We are now playing preferred lies as the nights draw in and Autumn arrives. As a reminder, preferred lies means you can mark and clean your ball on any part of the General Area that is cut to fairway height or less and move it up to six inches from where it initially lay but no nearer the hole. If you would like to read the R&A’s definition of General Area then please click here.
The winter rates for green fees are also now in operation. This means that the members guest rate is £8 for nine holes and £10 for 18 holes. Visitors fees are £14 for 9 holes and £20 for 18 holes.
Bogey 1
Well done to James Munnery for winning the first Bogey of the winter campaign with a mighty impressive six up. Second place went to David Rodwell with two up. Chris Wood had the same score but was beaten into third place on countback.
James & gentleman captain Johnny Yates
Ladies Competitions
Gwynneth Bramwell played very nicely to score 38 points and win last Thursday’s 18 hole stableford competition. Min Fishwick kept up her recent good form to finish with the same score in second place, Gwynneth beat her in a card play off. Diana Harris was third with 36 points.
Jennifer Bradley amassed a whopping 21 points to win the nine hole stableford on the same day. Ann Davies was the runner up with 18 points. Gillian Healey & Karen Stockton shared third place with 17 points.
Lady captain Irene Kirk & Gwynneth
Irene & Jennifer
Wildlife on the Course
Many thanks to Vicki Wells for this snap from the other day of a fox cub inspecting the new third hole.
This we look at some team competition results, yardages on the practice ground and even a trip to the coast for yours truly! Enjoy the read….
Ladies Autumn Meeting
The ladies Autumn Meeting took place last Thursday and was cut to nine holes after heavy rains the night before. Sue Fallows, Barbara Spark, Wendy Jenkins & Vicki Wells were the winners with a magnificent 43 points. Two points behind in second place were Jennifer Bradley, Gillian Brogdon, Sally Budd & Jan Ravenscroft. Third place went to Helen Davies, Mandy Gilbert, Val Nelstrop & Barbara Grant who scored 38 points.
The results from yesterday (Thursday 7th October) will be in next week’s missive by the way – I’m running a little behind schedule this week!!
Sue, lady captain Irene Kirk, Barbara, Wendy & Vicki
Jennifer, Irene, Gillian, Sally & Jan
Helen, Mandy, Irene, Val & Barbara
Trip to Mottram Hall
Great fun was had by all the ladies who embarked on the overnight trip to Mottram Hall last weekend. In the team competition, Louise Gerald, Wendy Jenkins, Vicki Wells & Karen Stockton finished in first place beating Jill Gower-Jones, Jennifer Bradley, Sue Bryant & Barbara Grant into runner’s up spot.
Louise, Wendy, Irene, Vicki & Karen
Jill, Jennifer, Irene, Sue & Barbara
Gents Invitation
Last Saturday, the revamped Gents Invitation took place. There were approx 15 teams that took part and the weather was ok, not brilliant but ok! In first place were Brian Greenbank, Guy Levers, Dave Wainwright & Andy Begg (Ringway) with 88 points in the best two from four stableford format.
Second place went to gentleman captain’s side of himself, Jonny Gray, Paul Ashling, & Vernon Nuttall who scored 87 points. On the same score but beaten into third place on countback were James Munnery, Nigel Jenkins (Knutsford), Tom Cressey & Robin Sharp (Formby). The Nearest the Pin on 11th was won by Henry Petrie from Prestbury and the Nearest the Pin in two shots on the 18th was won by James Munnery. So overall it was a very good event and an equally good performance by members of the Greens Committee!!
Brian, Guy & Andy
Vernon, Johnny, Jonny & Paul
Brian, James & Nigel
Range Yardages
I’m often asked how far the flags are away on the range so please see the graphic below. I’ve also put the same note on a stick sign on one of the grass tees as a reminder for all you dedicated practice ground users!
