Author: Richard Booth

Centenary Trophy

Well done to Nigel Taylor for winning the Centenary Trophy last weekend with 42 stableford points. Second place went to Jim Nicholson with 41 points and Philip long was third with 39.

Jim’s round was remarkable for scoring a six for two points on the fourth hole and then a two for six points on the 5th hole!! So that got me thinking what a four under par score on a hole is called? We know one under is a birdie, two under is an eagle and three under is an albatross. So the all knowing Google tells me that it could be called a “double albatross” or a “triple eagle” but a far snappier title is to call it a condor. Suffice to say it’s an exceptionally rare bird!!

Ladies Summer Meeting

Fifteen teams of three took part in this best two from three to count nine hole competition last Thursday. The winners with a fine score of 42 points were Lynette Lodge, Caroline Massey and Vicky Chamberlain. Second place went to Gillian Brogdon, Jane Perks and Moya Malthouse with 39 points beating Pam Dixon, Terri Broadbent and Barbara Spark into third place via a card play off. The event was followed by a lunch for the players.

Seniors Summer Stableford 4

This nine hole competition took place on Friday and was won by Robert Spark with a fine 20 points. After all he’s been through this year, it seems fitting that he should win a competition so congratulations Robert! Robert Manley and Barry Jefferies shared second place just one point adrift.

Range Yardages

One or two of you asked me for the yardages on the range to the different flags so I measured them with my Bushnell laser the other day and they are as per my high tech drawing below.

Pro Shop Opening Hours

I have a couple of short breaks coming up with my family over the next fortnight so Phil will be at the helm in the Pro Shop in my absence. The shop hours might be a little reduced as a consequence. Thanks in advance for your understanding with this.

May Ashton Trophy

Congratulations to Anne Webster for winning the prestigious May Ashton Trophy last week with a fine nett score of 71. Second place went to the in form Gillian Healey with a 72 and she reduced her handicap again, this time from 27 to 26. The CSS was 73 showing that it was a tricky day for scoring.

The nine hole Stableford was won with 19 points by Nancy Fallows, well done. Lynette Lodge was second with sixteen points beating Lucy Daynes via a card play off.

Medal 6

There were fourteen nett scores in the 60s on Saturday so post lockdown golf means that you have to go low to win a men’s competition. Andrew Gething was the man on top of the leader board this week with a gross 82 and a nett 61 (nine under!) to win by only one shot! His handicap has been reduced to 18 so congratulations on all counts Andrew.

Nick Horrocks was second with a nett 62 and Ian Hunt third with a nett 63. But spare a thought for Graham Bryant who also shot shot a nett 63 but didn’t finish on the podium…. tough school! The CSS on the day was 68.

Putting Stroke Too Wristy?

The new SuperStroke Wrist Lock putter grip looks like it could be a really useful product for some golfers. Click here to watch the interesting and informative video. I have one in stock if you’d like to take a look. They retail at £29.99.

Owen Men’s Matchplay

A polite message from the Greens Committee – please play your Owen match as soon as possible. Even if you have a bye into the second round, if you know who your opponent is then please play your match as soon as you can. Thank you.

Gentleman Captain’s Prize

The forecast for Saturday’s Gents Captain’s prize was a bit gloomy in the run up but fortunately the weather played it’s part in making it a successful day.

Dan Turkington was the winner with a fine score of 44 points. He has now reduced his handicap from 24 to 18 so no more holes with two shots Dan – well done! Howard Gill who played on Friday so led for most of the competition only to be pipped at the eleventh hour was second with 42 points. Eamon Dwyer was third with 41.

The nearest the pin prizes went to Alex Mills for being the closest in two shots on the seventeenth, Eric Healey was the winner on eleven and Bob Cooke on the seventh. Well done to all the winners.

Lady Captain’s Day

Thankfully the lady captain also had a dry day for most of last Thursday for her event as 49 ladies took to the course. This was followed by a delicious and exquisitely presented lunch/afternoon tea provided by Ben and his team, courtesy of LC Irene, which proved to a great success.

