A new event this season – the Northumberland Three Castles – has been confirmed for the end of July. The Castles, as it will inevitably be called, is being played on successive days at Bamburgh Castle, Dunstanburgh Castle and closing out at Alnwick Castle.
And to add to Alnwick’s good news, this week they became the first club in Northumberland to be awarded High Achiever Status for GolfMark, the England Golf scheme which identifies and recognises junior and beginner friendly golf facilities.
To put that distinction into context, only 14 of the 42 clubs affiliated to the Northumberland Union of Golf Clubs – exactly one third – have even the standard GolfMark accreditation.
All this arrives only 18 months after an Alnwick club then £60,000 in debt was heading for extinction until being saved by new owner Simon Kimble.
He has bankrolled so much investment into what were fast fading greens, fairways and bunkers that club manager Neil Foggon said: “There has been a 100% improvement in the course and in the long run we shall improve another 100% on what has been achieved already.” The event named after Deeble honours a Northumberland player, now in his late fifties, who was struck down in his prime by a rare form of motor neurone disease after winning the English Amateur twice in four years.
On the first occasion, in 1976, Deeble succeeded Nick Faldo as champion. Faldo went on to set a European record of six wins in majors and become a multi-millionaire, but Deeble has been unable to play golf for almost a quarter of a century.
Deeble represented Great Britain & Ireland in the 1977 and 1981 Walker Cups in New York and California, helped England win the European Team Championship in 1977 and amassed 67 England caps.
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