We have another round of results this week plus a great deal on a waterproof golf bag.

Away from golf, my family and I were very fortunate to go to the ladies commonwealth hockey final on Sunday at Birmingham University where England won the gold medal by beating Australia. I’ve certainly not seen anyone win a gold medal before so we had a great day out.

Gents Centenary Trophy

Congratulations to Adam Hyde for winning the Centenary Trophy on Saturday with 40 points. Bill Harvey continued his good form and had the same score but was beaten on a card play off so finished in runner’s up spot. John Moss was third with 39 points.

Deal of the Week

This week we have a great value waterproof golf bag on offer. The Powakaddy DriTech bag in black/gun metal/hot pink was £219.99 and for this week only it’s just £150. There’s only one so if you are interested, don’t delay….

Ladies Centenary Trophy & Back Nine Stableford

Well played Tiff Fielden! Last week she won the CentenaryTrophy with a gross 78, nett 69. Gillian brogdon maintained her very good recent form to finish second with a nett 70. Clare Withey finished third with a nett 71.

Kerry Bailey was victorious in the back nine stableford with 20 points. Karen Stockton was second with 19 points.

Gentleman Captain’s Match vs Ringway

Last week the men beat Ringway at Hale GC. Below are photos of gentleman captain David Wainwright with their captain after the match. Plus there’s Ted Shaw retrieving his ball from the hole following his gross two, nett albatross on the 6th hole during the match. Thanks to Danny Fox for sending in these snaps.

We moved into the holiday season so it’s a little quieter at the club but the rain of the last few days will hopefully make parts of the course a little lusher.

In this week’s missive we have the usual results round up and news of the latest offering from Ping, the ChipR. Enjoy!

Nine Hole Stableford

There was a good turnout for the nine hole stableford which was played over the back nine last Saturday morning. Phil Long won the men’s event with 20 stableford points and Tom Sloan was second, having been beaten in a card play off. Tiff Fielden won the ladies event with 19 points and Terri Broadbent finished second and like Tom, she too was beaten via countback.

Gentleman Captain’s Day

Congratulations go to Gillian Brogdon for winning this event last week with a great score of 43 points. Lady captain Judy Pinnington was second with 42 points and Jane Wilkinson was one point further back to take third spot.

Jennifer Bradley won the nine hole competition with 20 points. Caroline Massey was second with 18 points. The whole day went really well and a good time was had by everyone who took part.

The previous week Lynette Lodge won the Hilda Timpson Trophy with a magnificent 65 nett. Gillian Brogdon is clearly in form as she finished runner up, just one shot behind Lynette. Anne Webster was third with 67.

Ping ChipR

We have a demo of the new Ping ChipR which has already proved to be really popular with pre sales. I have had a few goes with it and it feels really good and fosters lots of confidence.

As Ping describe on their website, “the ChipR is fully engineered for golfers who may lack confidence with their traditional wedge and frequently struggle with chip shots. The ChipR combines elements of a putter and a wedge to improve performance around the greens and lower scores without fear of chunking or blading shots”.

Prices start from £149. Click here for more details and please contact me if you like to give it a whirl.

The Callaway fitting van is visiting on Friday so please let me know if you would like to book one of their remaining demo day slots asap.

The rest of this week’s missive cover the men’s, ladies and Nine & Dine results from last week.

Summer Stableford

Well done to Matthew Hodder for shooting an excellent 42 points. Tom Sloan and Al Kenney both scored 41 points but Tom secured second place after a card play off.

It is worth noting that in Medal 6, which took place the previous Saturday, the top three positions were all taken by players in their 80s. In order, they were Bill Harvey, Mike Massey and John Bacon. This week Matthew was the winner and he is aged 15… what a contrast and what a great advert for the game! Many thanks to Ian Goulty and Chris Wood for sharing these observations with me.

