Author: Richard Booth

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.

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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.

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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!

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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!

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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.

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

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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.

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.

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There was no men’s comp on Saturday but I have the results from last Thursday’s Gentleman Captain’s Day and Friday’s Adult Junior event.

My family and I are fortunate to have been negative for all our Covid tests and so have made it to Portugal for the trip that we planned to go on last summer. We flew into Lisbon and are staying at the wonderful Praia Del Rey golf resort on the Atlantic coast – so who knows, I might even get a game or two in!

Gentleman Captain’s Day

Well done to Caroline Massey for winning this event with an excellent score of 44 points. She received a lovely bottle of champagne with glasses from the gentleman captain Johnny Yates. Gill Kay finished in second place with 41 points. Sue Bromley won Nearest the Line and Judith Wainwright won Nearest the Pin. Diana Harris won the nine hole competition and won a lovely bottle of wine with glasses.

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I understand that Johnny was very generous with his hospitality and his time which made for an excellent day for everyone. I also heard that the afternoon tea provided by Ben and his team was delicious. As usual Russell, Dave and Ben made sure the course was in great condition. Finally Jean Green did a great job sorting out the scorecards.

Adult Junior

Well done to all the competitors that played in the gloom on Friday evening. The scoring was excellent and well done to James and David for winning with 23 points. Second place went to Ben & Chris Hinton just one point adrift.

The other scores are as follows:
3rd Caspian & Lubna 20 points
4th Olly & Alex 17 points
5th Isaac & Mike 15 points
6th Sam & Noelle 14 points

Thanks as ever for everyone who took part. The season finale takes place with a shotgun start on Friday 10th September at 1730. Please let me know if you would like to play.

Seniors Stableford 5

Thanks to Chris Adams and Alan Kemp for organising yesterday fantastically well as usual. And here’s a run down of the results in Chris’s own words…

Well done to Bob Siddle (P/Q) for an amazing score of 23 points (two over gross) to win todays comp and six balls. John Gower-Jones (Q) had a great 21 points to come second (four balls) so both new knees worked OK at last and Ian Macklin (Q) was third (two balls) with 20 points. Prizes in the Pro shop.

Thirty six entries and conditions perhaps not as easy as scores indicate with no “twos” (that will please the Treasurer). As well as John and Ian, Ian Hunt and Richard Dyson with 19 points and Adam Hyde with 18 all qualify. John Kennedy (PQ) also had 18. 

Shop Opening Hours

With me being very lucky to be in Portugal, Phil and Will are holding the fort and running the shop in my absence. The opening hours are not quite as extensive as usual and are detailed below.

DAY	DATE	OPENING HOURS
Thu	5th	0830 -1400
Fri	6th	0830 -1230 & 1500 – 1630
Sat	7th	0745 – 1430
Sun	8th	closed
Mon	9th	0900 – 1300
Tue	10th	0900 – 1300
Wed	11th	1100 – 1500
Thu	12th	0830 – 1400
Fri	13th	0830 – 1230
Sat	14th	0730 – 1430
Sun	15th	0830 – 1030

As the Olympics get under way, here’s a run down of Hale’s very own gold medalists over the last couple if weeks….

Summer Stableford

Well done to Gus Murray-Brown for scoring 41 points in the Summer Stableford to take top spot. Tom Sloan was one point behind in second place. Roger Flint finished third with 39 points beating Roger Mattocks on countback. Interestingly only five twos were recorded which is a much lower number than of late.

Ladies Results

Congrats to Chris Marsh for winning last week’s 18 hole Par finishing all square. Min Fishwick finished in second place.

Well done to Lorraine Thompson for winning the back nine stableford on Thursday with an excellent 20 points. Rosemary Bowden had the same score but was beaten on countback.

Below are some photos from last Thursday. The first is of Mandy Gilbert receiving her trophy for winning the Moir Cup and the second is of Lorraine Thompson following what I understand is her maiden golfing victory 👍

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Seniors Stableford 4

Roger Mattocks is obviously in good form at the moment as he finished first in Wednesday’s stableford with 20 points. Peter Veitch and Cliff Wright were both one point back but Peter edged out Cliff on a card play off.

