Author: Richard Booth

There are still spaces in Thursday’s nine hole team comp this Thursday (the format is best 2 from 3). Remember it’s open to ladies and gents.

There are two more comps open to ladies and gents coming up as well. On Sat 14 December, there is a step a side three player team Texas Scramble and on Thu 19th December, there is an individual stableford.

Group Lesson

There is one space available for a four person group lesson on Mon 2/12/24 from 2-3pm. The topic is winter golf (thanks to Ian Powell for the idea). It’s open to ladies or gents. We’ll look at playing from the wet rough, using mats and some relevant rules. The price is £25. Please let me know if you’d like to enrol.

Ladies Annual Dinner

The Annual Ladies Dinner took place last Wednesday. It was superbly organised by lady captain Gill Kay and Min Fishwick . They’d kept the surprise Singing Waiters a secret until the night! The “Italian “ Tenor Marco ( from Bolton!) and his amazing Soprano are pictured below with LC

We also have some photos of the winners that were awarded prizes (full details below the photos). Looks like everyone had a great time – thanks to Jan Ravenscroft and Tracey Thompson for the photographic eveidence!

NAME	COMPETITION
Kairen Seaton	Crysta Golf ball (most reduced handicap – below 36)
Jane Nicholson	Secretary’s Prize (most reduced handicap – above 36)
Pauline Keeling	Joyce Fisher Plate (most improved senior player)
Gill Kay	Bunty Booth candlesticks (best 4 medal rounds during 2024)
Tiff Fielden	Birdie Tree
Mandy Gilbert & Chris Marsh	Joint second in Birdies
Tiff Fielden	Eclectic (gross)
Caroline Perkin	Eclectic (nett)
Gillian Brogdon	Eclectic (9 holes)

Bradley 3

Peter Wolfenden won with an excellent 21 points on Wed 20th November and Bob Siddle was second with 17 points. Philip Long finished third losing out to Bob on a card play off. There were two twos recorded and they were recorded by Chris Adams and Bob Siddle.

Poppy Appeal

We raised £640 for the Poppy Appeal and here’s the thank you note from the RBL. Well done to everyone who helped achieve this.

Furthermore here are the photos of the winners from the Poppy Appeal competition. I received them after my last newsletter went out so well done again to Kate Morris for winning and Andrew Fishwck for finishing as runner up.

Please forward this email onto anyone who you think might be interested in signing up for my newsletter. If they are, they can sign up by clicking here.

Also if you’d like me to update your email address, please just hit reply!

Bogey 3

Congrats to Richard Duerr for winning Bogey 3 with a score of three up. Jack Wilcox was second having been beaten on a card play off and Guy Levers finished two up.

Poppy Appeal 9 Hole Stableford

This 9 hole event was played over two dates (Sat 9th Nov and Thu 16th Nov) and was again a vehicle to earn money for this very worthy cause. Well done Kate Morris for winning with 22 points, Andrew Fishwick was two back to finish second and Bernie Wilcox was third fllowing a card play off.

Three Clubs & a Putter

Chris Ravenscroft, Tarik Rashid, Joanne Bryant & Jo Egerton all scored 16 points On Wednesday but following the card play off, Chris was the winner Tarik the runner up and Joanne B finished third. Tarik also won the Nearest the Pin on the 2nd hole and gets another £8 of credit for that.

The feedback I received following this competition was posiive with players sayingt hat they enjoyed the format.

Impact

I was watching the golf on Sunday and saw this shot played by Rory on the 5th hole en route to another great win for the northern Irishman. As you can see in the first video, he played a great short iron approach shot. The second video shows a close up of impact. I thought it would be great to share with you all and so I paused the TV and wound it back to be able to record it on my phone.

Notice how his iron hits the ball and then the turf, taking a long shallow-ish divot. When you hit from the grass, how often do you take a divot similar to that? Now we’re using mats you can still get the sense of “scuffing” the mat post impact.

If you’ve not been doing this and start, your ball striking will sky rocket…. and before long, you too will be playing a 3/4 wedge from 135 yards out!!!

It’s a bit of a results round up this week. Oh and don’t forget to grab you Pro Shop Christmas draw tickets! Please enjoy the read!

Ladies “Sparkly Ball” Team Competition

Well done to Jan Ravenscroft, Jo Egerton & Sue Martin for winning Thursday’s team comp with 45 points. Gill Kay, Sally Blackburn & Kate Morris were one point behind in second place. Third place went to Gillian Brogdon, Min Fishwick & Pauline Keeling with 38 points.

