u/Discopants180

Local Costco have the stiff ones in for £230 currently - that's a ridiculously good deal for 7 clubs isn't it?

I'm kinda hovering around that 18-20 handicap currently and do want some new irons, these seems almost too good to turn down?

Was thinking use them for a couple of years before getting a proper fitting, also Costco have an excellent returns policy apparently.

I've had the Kirkland wedges for about 6 months too and love them so happy with the general feel of them.

Edit - bought them and loads left in stock at Costo Gateshead if anyone else is keen.

This was my fourth Download, and third in a row. I’m not new to festivals, I know the risks that always come.

I loved Download every year until this one, and in some ways, this was the most important one. This year, I finally agreed my younger sister was old enough to come (19, no exams clashing). Download has always felt like a safer festival than most, which is why I was happy to bring her. She asked if her bf (19) could join. Sure, what could go wrong? They’re old enough and smart enough to not do anything risky. At worst, I’ll just be forking out extra money for food and water.

I’m going to start with my milder concerns at the start, and then get to when it gets really bad.

When we arrived, security didn’t check any bags. This raised alarm bells.

Friday, my first mosh pit of the season, some coked up muscle head hits me square in the nose. I dip out of the pit, wait out the rest of the gig, I knew from being a first responder that it was likely a partial fracture, and went to the medical tent to be assessed. I left not long after, as a young girl in her early twenties had to be defibrillated very early in the day, and a partial fracture was nothing to worry about in comparison. I spoke with the trainee to let her know. Then I started to worry, but I told myself it would be an isolated incident, that she had probably brought something herself and went too far, I didn’t know her, and while I was horrified for her, I didn’t want to believe that it was almost a foreshadowing of what was to come.

The pits were far more violent than any I had ever seen, and I’ve had my fair share, from Slipknot and Behemoth, to Cannibal Corpse’s walls of death when I was 17. Six times my gigs this year were paused to rush people out. Even in mild pits, like Black Veil Brides, where I saw a 7-8 year old boy jump into one. Architects were definitely the worst I had ever seen, stopped twice for serious issues. The pits after weren’t stopped but the injuries were severe. I watched one guy walk out with a clearly dislocated arm and another with blood pouring down his face. I checked the teens were okay, yes, they had actually left early because they were worn out, back at the tent. Couldn’t respond to my worried messages because of the signal congestion. When was dinner? Relief. Good, I was with sensible teens who knew when to call it a night.

Then came Sunday, when shit really hit the fan. We said we would stay together this day, so that I could get some quality time with my sister and properly get to know her bf.

It was going well until Bad Omens. I went into a pit with them, we had fun. I didn’t see the bf take some “water” from a stranger. I had warned them about so much. He felt dehydrated and we had finished our last can of water just prior to the gig starting, so he took it gratefully. The pair wanted to try crowd surfing, we got them up and off they went. He went first with her right behind. My tall partner and our friend kept an eye on them for me (I’m too short), said they got to the front safely. By half-way through the next song, sis was back. But where was her bf? Maybe in the pit again? I say nothing to worry her, but I start looking around.

Bad Omens ends, I don’t want to worry her. I settle her with my partner and our friend, I know they’ll keep her safe at A Day to Remember. And I leave, running once I know that she can’t see me. I spend the entire time screaming his name, calling his phone, speaking to anyone I can to see if they had seen him. I ask security, practically begging for help, nothing - “just wait it out”. Most festival goers jeered at me for screaming for him. What would they have done in my position? Some parents clearly recognised the distress I was feeling, calling their own kids in the crowds, asking them if they saw a boy of the description. No luck. I went to medical, I went to Welfare, nothing.

Finally a call is answered. I start asking where he is. It’s not him on the phone. Some random girl telling me that he’s on something and in the crowd at the front waiting for Linkin Park, ignores me when I ask for more information, laughs and hangs up. At least there’s something to go on. I call my partner and tell him what I had discovered. He tries to get water, asks the bartender if the can of water could be kept sealed just this once, so that it’s not lost while I search, so that when we finally do regroup, we have water for him. No. She was rude and told him that she’s recording him, refuses the sale. Meanwhile, I’ve started elbowing my way in, explaining to everyone that I just need to grab a kid in there who was on something, as soon as I find him, I’ll get him out. Some were happy to give me the inch or two, wishing me luck, some clearly didn’t believe me, refused to budge and swore at me. I didn’t care, I elbowed through as many as I could, asking anyone and everyone if they had seen him. Nothing. I start from the front and try to work my way row by row back. All I had to go on was “front”. I apologised constantly, but I had no other option than to continue pushing my way through. I get another security guard- I don’t even know the time at this stage. I’ll have to wait. I’m on the fourth row back now, having started at the first row. Then the sound starts, and I’m still trying to look and call. I get a message that he’ll try to find me. A sympathetic young girl loans me her fan, I send him a picture and ask him to look for it, because it’s the only way he’ll find me. I beg the men around me to lift me on their shoulders so that I can just look around for him. No. No sympathy, no humanity. I’m not heavy and I’m not tall, it wouldn’t have been impossible. Security and everyone around me tells me to stop worrying, he’ll be fine, just enjoy the gig. My gut tells me otherwise. But I can’t move. The wall of people won’t let me through to keep looking. I watch the crowd shots on the big screen, hoping to find him. Nothing.