Thanks as ever to Chris Adams and Alan Kemp for all their hard work arranging these events.

July Nine & Dine

Well done to Kerry Bailey, Phil Long, Jan Ravenscroft & Chris Ravenscroft for winning Friday’s Nine & Dine Texas scramble with an excellent nett score of 26. The field was closely packed and Jo Egerton tells me that the four of them are already hard at work planning the next one!

Away from HGC

Last week, Keith & Tracey Thompson and Gwynneth & Martin Bramwell played in a Clarion sponsored event which was held at Bramhall Park. It was a 4 Ball better ball stableford competition.

Tracey & Keith scored 41 points but Gwynneth & Martin faired better with 45 points. The winning score was 47 points. The two Hale teams were the only two mixed teams in a field of over 200.

Well after winning the Open sweepstake having drawn Collin Morikawa, Philip Long is his new biggest fan! I hope you all got chance to watch at least some of it. Royal St Georges looked magnificent and didn’t really bare it’s teeth this week but it’s such a joy to see links golf on our screens.

I hope you have all been suitably inspired and this super hot spell won’t deter you from striding the fairways.

Medal 6

Well played Lee Bramley for winning his second Medal of the 2021 campaign on Saturday with a nett 63. Tied on second place with 65s were Colin Bamford (playing in his first medal so well done indeed) and Freddie Fallows. Colin pipped Freddie into third place – imagine just how low you could go Colin if you added another “L” to your name!! There were in total thirteen nett scores starting with a six during the competition which is excellent scoring.

The best gross of the event went to Adam Laitt with a 72. Twelve twos were recorded, with Adam bagging two of them.

Bridgford & Moir Cup

Well done to Mandy Gilbert for winning the Moir Cup which was staged over Wednesday and Thursday of last week with a gross score of 177 for the two rounds. Janet Grant was five shots back in second place.

The Bridgford was won won by Pam Dixon with a five under par nett total of 137 following a sensational second round of nett 65. Janet Grant was second again with 138.

Thursday’s 18 hole Max medal was won by Corinne Veitch with a fine nett 69. Sally Wright was two back with a 71.

The Front Nine Max medal was won by Vicki Wells with a nett 35. Three players tied second with 36 and they were Freda Hunt, Sue Fallows and Min Fishwick.

And finally, Tiff recorded a birdie four at the first hole.

Sunday Trading

Since we opened up again, we have been running an experiment by opening on Sundays. We ran it for over three months until the 11th July. Unfortunately it just hasn’t been financially viable to continue with staff costs far exceeding profits.

So we are going back to opening six days per week, Monday to Saturday. As we’ve always done if there is a large event / competition taking place on a Sunday, we will of course open the shop for that.

Thank you to all of you for your continued support and trade with us in the Pro Shop during these really difficult past 18 months and of course throughout my twelve plus years here. We’re enormously grateful and happy to serve you here at HGC!

Twelfth Tee

After missing out last year, the Open starts again today from Royal St Georges. Two of our members were down in Kent last week to check out the venue first hand but more on that later.

Pro Am

Twenty three teams took part in Saturday’s Pro Am which proved to be another successful event. Apart from about an hours heavy rain in the afternoon, the weather was kind to us and the course was in immaculate condition – with true, receptive greens.

Olly Smith took advantage of this by going round in an incredible 62 strokes and using just seven of them to play all par threes! Yes you read that correctly – he had three twos and a hole in one… as you do! Olly also helped spearhead the winning team partnered by Mike Kirchin, Chris Brown and Paul Hilton. They recorded a score 119 or 21 under par which was unmatched.

David Rodwell, Howard Gill, Brian Greenbank and their pro Matthew Dixon scored 18 under to finish second. Roger Laitt, Adam Laitt, George Buchan and pro Curtis Hughes were one shot adrift in third whilst Peter Hindle, Neil Thompson, Pete Tukington and pro Jason Dransfield finished fourth with 124.

Second place in the individual professionals’ competition went to Jason Shufflebotham with a 64 and third was Philip Archer with a 65. In total 6 pros finished under par with three pros on level par – I was one of those pros on even par.

