Canterbury Golf Club has confirmed that its hugely successful Festival of Golf will return from 5 to 12 July 2026, with close to 1,400 golfers expected to tee it up across a packed seven day programme.

The week long celebration of the game, once again backed by Canterbury based accountancy firm Burgess Hodgson as headline sponsor, will showcase a variety of formats over the club’s classic Harry Colt designed course on the outskirts of the cathedral city.

Pilgrims Cup to headline opening day

Proceedings will get under way on Sunday 5 July with the prestigious Kent Order of Merit Pilgrims Cup, a 36 hole medal competition that traditionally attracts a strong field from across the county and beyond.

The festival will then feature a broad mix of individual and team events, culminating in the Members Better Ball Stableford on Sunday 12 July.

General Manager Roger Hyder welcomed the expanded backing from the club’s long standing supporters.

“Burgess Hodgson have been long term supporters of Canterbury Golf Club and have always sponsored one of the competitions held through the week but this year they have really stepped up their support by agreeing to be the headline sponsor for the whole Festival,” he said.

“It would also be remiss of me to not thank our daily event sponsors Perspective, Shepherd Neame, Brakes, Café du Monde and WWMartin.”

Strong local backing for flagship week

Burgess Hodgson is a full service accountancy practice based in Canterbury, combining London level expertise with a local relationship led approach. Founded in London in 1938, the firm relocated to Canterbury in 1976 and is celebrating its 50th anniversary in the city this year.

Rachael Florence, Head of Marketing at Burgess Hodgson, said: “Supporting the Canterbury Golf Club Festival of Golf reflects long held values at Burgess Hodgson. Sport has always played an important role in the firm’s culture, reflecting the same commitment, drive and resilience that underpin success both in sport and in business.”

The full schedule for the Festival of Golf is:

Sunday 5 July – Pilgrims Cup 36 hole medal
Monday 6 July – Over 55s Seniors Open
Tuesday 7 July – Texas Scramble
Wednesday 8 July – Canterbury Open 18 hole Stableford
Friday 10 July – Texas Scramble
Saturday 11 July – Team Stableford
Sunday 12 July – Members Better Ball Stableford

All events are open to men and women unless stated otherwise, and golfers with an official WHS handicap can enter via the club’s website.

Established in 1927, Canterbury Golf Club is home to a renowned 18 hole layout designed by Harry Colt, whose portfolio includes Wentworth, Sunningdale, Rye and Camberley Heath, along with significant redesign work at Muirfield, Hoylake and Royal Portrush.

The club is also taking entries for its Ladies Open on 13 May and its Junior Open on 25 August, both of which regularly attract strong fields.

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PHOENIX – A record-setting MOI for a PING driver makes the new G440 K the company’s straightest and most forgiving model to date while delivering golfers faster ball speeds and CG-shifting adjustability for more distance, PING CEO & President John K. Solheim announced today.

The G440 K driver is available for custom fittings and pre-order at authorized PING golf shops around the world beginning today.

“We’re hearing a lot of great comments about how forgiving and straight the new G440 K driver is, which ultimately leads to more distance for the golfer,” said Solheim. “It’s fun to hear that feedback, and we’re excited to get the ‘K’ into the hands of more golfers.”

“Our record-setting combined MOI in the G440 K driver is primarily attributed to the new carbon crown and sole called Dual Carbonfly Wrap, which provides significant weight savings that are optimized elsewhere in the club. Among the key advancements from our previous highest-MOI driver, the award-winning G430 MAX 10K, is a heavier, adjustable back weight that positions the CG location for higher ball speeds and the ability to influence ball flight by moving the weight into one of three locations. Refinements to our T9S+ face structure provide higher, more consistent ball speeds across the face, leading to greater distance.”

G440 Driver Family Grows

The G440 K driver joins the G440 family of drivers (MAX, SFT, LST), each custom fit and custom built to fit a variety of skill levels.