Ladies Competitions

The results for last Thursday’s Hilda Timpson Trophy will be announced at tea this Thursday. We do however know that Sue Bromley was the winner of last week’s Max Score Medal with a nett 36 beating Val Nelstrop on a card play off. Wendy Jenkins was third with a nett 37.

Nine & Dine

Well done to Vanessa & Peter veitch and Jennifer & Alan Bradley for winning this best two from four team stableford event on Friday with 45 points. The Adamsons and the Sparks were the runners up with 40 points. Fran Adamson and Jane Bacon won the best newcomer awards.

Thanks to Phil Long for organising and for enjoying the photos that were taken at the presentation afterwards!

Well what an Open! It certainly lived up to it’s big billing based on it being staged for the 150th time. Cameron Smith was superb all round but just a magician with the flat stick. And poor Rory’s majorless run continues – hitting 18 greens in regulation in the final round and not winning must really hurt.

Back at HGC, Roger Sheen has become a big Cam Smith after he drew him in the Open Sweepstake to take the top prize. Plus thanks to Janice Moss for the photo below of the crowds waiting for Tiger on the Friday for what might be his final appearance in the Open at St Andrews… we will see!

Medal 6

Congratulations to full time gardener and part time golfer Bill Harvey for shooting an excellent nett 64 to win Medal 6 at the weekend. Mike Massey and John Bacon both had nett 68s but Mike clinched second place after the card play off.

Ladies

The winners of Ping fourball betterball competition played last week were Jane Wilkinson and Amanda Greaves with a tremendous score of 50 stableford points.  Gill Kay and Mandy Gilbert finished runners up with 45 points.

Well done to Helen Armstrong for winning the nine hole stableford with 20 points. Jackie Murphy was second also with 20 points but lost out on count back. Special mention to Sally-Anne Heaford and Caroline Smith for recording good scores on the day.

Ping Demo Day

Thanks to Oliver Hunt from Ping for running the demo day yesterday in the sweltering heat. Thanks also to the six hardy HGC members who came along to try out and in many cases buy the latest and greatest equipment on offer. It’s a superb service from, in my experience, one of the best manufacturers in the industry.

Bunkers

A few members have mentioned to me recently about the bunkers not being raked properly. Also the rakes have been left in inconsiderate positions. The Greens Committee will be sending out more information in due course on the latter but for the time being, please be courteous and leave the bunkers in good shape when you leave them.

R&A 9H Challenge Final

Here’s a note from Sally Wright after she and Ann Coulson represented Hale GC in the final of the R&A 9 Hole Challenge at St Andrew’s  on the eve of the 150th Open Championship.

They were one of 20 teams from England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales, Australia & New Zealand & were lucky enough to play holes 1-4 and 14-18 on the Old Course. They came 4th with 34 points only 2 points behind the winners.

Captain Peter Forster, gave them a guided tour of the R&A St Andrew’s clubhouse followed by a celebration dinner there after the competition.  They said their 2 days at St Andrew’s were nerve wracking, truly amazing and an experience they will remember forever!

One of my highlights was driving over the old railway sheds on the 17th Road hole and Ann did the most amazing drive over Grannie Clark’s Wynd on the 18th which was applauded by the onlookers.

Hole in One from Canada

Craig Rea just got a hole in one on the 16th hole at Fernie GC in Canada. He hit a six iron and it took one hop before rolling into the hole. The hole was 164 yards long. He can be seen celebrating the ace with Gwynneth & Martin Bramwell, wife Michele Rea and Andrew Gething. Well done Craig, hope the bar bill wasn’t too pricey!

The greatest show in golf, the Open, starts on Thursday at St Andrews. I’m very excited, how about you?

One or two of you have mentioned that there have been slight adjustments to your handicaps of late and that you weren’t sure why. This link here may help to explain why.

Remember we are hosting a Callaway demo day here on Friday 29th July between the hours of 1100 and 1500. If you would like to see how your clubs compare to their latest models why don’t you book a slot? Please contact me to do so.

