Author: Richard Booth

Well let’s hope this great weather continues. This weekend we have the Captains’ Drive in at 1200. Beforehand there is a nine hole shotgun individual stableford which is taking place at 0930. There are still spots available for ladies and gents so please sign up on Club V1 if you’d like a game.

Bogey Final

It was breezy, bright and cold on Saturday which made scoring tricky for the Bogey Final. Peter Wolfenden finished in top spot with two up. Second spot went to John Moss with one up and Alan Bradley was third with level.

Junior Coaching

Will started his first block of junior group coaching on Sunday morning. The lessons are running over seven weeks and we can still accommodate more juniors if you’d like to get involved. Please pop into the shop ore email me for more details.

Ladies St Patrick’s Day Very Green Greensomes

The ladies dress up for this team competition that was played over 14 holes. The winners on a card play off were Vanessa Veitch, Gail Sampson, Louise Gerald & Clare Withey. They received bottles of Baileys as prizes. The second spot went to Sue Bryant, Amanda Greaves, Jane Wilkinson & Gillian Healey who each won an Irish linen tea towel for their efforts. Finally the good sports prize- a can of Guinness each – went to Gwynneth Bramwell, Ann Mattocks, Tracey Thompson & Corinne Veitch 

Callaway & Ping demos

We have lots of demos for you to try so that we can fit you or the best clubs for your game. here’s the mess s we sort out the latest shipment of shafts and heads. Please contact us for more information or to book an appointment.

St Patrick’s Day Celebration Dinner

This took place last Friday and was a great success with live music. As you can see many of the attendees got into the swing of things! The clubhouse was beautifully decorated by Tracey Thompson and team.

This week, the ladies are paying homage to St Patrick’s day on Thursday with their very green greensomes competition whilst the men stage the Bogey final on Saturday.

The following Saturday we have the Captain’s Drive In which will see the first ever junior captain Dan Turkington join Judy Pinnington and David Wainwright in bashing one off the first tee. Spring is definitely in the air and don’t it feel good!!

Shot Trackers

I’d be really interested to hear from any members who have been using shot trackers such as those produced by Arccos, Shot Scope and Garmin. I’d like to know what you like about them and what you don’t and perhaps most importantly, have they helped you improve your game. Please email me or give me a quick call when convenient on 0161 249 8427.

Junior Group Coaching

We have some slots available in our 1600-1645 Monday class which starts next week on the 21st March. If you would like to sign up your son, daughter, grandson, granddaughter (you get the gist!) or just require further information, please contact me via email or pop into the shop.

Men’s Nine Hole Stableford

Martin Oldfield played exceptionally well to score 23 points to win Saturday’s back nine stableford. Gus Murray-Brown and Howard Webb both scored 21 points but Gus beat Howard on a card play to secure the second spot. Keith Thompson recorded two twos on his way round.

Ladies Competitions

Well done to Jo Egerton for winning Thursday’s 18 hole stableford with a very creditable 36 points. Her good friend and playing partner Jo Bryant was one shot adrift in second place. Caroline Perkin and Louise Gerald scored 33 points to finish in joint third spot.

Lady captain Irene Kirk won the nine hole stableford with 19 points and so was receiving a voucher at tea afterwards rather than handing one out! Sue Bromley scored a level par 18 points to finish in second place. Amanda Greaves and Pat Jefferies finished joint third with 17 points.

In the 9 hole stableford that took place on Saturday, Sally Wright took the honours with 16 points beating Tracey Thompson by two points.

Seniors Bradley 6

Robert Spark fresh from his team victory in the Texas Scramble a few days before maintained his winning ways on Friday with victory in the rescheduled Bradley 6. He scored 20 points over the front nine. Well played Robert. In second place but losing on a card play off was Alan Bradley. Ian Macklin finished third with 19 points.

This week we have a results round up from the last seven days. There is also a nine hole stableford taking place on Saturday (12th March) which is open to men and ladies and spots are available if you’d like a game.

Plus we have the first junior comp of the 2022 season. If you like to play in this Texas Scramble, please either sign up on Club V1 or contact me if you don’t have a WHS handicap.

