Author: Richard Booth

If you’re looking for a truly flexible gift for a golfing loved one for Christmas, how about a Pro Shop gift voucher? You can stipulate it as lessons or goods or just select an amount (of any size, large or small) and let the recipient decide what to spend it on. 

Please remember in my small shop I can’t carry all brands but invariably can get hold of whatever golf equipment you want at competitive prices. So please just give me a try as I am always super appreciative of your custom. 

Saturday’s nine hole stableford was won by gentleman captain Chris Wood with 19 points. Andrew Hay and Jez Allen we’re tied second, just one point off the pace. 

The ladies three clubs and a putter Nine hole competition was well attended last Thursday with 33 ladies taking part. Nancy Fallows took pole position with an excellent 20 stableford points. Corinne Veitch was second with 16 points. 

Wendy Jenkins tells me that the Christmas fair last week was great fun and well attended. Below is a picture of Jan Ravenscroft and Helen Davies who were running the ever popular Tombola stall.

I am running a Callaway golf club sale at fantastic prices. The following seven clubs have at least 30% off – but hurry the offer is only running until the end of this month. 

• Callaway men’s Rogue draw driver 10.5 degree (adjustable loft), regular was £349 now £244
• Callaway Rogue 3 wood reg shaft was £219 now £153
• Callaway ladies X series driver was £159 now £111
• Callaway ladies X series 5 wood was £109, now £76
• Callaway ladies X series 5 hybrid was £89, now £62
• Callaway men’s Epic Flash 10.5 degree (adjustable loft & head weight), light or regular shaft was £449 now £299
• Callaway men’s Epic Flash 9 degree (adjustable & head weight), regular or stiff shaft was £449 now £299

Winter wheels are now available in store to enable your electric trolley to cause less damage to our wet golf course following the heavy rains in September and October. There are various options and they can also be applied to your push/pull trolley if you wish. 

Andrew Hay won Bogey 3 which is played over 15 holes on Saturday with a superb score of six up. Second place on a card play off went to Ian Ponter with two up.

Congratulations to all eight of the ladies who braved the course on Thursday for the 9 hole String competition. Vicky Chamberlain finished as the winner with 29 stableford points. Corinne Veitch and Min Fishwick were joint second with 17 points. 

The ladies dinner took place last Wednesday and it was followed by several presentations as follows:

• Louise Gerald was the winner of two silver candlesticks for returning the best four medal scorecards over the season without winning a major competition.
• The winner of the most improved player over the age of…..well you might just need to ask… was Diana Hogben who reduced her handicap from 19.6 to 18.2.
• The most improved player overall was Mandy Gilbert, who reduced her handicap from 17.4 to 15.7.
• Tiff’s Fielden picked up two prizes: one for the most birdies over the season (22) and the other was the eclectic prize, both in the lower handicap category.
• Min Fishwick recorded the most birdies over the season (3) in the higher handicap category.
• Caroline Perkin won the higher handicap division eclectic.
• Sally Wright won the eclectic for the nine hole competitions.
• The lady secretary’s prize for the most improved player with a handicap of 35 or above went to Freda Hunt, who reduced from 35 to 33.
• And finally here’s a photo of Anne Webster and Gwynneth Bramwell receiving their prize for being the runners up in the ladies pairs knockout. 

There was also some Indian dancing taking place!

Another dinner, the Investors one also took place last week, on Friday evening. The winner was Richard Hogben and he explained that he was very pleasantly surprised by the win! Min Fishwick was the runner up. 

Our dog Buddy who is a miniature Dachshund has had a couple of trips recently to the Pro Shop. He tried out the Callaway SuperSoft golf ball and barked at me that he “likes the feel but is a little disappointed with it’s durability!!”

I’m sure I’m not the first to mention the “C” word so I’m going to take a chance! The Pro Shop Christmas Draw is now up and running. The eight prizes are in vouchers to spend in the shop and the amounts are as follows: £250, £200, £150, £100 x 3, £50 and £25.

The cost is £2 per number or you can have six for £10. Please stop by the Pro Shop to enter. Your support is very much appreciated.

On the same subject, the actual draw takes pace on Friday 20th December from 1900 and Ben has suggested that I mention it in the newsletter. It’s a nice and relaxed evening just a few days before the big day. The two course dinner followed by coffee is priced at £12 and there is a sign up sheet on the noticeboard. 

There was no competitive golf last week as the ladies string competition was rained off. Weather permitting it will take place this Thursday. There was no men’s competition scheduled although they have the 15 hole Bogey 3 competition to look forward to on Saturday.

There was however some highly competitive Bridge which took place on Friday evening. The winter Bridge event was organised by John and Jill Gower-Jones. Rosie Gerrard explained that “Janet Grant and Jonny Yates won the slam prize with six no trumps. Jonny Yates was perhaps an unlikely winner as  it was only his second game since leaving school!”

On Sunday, we ran the end of season junior awards match and presentation dinner. Forty players took part and then a total of 58 stayed for dinner which was a fabulous turn out. 

The winners of the teams of four competition were Tom & Janet Grant and Erin & Guy Withey with 25 points. Ella Smith and Alice Rodwell we’re joint winners of the Endeavour Award, Jake Leslie won the Best Newcomer and Charlie Hindle won the Player of the Year award. Notable mentions go to Dan Turkington and Alex Mills as well because the three boys secured their CONGU handicaps in the last 12 months and have been competing in some of the men’s competitions. 

