Author: Richard Booth

This week, we have a round up of lots of results, new of international wins for some of our members and some links to further reading. We also discuss Will’s upcoming junior group coaching sessions and that there are clothing bargains to be had. Please enjoy the read.

Junior Group Coaching

Also Will resumes his junior coaching programme on Sunday 12th March. There are three classes to choose from on Sundays and Mondays.

So if you have any family or friends that might be interested (and remember that they don’t have to be members to take part in our junior coaching programme), please direct them to the Pro Shop for more information. Alternatively they can call us on 0161 249 8427 or email me at richardsboothuk@gmail.com

Clothing Promotions

We have some lovely men’s Foot-Joy pieces and other items at 35% off. Plus all other men’s clothing in the shop is 10% for a limited time.

The ladies clothing sale continues with prices reduced by 20% or 25%.

Please drop in and have a browse.

Seniors Bradley 6

Last Wednesday, Tarik Rashid won Bradley 6 with 21 points. John Moss was runner up. Three twos were recorded on the day.

Bogey 5

On the 10th February, Graham Bryant won Bogey 5 with an excellent tally of four up. Barry Jefferies was second with three up beating David Rodwell into third place following a card play off.

Ladies Competitions

Well done to Louise Gerald for winning the back nine stableford on the 16th Feb with a cracking tally of 22 points. Freda Hunt was second with 21 points.

The previous week Caroline Smith finished top of the tree with a nett 34 on the front nine max score medal competition. Gail Sampson was runner up with a nett score of 37.

Hale Golfers on their Travels

Thanks to Irene Kirk for sending in these details of international wins for Ron Kirk and Keith Thompson! Ron won the Seniors prize at the Legends Course in Mauritius whilst Keith prevailed in the Super Seniors 

Tracey Thompson came third on a card play off in the Ladies Competition 

As Irene pointed out, it’s such a pleasure to play golf in warm sunshine and get those shorts and t-shirts on. 

Balancing Act

Thanks to Paul Simpson for sending in this photo of where the gentleman captain’s ball finished after his first tee shot during a recent Captain’s Challenge match. Rumour has it that he went on to birdie the hole and go one up!

Missing Link

I managed to omit the link from my last newsletter to the article that Colin Bamford sent me about the benefits of playing golf. Unfortunately the link has now expired so I can’t make amends in this week’s missive. Apologies Colin.

Flag In or Out?

I thought this was an interesting article from Golf Digest that was worth sharing. However we definitely don’t want this to slow the pace of play down in any way!

This week we have lots of news about clubs, young and old! Plus results from the club’s three main sections – ladies, gents and seniors. And finally a link to an article from the Times.

Newly Launched Golf Clubs

We have the latest Ping G430 and Callaway Paradym clubs in stock. We also have the brand new Odyssey Versa putter range. Click here to read the review of them from Today’s Golfer.

We have demos so that you can try the clubs. We have Trackman so that you can see exactly how they perform against your current clubs. There is no obligation to buy… although we would of course like you to! What are you waiting for? Please drop into the Pro Shop to start a conversation.

Experienced Golf Clubs

The Pro Shop also has some used golf clubs that need a good home to go to. There are some ex Ping G425 demos amongst other great value clubs. Please pop down and have a browse. We’re here to help and advise as to whether a particular club is the correct one for you and your game.

Seniors Back 9 Texas Scramble

Well done to Martin Oldfield, Ian Williamson & John Johnston for winning yesterday’s senior’s Texas Scramble with 25 points in the glorious sunshine. Chris Adams, Phil Long & Bill Wrigley finsihed in second spot following a card play off with Rob Manley, Ian Goulty & Tony Sampson. Both teams scored 23 points.

Bogey 4

Charlie Hindle returned from Nottingham University to secure Bogey 4 with three up. Andrew King (pictured below with gentleman captain David Wainwright) was runner with a score of two up and Andrew Warnes finished third with one up.

Bogey 5 takes place this Friday and Saturday.

Ladies Back Nine Stableford

The ever reliable Terri Broadbent won last Thursday’s ladies comp with 19 points. There were then four players who scored 18 points. Gwynneth Bramwell won the card play off to finish as the runner up.

