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Unavoidably the course is closed again today so how about some retail therapy instead? Or maybe enter the Pro Shop indoor winter league? Please read on for more info…….

Ping Drivers, Fairways & Hybrids

The new G440 range of Ping golf clubs are launching any day and I have jut received my demo equipment which consists of 3 driver heads, 4 driver shafts, 3 fairway woods, 3 fairway shafts, 3 hybrid heads, 3 hybrid shafts, 4 irons heads and 5 irons shafts which means a huge amount of custom fitting options. Please contact me book a fitting and be amongst the first to try these fantastic new clubs from Ping.

This new product launch means that I now have other clubs to sell (all right handed) at discounted prices as follows:

• G430 SFT 10.5 degree driver with regular shaft. Was £469. NOW £375
• G430 Max 10.5 degree driver with reg shaft. Was £469. NOW £375
• G430 Max 3 wood (15 degrees) with regular shaft. Was £299. NOW £239
• G430 SFT 3 wood (16 degrees) with regular shaft. Was £299. NOW £239
• G430 3 hybrid (19 degrees) with regular shaft. Was £279. NOW £223

We also have some ex demo G430 clubs available (3 drivers, 1 fairway and 1 hybrid) which will be a little cheaper still. Finally I have a used Ping G400 10.5 degree driver with a stiff shaft available at £199.

Golf Bag Sale

All golf bags that are in stock (there are 16 of them!) are 20% off until the end of Jan 2025. Be sure to hurry along to “bag” (groan….!!) the one that you want!

Pro Shop Indoor Winter League

This 9 hole betterball pairs stableford is really starting to generate some interest. Please pop in to have a go before the end of Feb. You find the format and rules by looking at my blog post from last week.

Just in – SuperStroke Putting Grips

We have had a delivery of brand new SuperStroke putter grips in a selection of sizes, shapes and colours – all priced at £35 (which includes fitting).

Photos

Thanks to Vicki Wells for these lovely snowy snaps.

The course is closed as I write this on Tuesday afternoon. However the show must go on and so I must tell you that there are still a few spaces left in Saturday’s three clubs and a putter stableford… we just need the weather to allow us to run it!

Pro Shop Indoor Winter League

Don’t forget that no matter the weather, you can all play in this event! It’s a nine hole pairs betterball stableford open to teams of two ladies, two gents or a mixed team. It’ll take no more than 60 minutes to complete.

• Powered by Trackman
• Play the stunning Lofoten Links in Norway (ranked in the world’s top 100 courses)
• Nine holes (holes 1-9)
• Open to ladies & gents
• Entry fee £4 per pair
• Last opportunity to play – 28/2/25
• The top two scores will qualify for the final, which will be played over 9 holes (matchplay).

The Small Print

1. Players can play from whichever tees they choose
2. Putting is not required and will be set up on the Trackman to “Auto – By Hcp”
3. Pairs may play their qualifying round as a twoball
4. The simulator hire charge is not included in the entry fee (except for the final, which will have a complimentary hire fee). The sim hire charges for 2+ players are £27 for 60 mins (£13.50 each if 2 players or £6.75 each if 4 players)
5. RB will match all entry fees that will go into the prize fund for the winners & runners up
6. The final must be played by 31/3/25. The team with the highest qualifying score must liaise with RB and give the second placed team 3 dates to play. If the final is not played by the 31/3/25, then we’ll have joint winners and the prize fund will go to charity.

Photos

Here are a selection of photos of the course from the last few days showing a variety of climatic conditions! The water feature on the 3rd is not permanent btw!

Happy new year to you all – hope it’s full of long, straight drives, crisp iron shots and plenty of holed putts!

NYE Frolic

Well done to Helen & Mark Williams and Kate & Antony Morris for winning this back nine step-a-side Texas Scramble event with a whopping 26 points. Runners up with 25 points were roger Sheen, Nick Maxwell, Paul Bramwell and Keith Thompson. A big thanks to ian Hunt for setting up and running the event.

Pro Shop Christmas Draw

This took place after the presentation for the NYE Frolic and congrats to one of our greenkeepers Ben Jackson for winning the main prize of £250 in Pro Shop credit. All the other winners are listed below and all the prizes have now been credited accordingly.

POSITION	AMOUNT	NUMBER	WINNER
1st	£250	383	Ben Jackson
2nd	£200	242	Jo Egerton
3rd	£150	367	Kerry Bailey
4th	£100	493	Sally Wright
5th	£75	220	Ian Ponter
6th	£60	376	Cliff Wright
7th	£50	269	Phil Long
8th	£40	226	Amanda Greaves
9th	£30	377	Rosie Gerrard
10th	£25	6	Tony Adamson

Thanks to Helen Wlliams, Kate Morris, Antony Morris, Mark Williams, Roger Shee, Paul Bramwell, Keith Thompson, Jo Egerton and Kerry Gill for for their help in drawing out the numbers. And of course thanks to so many of you for taking part and supporting the draw.

Pro Shop Indoor Winter League

• Powered by Trackman!
• Play the stunning Lofoten Links in Norway (ranked in the world’s top 100 courses)
• Pairs Betterball Stableford
• Nine holes (holes 1-9)
• Open to ladies & gents
• Entry fee £4 per pair
• Last opportunity to play – 28/2/25
• The top two scores will qualify for the final, which will be played over 9 holes (matchplay).