Formby Ladies
I had the good fortune to play Formby Ladies for the first time on Wednesday. I have wanted to for some time having played the championship course there several times. Suffice to say I was not disappointed, what a treat! If you can play 18 holes round there with just one ball then you’re definitely going some…
Well things are starting to quieten down on the golf course here at HGC so I have fewer comps to report on this week.
I manged to watch quite a lot of the Ryder Cup. I was aware that the final result was becoming pretty inevitable but I still found it captivating. Perhaps it’s just me but the course suited the event perfectly and to see these players attack the course slightly differently because they were playing matchplay rather than strokeplay was also really engaging.
Europe just didn’t have the fire power as the world rankings had suggested coming into the event. Sadly I think it’s going to be some time before we can compete with the US team in forthcoming Ryder Cups. I wonder who will be the next European captain as it may not be a role that anyone will relish to much at this point in time?
Golf Coaching
Please click here to book a lesson or club fitting with me ⛳
Ladies Competitions
Well done Min Fishwick for romping home to victory with a superb 41 points on Thursday. Tracey Thompson was second with 36 points. Gail Sampson, Jan Ravenscroft and Gillian Brogdon shared third place with 35 points.
In the nine hole stableford both Val Nelstrop and Mandy Gilbert scored 19 points but Val won on countback. Bad luck Mandy! Third place went to Amanda Greaves with 16 points.
On Saturday in the 18 hole stableford, Chris Marsh scored 35 points and Tiff Fielden 29 points.
Well it’s Ryder Cup week and the battle commences on Friday morning from Whistling Straits GC, Wisconsin, USA. Can Europe triumph again or is the difference in the world rankings that favours the American side just going to be too wide a margin to bridge? I’m sure you’ll all be tuning in to watch the drama unfold.
Finals Day
Sunday was Finals Day with four of the club’s knockouts being decided. Tony Sampson beat Andrew Cowan by 2 & 1 to win the Owen Memorial. Current lady captain Irene Kirk and former lady captain Caroline Massey prevailed against Gillian Healey and Ceri Hyde in the ladies foursomes. The Gordon Murray Salver (the mixed foursomes knockout) was won by Caroline Perkin and Peter Veitch. They beat Sally Budd and John Webb in the final and the score was 3 &2. And finally Freddie Fallows, triumphed against Andrew Fishwick by 3 & 1 in the Reid Plate.
Tony & gentleman captain Johnny yates
Caroline M, Johnny & Irene
Irene, Peter, Caroline P & Johnny
Johnny & Freddie
Freddie Fallows also won the inaugral junior knockout on Tuesday evening by beating Edward Lythgoe in the final 3 & 2. The Bech Cup between Jan Ravenscroft and Irene Kirk is to be played this week as is the Charlton Cup. Tiff Fielden and Louise Gerald feature in this final. Good luck to you all!
End of Season Sale
We have some discounted men’s polo shirts and mid layers plus some men’s and ladies shoes as per the photos & information below. Everything is at least 30% off so pop in and grab a bargain!
Mens, Stuburt, size 9 only, softspikes, waterproof, were £64.99, now only £44
Mens, Stuburt, size 9 only, softspikes, waterproof, were £59.99, now only £42
Mens, Stuburt, sizes 8, 9 & 10, spikeless, waterproof, were £69.99, now only £49
Mens FJ, size 6W only, softspikes, waterproof, were 79.99, now only £55
Mens, FJ, size 12M only, softspikes, waterproof, were £87, now only £60
Mens, FJ, size 8.5M only, softspikes, waterproof, were £87, now only £60
Ladies FJ summer shoe, sizes 5M, 6M & 7M, spikeless, not waterproof, were £79, now only £55
Ladies, FJ, size 7W only, spikeless, waterproof, were £115, now only £80
Ladies, FJ, size 6M only, soft spikes, waterproof, were £105, now only £73
Medal Final & Sandiford
Well done to John Bacon for rolling back the years and making use of his many shots (that’s only because he tells me so whenever he collects his scorecard from the Pro Shop!) and winning the Medal Final on Saturday. He shot a nett 66. Martin Oldfield and Martin Bramwell scored nett 67s to finish in second and third place respectively.
