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There are spaces available in Sunday’s Nine and Divine. It’s a Mixed fourball betterball competition with tee times between 1030 and 1130 followed bly lunch. Please sign up on Club V1 if you’d like to play.

We have lots of photos in this week and they really lift the newsletter so a big thank you to all contributors, this week and in previous weeks.Please keep ’em coming!

Bank Holiday Back 9 Frolic

We had a high turnout of 47 players for Monday’s Frolic. Jackie Murphy won the ladies first prize with 21 points and Gill Kay was second with 20 points. The winner of the men’s Comp was Brian Greenbank on 21 points with John Johnston on 19 points.

Medal 7

Congratulations to Matthew Hodder for recording an excellent nett 66 on Saturday to win Medal 7. David Wainwright was one shot back to finish as runner up. As was Ben Fallows but he lost out on the card play off to finish in third spot.

Ladies Results

Well done to Irene Kirk for winning the Centenary Trophy with a nett 73 back in early August. Vicky Chamberlain finished as runner up with a nett 74, beating Mandy Gilbert on a card play off.

Caroline massey won last Thursday’s back nine stableford with 19 points. Jane perks finised in second place with 16 points.

Here’s a message from lady captain Jan Ravenscroft regarding some of our ladies teams:

It’s always good to pass on some good news …I am delighted to announce that our Handicap B Ladies Team have made it through to the semi-final of the East Cheshire Shield which is some task (over 32 teams enter). They beat Davenport GC at Dunham Forest. The semi final will be next Mon 4th Sept vs Tytherington but played at Ringway.

Not only that but our Business Ladies Team (Chris Marsh, Sally Budd and Vicky Chamberlain) are also through to the semis and will be playing Alsager at Heyrose next Sun 3rd Sept. They beat Prestbury in the quarter finals which was a great result.

Good luck to all our Hale Ladies!

Hole in One!

Eric Healey recorded a hole in one on Tuesday on the 11th hole. He and wife Gillian were playing Sally Budd & gentleman captain Roger Laitt in the semi final of the Gordon Murray Memorial Salvers (mixed knockout). The Healeys won the match 3&2 and here are the photos to mark the occasion.

Men vs Stockport

Thanks to Roger Sheen for this photo which shows the luxurious travel conditions in the men’s team bus coming back from their recent away match at Stockport GC!!

More results from the last seven days to catch up in this week’s missive.

Plus good news for those of you that own a Garmin DMD (Distance Measuring Device) – they have (finally!) updated their system and so if you update your device, it will show the new par three 4th and 13th holes plus some of the other recent course changes.

Mixed Centenary Trophy

The winners of the Mixed Centenary Trophy played on Saturday were the gentleman captain Roger Laitt and his partner Noelle Morris with 38 points. Just missing out, and in second place on a count back, were Andrew Hay and Nicola Kitching.

I’m not entirely sure why Ben Fallows has the trophy on his head but thanks to Rosie Gerrard for sending in the photo – Ben may not agree!!

Ladies Invitation Day

Here are the results from the highly successful Ladies Invitation Day which took place last Thursday. It was a shotgun start and 48 ladies played. 

First Prize went to Gillian Healey, Di Barnett, Vicki Wells & D Morello. Gillian Brogdon, Sue Howarth, Corinne Veitch & Liz Halstead finsihed as runners up whilst third place went to Jane Perks, Denise Brigham, Vicky Chamberlain &  C Whitney.

The Nearest the Pin was won by Caroline Perkin and the Nearest the Line prize went to Noelle Morris.

As lady captain jan ravenscroft commented “it was a fabulous day beautifully organised by Gill Kay and Tracey Thompson… from the Pimms / elderflower spritz and cake on the terrace to the  excellent evening meal provided by Peter and staff .”

Senior Stableford 6

Congrats to Peter Veitch for winning Wednesday’s back nine Seniors Stableford with 20 points. Mike Massey finished in second place having lost out on a card play off. Ian Macklin was third with 19 points.

The weather has been kinder to us recently so we’ve managed to get lots of golf played in the last seven days or so – here’s a bit of a recap….