The 18 hole Stableford was won with 37 points by Vicky Chamberlain. Well done Vicky. Mandy Gilbert was one point behind in second place. The CSS was 71.

Congratulations to Sue Bromley for winning the nine hole stableford with a superb tally of 22 points. This reduces her handicap from 41 to 39 which is great. Ceri Hyde was second with 19 points.

The Nearest the Pin on the 7th was won by Clare Withey. Freda Hunt was the winner of the 18 hole nearest the line competition and Ann Davies won it on for the nine holers. The ninth hole was used for this.

Special mention to both captains, Jonny and Irene for their efforts and generosity for their respective days and of course for all that they do at other times for Hale GC during the tenancy of their captaincy.

How to Calculate a Gents Nine Hole Handicap

This is required for the first few rounds of the men’s knockout competition, the Owen. It’s your exact handicap minus two and then you divided by two.

So for example if a player’s exact handicap is 19.5 (meaning his/her playing handicap would be 20), the calculation is as follows:

19.5 – 2 = 17.5
17.5 divide by 2 = 8.75
so this players nine hole handicap is 9.

Hole in One

Thanks to Paul Simpson for sending this photo of relatively new member Adrian Kershaw following his recent hole in one on the seventh. Well done Ade, always a great achievement. From the left, we have Martin Bramwell, Ade and gentleman captain Jonny Yates who according to Paul “witnessed the ball going in the hole whilst on the 8th tee so barged into the photo”.

Face Coverings

Michelle Rea has been busy making some face coverings (see below) which are available to buy for £5. The proceeds go to the lady captain’s charity Maggie’s Centre which provides free support to people with cancer and their families.
Please contact Michelle directly to buy. Her details are on the website and in the members book.

Afternoon Tea

Here’s another photo of afternoon tea at the club. A few lady members enjoyed a fabulous and tasty birthday celebration. Why don’t you treat yourself when you’re next at the club?

Medal 5

Congratulations to Angus Murray-Brown for winning Medal 5 with a fine nett score of 61. He missed out on breaking eighty gross by just one shot. Howard Gill was second with 66 and Chris Davies third with a 68. The CSS on the day was 69, one higher than the SSS.

Stableford, Granny Cup & Nine Hole Stableford

Last Thursday, Gillian Healey won the 18 hole stableford with a super score of 38 points beating Rosie Gerrard into second place via a card play off.

The Granny Cup this year goes to Tracey Thompson with 34 points. As Sally Wright pointed out in her email, she felt sure that Freddie would be very proud!

In the nine hole stableford, Freda Hunt and Mary Cockbain shared the top spot with 16 points but Freda won on a card playoff. Val Nelstrop came 3rd with 15 points.

Junior Stableford

Well done to junior captain Charlie Hindle for winning Tuesday’s nine hole stableford with a score of 20 points. This reduces his handicap to 16. Matthew Hodder and Dan Turkington shared second place with 17 points.

Face Coverings

The Pro Shop needs to adopt the government’s new regulations from Friday. Below is a quote from England Golf’s most recent update of their “A Framework for Playing Golf”.

From Friday 24 July it is mandatory for customers to wear a face
covering inside a shop. This will apply inside stand-alone professional
shops where a fine of up to £100 may be imposed on anyone breaking
this rule. There are some exemptions to wearing face coverings
including children under the age of 11 and those with certain
disabilities – please refer to government guidance.

Hitting from the Grass on the Practice Ground

We’re very lucky to have a nice flat piece of turf to hit from on the practice ground over the summer months. Please follow the advice on the image below to ensure that we get maximum use from it.

Bridgford Trophy & Moir Cup

The Bridgford Trophy and Moir Cup are 36 hole competitions for the ladies which are played over two days and took place last Monday and Thursday. Twenty five ladies took part.

Congratulations to Gillian Healey for winning the Bridgford with a combined nett score of 150 beating Michelle Rea into second place on account of a card play off. Tiff Fielden won the Moir which is a gross competition with a total of 173.