At the presentation after play, Lee Bramley was also award his trophy for winning the Sandiford. This is for the best four nett scores over the course of the season from the eight Medals that are played. His total was a stunning 264, sixteen under par. Second place went to Alex Mills who was three shots back. Brian Greenbank was third with 274.
Johnny & John
Lee & Johnny
Stats
I really enjoy following Lou Stagner on Twitter (@LouStagner) as he regularly posts really interesting stats that will help golfers of all levels understand the game a little more and ultimately this information can help us all improve.
The data below tells us the number of double bogeys or worse golfers of different levels have per round on average. It becomes clear that for club golfers scoring better is more about getting rid of the big numbers from your scorecard rather than having to make lots of birdies. So take a look at your own game, is your strategy adversely affecting your scoring?
Ladies Away day
Below are the details of the trip and the photos below courtesy of Wendy Jenkins. Thank you Wendy for sending this onto me to put into this week’s missive.
It was Lady Captain’s fun Exchange Day at Poulton Park Golf Club last Thursday and the ladies attending received a warm welcome from the Exchange Club. There were tricky water hazards on certain holes but thankfully the Ladies Competition Secretary (Sally Wright) had come prepared to retrieve the balls that her team mates (Judy and Wendy) had put into the brook!
Two ladies who were certainly not sick as parrots on the day were Sue Fallows and Gill Kay. Sue got nearest the pin in two shots on the first hole (a par 4) and then followed up by holing her putt for a birdie. Gill also got a birdie on the 10th. They were each awarded a feathered friend! The winners of the front-9 four-ball better ball competition were Sue Fallows, Vicky Chamberlain, Diana Harris & Judy Anderson. In second place were Tracey Thompson, Min Fishwick, Jane Perks and Ann Davies. The winners of the back-9 better-ball competition were Gill Kay and Sally Budd. In second place were Freda Hunt and Vicki Wells.
Prize presentations were made after an enjoyable dinner back at the Hale Club House and Lady Captain took the opportunity to present the prizes and trophies to the outstanding Ladies Finals winners. Tiff Fielden was presented with the Ladies Medal Final Trophy for her jaw dropping nett 63 winning score. And Tracey Thompson was presented with the Ladies Par Final Trophy, having achieved an excellent 5-up score, and with Chris Marsh receiving vouchers for her very creditable 3-up score, having beaten Lady Captain to the par final runner up slot on a card play off.
Sue & LC Irene
Gill & Irene
Vicky, Sue, Diana & Judy
Gill & Sally
Irene & Tiff
Irene & Chris
Cheshire Golf Union Centenary Trophy
A quick shout out to Jonny Gray who represented HGC in the Cheshire Golf Union Centenary Competition which took place on Sunday at Stockport GC. Jonny scored 36 stableford points, just four behind the winner, to finish in fifth place in a field of thirty seven players.
Seniors Competitions
Well done to Rob Manley for winning the Morren trophy (age 74 and under) last week with 40 points. Adam Hyde was second. Martin Oldfield won the “super seniors” Timpson Trophy (for the 75 year olds and over) with 38 points. Cliff Wright was second. Roger Fielding won the Tuttle trophy (9 hole stableford for 75s and over) with 19 points.
The previous week, John Gower-Jones did fantastically well following various joint replacements in recent months to win the nine hole Summer Stableford final with 20 points. That man Martin Oldfield popped up again to take second place.
Well the nights are drawing in now which is a bit depressing isn’t it? However there are still lots of golfing events to help keep your spirits up and look forward to over the coming weeks. We start with the men’s Medal Final on Saturday, Finals Day on Sunday and the Ryder Cup takes place the following week
Ryder Cup
Padraig picked his three wildcards on Sunday opting for experience by going for Ian Poulter, Sergio Garcia and Shane Lowry. However there was no place for Justin Rose which was a talking point. Here are the full line ups for the big match which starts a week on Friday from Whistling Straits, USA.
