Latest news with #Lennie
BBC News
15 hours ago
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Faster than Rory, further than Bryson - life on golf's 'party' side
Six golf balls, a shot clock with music blaring, and a WWE-style belt for a it's not a scene from the new Happy Gilmore movie, but the professional sport of Long Drive Golf. As the sport's name would suggest, it is all about hitting the longest drive possible and Northern Ireland's Aaron Lennie is one of the best in putts, no wedges and no water hazards. Driving distance off the tee is all that matters. Just how far are those drives? Well, at the recent Open Championship at Royal Portrush, Bryson DeChambeau topped the driving distance category with an average of 327.5 yards - a full football pitch less than Lennie's personal best of 437 more than 185mph, Rory McIlroy is one of the top players in professional golf for ball speed, but Lennie can surpass 200mph. That's as quick as a Formula 1 have two-and-a-half minutes to hit six balls down a long grid, with an out of bounds area either side. They go head-to-head in group or knockout stages, and there's plenty of drama, a party in the stands and some showboating alongside it all."It's like a party atmosphere, a totally different scene to golf," said Lennie, who recently won his first professional event in Austria."I don't know if people will like this, but it kind of has a LIV feel to it. There's music blasting, there's a lot of noise, a lot of energy. It's fast-paced, which for some people is something that's missing from golf. "It's a breath of fresh air that way. It's a game within a game. None of us claim to be good golfers but we can hit a ball far and we can do it well." Speaking of DeChambeau, the two-time major winner has played a key role in the growing popularity of the sport. Not afraid to step outside his comfort zone, the American entered the World Long Drive Championship in 2022 and, of the 128 players to start the event, he came second with a drive of 406 yards."My generation have benefited massively from Bryson doing what he did," Lennie said."When he dipped his toes in the Long Drive scene it was kind of at rock bottom. "The spotlight he brought to it was massive for us and it's getting bigger and bigger year on year." 'There's a lot of ego in the sport' Lennie came across the sport after a failed attempt at breaking into golf's professional ranks. The 26-year-old went to college in the USA and said he wanted to stay involved with the sport, taking part in his first Long Drive tournament in 2022."I got the bug for it and just wanted to hit it further, further and further," said Lennie."It's got explosive power movements, you want to be able to rotate really quickly and create a lot of force from the ground. "It's the same thing a lot of the pro golfers are doing now to hit it further, it's just we are at the extreme end of that." Lennie combines his Long Drive commitments with being an assistant professional at Clandeboye Golf Club in County only picking up the sport three years ago, he won his first professional event in Austria on the European tour and qualified for his first World Championships in September. "It felt good and it was a monkey off my back," he said."Hopefully it's the start of a few more to come".Due to the distances that the professional Long Drive players can strike the ball, Lennie does the majority of his practice sessions indoorsIt allows him to adjust his technique, look at the data behind each swing, and track each one of his drives. "In some sessions we don't really care where the ball goes, we just want it to go fast and far. In terms of hitting it straight it's a whole other practice session."There's a lot of ego in the sport, I don't think anyone can deny that, but there's a science to it as well with all the fine details to make sure the ball is going as far as it can."We get to do the fun part, we don't need to worry about the bunkers or anything like that. We just tee it up and give it a hit."
Scoop
03-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Scoop
Brisbane Alt-Country/Indie Rock Group Halfway Release Their New Album The Styx
Halfway have been a band for quarter of a century, and across that time they've made eight studio albums, each of which has received a wealth of critical acclaim. From their origins in 2000, Halfway have developed their style and songs into cinematic soundscapes, lush with pedal steel, densely layered guitars, and driving rhythms. Halfway's new album, The Styx, features the return to the fold of band co-founder Chris Dale after a six-year absence, and contributions from guests including Chris Abrahams (The Necks, Midnight Oil) and Adele Pickvance (The Go-Betweens). A concept album of sorts, The Styx is situated in a remote Australian coastal town during the Christmas of 1986 and explores themes of family, isolation, love, and betrayal. " Growing up, my family would spend time at Stanage Bay in Central Queensland, which is a small fishing village situated to the southeast of the Styx River. It was a remote and beautiful place," reflects Busby. He didn't know anything about Greek mythology but saw the beauty and the danger there just the same. On fishing trips with his father and a cast of characters who might have walked out of the pages of a John Steinbeck story, he must have heard a hundred times: 'People drown in here.' Seeds were planted. ' The whole Stanage Bay / Styx River area, and the people there, are a big part of this record. When some of the band and our friends started to inform the songs, I knew I had to set it at the bay,' says Busby. ' It's a place full of beauty and