 The perfect day for every average golfer. I'm out on a championship golf course. The sun is shining. I've got new clubs in the bag to test. What more could you ask for? So first of all, where is the challenge set? Well, it's at the McDonnell portal championship course. We'll be playing off the yellow tee, six and a half thousand yards. And I also mentioned we've got some new clubs in the bag. I'm going to go to kick things off on the tenth hole yet we're playing the back nine first. It's 420 yards up the hill. Let's see if we can get off to a positive start. That's positive enough. Pretty much middle of the fairway. And the new clubs I referred to are from the Apex 23 lineup. These are Apex Pro and we've got four irons in a bag, which we'll try and make use of in today's challenge. I tentatively knocked a seven iron up and what I learnt was a par five and I thought I'd hit a nice easy layup, but I expected to be a little bit closer than this. That's a high ball flight. Will it get there? Oh, just about pin-eye and a tad left. Right, so it was a short par five, but it's very much played all the way uphill. So I'm happy to be on the green in reg. Let's see if we can get the pace of the greens early. It's got a chance, you know. You needed it in because there's a bit of breaking out. There's very much a couple couple of balls outside the left cup, but that's a decent start. A par on the tenth. Just a quick reference to the irons before we tee off at 11. And first noticeable thing, very, very soft, feel superb. If you've watched our original video, if you've not, then go and catch up in terms of dry ball data and all those kind of things, a little bit more of a technical and in-depth review. This is the first time out on course. And like I said, really interested the most notable thing was just how good they feel. The 11th is pretty straight down. My aim is the small trees, what looks like to be in the middle of the fairway, which I manage, but all be it straight into the rough. 155, I played a 7 iron, which came up a little short. And bearing in mind that second shot was all uphill, probably an error in judgment, which left a chip and run with plenty of green to work with. Right, more than happy with a par, par start. And that was a great little up and down on 11. The first comment I want to make just about the course itself is the greens are absolutely pure and got a bit of pacing on them as well. Right. Stroke 1112, it's a par five. Looks a tricky one. Drive between the trees either side of the fairway is the goal, but I turned it over a tad and once again found myself in the lush and wet rough. I played the Callaway utility wood, which did dig it out quite nice, but there was a reluctance to go at the green that sits ominously close to OB. That then leaves a tricky wedge shot only 50 yards, but needed to carry that bunker between me and the flag. And the green just slopes away as soon as it pitches. So a decent shot, but not the right results. And so that was a disappointing three put on 12. I didn't realise just how uphill that first put was and perhaps washed a little on number two. But anyway, a bogey. We've got next hole is, well, it just looks straight down. I don't know what lies over on the right hand side. So it's driver. Hang it down the middle and see what lies over the top. Right. Best driver of the day there. Split the two bunkers. Didn't see that one on the right, but just managed to draw it in off the tree line a bit, which was the shot I was trying for. I've not said much about the irons yet. I've hit a couple of seven irons and apart from really liking a field in around a 150 carry, which is what we was finding in terms of dry ball data. It says 150 there, but flag seems to be a little bit at the front, but we're still going to play seven and see if we can hit one in. Now again, the idea for me is I'll let more of a cut with this shot if I can, which should produce, or I'm hoping a slight left to right, but relatively straight ball flight is what I'm looking to play. I'll probably have cut it just a bit too much or started it right of flag. I don't think that'll be too far away in terms of distance wise, but clearly the start line wasn't as I intended. It's come up a little bit short. It clearly wasn't the best of strikes and I should have the flag was front. It's clearly, well, it's almost middle to back. I'm going to play a 56 and judging by the pace of these, it only wants to land on a couple of foot right and release out grab. Carry that too far, but actually got a bit of grab on it, especially how that rough, which was a bit of a surprise, but a little bit heavy-handed, but still got a chance of par. Right, I just kind of believe how much that grabbed coming out of the rough. And I got away with it a little bit, to be honest with you, because it wasn't my intended target in terms of where it was going to carry to. Anyway, sure, uphand, not a lot in this one. An old confidence stroke with Mez. Left centre. Yeah, always rely on Mez to save a par, and that's already two up and downs. And to be honest with you right now, my game in general is a lot to do with how good my short game has been, and I need to sharpen up with them irons a bit. If you've ever played Portal Championship course before, the one hole you will remember is the one we're about to play. It's the 14th. It's a par three. Very much a signature hole where we're playing from. I'm just playing 120 yards of the pin, and there is an exciting challenge for anyone who plays this golf course. And effectively, you can win yourself a holiday in the McDonald Donner Lola Resort in Spain, if you get a hole in one. So I think we just need to do it one shot, nine iron, into the middle of the cup. You've literally got to get it going at the flag because a tweak to the left and you're catching that tree. So how do we slow it down a bit? Let's keep a bit of tempo. Doesn't seem too bad. Okay, we've got a chance. Get