Men’s Centenary Trophy

Well done to Bill Dixon for winning Saturday’s comp with a fine score of 41 points. Danny Fox was the runner up with 39 points and Jez Allen third with 38 points.

Very noteable mentions go to Jack Wilcox, Rory Hobbs and Joe Bluer (forgive me if I’ve missed others) for great scores that unfortunately were not able to count in the prizes. This was because they hadn’t played the minimum requirements of 54 holes of competitive golf in qualiftying competitions in the last 12 months. I have little doubt that there names will be appearing near the top of the leaderboard again very soon.

Six twos were recorded on the day.

Lady Captan’s Charity Day

A great day was had by all and here’s our lady captain Jan Ravenscroft’s account of proceedings:

All the money from entrants into the 18 and 9 -hole stableford competitions went towards the Guide Dog fund raiser.

The winner of the 18 holes was Emma Daynes (36 points). Second place went to Louise Gerald (35 points) and third place was Gwynneth Bramwell (31 points)

The winner of the 9- hole was Pauline Keeling with 21 points. Second was Jane Nicholson (20 points) and third Sue Fallows (with 19 points)

In the evening, the ladies were treated to a most inspirational and engaging presentation by 3 guests from the Guide Dog Charity. Sara-Jane, Mary and Christine arrived with their beautiful canines Woodford, Chelsea and lively 13 – week old Labrador puppy, Caspar.

Their enthusiasm was so infectious. Heartfelt thanks to the many ladies who attended ‘Tea’ and generously supported the raffle.

Thanks also to the many members who have so kindly made personal donations to the cause. In total for the day we raised just over £800 – amazing!

Seniors Stableford 5

With an excellent 22 points, John Johnston recorded his second first place of the Summer to win Seniors Stableford 5. A tie on 21 points meant a card play-off was necessary, with Graham Jones taking second spot and John Kennedy being pushed into third spot.

Wilmslow Ladies Summer Open

Thanks to Jo Egerton for this write up and photo following some great performances from some of our lady members.

This week saw a number of women play at The Wilmslow in their summer open. Forty two teams entered the competition with all the Hale ladies performing well.

In first place, with a score of 93 points was Jo Bryant, Jo Egerton, Angela Morris (Prestbury) and Noelle Morris. It was a real team effort with all members working well together.

Second place went to Tiff Fielden, Louise Gerald, Chris Marsh and Maxine Rowlands (Ellesmere) with an admirable 87. An amazing score as two of the team play off single figures.

It was a fabulous day, the course was in great shape and all the teams  played well. Well done to the Hale Ladies!

When will this rubbish weather end as we had another men’s comp, Medal 7, rained off on Saturday. Last Wednesday’s seniors stableford was also cancelled.

Ping Mixed 4BBB

Well done to Kerry Bailey and Phil Long for winning the rescheduled Ping Mixed 4BBB with a great score of 44 points on Sunday. Jane Wilkinson and Johnny Yates were runners up with 40 points. The Bryants, Joanne & Graham, were third with 38 points.

Ladies Competitions

Sally Wright won the Hilda Timpson trophy on Thurday 20th July with a nett 68. Terri Broadbent recorded the same score but was beaten into second place following a card play off. Tracey Thompson finished third with a nett 69.

Sally Blackburn won Thursday’s nine hole max medal with a crackings nett score of 32. Vicki Wells was second with a nett 35.

The results of the ladies Centenary trophy will be announced in due course.

Holiday

I’m really looking forward to going on holiday with the family for ten days on Sunday. If there is anything we can help you with during that time, please pop into the shop or call on 0161 249 8427 and Will or Phil will be able to assist you. Thank you.

The rearranged Ping mixed fourball betterball competition takes place this Sunday and at the time of writing, there are still slots available.

Clothing and Accessories

I am shortly going to be placing an Autumn / Winter clothing order with FootJoy. Some of the items will have the Hale GC crest on and some won’t.

Should you wish to add anything to my order, please click here to take a look at the Autumn / Winter 2023 FJ catalogue and let me know what you would like me to get for you. I can get it with or without the crest on.