mystery. I had been wanting to base a story there for a long time.' There is nothing mythic about these stories of love, lust, longing, and leaving, which feel as real as an errant fishhook deep into flesh. Brothers George and Lennie are the kind of hard-bitten characters who might be found in stories by Steinbeck or Richard Flanagan, battling the elements and themselves and always with an eye out for the fishing inspectors. Just before daylight, Lennie goes to check the nets. He doesn't return. The recording of the album took on a different form for the band, who recorded themselves in Brisbane before Mark Nevers (Bonnie 'Prince' Billy, Lambchop, Calexico, George Jones) shaped the mix of the songs at his South Carolina studio, with Busby alongside him. ' We usually just record live in a room, but this one started quietly. Just my guitar and vocals, layering it track by track, and then recording the drums last. A weird back-to-front album, but it gave us the chance to put the story / songs first rather than concentrate on how the songs would work live.' The sound the band has concocted is one of sweeping beauty and sonic grace, both heartfelt and tragic. Guitar strings and keys wash across the speakers, like the ocean breeze and the river tide. Drawing on the influence of bands such as The Triffids and Phosphorescent, Halfway seamlessly blend alt-country and indie rock sensibilities, providing the songs with a hypnotic and compelling backdrop to these poetic tales from the Australian coastline. The album's first single,' The Palace ', features heart-wrenching pedal steel, courtesy of Noel Fitzpatrick, Elwin Hawtin 's solid backbeat and those chiming, hypnotic guitars (John Willsteed, Chris Dale, John Busby) that Halfway do so well. Vocal melodies duck and weave, hanging in the air with a melancholic grace as Busby delivers his lyrics amid the exquisite and atmospheric alt-country sprawl. Courtesy of an endlessly played cassette of The Queen is Dead, bought at Kmart in Rockhampton, 'The Palace' " pays homage to The Smiths and to dreaming even in the most remote places," says Busby. "It's a song for the outliers and people living in the margins." The second single, ' Matches ', written by Busby and bassist Ben Johnson, creaks and shimmers to life courtesy of its gently sparkling guitars and atmospheric keys. Drums enter the fray as the music swells and expands into an evocative sound akin to the best of Mercury Rev, where musical dreams and memories coexist. " The coals of a fire are neither flame nor ash. 'Matches' sits in the space between ignition and extinction, rooted in uncertainty," says Johnson. " The stories of The Styx inhabit that uncertain ground where nothing is fully on or off, alive or gone. What begins as fire ends as cinders and lingers softly afterward." As in their songs, as in life. Love lost and found, the pain and the hope, the past and the landscape ever-present. Great songwriting often finds a way to make the deeply personal feel universal. Few bands navigate that path as surely as Halfway across their nine timeless albums.
STV News
25-06-2025
- Business
- STV News
Questions raised after convicted landlord awarded £8m homeless contracts
Councillors have raised questions over the due diligence carried out into the award of homeless housing contracts worth almost £8 million to a company run by a convicted Edinburgh landlord. William Lennie, director of Edinburgh housing firm Phoenix Properties Edinburgh Ltd, had pled guilty to charges of unregistered lets and unlicensed HMOs in 2010. The firm was awarded two homeless housing contracts worth up to £7,996,785 by the council in May. After Mr Lennie's background was reported by the Local Democracy Reporting Service, Green councilor Alex Staniforth raised an emergency motion at Thursday's meeting of the city's Finance and Resources Committee meeting. He wrote that there was 'concern' over the award for the contract, and called on council officers to brief them on the 'due diligence followed' in awarding the contract. However, the matter was then moved to the meeting's 'B' agenda, where it was discussed in private – a decision attributed to there being 'commercially sensitive' issues being discussed. It is understood that the motion and an addendum by the Conservative group asking council officers to specifically detail what due diligence checks were carried out, both passed. When approached by a reporter earlier this month, Mr Lennie denied that he had been charged with the letting-related offences, which were reported on in 2011. However, court services confirmed to the Local Democracy Reporting Service that he had pled guilty at a trial in 2010 and was fined. Mr Lennie also told the reporter that he had been 'done in 1985 for ghost tenants, DHS fraud', and that he had been charged with mortgage fraud around 2000. 'Ghost tenants' refers to the practice of a landlord wrongfully telling benefits agencies that they have a tenant eligible for housing benefits living in their property. The two contracts, together worth almost £8m, are for households which 'will be able to independently manage in their own accommodation', and for those who will be able to receive a visiting service to help with 'housing support skills'. They say that residents in private rented accommodation provided by the council through the contracts usually stay for an average of 18 months, but that stays can be 'significantly' longer or shorter. The contracts were both signed on May 1 this year, with the decisions being published on May 30. A spokesperson for Edinburgh Council said: 'We work with a range of landlords and providers across the city to help us tackle the current housing emergency. 'We complete full due diligence checks on each provider.' Get all the latest news from around the country Follow STV News Scan the QR code on your mobile device for all the latest news from around the country