Thanks to Peter Hindle, Janet Grant and Anne Webster for all their help in running the junior section. Thanks also go to the lady captain Caroline Massey for coming along to support the event.

Congratulations to Gill Kay, Corinne Veitch and Tracey Thompson for winning the team Ghoulash competition with 54 points. Jan Ravenscroft, Emma Daynes and Helen Allott finished in second place. Clare Withey won the nine hole stableford with 16 points.

Chris Adams won the second nine hole winter stableford of this winter’s campaign on Friday with 18 points beating Martin Oldfield into second place on account of a card play off.

I spoke last week to John Moorhouse, who up until recently was a member of Hale Golf Club, about how he and three others are aiming to set a new world record as the oldest team of four to row across an ocean.They call themselves the Ancient Mariners. On the 12th December the set off as part of the annual Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge from La Gomera in the Canary Islands on a 3,000 mile journey to Antigua in the Caribbean. They will be rowing round-the-clock on a relentless two hours on, two hours off shift which will take about fifty days to complete, subject to the weather which can range from almighty Atlantic gales to flat calm.

They are very grateful for the generous sponsorship from Hitachi UK, Ricoh, Aviva, Marsh and TransRe. A combination of this support and some personal input means that the boat is fully paid for. this allows them them to concentrate on campaigning for their two chosen charities – the Open Arms orphanage in Malawi where John used to live and Blind Veterans UK.

Please check out their website www.ancientmariners.net to learn about the venture and follow the links on the charity page to the JustGiving website. In early December John will put information on the site for those who would like to follow their progress across the pond. Any charitable donations made would be hugely appreciated.. 

Here’s a photo sent in by Roger Sheen of Danny plating up the wonderful main course of lamb shank that was served to the members during the dinner to the gentleman captain last week. Looks so good that it’s making me feel hungry…..

There was no missive from me last week as I was away with the family in Mallorca. We had a lovely break although the weather was quite mixed – we had our fair share of storms and heavy rain. However there was chance for my girls, Sophie & Charlotte, to have their first go at surfing. They both managed to stand up which I thought was pretty impressive!

I’m starting the process of changing how I circulate my weekly newsletter and how it looks so look out for more news on that in the following weeks. In the interim, should you wish to book a lesson with me online please follow the link below:

https://richardboothgolf.setmore.com/

Corinne Veitch was the winner of last Thursday’s 15 hole stableford competition with 31 points. Freda hunt was one point behind in second place. Emma Daynes was the winner of the nine hole stableford with 14 points. Nicola Kitching had the same score but was beaten into second place on account of a card play off.

The previous Thursday was the big grudge match (only kidding!) between the Lady Captain’s team and the Lady Secretary’s team. Below is a fun photo of lady captain Caroline Massey squaring up to Wendy Jenkins on the 1st tee. In the end the Lady Captain’s team pipped the Lady Secretary’s team by one match. Despite that, Wendy was quick to say what a good day it had been. Plus every lady playing received a small prize.

The men’s nine hole stableford on Saturday suffered because of the horrendous rain on Friday afternoon and Saturday morning, which meant it had to be played on nine temporary greens. In the end just three hardy golfers went out. Bill Wrigley shot a very creditable 19 points to finish on top of the pack. 

On Thursday evening, the nominated captains for 2020 were announced to be Jonny Yates and Irene Kirk. I think I can speak on behalf of all of us and say that they are a very popular choice and we wish them all the best for their year at the helm!

Earlier on in the day, Michele Rea won the 18 hole stableford with 33 points. Min Fishwick was second, three pints adrift. Sally Wright won the nine hole event with 14 points. So well played Michelle and Sally.  

Jan Ravenscroft also won a prize…. but not on this occasion for her golf! It was for the best photo in Lady Captain’s charity calendar. If you’ve not seen it, you’ll need to buy a copy of the calendar to help the cause!

The Social Committee with the help of Tiff Fielden have produced a handy flyer which can be collected from the bar or noticeboard in the hall. The below photo is of the front cover so you know what you’re looking for. It details the Club’s Social Events up to and over the Christmas period and New Year’s Eve. Please help yourself and keep up to date with all the wonderful forthcoming functions.

On Saturday, the gentleman Captain ran a putting competition for a bit of fun for members who aren’t able to get out on the course so much these days – that said it didn’t stop Jonny Yates and Jonny Gray taking part!! The winner of the nearest the pin which was a 55 foot long putt was John Hughes who’s ball finished just 12 inches from the hole – using a putter he bought from yours truly…… just saying!! Jonny Yates and Brian Twiss were the winners of the nine hole prizes. Predictably John Bacon and Jim Mossop were first out and first back to the bar!

I’m looking forward to going on holiday for five nights over half term. As things are quietening down, the shop will be operating under reduced hours and Phil will be at the helm as follows:

Monday 21 October	0930 – 1330
Tuesday 22 October	0930 – 1330
Wednesday 23 October	0930 – 1330
Thursday 24 October	0830 – 1400
Friday 25 October	0930 – 1330

And to finish with, I found this message to golfers whilst on my travels on the internet and liked it so hope you do too!