Thanks to Dan Huxley and helper Bill from the PGA, Russell and team, Ben and the bar staff for their part in producing such a memorable day. Thanks also to the members for kindly allowing the course to be used throughout the day.

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Ladies Summer Meeting

Well done to Gwynneth Bramwell, Mary Cockbain, Jean Green and Sally Budd for shooting an amazing 85 points last Thursday to win the ladies Summer Meeting. Three points adrift in second place was Jan Ravenscroft, Sue Bryant, Diana Harris and Jennifer Bradley. Ten teams took part and the beautiful weather helped the players enjoy a tasty lunch and a glass of wine (just the one of course!) after play.

R & A 9 Hole Challenge Final

This was staged at Royal St Georges last Saturday. Amanda Greaves and Jane Wilkinson qualified at our events which were held a few months ago. They were both delighted to be playing but somewhat apprehensive about playing golf on such a big stage early on in their golfing journeys. They both sent me lovely emails afterwards telling me about their experiences and so I have quoted them below (I hope you don’t mind Amanda & Jane!!) Well done ladies, you did us proud and what a story to tell!

Here’s part of the message from Amanda:

We got the results through last night and we finished 8^th out of 17 – so we are delighted.  We just didn’t want to score 0.  The winners scored 38 and we scored 32 – which I think is very respectable especially as we were terrified.

We were the highest handicaps by a long way – so they ranged from 2.5 to 46.6 (Me!).  Apart from Jane and I everyone had a handicap 28.5 or less.

You couldn’t see the end of the rough off the tee, so it was fingers crossed and a big drive to try and keep out of it – which we managed on most holes. Apart from me on the first – I was so nervous, and spectators, cameras etc!

I can’t quite believe we did it and were the only ladies team, and only 8 ladies out of 34 competitors!

As everyone told us and in hindsight, we had a great time and everyone was lovely to us, even in the rain.  Anyway thank you for your help and we will let you know if anything comes of our interview on camera about women getting into golf.  R&A are trying to push the development of the sport in terms of 9 hole golf and more women and juniors playing – so we were their ideal story.

And here’s some words from Jane:

We did not feature in the prizes but got a respectable 32 points, the winning team got 37.

Hale Golf Club did get a special mention from the Randa chairman of development that if there was a prize for best turned out team it would go to Hale!!

We were also interviewed by Randa because they were very impressed that both of us got into golf via the very generous temporary  membership initiative Hale Golf Club offered.

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Correction

In last week’s missive, I quoted the incorrect time for this Thursday’s inauguration of new club president Barry Jefferies. The correct start time is 1900. My apologies for any confusion and I hope it’s a good evening for all.

Twos on all the Par Threes

Thanks to Peter Hardern for answering my question of last week about whether anyone had ever scored four twos on the par threes here at HGC (how ironic after Olly Smith’s incredible efforts of Saturday?) by explaining that Oliver Harris had done so. He went on to explain that he was fairly certain that David (Percy) Leese and David Hallworth had also done so. Peter recalls Oliver buying drinks all round after his birdie barrage on the par threes but is not sure of when this happened though.

Photo

We have lots of results and photos again this week which is great. The Covid restrictions have prevented presentations and hence a lack of images for the past 12 – 18 months. Thanks to Sue Bryant, Brian Greenbank, Ian Hunt and Craig Rea for helping to put that right this week.

England v Denmark

As I write this it’s early Wednesday morning on the day England take on Denmark in the semi finals – let’s hope we can ease those years of hurt this time around 🤞 There will be plenty of you down at the club to watch later on and well done to Tracey and the team for giving the marquee a football makeover!

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Summer Meeting

We were worried in the days coming up to last weekend’s men’s Summer Meeting that we might have a problem with thunder and lightning. Thankfully that never happened but unfortunately we did have plenty of rain, especially for those players with morning tee time.

The main event, the Galloway Scratch Challenge Cup, was won by Jonny Gray and James Scott with 151. Richard Duerr was third with 156.

The Walker Trophy, the best 36 hole nett, was won by Nick Horrocks with scores of 63 and 71 to make a 134 (six under par) total. Jonny Gray was second with 135 and Freddie Gillan third with 140.