Senior’s Texas Scramble

In Wednesday’s senior’s Texas Scramble, first place with an excellent 25 points (2 under gross) went to Craig Rea, Ian Goulty and Roger Dawson-Smith. In second were Bob Siddle, Chris Wood and Chris Adams with 24 points. On epoint adrift and in third place were Bill Dixon, Graham Bryant and Steve Bates.

Mens Team Betterball Reverse Waltz

Congrats go to Guy Levers, Brian Greenbank & David Rodwell for scoring 79 stableford points in Saturday’s team competition. The runners up with 75 points were Bob Siddle, Chris Ravenscroft & Alan Bradley. Third spot went to David Wainwright, Dave McGlennon & James Munnery with 71 points.

Ladies & Gents F9 Stableford

Barbara Spark won a three way card play on 21 points to win Friday’s stableford that was open to ladies and gents. Runner up was Ian Pinnington and third place went to Sally Wright.

Just a reminder that there are four more fun nine hole stablefords scheduled in the run up to Christmas that we’d love you to enter. Again they are open to ladies and gents.

The men will play from the yellow tees and the ladies will play from the red tees. They go live for booking 13 days before the date of the competition.

The upcoming dates and formats are as follows:

• Wed 13th Nov – three clubs and a putter (front 9)
• Thu 28th Nov – best two from 4 team competition (back 9)
• Sat 14th Dec – step-a-side Texas Scramble, teams of three (front 9)
• Thu 19th Dec – individual (back 9)

Seniors Bradley 2

The clear winner of last week’s senior’s individual stableford with an excellent 23 points was Graham Jones. Roger Mattocks was second with 20 points and Mike Wells with 19 points took third place.

Remember from the 1st November 2024, mats are compulsory in all forms of play from closely mown areas and winter wheels are mandatory for electric trolleys. This is until the end of Feb 2025, unless other communications explain anything to the contrary.

Bogey 2

Congrats to Freddie Gillan for winning Bogey 2 with a superb score of 6up. Danny Fox was runner up with 3 up & the inform Chair of Greens, Brian Greenbank, was third with 2 up. Just one two was recorded over the two days and that went to Peter Wolfenden on the second.

Lady Captain vs Lady Secretary Match

This 9 hole annual match took place on Thursday and out of the blue, it ended up being a honourable draw!! There was a good turn out as 39 ladies took part.

Knockout Winners 2024

The presentation for the 2024 club knockouts took place on Sunday. Below are the winners and photos of them at the presentation. Congrats to them all! Apologies I think the photos might be a little grainy.

Men’s Summer Matchplay Pairs	Andy Veitch & Brian Greenbank
Reid Plate	Chris Brown
Bech Cup	Noelle Morris
Gordon Murray Mixed 4somes	Rosie Gerrard & Dave Smith
Ladies 4somes	Nancy Fallows & Noelle Morris
Charlton Cup	Sally Blackburn
Owen Memorial	Freddie Gillan
Men’s Scratch Knockout	Brian Greenbank

Photo

Some autumn colours spotted by Jane Perks the other day from the dining room.

Welcome to this week’s missive!

Captains Elect

The nominations for Club Captains for 2025/26 were announced on Thursday evening in the Clubhouse and the Lady and Gentleman Captains-Nominate are Vicky Chamberlain and Glyn Isaac respectively. Vicky and Glyn have been long-standing members and both have previously served the Club and the membership through roles on Council.

Ollie Mills was also nominated for the position of Junior Captain. These nominations will be put to members at the Annual General Meeting in March 2025.

Nine Hole Comps open to Ladies & Gents

We have just set up five nine hole comps open to ladies and gents in the run up to Christmas as follows:

• Fri 1 Nov – F9 singles stableford
• Wed 13 Nov – F9 three clubs & a putter stableford
• Thu 28 Nov – B9 best two from three team stableford
• Sat 14 Dec – F9 step-a-side three person texas scramble (stableford)
• Thu 19 Dec – B9 singles stableford

As you can see we’re trying a few different formats and remaining conscious of keeping play moving. The singles comps will count (course conditions permitting) for handicap and the other three won’t. We plan to run a nearest the pin on each par threes as opposed to an order of Merit this time around.

The event on Fri 1st Nov is available to book into now on Club V1. All the others will open for booking aprrox two weeks before they are scheduled to take place.

Ladies 18 & 9 hole Stablefords from Yesterday

Well done to Noelle Morris for winning the 18 hole stableford with 35 points. Helen Davies was just point behind to finish as the runner up.

Mandy Gilbert shot an excellent 22 points to win the 9 hole stableford. Gail Sampson was second with 21 points and Corinne Veitch third with 15 points.

