I hope you all had a good Easter and the good news, we don’t have too long to wait until the next bank holiday – they seem to come thick and fast at this time of the year. And I trust you are all enjoying getting back on a nice, dry golf course again after a long winter.

In this week’s newsletter, we talk about opportunities for early season golf lessons, the competition results from last week and information about the Gentleman Captain’s Team Matches which take place over the course of the season.

Golf lessons

Please click here to book a lesson via my online booking page. You can book up to 10 days in advance.

We had a good response to my proposed ladies group coaching sessions which appeared in last week’s missive. Dates proved to be the main stumbling block so I’ll come up with some fresh dates and options and come back to you. In the first instance though, if you are interested in finding out more about these sessions then please let me know by replying to this email and I’ll add you to my list.

Medal 1

Congratulations to Cliff Wright for breaking 90 gross and shooting an excellent nett 64 to win Medal 1 on Saturday. Talking of gross scores, Adam Laitt shot a magnificent level par score of 70 to record a nett 66 to finish in second place. John Moss also recorded a nett 66 but was beaten on a card play off so he finished in third spot. Fifteen twos were recorded on the day and Neil Roberts bagged two of them!

Bunty Booth

Well done to Tracey Thompson for winning the Bunty Booth last week with 37 stableford points. Vanessa Veitch was second with 36 points and Pam Dixon third with 35 points.

The front nine stableford competition was won by Lorraine Thompson with 17 points. Jennifer Bradley was one point in arrears to finish in runners up spot.

Gentleman Captain’s Team Matches

Our current Gentleman captain, Dave Wainwright, has been the organiser of the Captain’s matches for several years, David Rodwell has now taken over this responsibility.  For those that aren’t familiar with the events it’s a series of eleven matches friendly matches played against other nearby clubs.

Usually played in the late afternoon, the match is preceded by tea and cakes, before the Gentlemen Captain (or his opposite number) hosts two teams of twelve, in an eighteen hole pairs matchplay competition, followed by post-match drinks and a two course dinner.

This years fixtures are

Date	Club	Home / Away	Captain’s Tee Time
Wednesday 18th May	Wilmslow	Home	4pm
Wednesday 25th May	GM Police	Home	4pm
Wednesday 1st June	Dunham	Home	4pm
Friday 10th June	Knutsford	Away	4pm
Wednesday 22nd June	Dunham	Away	4pm
Sunday 17th June	Delamere	Away	9am (TBC)
Wednesday 27th June	Ringway	Away	4pm
Wednesday 4th August	Ringway	Home	4pm
Friday 12th August	Knutsford	Home	4.00pm
Tuesday 23rd August	Stockport	Away	4.00pm
Sunday 4th September	Wilmslow	Away	9.00am

If you would like to play in any of the matches, you may need to join the “Captain’s Matches” team within the “Club teams” section of Club V1 and once a member of the team, your availability should be set for each match individually.  Team selections will be confirmed around two weeks before the event. 

In the words of your Gentlemen Captain “the Captains Matches are very much about friendship, gamesmanship and good fun”. Therefore, please do take the time to sign up or if you would like to know more, please contact David Rodwell.

Well wasn’t that another great Masters week? Scottie Scheffler, who remember is just 25 years old, was just immense, yet again. David Gill had him in the Pro Shop sweepstake so I’m sure he was very happy with his victory too, And of course what a final round by Rory McIlroy? He said afterwards that it was the most fun he had on the golf course for a long time – I guess shooting 64 round Augusta would definitely give you a wee boost of happiness!!

I happened to speak with Mike from Trackman the following day and I asked him if Scheffler was a Trackman user and he was happy to report that he is. And it turns out that if you win the Masters as a Trackman owner, the company present you with a Masters green version rather than the standard, iconic orange one. You can see last year’s winner Hideki Matsuyama posing with his and Dustin Johnson setting his up on the range in the photos below.

Spring Stableford 08/04/2022

Well done to Barry Jefferies for winning the Spring Stableford with 39 points on Saturday, Charlie Hindle finished in second place with the same score having been beaten on a card play off. John Bacon was third with 38 points. Seven twos were recorded during the competition.