The MacCaig trophy is presented to the best 18 hole gross score on either day by a player that didn’t win the Galloway, David Smith was the winner with a 75. Adam Laitt was one shot back in second (after a card play off) and Richard Duerr was third.

Mr Captain Johnny Yates won the prize for the Best Nett on Sunday with a 66. Martin Bramwell had a 67 and David Rodwell a 68.

The Arnold Challenge Cup was presented to Andrew Hay who recorded a gross 87. This prize is for the best gross recorded by a player with a handicap of 15 or above. Nigel Taylor and Andrew Gething recorded 88s to finish one shot back.

The Goulty Trophy is presented to the player with the best nett score on day one that is aged 60 or over. Keith Thompson won with a nett 66. John Moss was second with a 68 and Paul Simpson third with a 69.

Finally Keith Thompson was back in the winners circle to win the prize for the best nett on day one, again using that nett 66 to do so. Jonny Gray was beaten on a card play off to finish second and John Moss third with his 68.

Paul Gilbert recorded, in his words, a “proper” hole in one on the eleventh on day one. Also Brian Greenbank recorded three twos on day one with birdies on all the par threes except the second which is mighty impressive too. This got me thinking, is anyone aware of a golfer that has birdied all four during their round? Please let me know if you can think of anyone who fits the bill.

Well done to all the winners, Russell and team for getting the course in great shape and of course to Ian Hunt and Brian Greenbank for working tirelessly to make the event run so smoothly.

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Lady Captain’s Day

The weather was far kinder for this event as sun drenched photos below show. The lady captain Irene Kirk kept the competitors well fed and watered with Pimm’s half way round and a delicious tea after play.

The scoring was excellent with Rosie Gerrard winning the 18 hole stableford competition with 42 points. Clare Withey was second with 39 points and Jan Ravenscroft third with 38 points.

The front nine stableford was won by Joanne Bryant with 21 points. Ann Davies finished second with 18 points on countback meaning Nicola Kitching was in third place.

Gail Sampson won the Nearest the Line prize on the ninth hole with her shot that finished just 8cm away from it. Gilliam Brogdon won the Nearest the Pin prize on the seventh.

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Changing of the Guard

Barbara Grant is retiring as President of HGC shortly and so was presented with a bouquet of flowers by Roger Sheen, the Chair of Council on behalf of all the Council members to show their appreciation for all her input. Barry Jefferies will be inaugurated as the new President on Thursday 22nd July at 1930.

Selfie

Well we have a big few weeks of golf ahead of us here at HGC. On Thursday we have Lady Captain’s Day and the men’s Summer Meeting over the weekend. Then next Thursday, it’s the ladies’ Summer Meeting with the Pro Am on Saturday 10th. As always, I’ll keep you posted here with all the results.

Ping Demo Day

Hot on the heels of the Callaway Demo Day the other week, we have a Ping one lined up for a few weeks time. It’s on Friday 20th August between 1100 and 1600. Spaces will be limited so please contact me to book your slot.

Ladies Results

Congratulations to Gwynneth Bramwell for winning the May Ashton 18 Hole Medal with an excellent nett 67 last week. Emma Daynes was second with a nett 67 beating Gillian Brogdon on a card play off.

The back nine Stableford was won with a whopping tally of 23 points by Sally Wright. Sue Fallows was second with 17.

Chris Marsh and Diana Hogben recorded birdies on the day.

Medal 5

Neil Roberts played magnificently on Saturday to record a superb gross 75 for a nett 61 on Saturday. Mark Haywood and Tom Cressey must have both thought they’d done enough to win coming in with nett 64s but ended up being three shots off the pace. Mark finished second and Tom third. Tom did however have the consolation of shooting the lowest gross of the day with a four over par 74.

It was a good day for twos with fifteen players recording a birdie on a par three.

Overseas Golf

Thanks to Michelle Rea for keeping us posted of golfing excellence abroad by our members!

She explained that Mandy & Paul Gilbert and she & Craig played in the President’s Cup on The Faldo course at Amendoeira golf resort in Portugal ten days or so ago.

Craig finished in second place and also won Nearest the Pin. Mandy won the “Best Ladie” which is Portuguese for Best Lady!!

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