The next Nine & Dine takes place on Friday 22nd July. The format will be a mixed betterball stableford with an 85% allowance. The maximum handicaps will be 54 for both gents and ladies. If you’d like to play, please get in touch with Phil Long.

Pro Am 2022

This year’s Pro Am took place on Saturday and both the weather and the course were fabulous. There were some tricky pin positions and the lightning fast greens ensured that the scores wouldn’t be as low as in previous years. We had a full turnout of 24 teams.

Well done to the winners of the team competition who were Jonny Gray, Ian Goulty, Johnny Yates and their pro Matthew Tottey with 124 (16 under). The format is best two from four medal. Second place went to Neil Thompson, Paul Gibbon, Simon Harrison and pro Jason Dransfield who were one shot back. David Rodwell, Brian Greenbank, Howard Gill and pro Matt Dixon were third on 126. In fourth place were the gentleman captain David Wainwright, David Wainwright, Fraser Hickson and I with 127. The other results up to 16th place are displayed below.

In the individual professional event, Tom Metcalfe won with 69. He wasn’t at the presentation because he had a car accident on the way home. Thankfully he’s ok. There were then four pros on level par to share second spot. Again the top two thirds of placings are shown below.

We’ve had lots of positive feedback already about the event and the atmosphere at the club was great all day. I am especially pleased with an email that I received on Monday from a fellow PGA Professional which I would like to share with you. I’ve removed names etc to maintain his privacy. He came for a practice round with his partner the day before the event. As you’ll read, it shows that everyone at the club did a great job of making them feel welcome, which is really satisfying to read.

Richard, I would like to congratulate you on a successful Pro Am last Saturday , unless you actually organise one yourself you would not appreciate all the hard work and planning involved, the day was fantastic and hopefully my team led by XXXX enjoyed it also.

The course was in magnificent condition and the hospitality shown to both XXXX and I on the Friday and again on the Saturday from all the members and staff was heartwarming and a great reflection on all at Hale Golf Club.

I look forward to returning to Hale with some friends for a social visit in the not too distant future as i have told anyone who would listen here at XXXX (the club that he works at) that a visit to your club is a must.

Thanks and Best Wishes

XXXX

Bridgford Trophy & Moir Cup

These events were played last Wednesday and Thursday at the club. Tiff Fielden was the winner of the Moir Cup with a gross total for the two rounds of 167. Chris Marsh took second spot with 168. The winner of the Bridgford was Vanessa Veitch a four under par total of 136 over the two rounds. Again Chris Marsh just missed out, finishing in second place. Chris did get a prize though for the best score on day one. The best score on day two went to Vanessa Veitch. Rosie Gerrard won the most improved player. Thanks also to Rosie for supplying the photos below. Hearty congrats to all the winners.

There was also a max score 18 hole medal played on Thursday. This was won by Amanda Greaves with a nett 68. Jennifer Bradley won the front nine max medal competition with 36. Special mention to Pauline Keeling for playing so well in her first competition.

Australian Spoons North Area Final

Terri Broadbent and Kerry Bailey represented Hale GC in the north area final of the Australian Spoons at the weekend. Terri sent me some great photos of their day, which you can see below. I’ll let Terri take up the story from here

“Kerry and I played in the North Area Final on Saturday, here are some pictures taken at Appleby Golf Course during our round.  It’s a course built on Common Land, so there were plenty of hazards on the course – mainly sheep! A beautiful setting and the greens were fantastic – they are all protected from the sheep and other livestock by electric fencing. We gave it a good go, but sadly finished well down the order. Next year perhaps we will do better……….“

Read all about the Summer Meeting below as we anticipate the ladies Bridgford & Moir Cup and the Pro Am this week.

The 150th Open starts next week at St Andrews and we still have one or two spaces left for the Pro Shop Open Sweepstake so please pop in or email to snag those few spots.