Morning Moon

Thnks to Vicki Wells for sharing this from one of her early morning dog walks.

Unfortunately yesterday’s ladies comp was cancelled due to the constant rain on Wednesday.

Nine Hole Stablefords

We’re running some more nine hole competitions open to men and ladies. The dates before Christmas are as follows:

Fri 1st Nov
Wed 13 Nov
Thu 28 Nov
Sat 14 Dec
Thu 19 Dec

The first one is going to be a singles stableford and is open to bookings on Club V1 now. I will create the others shortly and keep you posted. We’ll be running some different formats as well to keep it interesting and fun such as a pairs betterball, a step-a-side 3 player Texas Scramble and a three clubs and a putter comp.

This time there won’t be an Order of Merit this time but there will be prizes for the Nearest the Pin on both short holes in each competition. We hope you are available to take part.

Bogey 1

There was a three way tie at the top on one up for last weekend’s Bogey 1 and following the card play off Marcus Davies was the winner. Jim Nicholson was second and Ade Kershaw third. Three players then finished on even and they were Mike Thompson, Neil Thompson and John Stevenson. The presentations were made last night at TNC. It was clearly tricky playing conditions as no twos were recorded on either day.

Lady Captain’s Charity 9 Hole Stableford

There’s was a good turn out for this competition last Thursday (the 10th Oct) and all for a good cause. Mandy Gilbert was the winner with 20 points beating Sally Wright on a card play off. Kate McKenna was third with 19 points and Min Fishwick was fourth, also with 19 points.

The new online booking procedure which was implemented from the 1st October for bringing guests seems to working well so far. The three paragraphs below provide a reminder and potentially some new information.

Please note that your HGC Clubcard account is NOT automatically debited for Guest bookings. Your booking will only be confirmed when you enter the names of all of your guests and pay the requisite green fee by credit or debit card.

If you subsequently need to cancel or move your tee-time(s), please contact the Professional who will be able to assist. If you cancel your own booking we will not be able to refund your card directly and may credit your club card account instead.

Anyone wishing to play 18 holes must make separate bookings for the front and back 9 holes allowing the appropriate time to complete the first 9.

Men’s Texas Scramble

Saturday’s new members Texas Scramble was played in lovely conditions and the scoring was excellent. The winners with a nett 54 (16 under par!) were Chris Hinton, Neil Thompson, Phil Hickson & Andy Gregory. In case you couldn’t tell the winning prizes were Hale GC crested beanies!

Second spot and only one shot adrift went to the gentleman captain Ben Fallows, Jonny Grant, Rob Goodall & Bill Dixon.

Ladies Competitions

Congrats to Rachel McDowell for winning the recent 18 hole stableford competition with 36 points. Jan Ravenscroft was second with 35 points and Sally Budd third with 33 points.

In the front nine hole stableford, Min Fishwick was the winner with 19 points. Jane Wilkinson finished second with 17 points beating Vicki Wells on countback.

Ferrets on Tour

The Ferrets have also been golfing overseas recently and they were in Palma, Majorca. Congrats to the winner of their competition, John Webb who had two rounds of 36 points.

As Mike Thompson remarked this was a wonderful result, particularly remembering John was seriously ill and only walking with a frame not so very long ago. Inspiration for us all. Jim Nicholson was the runner up.

Wow, what a rainy day Monday was – as the photos below from the course, car park and my drive hole demonstrate!

Preferred lines are now in operation with immediate effect.

Ladies Away Trip

Thanks to Jan Ravenscroft for sending in the photos below and the write up of the recent ladies overnight trip to Carden Park.

The whole event was very slickly organised by Mandy Gilbert and Tracey Thompson and was a lot of fun. The winners of the team golf competition were LC’s team Janet Grant,Sally Blackburn and Sue Wright. In second place were Tracey Thompson, Gail Sampson, Noelle Morris and Sue Broadbent. Nearest the Line was Louise Gerald and Nearest the Pin was won by Sally Budd.

Ladies Autumn Meeting

This event was played last Thursday morning and then followed by lunch. It was a Texas Scramble with a shotgun start. The winners were Sally Blackburn, Sue Fallows and Judith Guest. The runners up were Judy Pinnington, Amanda Greaves and Jo Bates.

Out of Bounders on Tour

19 of our members went to sunnier climes over the weekend as part of the Out of Bounders tour to Praia D’el Rey in Portugal. The photos show them having a great time and the fabulous backdrop of one of the courses!

If you couldn’t tell, the Orange team won the encounter and Chris Hinton won the individual prize.

What a shame that Finals Day was rained off on Sunday. Matches are now due to be completed by the 27th October and there will be a presentation on that afternoon. Good luck to all the finalists!