I am also about to place an order with Patersons. They are a Scottish company who make great club crested accessories. I buy my caps, ball markers, towels, headcovers, ball markers, pitchmark repairers, beanies, water bottles, shoe bags etc from them.

Again if you’d like any larger items such as holdalls, shoe bags or travel covers in leather or leatherette and with or without the HGC crest on then please let me know and I can quote you a price and if acceptable, order the item(s) in for you. Please click here to visit the luggage section of their website.

Irrigation Project Review

On Tuesday evening, I attended the first of two presentations about the club’s proposed irrigation project. It was hosted very professionally and informatively by president John Gower-Jones, Chair of Greens Brian Greenbank, project manager Andrew Hay and club tresurer Glyn Isaac. If you didn’t make this one but can make the next one (which takes place on Mon 21st Aug at 19:30), I would thoroughly recommend doing so.

Gentleman Captain’s Day

Thank you to lady captain Jan Ravenscroft for the following words to describe the day.

The winner of the 18 hole Stableford comp was Sally Budd with 37 points and Louise Gerald was second with 35 and Kairen Seaton with 34. Caroline Massey  won the 9- hole comp with 18 points and Sue Fallows 2nd with 17 points. 

It was a super day despite very poor weather at the start and all the playing ladies very much enjoyed being treated to chocolate, Pimms and afternoon tea which was generously provided by  the Captain Roger Laitt . Lovely to see so many past Lady Captains and guests too. 

Junior Nine Hole Stableford

Well done to junior captain Matthew Hodder for winning Saturday’s junior comp with a cracking score of 22 points. Ollie Grieves was second with 18 points.

Unfortunately Saturday’s dreadful weather meant that the Summer Stableford was cancelled. It has now been rearranged and the new date is Saturday 26th August.

Over on the Wirral, Brian Harman at 5’8′ and 150 pounds was taming Royal Liverpool and his big hitting counterparts to win the Open. It probably wasn’t as close and as exciting as we would have liked but he just did an amazing job of keeping hold of his lead. His putting stats from 10 feet and in were simply out of this world.

Also, as decribed in a really interesting Golf Digest article, Harman’s driver clubhead speed of 109 mph puts him in the bottom 10% on the PGA tour and his driver distance puts him at 142nd in the tour rankings. However he has a strategy to combat this – he hits driver on virtually very par four and par five.

Consequently if we look at the all drives stat —the average distance of literally every tee shot hit on par fours and par fives. You’ll see that Harman ranks 98th, within 0.3 yards of tour average and this bumps him up to 48th in strokes gained off the tee. While other players are playing three woods and two irons from many tees, Harman’s driver is knocking it past them.

Seemingly he spends an enormous of time working on his driving – hitting it high, low, left to right and right to left. He’s as straight with that as the bigger hitters are with their shorter clubs. So, reassuringly, it’s good to know there’s another way to win golf tournaments beyond smashing it as far as possible off the tee.

Johnny Yates was the winner of the Open Sweepstake btw. Thanks to everyone of you who took part.

Ladies Competitions

The results for the Hilda Timpson will be revealed at tea this Thursday.

In the back nine hole max medal, Ann Coulson and Barbra Spark both scored excellent nett 33s but Ann won on countback. Kerry Gill was third with 35.

Seniors Stableford 4

Bob Siddle romped home with 24 points to win this event which was played over the back nine. Great score Bob.

There were then seven (yes seven!) players who tied for second spot with 21 points. They were Lee Bramley, John Moss, Robert Spark, Richard Robinson, Glyn Isaac, Steve Bates and Roger Dawson-Smith. Lee B finished second following the mammoth card play off.

Summer Party

The Abba tribute night based on the photos below looks like it was a fantastic triumph. Top marks to the effort everyone made with their fancy dress. Well done Jo Egerton, Tom Sloan and team for putting such a super evening.

Wahoo it’s Open Championship week and hit’s here in the north west! Hope it’s another great tournament and thank you to all of you who have entered the Pro Shop sweepstake. I’ll keep you posted on who’s won what as the week progresses.

Medal 6

Congrats to Rob Manley for recording a nett 68 on a challenging day weatherwise on Saturday. Second place went to Jez Allen with a nett 69. Martin Bramwell was third with a nett 71. Only two twos were recorded over the two days!