Finals Day
As mentioned, the culmination of the season’s knockout golf takes place here at HGC this Sunday. The order of play is as follows:
1200 Reid Plate – Freddie Fallows vs either Glyn Isaac or Andrew Fishwick. 1215 Ladies Foursomes – Gillian Healey & Ceri Hyde vs Irene Kirk & Caroline Massey 1230 Gordon Murray Memorial Salver (Mixed foursomes) – Sally Budd & John Webb vs Peter Veitch & Caroline Perkin 1245 Owen Memorial Bowl – Andrew Cowan vs Tony Sampson
Please note the dates of the finals of the Bech Cup (Irene Kirk vs Jan Ravenscroft), the Charlton Cup (Louise Gerald vs Tiff Fielden) and the Junior Matchplay (Freddie Fallows vs Ed Lythgoe or James Beddy) are yet to be announced.
Ladies Comps
At tea last Thursday, the ladies made some presentations as follows:
(a) Previous lady captain Caroline Massey presented the Ladies Stableford Final Trophy to this year’s winner, the current lady captain Irene Kirk.
(b) Irene presented a prize voucher to the runner up in this year’s ladies Medal Final, Gwynneth Bramwell.
(c) Irene also presented a prize voucher to the winner of the 9 hole Stableford, Freda Hunt.
(d) Irene presented prizes to the winner (Caroline Massey) and runner up (Sue Fallows) of the Ladies 9 hole knock-out competition.
(e) And finally, a photo of LC and her trophy.
a
b
c
d
e
President’s Prize
Pam and Bill Dixon took the honours on Saturday with a mighty fine 46 points in the mixed foursome stableford format, which proved to be a most enjoyable day for all participants. Sharon & John Thorne finished four points behind in second place. John wisely bet on Pam & Bill to win in the Tote though and was the only one to do so meaning he snagged the entire pot of £56. Well done to you all!
Pam, club president Barry Jefferies and Bill
Adult Junior
The final event of the Adult Junior season took place on Friday. Erin & Guy Withey were the winners with a whopping 24 points. The other top four finishers from the night are in the table below.
Sam Morris won the Order of Merit with 25 points based on his consistent performances over the course of the season. He had different adult partners over the campaign and they all performed very well! The other well placed finishers can be seen in the other table below.
What excellent viewing the Solheim Cup was and it was fab to see Europe triumph 15 to 13 at the Inverness Club, Ohio. Catriona Matthew led the team superbly to victory for a second time.
Hopefully this bodes well for the Ryder Cup which takes place later this month. Steve Stricker has just made his wildcard picks and their team looks mighty impressive. Padraig Harrington will confirm his final line up on Sunday.
Brand new Autumn / Winter men’s Ping Collection clothing now in stock
Ladies Results
Tiff Fielden recorded a tremendous gross 71, nett 63 to win the Medal Final on Thursday. Gwynneth Bramwell and lady captain Irene Kirk finished second and third respectively with their nett 70s.
Well done to ladies comp secretary Sally Wright for winning the front nine hole stableford on the same day with 20 points. Jennifer Bradley and Sue Fallows also scored 20 points but were beaten on countback to finish in second and third respectively.
Sally & Irene
Golf Lessons
Please click here to book a golf lesson with Richard – to help you either finish your season with a bang or get you ready to hit the ground running for the next one….
Medal 8
Well done for to Andrew Cowan for winning Medal 8 on Saturday. It could have been lower too as he told me after his round that he was concerned that he had squandered his chance to win with a bit of a lacklustre finish. Thankfully not and his nett 66 was good enough to finish on top. Incidentally his gross 74 was the also best of the day. Alan Bradley was second with a nett 68 and Craig Rea third with a 69.
Andrew & Johnny
Presentation Catch Up
Well done Al Makin for winning the Galloway and Arnold competitions during the Summer Meeting in July. He accepted his prizes at Saturday’s presentation.