Gentleman captain Dave Wainwright with winner Barry and also with the runner up, Charlie.

Ladies Group Coaching Sessions

Lady captain Judy Pinnington and I have been chatting and are keen to provide some group coaching options for the ladies section, pitched at different standards of golfers. The idea is to help you improve your golf with some like minded ladies. The focus will be on having fun and implementing simple game improvement strategies.

Initially there are two options available as follows:

Option 1: New Member and High Handicaps

• Four one hour sessions 
• Dates (all Mondays): 25/4, 9/5, 16/5 & 23/5 (this avoids the bank holidays). 
• Times: 1030 – 1130
• Price per person – £50. 
• There will be a complimentary tea or coffee afterwards also included in the price. 
• 4, 5 or 6 need to enroll to make it viable. 
• The topics will be chipping, putting, bunker play and driving.

Option 2: Improvers Course

• Date: Wed 27th April
• A two hour session from 1000 – 1200
• Participants can then choose to grab some lunch together if they wish
• Price: £29 per person (this fee includes a tea or coffee 1/2 way through so we’ll end up finishing a little after midday)
• Topic: short game & putting

Both sets of lessons will have email follow up and the opportunity to get a 10% discount on subsequent individual lessons. Please speak to me for more details on this.

Please let me know if you’d like to enrol. Alternatively, if you have any suggestions or feedback on what else we could offer or improve on then please let me know.

Ladies 18 hole and 9 hole Stablefords

The weather was not at all kind to the ladies last Thursday so the number of players taking part was reduced. Full marks though to everyone who battled round.

The winner of the 18 hole competition was Min Fishwick with an excellent 37 points. Lady captain Judy Pinnington finished in second place. Nancy Fallows was the winner of the 9 hole competition.

Min with lady captain Judy Pinnington and Nancy with Judy.

Fifth Hole

There are spaces available in Saturday’s Spring Stableford and also in the Alt day competition taking place tomorrow.

And of course the Masters starts today….. wahoo!! It looks like Tiger’s going to play and can Scottie Scheffler keep up his astonishing form of recent weeks. Whatever happens, I’m sure it will be compelling viewing as ever!

Is it time for an Equipment Upgrade?

Remember we have plenty of Callaway Rogue ST driver & iron demos and the same for the Ping G425 range plus the Ping G Le 2 ladies range. Combine this with the unbeatable technology of Trackman and a complimentary, no obligation fitting service for members and you can see why you literally have nothing to lose by booking a slot.

And what could you gain? Well would more distance help? Maybe a bucket load of more consistency? Perhaps a great deal more enjoyment? Or just maybe, a hefty dose of all three?!

Pop into the shop, call us on 0161 249 8427 or email us using richardsboothuk@gmail.com to book your session.

Ladies Spring Meeting

Well done to Gwynneth Bramwell, Caroline Massey, Ceri Hyde & Amanda Greaves for winning the Spring Meeting with 40 points. Gillian Healey, Pam Dixon, Jill Gower-Jones & Jane Wilkinson finished in second place with 37 points. Eight teams took part.

Junior Stableford

Congratulations to Charlie Hindle for winning the first individual junior stableford of 2022 with 17 points. It was played over the front nine. Dan Turkington and Rory Hobbs shared second place with 13 points.

Archie Preston

Unfortunately we narrowly lost our Archie Preston mixed foursomes team match on Sunday. We were playing Dunham Forest GC away and the final score was 4:3 with Mike Kirchin & Jan Ravenscroft losing their match on the 22nd hole!

We had good weather for the Captains’ drive-in and the Masters is just around the corner so the golf season feels like it’s already in full swing!

There are still a few spaces available for the Pro Shop Masters draw so please let me know if you like to participate. The price is £4 for one go and £10 for three goes. If you can’t make it down, just drop me an email and we can settle up another time.

New Captains

The club’s AGM took place on Friday 25th March and so we now have three new captains. You can see them below driving in the following day. We hope they all have a fabulous time during their respective tenures.