The Small Print

1. Players can play from whichever tees they choose
2. Putting is not required and will be set up on the Trackman to “Auto – By Hcp”
3. Pairs may play their qualifying round as a twoball
4. The simulator hire charge is not included in the entry fee (except for the final, which will have a complimentary hire fee). The sim hire charges for 2+ players are £27 for 60 mins (£13.50 each if 2 players or £6.75 each if 4 players)
5. RB will match all entry fees that will go into the prize fund for the winners & runners up
6. The final must be played by 31/3/25. The team with the highest qualifying score must liaise with RB and give the second placed team 3 dates to play. If the final is not played by the 31/3/25, then we’ll have joint winners and the prize fund will go to charity.

Don’t forget…

There are still a few spaces available for tomorrow morning’s nine hole comp. It’s an indiviidual stableford played over the back nine that is open to ladies and gents. Please sign up on Club V1 if you’d like a game.

This is my last newsletter before Christmas so I just wanted to take this opportunity to thank you all for your support this year. Many of you have purchased Christmas presents and lesson vocuchers from the shop which is much appreciated. I hope you all get to spend some time with your nearest and dearest and have a wonderful Christmas. Best wishes for 2025!

The draw for the Pro Shop Christmas Draw will take place on New Year’s Eve at lunchtime after the Frolic so if you’ve not yet entered please reply to this email or pop into the shop to get involved!

Pro Shop Christmas Opening Hours

I’m on holiday from the 21st – 28th December and return to work on the 30th December. In my absence, Phil is holding the fort with new recruit Charlie Hindle (who’s just helping out by doing a few hours when home from university) so please pop in and say hello! Unfortunately we’re unable to open on Sat 21st December.

Step-a -Side Texas Scramble

Congrats to Roger Sheen, Nigel Taylor & Mike Kirchin for winning Saturday’s stableford with 22 points. Helen Williams, Mark Williams & Sally-Anne Heaford were beaten on countback to finish as runners up. 22 points. Third place went to Jane Wilkinson, Jonny Yates & Ian Powell 21 points. There was a good turn out with 39 players taking part.

Ladies Christmas Frolic

The winners of this team shotgun start competition were Caroline Massey, Lisa Warnes, Barbara Spark & Gillian Brogdon and the runners up were Joanne Bryant, Mandy Gilbert, Lucy Leonard & Helen Williams. The best dressed went to Gail Sampson as Santa! Diana Hogben received a gift for suppling mulled wines and mince pies to all of the hardy players on the 8th tee. Wendy Jenkins received a gift for all her help. Thank you to Terri Broadbent for suppling the photos.

Member’s Christmas Lunch

Thanks to Jan Ravencroft for her “insider report” from the members Christmas lunch which took place on Sunday.

The photos show the Captain’s table getting into the Twelve Days of Christmas and performing their very animated version of a Partridge in a Pear Tree. Plus gentleman captain Ben and past captains Roger Lait and David Wainwright full of Christmas spirit and finally a lovely photo fo the current and past lady captains, Gill Kay & Jan.

Mike Kirchin did a great job leading the carol singing. At the end of the afternoon, the draw was made for Lady Captain’s charity “hamper” raffle. £1435 was raised for ‘Prevent Breast Cancer’ which is a fantastic achievement. Thanks to everyone who took part.

The winners were Sally Wright, Min Fishwick, Trina Walsh,  Val Nelstrop and  Morven Millar. A huge thank you to Gillian Brogdon for putting it all together.

There are still spaces in Saturday morning’s nine hole step-a-side Texas Scramble which is open to ladies and gents. It’s a 3 player team and the competition will be played over the front nine.

Winners from the Team Competition on Thursday 28th November

Photo

Golf and Christmas sweaters on Monday before the Brat pack’s lunch on Monday.

Well it’s now December so not too long until the bearded warrior makes his rounds! If you need any Christmas presents for that special golfer in your life, please pop in.

We can preapre a voucher of any value you for goods, lessons or both! We also have Hale GC crested towels, water bottles, shoe bags, wash bags, headcovers, caps, beanies, ball markers, pitch mark repairers, groove brushes and clothing.

Or how about a top of the range Spurk golf mat to help make winter golf more enjoyable? Or a light weight carry bag if you just want to take out a 1/2 set? Or perhaps an accessory for your electric golf trolley such as an umbrella holder or scorecard holder?

Mens Team Betterball Reverse Waltz

Saturday’s men’s 15 hole team comp was won by Alan Bradley, Bob Siddle and Chris Wood with 65 stableford points. The runners up were Dave McGlennon, Ted Shaw and Andrew Cowan with 63 points. Two points further adrift and in third place were Bill Dixon, Graham Jones and John Kennedy.

Mixed Betterball B9 Stableford

Thursday’s best two from three nine hole stableford open to ladies and gents was won by Sally Budd, Diana Harris & Lucy Leonard with 39 points. Jane Wilkinson, Kerry Gill & Ian Powell finished second with 33 points. The Nearest the Pin Prizes were won by Barbara Spark on the second and Phil Long on the 4th.

Seniors Texas Scramble

It was team comps galore last week. The first of which was the Seniors 9 hole Texas scramble. The winners with 23 points were Ian Hunt, Roger Fielding, and Andy Veitch.
Second place, following a back three hole card playoff, went to Andrew Fishwick, Roger Mattocks and Dave Swale. And Bill Dixon, John Webb and Steve Bates finished third with 22 points.

Photo Round Up

Thanks to Ted Shaw for this great winter sunrise photo whilst he was walking his dog Reggie last week (and not the location of his opening tee shot as he was quick to establish….!!) Plus here’s the evidence that Tom Sloan and Nick Horrocks were working hard putting up the Christmas lights last Friday.

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.