Summer Meeting

We have just had a great weekend of golf. Special thanks to Brian Greenbank, Guy Levers and Ian Hunt behind the scenes making things run smoothly. Thanks also to the greens staff of Rusell, Dave and Phil for getting the course in excellent condition. And now onto the winners….

The winner of Galloway Scratch Challenge Cup was Tony Bray with gross rounds of 75 and 72 for a 152 total. Second place went to Adam Laitt with 154. Freddie Fallows was the winner of the best 36 holes nett prize with a nett 65 on day one followed by a nett 66 on day two for an overall total of 131.

Danny Fox was the winner of the best nett score on day one (Saturday) with a 67 and Neil Thompson was the winner of the best nett on day two with a really low one, 62. Tony Bray also won the Goulty Trophy for the best nett score on day one for players over sixty with his nett 67. Guy Withey won the Arnold Challenge Cup, which is awarded to the best gross score on day one for players with a handicap of 15 or higher, with a nett 69. Adam Laitt also picked up another prize by winning the MacCaig Trophy for the best 18 hole gross score on either day for his 73 on the opening day.

Huge congratulations to all the winners. Many of them can be seen below receiving their prizes from gentleman captain David Wainwright.

Callaway Demo Day

I’m delighted to announce that Callaway are visiting HGC on Friday 29th July from 1100 – 1500. If you are in the market for new clubs, all of their latest equipment will be here for you to try. Please contact me to book an appointment.

The times slots are every 30 mins from 1100 so please let me know your preferred start time and I will do my utmost to accommodate you accordingly.

Ladies Exchange day

Last Thursday, the ladies section held an exchange day with Marple GC, which means Marple came and played at hale whilst our ladies went and played at Marple. By all accounts, both parties had great days out.

The winners of the 18 hole competition were Lynette Lodge, Kathleen McNairney and Mary Cockbain. Runners up were Amanda Greaves, Min Fishwick and Sally Budd. The winners of the 12 hole competition were Ann Davies, Judy Anderson and Sue Fallows.

Thanks go to Anne Webster and Sally Budd for organising.

Well lots of golf is coming up here at the mighty HGC! We have the men’s Summer Meeting this weekend, the ladies Brigford & Moir Cup next Wednesday & Thursday and then the club’s Pro-Am on Saturday 9th July. Busy, busy…..

Ping Demo Day

I have one final space remaining on Tuesday 19th July at 1340 for anyone who is ready to improve their equipment to achieve better golf and have more fun out on the course! Please email me to snag the slot!

Medal 5

Congrats to Jim Nicholson for winning Medal 5 with a nett 66. Adam Hyde had the same nett score but was beaten on a card play off. Dave McGlennon was one shot back to secure third spot.

Lady Captain’s Day

Well done to Sally Budd for winning last week’s 18 hole stableford, her consecutive win, with 38 points. Min Fishwick also had 38 points but was beaten into runner’s up spot following a card play off. Gillian Brogdon was third with 35 points.

In the back nine hole stableford, Jackie Murphy amassed a whopping total of 25 points to win. Second place went to Jennifer Bradley with 22 points and Caroline Smith in her first competition was third with a very creditable 20 points.

The gentleman captain Dave Wainwright can be seen below giving lady captain Judy Pinnington a bouquet of flowers to help celebrate her special day.

Nine & Dine

Well done Gail & Tony Sampson, Kerry Bailey & Phil Long for winning last Friday’s nine & dine waltz with 51 points. The Kirks and the Sparks were second with 47 points.

Putting Stats

As you are probably aware, I love golfing stats regarding performance and here are some beauties! The info is supplied by Trackman. Incidentally the title of this week’s newsletter is a quote from the famous golf coach, Harvey Penwick.

In the graphic below, tour pros “only” make 50% of their putts from 8 feet in tournaments whereas on a flat surface they make 95% from 12 feet. The first number seems low and the second number seems unbelievably high. Just goes to show that the old phrase that the longest walk in golf is from the practice ground to the first tee still holds true!!