Michelle Rea was also second in the Moir and Mandy Gilbert finished in third place in both events so well played and commiserations to both of you for being so close!

Medal 4

Well done to Peter Turkington who recently turned 50 but turned back the clock to shoot a nett 63 in Saturday’s most recent medal. Peter Wolfenden was second with a 66. Dave Smith continued his excellent and very steady form to finish in third place with a gross 73 / nett 67.

The CSS on the day was 69. Plus it was another bumper day for twos with sixteen being recorded.

Seniors Stableford 2

It was a tie at the top in Friday’s second Senior’s Stableford of the post lockdown campaign. All three players scored nineteen points but David Swale emerged as the winner following the card play off leaving Martin Oldfield as runner up and David Cockbain in third place. There were then then five players with 18 points who shared fourth place.

Portugal 2021

We now have the details for next year’s “Ryder Cup” trip to Vilamoura in Portugal. It runs from the 6th – 9th February. We play a match against Knutsford GC and we’re coming into our ninth year, with the scores currently tied at four wins a piece.

The encounter is always played in a wonderful spirit and is great fun. It will involve 3 or 4 rounds of golf depending on your preference. If you would like more information, please drop into the shop for a chat or call/email me.

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Starter’s Hut

Thanks for the photo of the Starter’s Hut sent it by Bob Siddle. It’s really been transformed and looks in great shape. Well done to Ben et al for your hard work renovating it. Plus the new four wheel deluxe mesh golf trolley from Tesco by the side looks good to go 😉

We’ve just had a huge weekend of men’s golf with the Summer Meeting taking place. Over 100 players took part on day one and 96 on day two which is many more than in previous years.

There was some fabulous golf played so here is a quick run down of the winners:

Galloway Scratch Challenge Cup (36 holes scratch) – Al Makin 73/77 = 150
Arnold Challenge Cup (Day 1- 18 holes scratch for handicap 15+) – Alec Makin 82
Goulty Trophy (Day 1 – 18 holes handicap for members aged 60 and over) – Craig Rea 66
Walker Trophy (36 holes handicap) – Johnny Gray 67/70 = 137
MacCaig Trophy (18 holes scratch – either day) – Tom Cressey 75
Saturday (best net score) – Pete Turkington 65
Sunday (best net score) – Dom Aldcroft 65

Well done to the whole field for battling round in some tricky conditions and of course congratulations to the winners.

Ian Hunt did another great job organising this event. Thanks also to Paul Simpson for arranging his merry band of ball spotters who helped keep play moving along nicely.

Twos

There were a whopping 21 twos recorded on Saturday and a further twelve on Sunday. As a reminder if you record a two in a gent’s competition, you receive credit in the Pro Shop for £7. This equates to a sleeve of Hale GC crested Titleist Velocity golf balls.

Please come and collect them when you are next in the shop. Or if you prefer you can choose to get other golf balls and pay the difference or pocket the credit if they are less expensive. Alternatively you can use it for something else entirely. Whatever you decide, well done for getting that birdie on a par three 👍

Ladies Par and 9 Hole Competition

Twenty four ladies played in the 18 hole Par last week and many congratulations to Mandy Gilbert who won with all square squeezing out Sally Wright following a card playoff. Sharon Thorne was in third place with one down.

There was a little confusion (apologies for the part I played in that!) with the nine hole Par meaning some competitors played the back nine whilst others played the front nine. Despite that there were two great scores: Gillian Brogdon was two up on the back nine and Karen Stockton was two up on the front nine.

A quick mention to Sally Wright who has been working tirelessly in her new position as ladies Competition Secretary . Not only is it a new role for her but also there are lots of new systems due to Covid-19 making it a challenging position in the current climate.

Junior Section

Charlie Hindle was nominated to be Junior Captain earlier this week and we’re all delighted to say that he has accepted. He’s the first junior captain that we’ve had here at HGC for a while and Charlie will be a great ambassador for the role and the club. Congratulations Charlie and I hope your duties don’t interfere with your practice 😉

A Long Walk

Hale Golf Club’s very own Ben Wilcox and three others completed their challenge of four rounds of golf in one day a few days ago and have managed to raise over £7500 for Macmillan Cancer Support.