Bogey 6 and Sharp Memorial

Well played Harry Christopher. He won the final Bogey of the winter campaign with a score of three up. Chris Ravenscroft finished runner up with two up and Joe Mills also scored two up but lost out on a card play off to Chris to finished in third place.

Congratulations to Bill Dixon for winning the Sharp Memorial which is based on the best four scores from the six Bogeys. His aggregate was five up. Andrew Fishwick was second with three up. Three players tied for third with one down and they were Martin Oldfield, Peter Veitch and Dave McGlennon.

Ladies Back Nine Stableford

Jan Ravenscroft amassed a very creditable 19 points to win Thursday’s competition. Vanessa Veitch was two shots adrift in second place. and Louise Gerald was third with 16 points.

Seniors Texas Scramble

On Monday, the rearranged Seniors’ nine hole Texas Scramble took place. The scoring was very tight, with only five shots separating the field and every team recorded a sub- par round.

Clear at the top with 24 points were Roger Mattocks, Cliff Wright and Robert Spark. They had seven gross pars and a birdie on the seventh hole. Three teams tied on 23 points and coming second on a card play-off were Ian Goulty, Peter Veitch and John Gower-Jones. Phil Long, John Webb and Dave Madeley secured third spot. Craig Rea, Steve Bates and Roger Dawson-Smith finished fourth, just missing out on the prizes.

This week we have the results from Saturday’s nine hole comps, information on reinstating the men’s roll ups, the junior competition schedule and news of a great set of second hand junior clubs that are for sale.

On Thursday, we have another nine hole stableford which is open to men and ladies. There are still spaces so please sign up on Club V1 if you’d like a game.

Goodbye Ben

Ben Testa’s last day at the club was on Friday. He now moves on to a new position at Bury Golf Club and we wish him all the very best for the future.

Nine hole Stableford

We had a good turn out on Saturday with nearly fifty golfers taking part.

Well done to Neil Thompson for winning Saturday’s front nine hole stableford with 20 points. Gus Murray-Brown was one shot adrift to finish in second place. Ian Macklin also scored 19 points but finished in third place as he was beaten on a count back.

In the ladies competition, Ann Coulson won with 19 points. Congratulations Ann. Helen Davies and Chris Marsh shared second place with 18 points.

Men’s Saturday Roll Ups

Men’s roll ups are now back in the calendar on Saturday’s when there isn’t another event on. The first one is on Saturday 2nd April. Over the summer period, these run 1300-1330 for the front nine and 1450-1520 for the back nine. Please look out for them and join in the golf and camaraderie. 

Ping Prodi G Junior Set

I have an excellent second hand set of junior clubs for sale. They would suit a junior with a height of 5’2″ give or take. The cost is £499. When new the price is around £1000. Please contact me for more details.

Junior Fixtures 2022

Here is the schedule for this season. We will add more junior comps from July onwards in due course. Please note the adult junior competitions are also listed. Please hold the dates!!

DATE	TIMES	EVENT
Sun 13 March 2022	14:00 – 14:30	Junior Texas Scramble (medal) / Golf Access
Tues 22 March	17:00 – 17:40	Junior Foursomes stableford / Golf Access
Sat 2 Apr	14:00 – 14:30	Junior Individual Stableford / Golf Access
Tues 12 Apr	15:40 – 16:25	Junior Fourball betterball stableford / Golf Access
Tues 19 Apr	15:40 – 16:20	Junior 3 clubs and a putter stableford / Golf Access
Fri 29 Apr	17:30 – 18:20	Adult Junior Comp
Sat 30 Apr	14:00 – 14:30	Junior Comp / Golf Access
Fri 13 May	17:30 – 18:20	Adult Junior Comp
Sat 14 May	09:30 – 10:00	Junior Comp / Golf Access
Sun 22 May	14:00 – 14:30	Junior Comp / Golf Access
Tues 31 May	15:40 – 16:20	Junior Comp / Golf Access
Sun 12 June	14:00 – 14:30	Junior Comp / Golf Access
Fri 17 June	17:30 – 18:20	Adult Junior Comp
Sat 18 June	09:30 – 10:00	Junior Comp / Golf Access
Tues 28 June	17:00 – 17:40	Junior Comp / Golf Access
Sun 10 July	14:00 – 14:30	Junior Comp / Golf Access
Fri 29 July	17:30 – 18:20	Adult Junior Comp
Fri 9 Sept	17:10 – 18:00	Adult Junior Comp
Sun 6 Nov 2022	14:00 – 14:50	Junior Awards Evening

Well, what a week…. high winds, incredible rain and a course closed much more than usual! The seniors competition on Wednesday was cancelled and the ladies comp on Thursday was also cancelled so all a bit disappointing really. Hopefully everyone has power though unlike some poor souls around the country.