Staying Healthy in Later Life

Thanks to Colin Bamford for sharing this article with me. Can anyone guess what it might be suggesting? 😁⛳

We have the results from recent men’s, ladies’ and senior’s competitions to discuss this week. Plus news of Donald Sutherland’s 90th birthday and photos kindly sent in by Colin Bamford, showing both the course and the weather looking almost Spring like!

Men’s Back 9 Stableford (Team of 3)

Graham Jones, Lee Bramley & John Wright scored a fabulous 45 points on Saturday to win the nine hole team competition. Andrew Cowan, David Rodwell and Ted Shaw finished second with 42 points. Roger Laitt, Jonny Gray & Johnny Yates were beaten into third spot following a card play off. Three twos were recoded and they went to Brian Greenbank, Gus Murray-Brown and Quentin Smith.

Ladies Front Nine Stableford

Nicola Kitching scored a very tidy 21 points to win last Thursday. Pat Jefferies was second with 17 points and Sally Budd was one point further back to finish third.

Seniors Bradley 5

Thanks to Chris Adams for the following round up.

A diminishing band of twenty five players took to the fairways on a very windy morning, albeit we seem to be getting more wedded to our beds as the first group did not book until 9.30! But we were able to play in the dry.

It was very good to see John Johnston out and survive his first nine hole competition since his knee replacement and Bill Wrigley safely back from Spain and enjoying a decent score. Despite the wind making in tough, over half the field scored 16 points or more.

A winning score of 20 was achieved by Steve Bates on a back 6 card play-off from Martin Oldfield in second and Derek Marshall was in third on a card play-off with 19 points. Mike Massey got a “proper two” at the second and Bill Wrigley got a two on the 7th.

90th Birthday

And thanks to Chris Wood for sending in this prose and photo.

Playing member Donald Sutherland celebrated his 90th birthday in the company of the President Barry Jefferies and nonagenarians John Hughes and Drummond Sharp and many others on Tuesday. He treated them not only to a glass of wine but brought a wonderful bottle of long-stored Fonseca 1960 vintage port which was considerably younger than all those lunching and a testament to his staying power.

Photos

The course opened again a few days ago after quite a spell of being closed. So not only have we had golf, we’ve even managed some competitive golf with the Seniors Bradley 4 competition taking place yesterday. Plus we have a Ladies nine hole stableford planned for today and a men’s team of three competition on Saturday.

Ping G430

These are great looking clubs that perform. Why not give them a go? Demos now available to try in store.

Bradley 4

Thirty brave senior golfers took the fairways yesterday and as Chris Adams pointed out, scoring was tough and only the top ten scored 16 points or more.

The winner with an excellent 23 points was Chris Adams, who managed to keep a six off his card in the process. John Wright was runner up with 19 points and Andrew Fishwick also scored 19 points but finished third following a card play off. Martin Oldfield was the only player to record a two.

Canapes & Cocktails Evening

Here are some scenes from Lady Captain’s evening last week raising money for the Ukrainian Appeal. It looks like great fun!

Pro Shop Survey

Thank you to those of who have completed the survey that I discussed in last week’s newsletter. It’s just a one page document with just 4 short sections.

It would be great to have some more responses so here’s the link again. Alternatively, we can provide you with a hard copy if you pop into the shop.

Please feel free to mention anything – be that elements of the shop, coaching, other services we provide, me, staff, communication and so on.

To return it, there are several options. You could do so by dropping it into the shop, by email or by posting it through the letterbox on the rear door of the Pro Shop (near the rental trolleys). If you would prefer, we’re quite happy for you to complete the survey anonymously. Thank you in advance for your time doing this.

Winter Practice

Whatever the weather, please contact us in the Pro Shop to look at hiring the studio powered by Trackman. Sessions start from £12 and Will or I will be on hand to guide you through using the technology. It gives you such a head start on knowing what to work on with your game and ultimately can help fast track you to better golf. It really is a simple and incredibly powerful learning tool.