Emily pauses the gig to get someone out - is that him? I’m craning my neck, jumping as high as I can to see if it’s him. I can’t see anything. No support from anyone around to help. Within seconds of Linkin Park finishing, I get a call back finally- medical have him. It’s an emergency. I sprinted from that pit, shoving almost everyone out of my way, calling my partner just to scream “MEDICAL TENT NOW!”

Not only had he been spiked from that bottle of “water”, he had been spiked with what the medics could eventually tell me was a very strong mixture of MDMA and Ketamine. When he collapsed, he stopped breathing for 5 minutes. They had to resuscitate him multiple times, because he would bounce from being manic from the MDMA to completely crashing from the Ket, and when he crashed, he stopped breathing. They stabilised him, and I got to him when he was manic, crying, terrified. I did my best to calm him. He crashes again. I overhear the medics asking each other where the ambulance is. My sister finally makes it. They won’t let her see him yet, he’s not stable, I’m trying not to let her know how bad it really is. They take him in an ambulance- they could no longer have me go with him because there’s another patient who needs to go in. They’ll meet me at the main medical tent - my sister and I run. We get there before he does. The straggling crowd at this point is kind enough to let us through or forgive when we shout back our explanations.

After what feels like a lifetime, listening to the medical team behind curtains, getting what little updates we can, we can see him again. Resuscitation Bay 1. That sign is burned into my memory. My sister is panicked but trying to hide it from him. He crashes again, in front of her. We’re rightfully removed to be out their way, brought just outside. And we wait. And I have to call him mother, just after midnight, to explain to her what has happened to her only child, on my watch, when we’ve never met, and she’s in a completely different country, and unable to do anything but panic.

It’s 3 in the morning before they feel that he’s safe to be released- still high as a kite but not in immediate danger. Just watch when he’s sleeping, to make sure he doesn’t stop breathing again. 4 am before we get to the tent. Up at 6 to pack up and go, wake the teens at 7, so they can get a little more rest. Coach at 10. I go straight to our local Angel, I explained what happened to him, I beg for accessibility access for him, he can’t go from Quiet Camp all the way to the Transport Hub by foot with his bags (opposite side of the grounds) on three hours of sleep. My partner and I are already carrying as many of the bags as we can, tossing out a lot of our equipment to reduce the loads. She radios in and tells me there’s approval.

I need to clear our locker, so I run ahead to the pick up site, I explain everything to the woman there. She’s sweet and understanding, tells me that they had all been briefed on what had happened to him earlier that morning, and that orders had been given from “above” to make him a priority exception. Relief has flooded me, running on pure adrenaline and less than an hour’s nap since 8 the previous morning. She lets me leave my bag, so I can run freely to clear our locker of the last of our stuff. I update my partner, he leads the teens there. He doesn’t meet the same woman, clearly tenured and clued-in. He’s told that there’s been no approval. He can try the accessibility shuttle, but we’ll be waiting. He drags them through the west gate and to the shuttle. Same story, they won’t be allowed on. I’m livid at this point, I make my way back, get my bag, and try talking to this other woman. I explain everything and she refuses to help, she hasn’t been told shit. I lose my temper and say “he cannot walk that distance in his current condition, and I just want to get them out of your fucking festival”, and she reprimands me for speaking to her “that way” and says she will not help.

THANKFULLY that blessed first woman at the accessibility site was still there, just in case, even though her shift was over hours previously, just behind the cabin and heard it all. She led the teens to chairs to rest, she took over communication for me, and told them that they should have listened to the brief, we had been placed as a priority exception. She was truly amazing, she got us on the caddy, walking with it to the shuttle, and fought for us the whole way, so that we could get out on the first shuttle and our coach to London. It felt like every other member of crew had been dehumanised and she argued with so many for us, reiterating again and again that we had approval.

I would never normally make a post like this, but as I read online, this happened to more than just him, and the lack of security upon entry and the lack of action by security this year, led to these situations occurring. My partner found glass bottles everywhere on the festival grounds, I met many people with knives and sharp scissors in the camp grounds. This has been the most upsetting festival experience of my life, and more disappointing all for it being Download, marketing itself as a “family” and being “safe”.

I have sent two official complaints to different departments, immediately after we left festival grounds, highlighting only the kind woman from Access and the Medical Team for their consideration and care, and yet not a single response. I will take that to mean that the only way they will listen is for me to post what happened to us on public forums and social media.