Junior Coaching

Will Lord is running some junior group coaching sessions on Sunday mornings for children aged 7 – 13 years of age. The classes will run from 1000 – 1045 and from 1100 – 1145. The first block of dates will avoid the Easter school holidays and will be as follows:

March 20th, 27th
April 3rd
May 1st, 8th, 15th, 22nd

The price for the seven sessions will be £63.

If you’d like to enrol, please contact me.

Do you Boss the Moss?

Is it time you rolled your rock a little better? If so we have some of the latest Ping and Odyssey models in store for you to try.

Storm Damage

We had several trees come down over the weekend and our hardworking greenstaff have been removing them to get the course playable again. One fell into the car park, two fell near the fourth green and one near the swinging gate by the 5th / 7th tees. Thanks to Russell for supplying the photos.

Callaway Driver Demos

We also have some of the latest Callaway Rogue ST drivers for you to try. There are three different heads and 5 different shafts so lots of combinations to suit your game. Trackman will help us identify how well it compares to your current driver. Please contact us for an foc fitting. It goes without saying that you are welcome to also try our range of Ping G425 drivers while you’re at it!

Hale GC Pro Am 2022

The uptake for my first plug for this year’s Pro Am a few weeks ago was excellent. There are 24 teams slots available and already 16 have been taken. Please let me know if you would like to enter a team. We only have morning times available as things stand. Please also remember it’s open to men and ladies and mixed teams.

In this missive, we detail the results from the four club competitions played in the last week.

Bogey 5

Roger Mattocks won Saturday’s Bogey 5 with a fine score of four up. Richard Robinson was second with one up and Roger Sheen was third, also finishing one up but loosing out on a card playoff.

Thursday Stablefords

Congratulations to Jo Egerton for winning Thursday’s ladies 9 hole stableford with 17 points. Helen Davies was lost a card play off to finish in second place.

Well done to David Rodwell for winning the men’s competition with 19 points. Gregg Davison was second with 18 points and he puts his success all down to his recent purchases from the Pro Shop!! Well said Gregg 😁

Bradley 5

Tarik Rashid played very well to win Bradley 5, the nine hole seniors event with 20 points. Andrew Fishwick was one shot adrift in second place. Barry Jefferies lost on a card play off to finish third.

There is a nine hole stableford taking place on Thursday (the 10th Feb) which is open to ladies and men. There are still spots available so please sign up via Club V1 if you’d like a game.

Big Sister / Little Sister Ladies Competition

This 9 hole event event was played last Thursday and is a twist on a Texas Scramble. The winners were Jane Perks and Gillian Healey. Runners up were Sally Wright & Freda Hunt and third place went to Caroline Massey & Vicki Wells

Bradley 3

The seniors section finally managed to get Bradley 3 played last Wednesday after the weather had thwarted the event on several occasions. It was a good turnout with 39 players taking part.

Tony Sampson won the nine hole stableford event with 21 points, beating John Bacon on a card playoff. Chairman of Council Roger Sheen came third with 20 points. Barry Jeffries and Chris Wood each recorded a two.

Chinese New Year Dinner

Here are some photos of the beautifully decorated clubhouse dining room before the Chinese New Year Banquet, which took place last Thursday evening.

Ace

Well done to Guy Levers who recorded a hole in one on the par three course called Abel’s Crossing during his first go on Trackman. You can see on the image below that the distance from the hole after his tee shot on the 7th hole 0 feet and 0 inches. I’m not sure if this warrants a trip to the bar….