Adult Junior

Well we dodged the weather on Friday evening and thankfully everyone that played remained dry.

It ended up being another great win for Olly & Joe Mills so big congrats there…… a large handicap reduction has followed!!

Other great scores were recorded by Matthew Hodder, Ollie Grieves and the two Williams – Meadowcroft and Hutchinson.

William M leads the OoM with one event to go. This final competition will be taking place on Friday 8th Sept with tee times from 1710. Please let me know if you’d like to enter.

Ladies Ping 4BBB

Kairen Seaton and Sally Budd won the ladies Ping fourball betterball competition last Thursday with a whopping 45 points. Runners up were Emma Daynes and Claire Makin with 39 points.

Sally Blackburn won the front nine stableford with 20 points. Kerry Bailey was second with 18 points.

A Week in the Life of a Very Keen Junior Golfer

Thanks to John Book for keeping us posted on Ollie Grieves’ golf in the last week or so! Here’s his recent schedule along with some fab photos:

• Sunday 9th July – back to back golf lessons with Will at HGC.
• Monday 10th July – nine hole junior stableford at Hale, which Ollie won with 18 points.
• Friday 14th July – Adult Junior comp at Hale, which Ollie finished joint 3rd with 21 points.
• Sunday 16th July – Northern Junior Golf Tour nine hole comp at Barrow Golf Club, where Ollie finished 4th with a nett of 3 under par, only 2 shots off the winner. The photos below don’t give you the full picture as it was blowing a gale with the course on the exposed hillside overlooking Walney Island, and which Ollie couldn’t even keep his Hale Golf Club cap on!!! This was the last of four events which Ollie had entered, albeit late into the proceedings, but for which next year he is hoping to register early in more of the fourteen competitions, so that he can try and qualify to play in the finals competition. This is all great experience for Ollie, and anyone else thinking of getting involved in the Tour.

Today we have a round up of the weekend’s Pro Am, the ladies Bridgford and Moir Cup competitions plus some Ping demo day and wood working news! Please enjoy.

Pro-Am

The forecast was mixed for Saturday’s Pro Am but we just about escaped the bad weather until approximately 7pm when the last group of Jonny Gray, Johnny Yates, Ian Goulty and their pro Matt Tottey were playing their 18th hole. The heavens opened and the rain was biblical within seconds. They were tremendous sports finishing off their round in dreadful conditions as yours truly was squidying the final green! A big thank you to the four of them for their help in enabling us to complete the competition.

So onto the results. The winners of the Pro Am were Chris Brown, Paul Hilton, Nick Maxwell and their pro Matthew Pritchard with an an excellent 122 (18 under). Second place, on 125 (15 under) after countback, went to Paul Gilbert, Andy Gething, guest Christian James and their pro Haydn McCullen. Third spot was also decided on countback and that was Tracey Thompson, Tiff Fielden, Mandy Gilbert and pro Paul Jones.

In the professional individual event, Jason Dransfield breezed it round in 63 to shoot a new course record. The previous one was 60 by Chris Sands a few years ago but that was on the old layout (before the introduction of the par three 4th / 13th) and so that no longer stands. Jason is a great player and also a great guy so I’m delighted he ended up as the winner. Second place with 68 was shared between Haydn McCullen and Anthony Waddell.

Many thanks are required after hosting an event of this nature so here goes (my sincere apologies if I’ve omitted anyone). Thank you to the club for enabling us to host the event and all the amateurs who kindly spent their hard earned money on entering a team. Thanks to my fellow pros for coming along and also Iwan and Michael the hard working PGA staff on the day. The course was in magnificient shape so big thanks must go to Russell, Dave and Phil for their hard work in preparing it. Thanks also to Ben and the bar & catering team for doing a great job before and after play in keeping the golfers well fed and watered. Finally thank you to my super team of Will and Phil for lookinng after the shop and also playing in their first Pro Am in Will’s case. Roll on 2024….

