Author: Richard Booth

This year’s overseas Ryder Cup match between ourselves and Knutsford GC in the Algarve was fantastic for so many reasons. The weather was probably the best we’ve ever had and the courses were stunning with my favourite still being Quinta South. Everyone who went was fantastic company, great fun and played all the matches in the right spirit. Thank you so much for making the decision to come along.

Now onto the result….. Knutsford won this encounter by the closest of margins – after 3 days play and 63 matches, the overall score finished at 42.5 points to 41.5 points. So we were all hugely disappointed but we put up a good defence. The overall score now is four all so it will be all to play for again next year. We’ll re-group and bounce back stronger.

• 

• 

• 

• 

The stand out performer from our team was Matt Nelstrop who won 7.5 points out of eight and so was was unbeaten over the course of the week. Well played indeed sir!

We had two rookies playing, Quentin Smith and David Rodwell, and they did a great job too. Most notably Quentin who beat the Knutsford Pro Tim Maxwell on the second day – giving Q thirteen shots over nine holes from the forward tees with the distance he hits the ball would be a brutal task for anyone!

Results Round Up

Congratulations go to Roger Flint for winning Saturday’s 15 hole Winter Stableford with 34 points. Peter Veitch scored 32 points and nudged Mike Massey into third after a card play off.

Gill Kay played very nicely to score 20 points and win Thursday’s nine hole stableford. Emma Daynes was in second place with 18 points.

In the seniors fourth nine hole stableford of the winter campaign on Friday, Alan Kemp topped the leader board with 18 points. David Swale scored the same number of points but was beaten into second place via a card play off.

Distance Debate

This has been in the golfing news this week so click here to read up on this very interesting report which featured on the BBC’s website.

Competition Results

There was some very good scoring this week in both the Men’s and Ladies’ nine hole stableford competitions.

Bill Dixon won on Saturday with 21 points. Roger Sheen was just one point adrift in second place. Bill Dixon and Ian Macklin scored twos and so shared the “twos pot”.

Mandy Gilbert used her new Ping irons once again to great effect to score a whopping 22 points on Thursday. Noelle Morris was second with 21 points and Vicki Wells third with 20 points.

Ping Demo Golf Clubs

I have recently taken delivery of some more ladies’ Ping G Le 2 demo clubs. I now have a driver, fairway, hybrid and seven iron for you to try FOC if you are in the market for some new clubs. Book a no obligation club fitting in the simulator to see how your current clubs compare against Ping’s latest technology.

Remember also that I still have several men’s Ping G410 demos available to try and the same rules apply with regards to no obligation fittings in the simulator.

Please waste no time and contact me to book your slot.

Viva Portugal!

• 

• 

On Thursday thirteen Hale gentlemen members and myself fly to the Algarve for our eight consecutive overseas Ryder Cup style match against Knutsford GC.

It will be played over three days of competition commencing on Friday. It’s sure to be great fun but Knutsford will be hungry to make amends after our victory last year made the overall score 4:3 in our favour.

I’ll be putting updates on Twitter so if you’d like to follow our progress, please follow me @rboothgolf

Competition Result

Congratulations to Caroline Perkin for winning Thursday’s nine hole stableford with 19 points. Sally Wright also scored 19 points but was beaten into second place via a card play off.

Ladies Beginner Group Coaching

The ladies beginner group coaching sessions start again here at Hale GC in March. There will be a FREE one hour taster session for anyone that is interested at 1330 on Monday 16th March. There will then be a course of six one hour lessons available for ladies that are interested following on from that. The cost will be £59.
Should you know of anyone that might be interested, please ask them to contact me so that I can pass on more details.

Working with the Yips

On Wednesday I have chosen to travel to the Belfry as part of my CPD (Continuous Professional Development) with the PGA. I have enrolled onto a course called “Working with the Yips”. As most golfers know, this is a fascinating yet very debilitating issue that effects many players of all abilities. I am hoping this course will further my insight into the problem. Please pop in for a chat if you feel this might be something I can help you with.