Music

Thanks to Mike Massey for sharing his ode to missing golf during lockdown. He apologises to the Clancy Brothers as it’s to the tune of “the Holy Ground”.

Fare thee well my lovely golf course a thousand times adieu
We’re going away from our favourite course and the greens we love so true
We live in total isolation but we’ll return for sure
To see again the fairways trim and play our special course again
Fine course you are (shout)
Refrain

The club I do adore
And still I live in hopes to play
Our special course once more
Fine course you are (shout)
And now the virus is raging, tees and fairways lying still
Irons and baffys stored in their bags with swings and putts all awry
But in the secrets of my mind my love you’re still the course that I adore
And when all is back to norm, we’ll play our special course once more
Fine course you are (shout)
Refrain
Fine course you are (shout)

Now Covid 19 is over and we are safe and well
Teeing up on the first with hopes so high, no more “tiers” to blight the day
gathering once again in our nineteenth and greeting the friends we hold so true
We’ll play the course with a new fourth to test our skill and bell to keep us safe
Fine course you are (shout)
Refrain
Fine course you are (shout)

In this week’s missive, we have news of junior group coaching, competition results, a Trackman round up, Donald’s birthday party information and even a grace!

As a reminder there are spaces for ladies and men in the nine hole stableford which is taking place on Thursday 10th February.

There are also spaces available for Bogey 5 on Saturday 12th February. There is also an alternate day for the event which is on Friday 11th February.

Junior Coaching

Will Lord is going to start some junior group coaching sessions on Sunday mornings for children aged 7 – 13 years of age. The classes will run from 1000 – 1045 and from 1100 – 1145. The first block of dates will avoid the Easter school holidays and will be as follows:

March 20th, 27th
April 3rd
May 1st, 8th, 15th, 22nd

The price for the seven sessions will be £63.

Any questions regarding suitability, any other matter or if you’re ready to enrol, please contact me.

Men’s January Stableford

Well done to Ian Ponter for winning Saturday’s back nine stableford with 22 points. Pete Turkington was the runner up with 19 points and president Barry Jefferies was third, also with 19 points.

Ladies Greensomes

Congratulations to Amanda Greaves and Corinne Veitch for winning last week’s nine hole greensomes competition with 22 points. Sister-in-law Vanessa Veitch and Mary Cockbain were one point adrift in second place. Pat Jefferies and Diana Harris finished in third place with 20 points.

Trackman

In the table below, you can see the launch criteria golfers need to max out their driving distance potential. You’ll notice that as swing speed reduces, a golfer needs both more launch and more backspin. So my question is, are you playing the right driver for your game?

The opportunity to have a complimentary go in the golf studio with Trackman expires on the 11th February so please make contact if this is something that you would like to do. As you might expect, I thoroughly recommend the experience 😀

From the 1st March 2022, the price of booking the studio with Trackman and all it’s fabulous capabilities will be:

DESCRIPTION	PRICE
30 minute hire (1 player)	£10
60 minute hire (1 player)	£18
60 minute hire (2-4 players)	£22

Birthday Party

Thank you to Roger Sheen for sharing the photo and Chris Wood for supplying the text below.

The photo shows the players and non-players at last week’s Tuesday “Roll-up with lunch (and wine!)” – as the Club calendar puts it.

Donald Sutherland is celebrating his 89th birthday with his post-prandial 1980 vintage port (in its magnificent decanter) in the company of John Hughes (92, to his left), John Kinder (82, next to John Hughes), Drummond Sharp (89, right foreground), the President, Barry Jefferies (82) and 14 more youthful members (some only marginally so).

Grace from Friday’s Hot Pot Supper

Andrew Gething suggested that I approach John Gower-Jones to see if he was happy to share his most recent grace which he delivered prior to the Hot Pot supper and Russell taking the floor on Friday. Thankfully he was so here it is. Please enjoy.

O Lord we welcome Russell here, a highly honoured guest.
Not just a splendid golfer, of greenkeepers he’s the best.
We asked some famous people as we knew they’d be impressed.
We knew Prince Andrew would be free, he said “You must be joking –
It’s Tramp for me, no sweat, but first it’s pizzas down in Woking.
Then Boris said he’d love to come, but when he thought again
He realised it’s party night each night at Number Ten.
So Russell it’s just us that’s here: Lord bless our food and wine and beer.
Amen.