Well another week, another course closure! Today’s Seniors competition has been cancelled due to the snow. We will have to wait and see about the fate of tomorrow’s ladies competition and then Bogey 4 which is scheduled to take place on Friday and Saturday.

On the plus side there’s been some lovely photo opportunities for Tracey Thompson and myself! The three photos of various stages of the sunrise were taken this morning and the big frosty puddle by the first tees was snapped yesterday.

Pro Shop Survey

It’s been a while since we canvassed feedback as to how we’re doing in the Pro Shop so I have put together a very simple survey. Feel free to mention anything – be that elements of the shop, coaching, other services we provide, me, staff, communication and so on.

We would be most grateful if you could complete the survey. Click here to view and download the one page document. Or we can provide you with a copy if you pop into the shop.

To return it, there are several options. You could do so by dropping it into the shop, by email or by posting it through the letterbox on the rear door of the Pro Shop (near the rental trolleys). If you would prefer, we’re quite happy for you to complete the survey anonymously.

Thank you in advance for your time on this.

Ping G430

The Ping G430 family has just been launched worldwide. The clubs look and play fantastically. I have demos in store for you to try so why not book an appointment and start off the new golf season with some new, high performing golf clubs?

I also have a demo of the Ping ChipR available which has proved really popular for those awkward shots from around the green.

Welcome to the first newsletter of 2023. There’s not much to report as the rain continues to pour and the course does it’s best to stand up to it.

The photos below were taken at 1115 on Tuesday and show significant areas of water pooling.

Ladies Front Nine New Year Stableford

Well done to Min Fishwick who cruised round in 23 points despite a long lay off to win last Thursday’s competition. Ceri Hyde finished in second place with 18 points and Sue Fallows was beaten into third spot following a card play off.

Please remember….

And finally…

Thanks to Will for sharing this tweet with me. It seems Jon Rahm, following his victory in Hawaii on Sunday, wouldn’t have any problem with keeping his WHS handicap at an acceptable level 😂😂

Here are the results from the Pro Shop Christmas Draw.

Will and I were going to grab people as they popped into the Pro Shop yesterday afternoon but the weather was so lousy that I had to snare John Wright and Graham Jones who were enjoying a beer in the clubhouse. They were great sports and did the honours superbly but were very disappointed that they didn’t draw their own names out from the tombola!!

The lucky winners are listed below and remember the amounts are in Pro Shop credit. Thank you so much to everyone who took part.

Position	Amount	Number	Winner
1st	£250	644	Al Kenney
2nd	£200	58	Terri Broadbent
3rd	£150	155	Roger Fielding
4th	£100	623	Mike Kirchin
5th	£75	195	Paul Gilbert
6th	£60	365	Tarik Rashid
7th	£50	559	Adam Hyde
8th	£40	64	Jan Ravenscroft
9th	£30	110	Bill Harvey
10th	£25	52	Terri Broadbent

Pro Shop Christmas Opening Hours

As a reminder, this is when we’ll be open over the Christmas and New Year period.

DATE	HOURS
Sat 24th December	0900 – 1300
Sun 25th – Tues 27th December	Closed
Wed 28th – Sat 31st December	0900 – 1400
Sun 1st – Mon 2nd January	Closed
Tues 3rd January onwards	Normal hours resume

And so to finish this mini missive, Will, Phil and I wish you all a very

After 10 consecutive days of the course being closed (as long as I can remember, aside from lockdowns, whilst I’ve been here), I’m very happy to report that it is back open!

Hope to see you out there getting some fresh air before all the festivities kick off. If we don’t, we hope you all have a fabulous Christmas and a wonderful New Year. Thanks for supporting the Pro Shop in 2022. Best wishes Richard, Will & Phil

Christmas Opening Hours

The Pro Shop will be open as follows over the Christmas period:

DATE	HOURS
Sat 24th December	0900 – 1300
Sun 25th – Tues 27th December	Closed
Wed 28th – Sat 31st December	0900 – 1400
Sun 1st – Mon 2nd January	Closed
Tues 3rd January onwards	Normal hours resume

Give the Gift of Golf Improvement

Photo Round Up

Thanks to everyone who has sent me photos for this week’s newsletter – you’ll notice there are no action shots from the golf course 🙁

First of all, here are some snaps from the family Christmas lunch which took place on Sunday sent in by Irene Kirk.