Johnny & Al
Flamingo
Thanks to Tiff Fielden for being such a good sport and sending me these two photos. They were taken during a trip to Fontainebleau in France. The second snap is a zoom in off the first and you can see that thanks to her outfit and her method of teeing the ball, Tiff bears a resemblance to a flamingo… 🤣
Well that was an extraordinary putting performance (and the rest of his game wasn’t too shabby either!) by Patrick Cantlay to beat Bryson DeChambeau and win the the BMW Championship, which finished on Sunday.
Through the 72 holes of regulation play, Cantlay made 537 feet of putts which equates to making a seven footer on every holes across the four rounds. His 14.6 strokes gained putting for the week was the most since the PGA Tour started tracking this stat in 2004.
In the ladies amateur game, the USA retained the Curtis Cup by beating GB & Ireland 12.5 points to 7.5 at Conwy GC in Wales.
Captains’ Frolic
The Captains’ Frolic on bank holiday Monday was a great success. It was a combination of a team match and also a betterball pairs competition. The gentleman captain’s side, the Leigh Legends, were victorious with their 208 stableford points total beating the lady captain’s side, the Starship Superstars, by just 5 points.
Lynette Lodge and Andrew Hay won the pairs competition with 24 points. Gwyneth Bramwell & Bill Dixon were second and Jane Wilkinson & Rob Manley finished in third place. The winner of the nearest the pin on the 7th was Jonny Gray and Sue Bryant won the nearest the line on the 9th hole.
Johnny, Lynette, Andrew & Irene
Sue Bryant
Ladies Competitions
Well done to Min Fishwick for winning last Thursday’s 18 hole par with a score of all square. Anne Webster was second with one down. Congrats also to Lynette Lodge for winning the front nine hole stableford with 20 points. Viki Wells was just one point adrift in second place.
Min & Irene
Lynette & Irene
Nine & Dine
Another nine and dine and another win for Phil Long and Kerry Bailey! This time they were accompanied by Jo Egerton and Al Kenney to score an excellent 46 points. This tally included a five pointer from Jo on the seventh hole after her 5 wood from the tee went to tap in distance! Second place went to Ceri & Adam Hyde and Gillian & Eric Healey.
Well done to Sweden’s Anna Nordqvist for winning the Women’s Open at Carnoustie on Sunday. There were birdies and eagles galore on the thrilling final day. England’s Georgia Hall finished in tie for second place on eleven under, one shot behind the Swede. Hopefully this is a good omen for this week’s Curtis Cup which starts on Thursday and is taking place at Conwy GC in Wales.
In the men’s game, Tony Finau ended his five year wait for a second PGA tour win by beating Cameron Smith in a play off to take the Northern Trust.
Mixed Centenary
Back at Hale, Anne Webster and Tarik Rashid won the Mixed Centenary on Saturday with 42 points. Vanessa and Peter Veitch were three points adrift in second place. The weather forecast had been terrible beforehand but thankfully on the day it turned out to be much better so that the event could take place without the players getting too wet!
Johnny, Anne, Tarik & Irene
Johnny, Vanessa, Peter & Irene
Ladies Invitation Day
We had a great turn out of 43 players for last Thursday’s ladies Invitation Day. It was a shotgun start and again the weather just about played ball! It was a really fun event followed by a lovely dinner.
Well done to the overall winners (who also happened to be the organisers!) Mandy Gilbert and Gil Kay and their guests, Jenny Wilks and Lynn Margolis. They came in with a great score of 84. In second place with 79 points were Pam Dixon, Terri Broadbent, Jane Huxley-Grantham and Sue Odlin.
The winner of the nearest the pin prize on the 7th hole was Jan Goodman from Ringway GC. And the winner of the the nearest the line prize on the 9th hole was Jane Huxley-Grantham who plays at Mere GC.
The winners
2nd place
Jan Goodman & lady captain Irene Kirk
Irene & Jane
Nine hole Stableford
In the nine hole stableford which was played earlier in the day on Thursday, Sue Bromley beat Chris marsh on a card play off to take top spot. Both ladies had scored 19 points. Jane Perks was third with 18 points.