over. Oh, okay. I think we've probably come a little tad short, but a decent effort. Now ultimately, it was a fail on the par three challenge, but a gallant fail, I suppose, and I point to remember, if your round isn't going too well on the front nine, hang on in there because by the time you get to the 14th, there's still everything left to play for. Right, next up is the 15th hole at the Portal Championship course. It is only a relatively short par four, but it's stroke index five. And as you can see from the drone footage, there's quite a lot of trouble to avoid. The first being two fairway bunkers, but we're going to start with driver. Right, Marys carry the fairway bunkers and just snuck off the fairway, just a tad, and the ball's sitting up, but it's quite lush. And as you can see, all the trouble is all about the, well, what lies in front of the green. So this carry is going to be, it's going to be long. It's not going to be short. Or least I hope it is. That's the plan. I'll try it on the flag. Be the right club. Carry. Oh, I haven't seen it appear yet. Well, we may not want to dry ground, but my idea that this was going to be long of the flag, that didn't go to plan. I thought it was all over it. Big swing off the right hand side and the pace needs to be right. No turn, no turn, no turn, no turn. Oh my word. Well, I looked in all the way. It was a decent read and to be fair, a decent par. My club selection for the second shot was clearly way off and far too close for comfort. The par 316th plays 180 and I'm playing a five hybrid. The green is so tiny and there's a bunker protecting the right side. It really is a kind of no bailout kind of hole. And I aimed at the bunker, hoping for a tad of draw, but it just carried it. And left a fairly tricky wedge shot to be honest with you. The ball sat quite nice, but played absolute beauty and left what I would hope to be is a straightforward for another par. Right, if it wasn't for my short game, I'm not too sure where I'd be in terms of score right now, but it's certainly the only bid that I've got a major confidence in getting up and down. But just looking at the scorecard here, because I'm looking for 17. Yeah, well, it's only placed 377, but it's all the way uphill and it is stroke index one. And there's got to be a reason for that because it looks pretty tight. Well, we didn't have best driver the day earlier on. That has now been surpassed because that's as good as I've got. Great start on stroke one. Right, I've not talked too much about the irons because basically it's been the weakest part of my game and that's nothing to do with the irons. It's just been a bit of an indecision really is to sort of, yeah, a bit of confusion in my mind about my swing and to hand her off camera just needs to be a bit more decisive with the type of shot that I'm trying to hit. This one is going to be a bit of a draw because it tends to be the more favorable shot right now. That draw has just been pushed out right and I'm just, I don't know what lies over that tree, but again, that's that indecision, not the greatest strike. I can see the divot is going out that way as well and we've just made from centre of the fairway, not a great shot. The only thing I can continue to report back about the irons on course is just how good they feel, but my performance with them hasn't been too good. Well, I think me talking about how good my show came was was definitely going to backfire on me. I didn't expect it that quickly. Right, struck one. We've got a roll for par. No turn. A good line, but the one thing I'm not taking enough time on and it's important to note is that there's a difference in slope considerable and after I'd hit the shot or hit the port, I realised that was very much uphill and not taking enough time and care and attention in around the greens, but the greens are rolling pure, but a big difference between playing uphill and downhill, obviously, in terms of pace. That's another bogey. Right, last hole that we're going to feature on part one of this video, it is our 18th, but my ninth, so it's stroke seven for 392 all the way uphill. Let's see how we can finish off with a par. For me, there's a lot of room up the right hand side and we don't want to be going left. Nice and smooth to finish. Oh, and I've done two things well on this front nine and let's drive the ball and not too shabby with a wedge in hand. Right, 143 left in, pretty much perfect drive. I'm just going to try and play a smooth seven. I love to get a birdie chance. I've been disappointed with my iron play so far. Would love to finish off with at least a putt of birdie. There's going to be no birdie putt at again hanging out right. Oh, well, I got the best of bounces there. It was straight at the oak tree right, very similar to the iron that I played on a previous shot, just pushed it out there. Can't seem to get it working this morning. Hit somewhere in the top of that oak tree, but I bounced to the left and I think I'm on the fringe of the green. It looked all over being in a bunker. I got really lucky there. We've got a roll of it, but I'd be happy to from here to be honest with you. Let's get that pace right again. That's not enough, is it? A bit more, a bit more, a bit more. I've read the greens really well and like I said, they've rolled pure. I just didn't. I knew straight away. It didn't have quite enough. Came over a little bit of fringe and unfortunately, this one's got a little bit wriggle room in it. Right, be positive. Ah, just sums up the front nine to be honest with you. Just not quite on it in some areas and I wanted it to be a little bit more about the irons as well and it didn't give you a great deal of feedback on them. All I can tell you is in terms of the championship course itself here at the Macdonald portal, it's been in fantastic condition as you can see and enjoyed every bit of it. All I hope is that ready for part two, I can get my game in a bit better order.