The next group were sent in by Jan Ravenscroft from the member’s Christmas lunch. Mike Kirchin and Roger Sheen organised the singing superbly. Tom Sloan described the photo of him and Jan as “Hale Poster Boy and FLC”!!

And finally, Sue Bryant sent in these photos of the ladies having fun, sporting Christmas jumpers despite the lack of golf. Pat Jefferies won the prize for the most sparkly outfit 🙂

The photo below says it all, course closed 🙁 It looks like the sun is coming out tomorrow but I’m not sure whether it will be warm enough to melt the remaining snow. The next course inspection is at 0700 tomorrow morning.

The other two photos show the outdoor Christmas tree looking very festive in last week’s heavy frost. The other equally fine looking trees were in their holding position before being planted either on the first hole or by the course boundary on Orchard.

Ladies Back Nine Stableford

Congratulations to Jo Egerton for winning last week’s comp with a great tally of 21 points. Freda Hunt was just one point adrift to secure second place.

Thanks to Terri Broadbent for the action photos in the frost and she’s absolutely bang on when she said “we’re a hardy bunch to go out in today’s weather!”

New Hale GC Accessories

We have received a top up of Hale GC crested accessories just in time for Crimbo. Some of which are shown below: headcovers, beanies, pitchmark repairers and towels. These would make excellent stocking fillers.

Men’s Turkey Trot

Unfortunately Friday night’s snow kiboshed the men’s Turkey Trot. Lunch still went ahead though and thanks to Bob Siddle for creating a quiz for the attendees to sink their tee into. The winners were Roger Fielding and Tony Bray.

Last place on a card playoff (not sure how that works!) went to President Barry Jefferies and Ted Shaw. They won the Paxo stuffing kindly donated by Peter Harden.

So the men’s football team cruised past Senegal in the World Cup to set up a formidable fixture against the French on Saturday. Earlier that day and on a similar scale sporting wise, we have the men’s Turkey Trot 🙂 Plus on Thursday, the ladies are playing a back nine stableford.

Christmas in The Pro Shop

Well the super extravagant Christmas decorations are up. In all honesty, they are not a patch on the one’s in the clubhouse but more on that later.

Tickets sales for the Pro Shop Christmas Draw are ticking along nicely. If you’ve not purchased yours yet, pop in or reply to this email. They are £2 for one or of you can get six for £10.

If you are looking for Christmas gift ideas, we have a few suggestions.

• There’s the great value Bushnell Ion Edge GPS watch at just £99.99 (see below)
• We also have lots of Hale GC crested goods in stock such as headcovers, caps, drinks bottles, towels, clothing and ball markers to name just a few
• Plus there’s the non crested goods such as clubs, shoes, golf bags and of course golf balls, socks and golf gloves can make brilliant stocking fillers.
• Another option is golf lesson vouchers or time in the simulator using Trackman. These can be customised to suit your individual requirements and budget. Remember now is a great time of year to work on your game so that you can hit the ground running come the spring.

Back Nine Three Clubs and a Putter Stableford

Well done to Joanne Bryant for winning this event last Thursday with an excellent score of 19 points. There were three players one point behind in joint second place and they were Ann Coulson, Pat Jefferies and Gill Kay.

The other two photos are of Sally Budd and Vanessa Veitch receiving their prizes from lady captain Judy Pinnington, that they had won earlier in the season.

Social Events

As mentioned earlier, the clubhouse decorations look fantastic thanks to a team from the ladies section who toiled last week to put them all up. I’m not going to mention names in case I miss anyone out but you all know who you are!

There are some photos below including Diana Hogben and Terri Broadbent behind the windows and the beautiful table settings ahead of Friday’s Member’s Christmas Party.

Tracey Thompson wanted me to let you know that there are tables available for New Years Eve and members guests are most welcome.

Rainbow

Thanks to Peter Hindle for this photo of a rainbow over the course taken on Saturday morning.