Competition Results

Congratulations to Phil Long for winning Bogey 4 on Saturday with a fine score of 4 up. The competition was played over 15 holes. Bill Dixon was second with two up.

Well done also to Tracey Thompson for putting her new Ping golf clubs to excellent use and winning Thursday’s nine hole stableford with 19 points. Mandy Gilbert was two points behind in second place.

Play with the Pro

Until the end of February, I am running an offer where you can play a few holes with the Pro (aka me!) for 30 minutes in the simulator for just £10. If you’ve not already had a go, you’ll be able to get to understand how it works and what it can offer. Plus I can offer you a couple of tips if/when appropriate. Please contact me to arrange a booking.

Dry January?

It appears Chris Brown’s New Year’s resolution for a dry January has hit a wall…

Happy New year to you all. Hope you had a great time and that you’re coping with getting back to the usual post holiday routine.

It’s been a bit quiet of late on the golf front here at HGC. However competitions start back this week with a ladies 9 hole stableford on Thursday and the men’s Bogey 4 on Saturday. Results will of course be included in next week’s newsletter.

Dates for 2020

Pro-Am
This year’s Pro Am is taking place on Saturday 11th July 2020. If you would like to enter a team or just find out more, then contact me. Please remember this event is for men and ladies of all abilities.

Ladies beginner Groups
We will be running more ladies “Get into Golf” group coaching sessions from March onwards. If you know any friend or family member that might be interested, please ask them to get in touch with me.

Juniors
Also in March, the junior programme will be kicking off again. This year. we’re looking at getting the children onto the golf course more and using the forward tees. This will take place on Monday afternoons.

We have also signed up for an initiative called Golf Access (click here to visit their website and discover more). This scheme will also work well for new adult golfers.

Please get in touch if you’d like to know more.

Just a brief missive this week to say that I hope you’ve all had a fabulous Christmas and to wish you everyone the best of luck for 2020!

Men’s 9 Hole Stableford

Congratulations to gentleman captain Chris Wood for winning Saturday’s nine hole stableford with 20 points. Ian Hunt finished second following a card play off with John Kennedy on 15 points.

Over the festive period, the shop opening hours will be as follows:

Tues 24th December 2019	0900 – 1300
Wed 25th	Closed
Thu 26th	Closed
Fri 27th	0900 – 1300
Sat 28th	0900 – 1300
Sun 29th	Closed
Mon 30th	0900 – 1300
Tues 31st	0900 – 1300
Wed 1st January 2020	Closed
Thu 2nd	Normal hours resume

Christmas Draw Winners

Well done to Janet Grant for scooping the first prize on Friday evening in the Pro Shop Christmas Draw. The other winners are listed below.
Thanks to everyone who generously supported the draw and made it a great success.

Position	Prize	Name
1	£250 Pro Shop Voucher	Janet Grant
2	£200 Pro Shop Voucher	Chris Adams
3	£150 Pro Shop Voucher	Margaret Sharp
4	£100 Pro Shop Voucher	Alan Cannell
5	£100 Pro Shop Voucher	Jim Mossop
6	£100 Pro Shop Voucher	John Moss
7	£50 Pro Shop Voucher	Lee Bramley
8	£25 Pro Shop Voucher	Paul Simpson

New Winter Rule

Due to the very wet course conditions, the Greens Committee has introduced a new winter rule with immediate effect as follows:

If you are in a bunker you may without penalty mark your ball, lift and clean it, rake the bunker and place (not drop) the ball as near as possible to the position from which it was lifted. Please re-rake the bunker after playing your shot and moving on.

Ladies Christmas Lunch

The ladies played a nine hole shot gun start team event on Wednesday to get them ready for their Christmas lunch. There were plenty of festive costumes to be seen on the golf course. Plus Diana Hogben kindly provided some some delicious treats for all of the competitors on the 8th tee.