“The ‘K’ is a great addition to the G440 driver line, providing another custom-fitting option loaded with innovations,” said Solheim. “We encourage golfers to experience a PING driver custom fitting with one of our expert fitters around the world who’ve been trained in our fitting techniques and are equipped with our fitting tools. They’ll analyze your launch-monitor results to help find the G440 driver that best fits your game. Whether it’s the new K, the MAX, the LST or SFT, there’s a PING G440 driver for every golfer.”

Dual Carbonfly Wrap Technology

Weight savings from the carbon crown and sole in the G440 K driver are re-allocated within the design, mainly into a high-density tungsten back weight, which drives the CG lower and deeper for faster ball speeds and helps achieve the record-setting MOI for a PING driver. In addition to being four grams heavier than the G430 MAX 10K, the back weight is movable to one of three positions (Draw, Neutral, Fade) to shift the CG and achieve the desired results.

“The combined MOI of the G440 K driver surpasses our previous mark and continues our pursuit of engineering the highest-performing drivers in the world,” said Solheim. “It’s a remarkable accomplishment for our engineering team to offer golfers this new level of forgiveness with the benefits of weight adjustability.”

Fast, Forgiving Face

The proven T9S+ forged face of the G440 K driver continues to evolve and brings golfers faster ball speeds for longer and straighter drives. The combination of a shallower face and refinements to the VFT shaping provide more flexing, retaining consistent ball speeds across the entire face, especially in the high heel region. Spinsistency, our variable-face-curvature innovation, helps ensure consistent spin and maintain ball velocity.

“We continue to rely on our proprietary T9S+ face technology as it gives us the highest performance and consistency for overall flexing and ball-speed retention,” said Solheim. “We don’t sacrifice speed for forgiveness. Golfers can have both. The G440 K driver is a prime example of that. It provides exceptional ball speed, delivers extremely tight dispersion and launches high with optimal spin. That translates to longer and straighter drives.”

Sound Design

Joining the Ti-811 body to the carbon crown and sole of the G440 K driver while ensuring a pleasing sound required PING’s engineering team to develop a composite crown bridge and sole ribs to stiffen the crown and sole during impact, resulting in a solid and slightly muted impact experience.

“With the addition of the carbon sole, we knew the sound characteristics of the G440 K driver would be different than previous models,” said Solheim. “Through finite element analysis (FEA), sound testing and player feedback, our engineers developed the lightweight crown bridge and sole ribs to combat any undesirable frequencies. The G440 K driver has a very pleasing and confident sound.”

G440 K HL (High Launch)

The lighter overall weight of the G440 K HL driver is an ideal build for slower-swing-speed golfers who don’t generate sufficient clubhead speed and ball velocity from traditionally weighted clubs. Custom engineered and custom built at 46″ with a lighter back weight (28g), ultra-light shafts (PING Alta Quick 35/45) and grip (Lamkin UTx Lite, 41g), the result is a lower overall system weight so golfers can swing faster and generate more ball speed for higher-launching, longer-carrying and straighter tee shots. Available in 9°, 10.5°, and 12° lofts.

G440 K Driver Specifications

Head volume: 460cc

Head weight: 203g

Lofts: 9°, 10.5°, 12° (adjustable ±1.5°)

Std. swing weight: D3

Std. length: 46″ (Alta CB Blue 50); 45 1/2″ (PING Tour 2.0 Chrome/Black and optional stock)

Stock shafts: PING Alta CB (counter-balanced) Blue 50 (SR, R, S), PING Alta Quick 35/45 (HL build)

Optional stock shafts: PING Tour 2.0 Chrome 65 (R, S, X), PING Tour 2.0 Black 65 (S, X), Mitsubishi Tensei 1K Black 65/75 (S, X), PRJX Denali Red 50 (5.5, 6.0), PRJX Denali Red 60 (5.5, 6.0, 6.5)

Stock grip: Golf Pride 360 Tour Velvet in six sizes (Blue -1/16″, Red -1/32″, Aqua -1/64″, White-Std, Gold +1/32″, Orange +1/16″)

U.S. MSRP: $705 each with stock shaft

For more information, visit ping.com.

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