me and Liv (Bramley) had a rough start but we got some pointers and it does seem a bit more natural for us to swing and we were relating it to striking a ball; kicking the ball is the same as swinging through with a club.

“When they explained that to us, everything kind of correlated, and it made sense in our brain, which I think then helped us.”

The visit marked the end of Brancepeth Castle’s centenary celebrations, which included hosting the English Senior Men’s Amateur Championship in the summer with 102 competitors.

The course, which was designed by the world famous architect Harry Colt, is renowned for a par three in the shadow of the castle building.

Marianne Moore, who has been the course’s women’s champion 23 times, is hoping the visit of Durham’s senior football team will encourage others to give golf a try-out, under the national body, England Golf’s ‘Get Into Golf’ campaign.

She said: “They got real potential and we would love to see them back; the only way to learn is get out there and play. That's what I encourage all the beginners to do.

“The girls would have no problem just playing nine holes, and their hand-eye coordination does make a difference and you could see them visualising a shot like they do in football and they have some understanding.

“This is such a wonderful place for anyone to come and try something different, relax, play sport, has a walk or just come in, have a drink and hit some balls on the range.”

Durham Women meanwhile are aiming for a pre-Christmas hat-trick as they prepare to face Championship rivals Sunderland in the latest North East derby tonight.

US-born midfielder Bradley says Adam Furness’ side are looking to qualify for the League Cup quarter-finals with victory over Sunderland in the competition’s final group game at Eppleton Colliery Welfare's ground.

And after Sunday’s FA Cup win at promotion rivals Birmingham City at the weekend, Durham Women will then be looking for a league win over Bristol City on Sunday which would cement their place at the top of the women’s second tier going into the Christmas break.

Supporters’ player of the year Bradley, who is expected to return to the starting line-up tonight, says the Maiden Castle-based club are determined to continue their impressive form this season.

She said: “I’ve never been a part of a group that has been this close; this is a group effort, and I think it's showing in results and on the pitch. 

“We want to complete before the break and get three out of three this week and we’ve got one down, two to go.

“We had to work really hard at Birmingham on Sunday and it was such fantastic result and performance and now we want to win at Sunderland and do the hat-trick.

“We talk about it all the time and it's not anything we're afraid to chat about, because it feels less big and more achievable and that's part of the culture they brought in in pre-season.

“We want to be top of the league and when we're up there, we want to stay there and it's quite important for us as a group to acknowledge where we're at and where we want to continue to go.  

“We’ll take it one game at a time but we want to win all three this week - and no one wants to lose a derby game.”

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