Medal Final – Captains Cup 2024

Well done to Paul Simpson for battling round in level par nett to win the Medal Final on Saturday. Paul Taylor finished as runner up beating Andrew Hay on a card play off.

Liam Murphy won the Bentley and can be seen receiving the trophy below.

St Andrews Trip 2025

The initial response has ben really good from this with eight men and ladies signing up so far. In addition, there are a few maybes. Please see the info below in case you missed it last week and contact me to secure your place.

Junior Comp

Saturday’s individual front nine stableford comp was won by Ollie Grieves with 20 stableford points. Ollie Lynch was one point adrift to finish as runner up. Mathhew hodder scored 17 points and Louis Wild 16. Five other juniors submitted scorecards for their handicap hich was great to see.

Ladies Competitions

Congrats to Rachel McDowell for winning last Thursday’s 18 hole Medal Final with a nett 69. Runner up was Irene Kirk with a nett 71 and Mandy Gilbert was third with a nett 72.

Jane Nicholson wpn the nine hole max score medal with a nett 32. Super consistent Helen Williams was second with a nett 34 and Pauline Keeling was third with a nett 35.

Ping Demo Day

Don’t forget the upcoming fitting day on Mon 21st Oct with master fitter Alex from Ping. Spaces are limited so contact me to book yours

Distances on the Practice Ground

I have remeasured the disatnces of the 7 flags on the range and they are shown below. They are also on a little sign near the mats and also on the hut on the other side of the road (as shown in the photos below). Hope this information helps you hone your distances!

Another busy missive this week with lots of HGC results, news of a Ping demo day, a round up of some great photos and news of a trip to St Andrews. Let’s get started….

St Andrews 2025

I’ve not run a golf trip since Covid and I’ve been super keen to get cracking again! I wanted to run something that was a bit different and really exciting which is where this potential trip comes in. I say potential as nothing has been reserved as yet so initially I am just guaging interest. That said, the information contained on the above poster is the trip that I’d really like to run with.

So we’re looking at March of next year and the package includes two nights accomodation (in either the Ardgowan or Albany Hotels, both of which are situated on the main street of St. Andrews and only a few hundred yards from the 18^th Green on the Old Course!!) and three rounds of golf. I am looking for three fourballs so myself and 11 others who want to experience some great golf courses and have lots of fun while we’re at it!

Here are the links to the different golf course websites: Eden, Elie Links and Ladybank.

Please let me know as soon as you possible if you are interested. Let’s make it happen!

Medal 8

Congrats to chair of greens Brian Greenbank for winning Medal with a great score of 74 gross, nett 66. Neil Roberts was 2 strokes back in second place and James Lynott finished third. James’ brother Sam also had a great day out recording a hole in one the short 4th.

Ping Demo Day

Ping are visiting on Mon 21/10/24 with fitting appointments between 1100 and 1500. Please contact me if you’d like to reserve a place. There are 6 appointments available so don’t delay!

Ladies Comps

The 18 hole competition on the 12th September was won by Sally Blackburn and Chris Marsh finished second. Kerry Bailey won the front nine stableford with an excellent 23 points. Maria Deane was runner up with 21 points.

Helen Davies also picked up her trophy for winning the stableford final.

Seniors Golf, AGM & Lunch

On the 4th Sept, Lee Bramley won the 9 hole seniors final with 20 points. Bob Siddle was second with 18 points and Tony Adamson was third following a countback.

The following comps were all played on the 11th September. The Tuttle is a nine hole for those over 74 years young. John Moss won it with 18 points, Bill Wrigley was second with 17 points and Roger Fielding third with 16 points.

The Timpson  (which again is for golfers older than 74) was played over 15 holes this time and Tarik Rashid was the winner with 26pts. Barry Jefferies was beaten into second spot following a card play off and Martin Oldfield finished third with 25 points.

The Morren is for the “rookies” (those under 75) and was won by Adam Hyde with 35 points which is great scoring over 15 holes. Second place went to Chris Ravenscroft with 32 points and Ian Hunt was third with 27 points. Photos of the winners can be seen below.

Photo Round Up

Congrats to Trina Walsh, seen her celebrating a significant birthday – you’ll need to ask her as to which one!!

Secondly, it would seem Al Kenney didn’t get the memo about casual TNC!

Thanks to Ian Hunt for sending in the beautiful rainbow pic, taken during the men’s 9 hole league match last week.

Finally here’s Helen Williams who won the 18 hole medal on the 5th September with a fantastic nett 65 – I somehow manged to miss off her photo from last week’s newsletter so my apologies Helen!