In the photos below, we have gentleman captain David Wainwright, lady captain Judy Pinnington and junior captain Dan Turkington. Incidentally Dan is the club’s second ever junior captain and the first to drive in. It goes without saying that all the drives flew straight and true!

There was a fun nine hole stableford competition played beforehand which was won by Barbara Spark with 20 points. Amanda Greaves and Paul Gilbert had the same score but were pipped into second and third place respectively following card play offs.

Lady Captain’s Last Waltz

This event was won by Min Fishwick, Amanda Greaves and Gillian Brogdon. The top three teams all scored 59 points but count backs separated them. Lynette Lodge, Jane Perks & Barbara Grant finished in second place and Irene Kirk, Vicki Wells & Wendy Jenkins were third.

At tea, Caroline Perkin presented the brand new Ladies Foursomes Challenge Trophy to the winners: immediate past lady captain Irene Kirk and Caroline Massey.

The Ladies Section presented flowers to the outgoing and incoming Lady Captains.

Ladies Clothing

The new ladies Spring/Summer range has just arrived and we also have some items on the rail with a promotion where if you buy a top and bottom together you receive a 10% discount. There are an enormous number of items but please hurry as many of the pieces are only here until Saturday 9th April.

Well let’s hope this great weather continues. This weekend we have the Captains’ Drive in at 1200. Beforehand there is a nine hole shotgun individual stableford which is taking place at 0930. There are still spots available for ladies and gents so please sign up on Club V1 if you’d like a game.

Bogey Final

It was breezy, bright and cold on Saturday which made scoring tricky for the Bogey Final. Peter Wolfenden finished in top spot with two up. Second spot went to John Moss with one up and Alan Bradley was third with level.

Junior Coaching

Will started his first block of junior group coaching on Sunday morning. The lessons are running over seven weeks and we can still accommodate more juniors if you’d like to get involved. Please pop into the shop ore email me for more details.

Ladies St Patrick’s Day Very Green Greensomes

The ladies dress up for this team competition that was played over 14 holes. The winners on a card play off were Vanessa Veitch, Gail Sampson, Louise Gerald & Clare Withey. They received bottles of Baileys as prizes. The second spot went to Sue Bryant, Amanda Greaves, Jane Wilkinson & Gillian Healey who each won an Irish linen tea towel for their efforts. Finally the good sports prize- a can of Guinness each – went to Gwynneth Bramwell, Ann Mattocks, Tracey Thompson & Corinne Veitch 

Callaway & Ping demos

We have lots of demos for you to try so that we can fit you or the best clubs for your game. here’s the mess s we sort out the latest shipment of shafts and heads. Please contact us for more information or to book an appointment.

St Patrick’s Day Celebration Dinner

This took place last Friday and was a great success with live music. As you can see many of the attendees got into the swing of things! The clubhouse was beautifully decorated by Tracey Thompson and team.

This week, the ladies are paying homage to St Patrick’s day on Thursday with their very green greensomes competition whilst the men stage the Bogey final on Saturday.

The following Saturday we have the Captain’s Drive In which will see the first ever junior captain Dan Turkington join Judy Pinnington and David Wainwright in bashing one off the first tee. Spring is definitely in the air and don’t it feel good!!

Shot Trackers

I’d be really interested to hear from any members who have been using shot trackers such as those produced by Arccos, Shot Scope and Garmin. I’d like to know what you like about them and what you don’t and perhaps most importantly, have they helped you improve your game. Please email me or give me a quick call when convenient on 0161 249 8427.

Junior Group Coaching

We have some slots available in our 1600-1645 Monday class which starts next week on the 21st March. If you would like to sign up your son, daughter, grandson, granddaughter (you get the gist!) or just require further information, please contact me via email or pop into the shop.

Men’s Nine Hole Stableford

Martin Oldfield played exceptionally well to score 23 points to win Saturday’s back nine stableford. Gus Murray-Brown and Howard Webb both scored 21 points but Gus beat Howard on a card play to secure the second spot. Keith Thompson recorded two twos on his way round.