Edinburgh Reporter
25-06-2025
- Business
- Edinburgh Reporter
Questions asked over convicted landlord contracts
Councillors have raised questions over the due diligence carried out into the award of homeless housing contracts worth almost £8 million to a company run by a convicted Edinburgh landlord. William Lennie, director of Edinburgh housing firm Phoenix Properties Edinburgh Ltd, had pled guilty to charges of unregistered lets and unlicensed HMOs in 2010. The firm was awarded two homeless housing contracts worth up to £7,996,785 by the council in May. After Mr Lennie's background was reported by the Local Democracy Reporting Service, Green councilor Alex Staniforth raised an emergency motion at Thursday's meeting of the city's Finance and Resources Committee meeting. He wrote that there was 'concern' over the award for the contract, and called on council officers to brief them on the 'due diligence followed' in awarding the contract. However the matter was then moved to the meeting's 'B' agenda, where it was discussed in private – a decision attributed to there being 'commercially sensitive' issues being discussed. It is understood the motion, and an addendum by the Conservative group asking council officers to specifically detail what due diligence checks were carried out, both passed. When approached by a reporter earlier this month, Mr Lennie denied that he had not been charged with the letting related offences, which were reported on in 2011. However, court services confirmed to the Local Democracy Reporting Service that he had pled guilty at a trial in 2010, and was fined. Mr Lennie also told the reporter that he had been 'done in 1985 for ghost tenants, DHS fraud', and that he had been charged with mortgage fraud around 2000. 'Ghost tenants' refers to the practice of a landlord wrongfully telling benefits agencies that they have a tenant eligible for housing benefit living in their property. The two contracts, together worth almost £8m, are for households which 'will be able to independently manage in their own accommodation', and for those who will be able to receive a visiting service to help with 'housing support skills'. They say that residents in private rented accommodation provided by the council through the contracts usually stay for an average of 18 months, but that stays can be 'significantly' longer or shorter. The contracts were both signed on 1 May this year, with the decisions being published on 30 May. An Edinburgh Council spokesperson previously said that the council 'complete[s] full due diligence checks on each provider.' By Joseph Sullivan Local Democracy Reporter Like this: Like Related
Edinburgh Live
24-06-2025
- Business
- Edinburgh Live
Questions raised after convicted Edinburgh landlord handed £8m homeless housing contracts
Our community members are treated to special offers, promotions and adverts from us and our partners. You can check out at any time. More info Councillors have raised questions over the due diligence carried out into the award of homeless housing contracts worth almost £8 million to a company run by a convicted Edinburgh landlord. William Lennie, director of Edinburgh housing firm Phoenix Properties Edinburgh Ltd, had pled guilty to charges of unregistered lets and unlicensed HMOs in 2010. The firm was awarded two homeless housing contracts worth up to £7,996,785 by the council in May. After Mr Lennie's background was reported by the Local Democracy Reporting Service, Green councillor Alex Staniforth raised an emergency motion at Thursday's meeting of the city's Finance and Resources Committee meeting. He wrote that there was "concern" over the award for the contract, and called on council officers to brief them on the 'due diligence followed' in awarding the contract. However the matter was then moved to the meeting's 'B' agenda, where it was discussed in private – a decision attributed to there being 'commercially sensitive' issues being discussed. It is understood the motion, and an addendum by the Conservative group asking council officers to specifically detail what due diligence checks were carried out, both passed. When approached by a reporter earlier this month, Mr Lennie denied that he had not been charged with the letting related offences, which were reported on in 2011. However, court services confirmed to the Local Democracy Reporting Service that he had pled guilty at a trial in 2010, and was fined. Mr Lennie also told the reporter that he had been 'done in 1985 for ghost tenants, DHS fraud', and that he had been charged with mortgage fraud around 2000. 'Ghost tenants' refers to the practice of a landlord wrongfully telling benefits agencies that they have a tenant eligible for housing benefit living in their property. The two contracts, together worth almost £8m, are for households which 'will be able to independently manage in their own accommodation', and for those who will be able to receive a visiting service to help with 'housing support skills'. They say that residents in private rented accommodation provided by the council through the contracts usually stay for an average of 18 months, but that stays can be 'significantly' longer or shorter. The contracts were both signed on 1 May this year, with the decisions being published on 30 May. An Edinburgh Council spokesperson previously said that the council 'complete[s] full due diligence checks on each provider.'