They were physically drained from the long day with no breaks, teeing off at 5am and finishing at 9pm. After the final round all four players couldn’t wait for a beer which was ready and waiting on the 18^th. Ben wants to thank everyone again for their kind donations. Should anyone still want to donate then please click here.

Wild Flowers by the 8th Green

Well things definitely seem to be getting back closer to normal as we have loads of competition results to report on in this week’s missive.

Centenary Trophy and Nine Hole Medal

The ladies had their first post lockdown competition on Thursday and the winner of the Centenary Trophy with a brilliant 67 was Corinne Veitch. This took place in the sweltering heat so it ended up being a bit of an endurance test. Second place with another good score of 68 was Tracey Thompson.

Well done to Rosemary Bowden who was the winner of the first ever ladies nine hole max score Medal competition with a nett 34.

Medal 3

Ted Shaw breezed round in a nett 64 to win Saturday’s Medal 3 by two strokes. Ted, real name Iain, learned to play his golf at Stand Golf Club which has produced some magnificent golfers over the years 😉

Three players finished with nett 66s. Of those Nick Horrocks finished second on countback and Quentin Smith in third.

Considering the intense squally showers, the scoring was good. The CSS was 68, scores of 70 and better qualified for September’s Medal Final and twelve twos were recorded.

Seniors Nine Hole Stableford

The winner of Friday’s Senior Summer nine hole Stableford competition was Tony Sampson with 20 points. Jim McNairney was two points adrift in second place.

Sandiford Winter Foursomes

Jez Allen and Andrew Hay beat Mike Massey and Tony Sampson 2 & 1 to win the Sandiford, which is the men’s winter foursomes knockout.

The final was originally scheduled to be played by the 28th March but due to Covid-19 restrictions, it finally took place on Sunday. Rather fittingly the weather Gods supplied challenging winter conditions with a strong, cool wind blowing across the course.

General Safety on the Golf Course

Please click here to remind yourself of the bad weather procedure and most pertinently at this time, electrical storms.

Competitions

Well Saturday saw another bumper turn out for Medal 2, including some of the field playing on the Friday in the alternate day competition. At the completion of Saturday’s play, all the scores are merged to make one overall competition.

The scoring was sensational with Charlie Hindle building on his 69 from the previous week to score a nett 58 to reduce his handicap from 24 to 17. Well played Charlie, who has been working hard on his game and supporting the competitions over the last 12 to 18 months.

Dave Smith comfortably shot the lowest gross of the day with a 71 and a nett 65 to finish in second place beating gentleman captain Jonny Yates into third place on count back. There were 9 other scores in the 60s.

There were also plenty of twos with Andrew Cowan bagging two of them. Plus there was a hole in one on the seventh for Tom Earnshaw, who is another one of our NHS heroes here at HGC. Well done indeed Tom!

Unfortunately the first ladies competition post lockdown was scheduled on Thursday but it just didn’t stop raining all day so it had to be cancelled. Fingers crossed for better weather this Thursday when the Centenary Trophy takes place.

Irrigation

Council agreed that a bore hole should be drilled beside the greenkeepers’ shed to help water the course. It will pay for itself within two years so it’s a sound investment for the club.

72 Holes in One Day

Hale Golf Club’s very own Ben Wilcox and three friends have decided to raise as much money as possible for the Macmillan Cancer Support Charity. The day will consist of four rounds of golf (72 holes), the equivalent of around 17 hours of non-stop golf. Ben and pals will start as soon as the sun comes up and finish when the sun goes down. The day will take place on the 26th June at Stockport Golf Club. Please click here and donate anything you can for this great cause.

So with each week that passes, things inch closer to returning to how they were pre pandemic. The club’s takeaway bar service has added food to it’s list of options and Medal 1 took place on Saturday for the men. The ladies start with both a nine and eighteen hole stableford on Thursday in aid of Maggie’s Charity.