Ladies Competitions

Well done to Jo Egerton for winning Thursday’s 18 hole stableford with a very creditable 36 points. Her good friend and playing partner Jo Bryant was one shot adrift in second place. Caroline Perkin and Louise Gerald scored 33 points to finish in joint third spot.

Lady captain Irene Kirk won the nine hole stableford with 19 points and so was receiving a voucher at tea afterwards rather than handing one out! Sue Bromley scored a level par 18 points to finish in second place. Amanda Greaves and Pat Jefferies finished joint third with 17 points.

In the 9 hole stableford that took place on Saturday, Sally Wright took the honours with 16 points beating Tracey Thompson by two points.

Seniors Bradley 6

Robert Spark fresh from his team victory in the Texas Scramble a few days before maintained his winning ways on Friday with victory in the rescheduled Bradley 6. He scored 20 points over the front nine. Well played Robert. In second place but losing on a card play off was Alan Bradley. Ian Macklin finished third with 19 points.

This week we have a results round up from the last seven days. There is also a nine hole stableford taking place on Saturday (12th March) which is open to men and ladies and spots are available if you’d like a game.

Plus we have the first junior comp of the 2022 season. If you like to play in this Texas Scramble, please either sign up on Club V1 or contact me if you don’t have a WHS handicap.

Bogey 6 and Sharp Memorial

Well played Harry Christopher. He won the final Bogey of the winter campaign with a score of three up. Chris Ravenscroft finished runner up with two up and Joe Mills also scored two up but lost out on a card play off to Chris to finished in third place.

Congratulations to Bill Dixon for winning the Sharp Memorial which is based on the best four scores from the six Bogeys. His aggregate was five up. Andrew Fishwick was second with three up. Three players tied for third with one down and they were Martin Oldfield, Peter Veitch and Dave McGlennon.

Ladies Back Nine Stableford

Jan Ravenscroft amassed a very creditable 19 points to win Thursday’s competition. Vanessa Veitch was two shots adrift in second place. and Louise Gerald was third with 16 points.

Seniors Texas Scramble

On Monday, the rearranged Seniors’ nine hole Texas Scramble took place. The scoring was very tight, with only five shots separating the field and every team recorded a sub- par round.

Clear at the top with 24 points were Roger Mattocks, Cliff Wright and Robert Spark. They had seven gross pars and a birdie on the seventh hole. Three teams tied on 23 points and coming second on a card play-off were Ian Goulty, Peter Veitch and John Gower-Jones. Phil Long, John Webb and Dave Madeley secured third spot. Craig Rea, Steve Bates and Roger Dawson-Smith finished fourth, just missing out on the prizes.

This week we have the results from Saturday’s nine hole comps, information on reinstating the men’s roll ups, the junior competition schedule and news of a great set of second hand junior clubs that are for sale.

On Thursday, we have another nine hole stableford which is open to men and ladies. There are still spaces so please sign up on Club V1 if you’d like a game.

Goodbye Ben

Ben Testa’s last day at the club was on Friday. He now moves on to a new position at Bury Golf Club and we wish him all the very best for the future.

Nine hole Stableford

We had a good turn out on Saturday with nearly fifty golfers taking part.

Well done to Neil Thompson for winning Saturday’s front nine hole stableford with 20 points. Gus Murray-Brown was one shot adrift to finish in second place. Ian Macklin also scored 19 points but finished in third place as he was beaten on a count back.

In the ladies competition, Ann Coulson won with 19 points. Congratulations Ann. Helen Davies and Chris Marsh shared second place with 18 points.

Men’s Saturday Roll Ups

Men’s roll ups are now back in the calendar on Saturday’s when there isn’t another event on. The first one is on Saturday 2nd April. Over the summer period, these run 1300-1330 for the front nine and 1450-1520 for the back nine. Please look out for them and join in the golf and camaraderie. 

Ping Prodi G Junior Set

I have an excellent second hand set of junior clubs for sale. They would suit a junior with a height of 5’2″ give or take. The cost is £499. When new the price is around £1000. Please contact me for more details.

Junior Fixtures 2022

Here is the schedule for this season. We will add more junior comps from July onwards in due course. Please note the adult junior competitions are also listed. Please hold the dates!!

