Night golf a big hit at Stapleford Park

Golf is difficult enough in broad daylight, but intrepid players at Stapleford Park in Leicestershire, teed off in pitch darkness recently to help raise hundreds of pounds for the county’s air ambulance appeal.

Neon glow sticks were used to mark the boundaries of the tees, fairways and greens and a blue glow stick was attached to the flags while the 10 teams of four who took part were issued with special ‘glow in the dark’ golf balls – none of which were lost on the night.

A cloudy sky meant there was no moon and stars to help alleviate the darkness, although some of the teams used torches to help negotiate their way between greens and the next tee on the six holes which were played in Texas Scramble format on the night.

The winning team was made up of Glenn and Julie Sharpe from Castle Bytham, Denise Field from Thistleton and Bryan Birchall from Oakham who, after a percentage of combined handicaps were taken into account, negotiated their way round in just 17.1 shots – despite the fact that the two women players only took up the game six months ago.

They won the opportunity to enjoy a match in a sponsor’s box watching the current runaway leaders in football’s Championship division Leicester City.

In second place were Bud Abbott, James Ablett, James Eversden and Dean Wilkinson on 18.4 and in third were Tony Lowther, Graeme Hepburn, Ian Dunk and Chris Ford on 18.8.

It was the first time that night golf had been tried at Stapleford Park but organisers hailed the event as such a success that a similar event is already being planned for later in the year.

Stapleford Park’s PGA golf professional Rich Alderson said: “Despite all the recent rain and with some local courses closed, our course stood up well and you could hear people laughing and obviously enjoying themselves out in the darkness.

“It was a very popular event and we could have taken more than double the number of available entries. The evening finished in our thatched pavilion clubhouse for presentations and a welcome, warming curry.”

Around £500 looks to have been raised for the Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Rutland Air Ambulance Appeal (DLRAAA), and there was even support from the neighbouring Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire Air Ambulance Appeal as several golfers are also members of its Airshots golf society (visit the website here).