There are some great stats in the table below that (apologies that it’s a bit blurred). How about this one? An 18 handicapper from 30 feet is 9x more likely to three putt that hole it. There’s a golfing hashtag that circulates Twitter and I think you can probably see why…. #manageyourexpectations

Par Three Tees

Don’t forget to fill any divots made on the par three teeing grounds with the seed mix which is provided in the green containers. There’s even a handy scoop to help you do so 🙂

Photo

Thanks to Colin Bamford for capturing and forwarding me this snap of a helicopter landing as seen from the 4th fairway.

Well done to Sheffield’s Matt Fitzpatrick for winning the US Open on Sunday. I’ve always admired his deft touching on the putting greens but it was his superlative long game skills that came to the fore on the last day. He joins Justin Rose and Tony Jacklin as the only English winners since Cyril Walker in 1924. The event was played at Brookline GC, where he won the US Amateur in 2013.

Back here at Hale, we have ladies competitions coming up on Thursday, a Nine and Dine event on Friday and the men’s Medal 4 is taking place on Friday & Saturday. Plus the Pro Shop Open Sweepstake has just commenced….

And below we seem to have more results than ever so please enjoy the read.

Open Sweepstake 2022

The end of the US Open has paved the way for the start of the Pro Shop Open sweepstake 🙂 There are 156 spaces and the price is £5 for one go or £10 for three goes. Prizes will be allocated to 1^st, 2^nd & 3^rd overall plus the best and worst score on each day. Please call into the shop to take part or just reply to this email.

Ping Mixed 4BBB

Well done to the Bryants, Joanne & Graham, for winning Sunday’s Ping fourball betterball competition with a great score of 45 points. Phil Long & Kerry Bailey were second with 42 points. As did Tiff Fielden & Bob Cooke but they were beaten into third place following a card play off.

Granny Cup & Nine Hole Stableford

Sally Budd won the granny Cup last week with a fine 18 hole stableford score of 41 points. Tracey Thompson were second and third respectively with 37 points.

Emma Daynes won the front nine stableford with 21 points. Four players then shared 17 points but it was Judy Anderson who finished in second place following the card play off.

New Ladies Clothing Range

Calling all golfing ladies! The whole ladies clothing range was updated on Saturday so please pop into have a look at the fresh new colours.

R&A Nine Hole Challenge

The top eight pairs from England in the R&A nine hole challenge are invited to play in the final at St Andrew’s on Friday 8th July along with another twelve qualifying pairs from Scotland, Wales, Ireland, Australia & New Zealand. Ann Coulson and Sally Wright were among the eight pairs from England to qualify. This is a tremendous achievement and we wish them all well for the event in July.

Sandiford 

Congratulations Michael Wells & David Cockbain who were the winners of the men’s winter foursomes knockout, the Sandiford . They beat John Gower-Jones & Peter Veitch in the final.

Mawson Trophy

Well done to Jim Nicholson for winning the Mawson trophy with a nett 44  over eight rounds. Lee Bramley was second with a nett 44 over sixteen rounds. This competition os for the best nett score on each hole in all men’s 18 hole qualifying WHS competitions, from the Blue Tees. Jim won on countback as he had done the same score but in fewer rounds.

Senior Stableford 3

Well done to Tony Sampson for winning this event last Wednesday with a 19 points over the front nine. Lee Bramley scored the same but was beaten on a card play off. Roger Mattocks finished third with 18 points.

Junior Stableford

Well done to Matthew Hodder for winning Saturday’s front nine hole stableford. Commiserations to jack Hickson who had the same score but was beaten on countback.

What a fantastic win for Sweden’s Linn Grant at the weekend. She won the Scandinavian Mixed and in doing so became the first ever female winner on the DP World Tour. She was 24 under and so won by a whopping 9 shots.