DATE	TIMES	EVENT
Sun 13 March 2022	14:00 – 14:30	Junior Texas Scramble (medal) / Golf Access
Tues 22 March	17:00 – 17:40	Junior Foursomes stableford / Golf Access
Sat 2 Apr	14:00 – 14:30	Junior Individual Stableford / Golf Access
Tues 12 Apr	15:40 – 16:25	Junior Fourball betterball stableford / Golf Access
Tues 19 Apr	15:40 – 16:20	Junior 3 clubs and a putter stableford / Golf Access
Fri 29 Apr	17:30 – 18:20	Adult Junior Comp
Sat 30 Apr	14:00 – 14:30	Junior Comp / Golf Access
Fri 13 May	17:30 – 18:20	Adult Junior Comp
Sat 14 May	09:30 – 10:00	Junior Comp / Golf Access
Sun 22 May	14:00 – 14:30	Junior Comp / Golf Access
Tues 31 May	15:40 – 16:20	Junior Comp / Golf Access
Sun 12 June	14:00 – 14:30	Junior Comp / Golf Access
Fri 17 June	17:30 – 18:20	Adult Junior Comp
Sat 18 June	09:30 – 10:00	Junior Comp / Golf Access
Tues 28 June	17:00 – 17:40	Junior Comp / Golf Access
Sun 10 July	14:00 – 14:30	Junior Comp / Golf Access
Fri 29 July	17:30 – 18:20	Adult Junior Comp
Fri 9 Sept	17:10 – 18:00	Adult Junior Comp
Sun 6 Nov 2022	14:00 – 14:50	Junior Awards Evening

Well, what a week…. high winds, incredible rain and a course closed much more than usual! The seniors competition on Wednesday was cancelled and the ladies comp on Thursday was also cancelled so all a bit disappointing really. Hopefully everyone has power though unlike some poor souls around the country.

Junior Coaching

Will Lord is running some junior group coaching sessions on Sunday mornings for children aged 7 – 13 years of age. The classes will run from 1000 – 1045 and from 1100 – 1145. The first block of dates will avoid the Easter school holidays and will be as follows:

March 20th, 27th
April 3rd
May 1st, 8th, 15th, 22nd

The price for the seven sessions will be £63.

If you’d like to enrol, please contact me.

Do you Boss the Moss?

Is it time you rolled your rock a little better? If so we have some of the latest Ping and Odyssey models in store for you to try.

Storm Damage

We had several trees come down over the weekend and our hardworking greenstaff have been removing them to get the course playable again. One fell into the car park, two fell near the fourth green and one near the swinging gate by the 5th / 7th tees. Thanks to Russell for supplying the photos.

Callaway Driver Demos

We also have some of the latest Callaway Rogue ST drivers for you to try. There are three different heads and 5 different shafts so lots of combinations to suit your game. Trackman will help us identify how well it compares to your current driver. Please contact us for an foc fitting. It goes without saying that you are welcome to also try our range of Ping G425 drivers while you’re at it!

Hale GC Pro Am 2022

The uptake for my first plug for this year’s Pro Am a few weeks ago was excellent. There are 24 teams slots available and already 16 have been taken. Please let me know if you would like to enter a team. We only have morning times available as things stand. Please also remember it’s open to men and ladies and mixed teams.

In this missive, we detail the results from the four club competitions played in the last week.

Bogey 5

Roger Mattocks won Saturday’s Bogey 5 with a fine score of four up. Richard Robinson was second with one up and Roger Sheen was third, also finishing one up but loosing out on a card playoff.

Thursday Stablefords

Congratulations to Jo Egerton for winning Thursday’s ladies 9 hole stableford with 17 points. Helen Davies was lost a card play off to finish in second place.

Well done to David Rodwell for winning the men’s competition with 19 points. Gregg Davison was second with 18 points and he puts his success all down to his recent purchases from the Pro Shop!! Well said Gregg 😁

Bradley 5

Tarik Rashid played very well to win Bradley 5, the nine hole seniors event with 20 points. Andrew Fishwick was one shot adrift in second place. Barry Jefferies lost on a card play off to finish third.