There was an enormous turnout for Medal 1 with approximately 90 golfers taking part. This is certainly the biggest field for a men’s competition during my time at the club. Rob Manley won by breaking 90 gross and shooting a tremendous nett 63. Congratulations Rob – it must be all down to those new Ping clubs you recently bought 😉

Brian Greenbank finished in second place with a nett 68 beating both Howard Gill and Roger Laitt on count back. Charlie Hindle finished fifth with a 69. There were then nine nett 70s and so all of these players have qualified for the Medal Final which is scheduled for September.

A big thank you to our Chair of Greens Ian Hunt for all his hard work behind the scenes preparing online scoring, booking systems and collating scores to ensure the smooth running of this and other competitions.

Beginner Ladies Coaching Programme

We are resuming the ladies lessons from this week so if you know anyone who might be interested then please ask them to contact me asap. The ladies who have enrolled are allowed to use the club’s practice facilities so please make them feel welcome should you meet. The programme leads to an initial temporary membership and ultimately full membership (we hope) down the line.

A Belated Happy Birthday!

Peter Turkington’s 50th birthday celebration took place on the course the other week. As you can see, his friends turned up with a special outfit for him to wear during his round. Thanks to Roger Sheen for sending this photo in and as he commented “it’s great to see an NHS key worker relaxing.”

So on Monday we started back playing in threeballs as part of the lockdown easing. The beautiful weather seems to have (hopefully briefly) come to an end as a write this but we have been so lucky up to this point haven’t we? It’s been great to see the course well used over the last few weeks.

I’ve been busy coaching and the retail side of things is picking up too so thank you as always for your support. My online lesson booking system has proved really popular of late so if you’d like to book a session online, please click here.

Online Tee Times & Bringing Guests

Most people are getting the hang of the system and many have told me in the shop that they are enjoying this new booking process.

Just one important bit of admin – when you book a guest to play with you, your HGC Members Swipe Card Account is NOT automatically debited. Hence you need to let me or Phil in the Pro Shop know and we will do the honours.

If the shop is closed, please email me using richardsboothuk@gmail.com telling me the date and time that you played or are going to play and authorising me to take the guest fee from your account. If you are able to do this, it would be really helpful. Thank you.

Range Ball Amnesty

If you find any yellow range balls around our excellent practice facilities, I would appreciate you returning them to me. If you’d be kind enough to leave them by one of the mats at the back of the practice tee on the range or by the side door of the hut half way down the drive that would be great. Thanks in advance.

Putting

A little while ago I read the book “The Lost Art of Putting” by Gary Nicol and Karl Morris. I enjoyed the read . It’s a less technical look at the game within a game that is putting. At one point in the book it covers Putt Conversion Percentages from the PGA Tour from various distances. Here is some of the data:

2 feet – 99%
4 feet – 86%
8 feet – 49%
15 feet – 22%
30 feet – 7%
60 feet – 2%
90 feet – 0.5%

So the above means that 99% of all putts on the PGA Tour from 2 feet are holed – no real surprises there. However as the distances increase, the data gets more interesting. So from 8 feet the best players in the world miss more putts than they hole. How about that? From 15 feet, just over one in five putts are holed. Once the distance gets beyond 30 feet, the likelihood of them holing it becomes pretty slim.

So why am I sharing this with you? It’s not so that you stand over an eight footer and think “well the best players in the world don’t even make half of these so what chance have I got?” Rather it’s too make you more realistic. If you miss a ten foot putt for birdie or to halve the match, don’t be too hard on yourself. Based on these stats, putts of that length are plainly not easy.

The takeaway message from this is to approach every putt with the mindset that you are going to make it and give yourself the best chance of doing so…… but make sure that if the ball doesn’t drop (or wedge against the pin in these CV-19 times!) that you don’t beat yourself up. Instead move on and when you get another putt, approach it with the same open minded attitude and ask yourself “is it possible I could hole this putt?” To which the answer every single time is a resounding YES.