Back at Hale, there is a Nine & Dine evening taking place on Friday 24th June. If you would like to play or find out more information, please contact Lynette Lodge or John Moss who are organising this event.

Medal 4

It was a log jam at the top of the leaderboard for last weekend’s men’s Medal 4 with three players sharing the score of 38 points. Gary Beal finished on top after a card play off, Phil Long was runner and Roger Lamb was third. Guy Levers and John Webb finished in joint 4th spot with nett 69s. Brian Greenbank recorded the lowest gross of the competition with a 77. Brian and Nick Horrocks each recorded two twos.

I was delighted to see those results as Gary Beal has been having some coaching with me and working really hard on his game. And Phil Long has recently purchased some new irons from the Pro Shop. Well done gentlemen!

Jubilee Summer Meeting

Congratulations to Mandy Gilbert, Kerry Gill, Anne Webster & Kathleen McNairney for winning this shotgun start team event last Thursday with 72 points. Corinne Veitch, Judy Anderson, Gillian Brogdon & Ceri Hyde finished in second place with 67 points. The golf was followed by lunch so a fun day was had by all.

SALE

There are just 6 days left to buy any hardware in the shop and get 10% off. This includes Ping G425 drivers & hybrids, Callaway Rogue ST drivers and fairways plus Odyssey and Ping putters. Many of these clubs are the most up to date models which are full to the brim with technology to make the game easier and more fun.

Jubilee Photos

Thanks to Tracey Thompson and Roger Sheen for supplying me with some more photos from the club’s Jubilee celebrations. It’s good to see the Queen herself dropped in to keep a close eye on ex gentleman captain Johnny Yates!

Rainbows

Thanks to Anne Webster for this montage of photos of a rainbow over the golf course as her knockout match progressed.

Well I hope you all had a great double bank holiday last week. The Booth family and intimidating hound headed to Norfolk for a week’s holiday which was great fun. If you got away, I hope you had a wonderful time too.

In other news, the word is that I have been tempted away from HGC by the Saudi funded LIV Golf Invitational series. I want to dispel those rumours immediately and explain that my moral compass is such that I will not be lured away from club life to play competitive golf for vast sums of money.

Right so now that’s cleared up we can get on with the important task of telling you what’s coming up in this week’s newsletter. We have the results from last week’s frolic, spaces in July’s Ping demo day and news of a tremendous hardware promotion which is running until the end of June. Enjoy!

A Right Royal Frolic

Congratulations to Min & Andrew Fishwick and Freda & Ian Hunt for winning the the Right Royal Frolic last Thursday with 48 points. It was tight at the top as second place went to Vicky Chamberlain, Roger Sheen, Tiff Fielden and Bob Cooke who were only one point adrift. Ceri & Adam Hyde and Barbara & Robert Spark also scored 47 points but were beaten into third place after a card play off. Ben Fallows won the Nearest the Pin prize.

Thanks to Sue Bryant for the brilliant photos capturing the scene – it certainly looks like everyone had a great day.

Mid Season Hardware Sale

Until the 21st June, we are offering a 10% discount on all hardware that is in stock. This is a great deal as we price our clubs very competitively anyway. We have the current crop of mens drivers, woods and hybrids from Ping and Callaway plus putters from Odyssey and Ping. This is a great opportunity to buy products at tremendous value so don’t miss out.

Remember though this is a promotion to encourage the sell through of stock and so is not available on items that need to be ordered in. We can still get you those for you at great prices but they won’t have the extra 10% off.

Ping Demo Day

There are still 2 spaces left for the Ping demo day which is taking place on Tuesday 19th July. The available slots are at 1300 and 1340 so contact me to reserve your fitting.

Shotscope

I’m interested to hear from anyone who owns a ShotScope golf tracking device. I’m familiar with Arccos but would like to know more about ShotScope. If you own one, please get in touch to give me your views on it. Thank you.