• 

• 

The winners of the team competition were Nancy Fallows, Clare Withey, Nicola Kitching and Janet Grant. Judy Sutherland won the 9 hole putting competition and Penny Hughes won the closest to the hole of the long putt competition. Jane Perks was delighted to win the Christmas hamper. The final photo was taken during the hard fought putting competition.

• 

• 

Family Christmas Lunch

• 

• 

Sunday saw the club run the ever popular family Christmas lunch. Well done to Keith and Tracey Thompson for stepping up and making a fantastic team of Father Christmas and his Elf.

• 

• 

• 

And finally….

There was a popular request for me to include this photo of one of our ex gentleman captains taking a cheeky power nap in the gents locker room following the FNC Christmas lunch on Wednesday. So purely for journalistic integrity, I felt obliged to do so.

• 

So it just remains to say thanks for all the support you have shown Phil and I in the Pro Shop over the last 12 months and we both send our best wishes to you and your families this Christmas. We hope you have a wonderful time and that 2020 proves to be a great year for us all.

Help!

I’m looking for an adult volunteer who hasn’t played golf ball before but would like to start. I’m offering four free golf lessons as I’d like to try a slightly different approach to coaching a newbie. Plus it’s likely to be predominantly indoors so there’s no need for them to worry about the weather!
So if you know anyone that would be interested, please ask them to contact me and we can have a chat to see if they are the right candidate.

Results

Well done to all four ladies that braved the grim weather conditions on Thursday to take part in the re-arranged Turkey Trot. Nancy Fallows won with 13 stableford points beating Louise Gerald on a card play off.

Reminder

The Pro’s Christmas draw takes place from 1900 in the clubhouse on Friday evening so you are running out of time to get your spaces from the shop and / or sign up for the meal that is being served afterwards.

Competition Results
Thursday’s Yellowball team stableford competition over 9 holes was won by Min Fishwick, Kathleen McNairney and Judy Pinnington with 66 points. In second place were lady captain Caroline Massey, Jill Gower-Jones and Emma Daynes. They scored 59 points. In all, 29 ladies played.

Well done to club secretary Andrew Fishwick for winning Friday’s third Senior’s nine hole stableford of the winter campaign with 19 points. Ken Hawes also scored 19 points but was beaten into second place on a card play off.

Winter Party
On Friday, there was the club’s Winter Party which had an Oscar’s theme. As usual the decorations were fantastic. Many thanks go to Sandra Mossop, Sue Bromley, Jean Green, Terri Broadbent and Tracey Thompson for all their hard work in setting them up beforehand.

• 

• 

Congratulations to David Swale and Paul Taylor for winning Saturday’s Turkey Trot with 36 points. In second place, and just one point off the winners, were Dave Smith and Roger Mattocks. The dubious pleasure of winning the booby prize, which was kindly donated and presented by Peter Hardern, went to current gentleman captain Chris Wood and future gentleman captain Jonny Yates.

Thanks to Ian Hunt for supplying the photos. The final snap below is a wide angle photo of the scene in the dining room as the winners collected their prizes.

Unfortunately the ladies Turkey Trot which was due to take place on Thursday had to be cancelled because of the poor weather. It has been re-scheduled for the 12th December.

It seems Hale Golf Club is not the only golfing body that has recently changed it’s dress code. Click here to catch up on the story on the BBC website.

A new complimentary golf magazine has been launched in Cheshire called On Par. There are some hard copies in reception or you can read the online version by clicking here. HGC and yours truly appear on page 20!

I love this photo below sent in by Gwynneth Bramwell from St Andrews. They were joined by the Reas and played a round on the Eden, the Old and the New courses. I haven’t had the pleasure of playing the Old Course as yet (it remains on my Bucket list) but Craig told me it’s quite a nerve wracking opening tee shot.