Ping Demo Day
We had the Ping demo day here on Friday. The fitter was Steve Purdy who was ultra professional and did a great job helping people to find clubs to improve their game. Thanks to everyone who came along and took part.
Ping Demo Day on Friday
Senior Stableford 6
Last Wednesday Roger Lamb played superbly to score 22 stableford points and win the seniors nine hole competition. Tony Sampson was two shots behind in second place and Rob Manley was third with 19 points.
Ladies Team Matches
All three of our Ladies Teams that entered different divisions of the Cheshire Shield won their group stages and played recently in the quarter finals.
The Handicap B Team lost 4-3 to Macclesfield. Two of the matches actually ended up going down the 19th. The games were played in great spirit at Disley and couldn’t have been closer.
The Plate team unfortunately also lost 4 – 3 to Mere at Birchwood GC.
And finally the Business Ladies team lost their match against Marple in the quarter final stage of the East Cheshire Shield at Astbury.
So it was bad luck in these quarter finals but as there are 32 teams in each of the categories it means that the ladies had done really well to have all won their groups in the first place.
Thanks to Jan Ravenscroft for keeping me up to speed with this information.
B team
Plate team
Travels
Glyn Isaac, Jez Allen, Dave Smith and Paul Simpson had an excellent day out last Friday when they visited the JCB Golf Club in Staffordshire last Friday.
Glyn, Jez, Dave & Paul
One of our youngest members Ollie Grieves can be seen below playing with his grandfather John Book whilst they were out in Spain…. the putt of course went in and the drive went straight down the middle!
Well I’m back from my hols and I’m not impressed with this weather! Hopefully better is on it’s way so that we can have a Late Summer Run – that reference is for you Gary Beal 😁
Here’s a quick round up of the results from the last seven days or so.
Medal 7
Martin Bramwell scored a gross 77 for a nett 64 to win Saturday’s Medal 7. Well done indeed Martin. Second place was secured by Harry Christopher with a nett 66 and Harry’s round included a rare eagle two at the 4th. Two shots further back in third was Richard Duerr.
Johnny & Martin at the presentation on Saturday
Ladies Stablefords
Well done to club secretary Vicky Chamberlain for winning last Thursday’s 18 hole stableford with 38 points. Corinne Veitch was second with 33 points.
Tiff Fielden won the nine hole stableford with 20 points and Rosie Gerrard was one shot adrift to finish in second place.
New Bench outside the Pro Shop
This is the new “taxi waiting seat for late night revellers” according to Roger Sheen. The message on the second photo says it all. Mike may no longer be with us but he most certainly is not forgotten
Here’s a round up of last week’s results. I’ve heard that the weather in the UK has been terrible so hope it’s improving for you all.
Centenary Trophy
Well done to James Lord for winning the Centenary Trophy last Saturday with a hefty total of 42 points. Tom Cressey kept us his recent good form to score 41 points and take second place. John Moss was third with 39. Seventy six players took part in the event.
James & Jonny at the presentation
Hilda Timpson Trophy
The scoring was very good in this event with Gill Kay taking top spot with a nett 68. Tiff Fielden finished runner up having lost to Gill on a card play off. Anne Webster was one shot further back in third place.
The Back Nine stableford was won with a cracking score of 21 points by Val Nelstrop. Three players then shared second place with seventeen points. They were Sue Bromley, Barbara Grant and Gillian Brogdon.
Holiday
I’m very fortunate to still be away n holiday with the family. We are staying at the Praia D’el Rey Resort north of Lisbon, close to a town called Peniche. We’re having a great time and took a trip into Lisbon the other day. I even manged to sneak 18 holes of golf in the other day at the nearby West Cliffs golf course which was spectacular – thanks to John Webb for the recommendation. See you all back at HGC next week.
Charlotte, Lizzie and Sophie on the way up to the Sao Jorge Castle in Lisbon
