Walking in the footsteps of giants! Golf club Crans-Sur-Sierre

Wallis weekend 07th- 08th October 2017

It had been just a month since England’s Mathew Fitzpatrick had defeated Scott Hend from New Zealand in a thrilling play off in the Omega European masters played on the 6262 meter course of Club Crans-Sur-Sierre  designed by the that legendry golfer Sevé Ballesteros.

So here I was, thanks to an understanding boss, 3 o’clock on a Friday afternoon, pedal to the metal, on the way down to Valais, for the chance for me and a number of other G4fun’ers to play the very same 18 holes.

St Christopher was smiling on us today , and the traffic around the west ring , and around Bern was flowing ,enabling us to complete the journey in just over 3 hours, despite the usual Martin family hiccup as I managed to miss the Sion turn off completely ,and we had some adventures locating the hotel and the correct parking area.

But by 7.30 pm Dawn and I could relax with a glass or two of crisp white Heida, served up to us by the pleasant and welcoming staff of the Hotel Elite.

The rest of this weekend’s G4F contingent were gradually arriving, and this evening we were to dine in the hotel restaurant. The kitchen did themselves proud, and the wine cellar was left just a little less full than it had been.

After a restful night, Saturday morning greeted us with blue skies, with an autumnal nip in the air. Breakfast consumed, and it was off to Crans, a drive of around 30 minutes.  At 1500 meters above sea level there was a twisty turney road to negotiate, as well as the blowing of noses to equalise the air pressure as we climbed higher. With a little imaginative navigation, we managed to locate the car park of the golf club , to be informed that due to overnight frost our tee times had been put back an hour ( Well at least it wasn’t snow !!!)

The delay, as it transpired, was quite handy as it allowed us to warm up on the golf range, which involved a 15 minute walk to get to, as it is located at the far end of the course.  The stroll down there also gave us our first look at the layout, and take in some of the spectacular views as well as marvel at was also a fair amount of what I am certain is pretty pricey real estate bordering the fairways. Luckily Fridays euro millions draw had a jackpot of Euro 218 million, that was quickly being spent in virtual reality by a number of players, including me.

Back to the business in hand, and having practiced how far I could hit a divot at the driving range, it was time to muster on the 10th tee, which was to be our starting point today as the course slowly thawed out on the more shaded front nine. Our starter  was extremely welcoming, and explained the local rules to each flight as it went out.

First flight was to include Mr Trousers, who elected to play from the whites, and he hit his drive down the right side, taking the water out of play, and proving that at least one of us could play golf. Relief all round. Most of us lesser mortals were to play off the Yellows and reds according to gender.

The fact that we were playing on ground where some of the world’s best golfing heroes had trod, seemed to add a soupçon of pressure to ones opening tee shot, which I demonstrated as I launched my drive down the right, but more directly into the small copse lining the fairway. As golf ball hit the woodwork a lucky ricochet saw my opening effort land in the first cut.

Managing to progress my ball further down the fairway with my second, I had left myself a simple chip onto the green for my third. It was now that one realised this was not your average goat track as the putting service turned out to be lightening quick and my Titleist pro V1  that normally  would of come to rest for a tap in , just sped past the hole , off the back of the green, resulting in  —BLOB!!

It took a few holes to get into the game, not helped by each hole having some history of the course and the great golfers that have played there in the past. But we managed to get into the groove and my efforts were rewarded with birdie on the amphitheatre Par 3, albeit not in front of 1000 people. But it felt good.

Even better than the slug of forthcoming Calvados!! Fortified by the Frankish liquor, our three ball started to put together some decent golf , scoring nicely. One of my flights though was suffering from a particular virulent dose of something and on the back nine, and with a drought of birdies, and resultant stimulants, he began to falter. On coming to a Par 3 over a road, with a particularly well appointed dwelling on the right side, we proceeded to play. My colleague with the cold, managed to shank his tee shot directly towards the Chalet on the right, with his ball making contact with the balustrade of the balcony with a loud crack!!!  Luckily no one was at home, but we moved on with an increased tempo in our step.

The 06th and 07TH holes (today playing as our 15th and 16th) are spectacular holes with the views on the latter breath-taking. Those tricky greens, with the difficulty factor increased due to the presence of a sprinkling of pine needles on the surface, managed to cause me further problems on the 18th as I four putted to end the round as I had started —BLOB!!

There was not a lot of time to sit around and wait for the other flights to finish, as tonight G4F had a date with one of our most popular sponsors, Cave Fin Bec SA. Tonight we were to be treated to raclette a la discretion, and to try some of their great vintages at their establishment just outside Sion, Route de Vuisse 16, 1962 Pont-de-la-Morge, Sion, to be precise. As an added extra, we could also admire a display of some alternative artwork that seemed to specialise in representations of various reproductive organs, and, with no pun intended, the chance to blow on a genuine Alpenhorn. Various degrees of success were achieved here.

The wine and the cheese were very well received, and we received a very informative insight from  Gothfried into the history and manufacturing techniques used in the production of Cave Fin Bec wines. It is great news that Cave Fin Bec will be sponsoring again for season 2018. Guests on the evening certainly enjoyed it with a number of orders placed over the evening. My order has since arrived and is safely stored in the cellar.

I should mention that as  a gold member of G4F I received a 10  pct. discount on the order , one of the many benefits  available , check out the website for  further  details. So that’s the blatant plug out of the way, now onto the rest of the weekend. Sunday, and we were to play Golf Club Sion , just a 10 minute car journey from the hotel, and with the very clear sign posting even I could not  miss it .

Again blue sky was the order of the day. After the previous days exertions Dawn and I opted to see the course in a buggy. The course at Sion, is a different world from the one we played Saturday, but there are holes where the construction and lay out means one has to give some consideration to the club selection from the tee box.

The greens were a lot slower which meant for this golfer my score managed to reach the right big figure. Finishing in the earlier part of the afternoon, meant that the long drive back would not mean a bad night’s sleep having just woofed down a kebab with extra chilli sauce 30 minutes before midnight and a 5.15 alarm call to get to  work .

Instead we could wind our way back, opting to go home using the Furka pass train. Unfortunately, we had not informed ourselves of the current road work timetable and our homeward journey took a little longer than planned.

The heavy rain also added to the difficult driving conditions. Overall though a fantastic weekend and it was a joy to play Crans-sur-Sierre, a truly stunning course and a good test of golf. Big thanks as always to Nora for organising, and to all at Cave Fin Bec SA, for being such great hosts to us on Saturday evening and your continued support for 2018 and hopefully beyond.

Peter Martin, Hopeful Tiger every year 🙂