We have a nine hole stableford this Saturday which is open to gentlemen and lady members so if you haven’t already, why don’t you sign up for a game?

In this week’s newsletter, we cover the ladies results from last week, news of the 2022 HGC Pro-Am, terrific photos and more!

Ladies Texas Twist Competition

Fourteen hardy teams played in the Texas Twist Competition last Thursday. This is a very tricky format with the ‘twist’ being that you had to choose the worst drive on the two par three holes rather than the best drive.

The winners with a cracking score of six under par were Gill Kay, Vicky Chamberlain and Jo Egerton. Lynette Lodge, Diana Harris, and Terri Broadbent were one shot back with a score 31. Third place went to Louise Gerald, Rosemary Bowden and Gail Sampson with 33.

Omission

Click here for the link to more information about the use of mats at HGC over the winter that I spoke about in last week’s missive but managed to omit attaching – apologies!!

Hale GC Pro-Am 2022

This year’s event will be taking place on Saturday 9th July. Please let me know if you would like to play in the 11th staging of the competition in recent years. Please express whether you would prefer a morning or afternoon tee time.

The price is £225 if all three amateur players are members here at hale GC. If there is one or more amateur players from another club, the entry fee is £255.

Under the PGA regulations, the stroke allowance is 85% of your course handicap. However following this calculation, the maximum number of shots a gentleman can receive is 18 and 24 for ladies. For example, if Joe Bloggs has a handicap index of 21.2 then his course handicap from the blue tees is 24 but for the purposes of this event, he will only get one shot per hole.

Cheshire and North Wales PGA committee

On Monday at the AGM, I’m proud to say that I was elected to onto Cheshire and North Wales PGA committee. It seems that we will meet four times per year to discuss the competition schedule of the county, the welfare of our pros and assistants, finances etc. So I’m looking forward to helping out as best I can.

Rise and Shine

So we’ve got through over 50% of January which has to be a good thing! We have four competitions this week to report back on which is excellent news. As you know, the weather has been dry and sunny but very chilly with some heavy frosts.

We’ve also got some junior updates and clarification on the use of fairway mats plus some great photos. Please enjoy the read!

Trackman

Would you like to give Trackman a try and see what it’s all about? If so for a limited time, we are offering the opportunity for a hour session with Will or I in the nice warm and dry studio. You’ll be able to work on your game, play some of it’s many challenges or tackle one of it’s 100+ golf courses for just £20. Have a look below at it’s fantastic graphics. Please contact us to give it a go, you won’t be disappointed!

Bogey 4

Rob Manley shot a very good score of three up to win Saturday’s 15 hole bogey. John Moss was second with two up and Ian Goulty third with one up. Nine twos were recorded during the competition.

Ladies Back Nine Stableford

Well done to lady captain Irene Kirk for winning Thursday’s competition with 16 points. She was one of five players to record that score but finished on top following a card play off. The other players were Sue Bromley, Joanna Bates, Mandy Gilbert and Clare Withey.

Men’s Back Nine Stableford

Congratulations to David Rodwell for shooting an excellent 21 points to win the competition that took place last Thursday. Phil Long recorded the same score but was beaten on a card play off. Brian Greenbank was third with 19 points.

Bradley 4

Adam Hyde posted a very tidy score of 20 points to win the seniors nine hole stableford competition that took place on Wednesday. Paul Gilbert finished in second place with 18 points. He had a fabulous finish after amassing just four four points after the opening four holes. Robert Spark finished third, also with 18 points.

Use of Mats

Please click here for clarification on the use of mats. There have been some instances where golfers have been unsure where they should and shouldn’t use them so we hope this makes things clearer.

Some terms are useful to know and are illustrated below. Plus here’s a link to an interesting article that explains a little about “the anatomy of a golf course”.

Junior Schedule 2022

We sent out an email on Monday evening to the club’s junior section and their parents. It had lots of details of the year ahead. If you missed it, please click here to take a look.

Frosty Mornings

And a fire to keep toasty….