Bridgford & Moir Cup

Last week was a big one in the Hale ladies golfing calendar as the Moir Cup and Bridgford took place on Wednesday and Thursday. The winner of the Moir Cup was Tiff Fielden with a gross score of 155 over the two days. Michelle Rea was the runner up..

The winner of the Bridgford was Joanne Bryant with nett scores of 72 and a superb 62 (yes, you read that correctly!!) for a total of 134. Tiff was second with 139 and lady captain Jan Ravenscroft was third with 142.

The winner of Thursday’s 18 hole max medal was Terri Broadbent with an excellent 66 and the winner of the back nine hole max medal was Diana Harris with a nett 33. The winner of the most improved player from day 1 to day 2 was Louise Gerald.

Tiff also won the day one nett prize and Jo Bryant won the day two nett.

Well done to all the winners – there was some really great golf played. A big thank you to Gill Kay and team for organising the event.

Ping Demo Day

Thanks to everyone who attended on Monday. Alex from Ping and I had set everything up on the practice ground, only for the pesky weather to intervene again! We had a quick change of location to the swing room. Alex was very attentive so hopefully all those that came along found the experience really useful and informative. From the Pro Shop’s persepctive, we’ve made some sales which is great news for the business!

Touchscreen Cabinet

Below is a photo of Kevin Gerard posing with his handmade, beautifully crafted cabinet which now houses the computer that resides outside the Secretary’s office. It is made from oak, some of which is from fallen trees from our very own golf course. On behalf of the club, thank you very much Kevin for this wonderful looking and highly practical cabinet.

We have lots of results and photos this week as the season rumbles on so let’s dive straight in.

Last Call for Pro Am & Ping Fitting Day

We have some spaces left in Saturday’s Pro Am if you would like to make a late entry. Also we have one space left in the Ping demo day which is taking place on Monday 10th July. To book or find out more, you can reply to this missive or call the shop on 0161 249 8427.

Men’s Summer Meeting

Well it was a big weekeknd of golf. Gusting winds and tricky pin positions meant that the best gross socre on Saturday was 79. Adam Laitt dug in though on Sunday to shoot a fine 72 to win the Galloway Scratch Challenge Cup by seven shots from Dave Smith and Tony Bray.

All the other winners are listed below. As you can see, the best 36 hole nett, the Walker Trophy, was won by Gus Murray-Brown with 134. Unlucky Roger Sheen recorded the same score but was beaten into second following ca card play off.

Below are the photos of the various winners including a snap taken by Mike Thompson of Mike Kirchin having a little tree trouble following his first drive of the day – I’m guessing it wasn’t quite the start that he had in mind!

And finally, well done and a big thank you to Brian Greenbank, Guy Levers and Bob Siddle for planning and running the weekend’s golf so successfully.

Golf Lessons

Is your golf not quite where you want it to be as we approach the mid way point of the golf season? Please click here to book a golf lesson with Richard or of course call the shop on 0161 249 8427 or just pop in.

Ladies Exchange Day with Ellesmere GC

I’ll let the lady captain Jan Ravenscroft explain…..

Last Thursday (the 29th) 30 ladies from Hale exchanged courses with 40 ladies from Ellesmere GC. The course and hospitality from Ellesmere was superb (although a rather annoying brook kept making an appearance on many of the holes!)

The winners of the day were Sally Budd, Caroline Massey and Vicki Wells while in second place were Louise Gerald, Caroline Perkin and Jackie Murphy.

There were two nearest the pin holes won by both Gill Kay and Tracey Thompson. The whole event was very slickly organised by Joanna Bates and Helen Davies… we even managed a group photo of the gathering.

The ladies from Ellesmere were so impressed with Hale – not only the course ( especially the new 4th) but especially the meeters and greeters and the whole clubhouse experience.  They’ll be back!

Seniors Texas Scramble

36 players in teams of three stayed dry last Wednesday morning to enjoy a fun nine hole Texas Scramble.

Coming out on top with a very creditable 25 points were Roger Fielding, Andrew Fishwick and Richard Dyson. In second with 24 (following a card play off over the back six) were John Kennedy, Tarik Rashid and Peter Wolfenden. Lee Bramley, John Moss and Mike Massey finsihed third.

Bell Cup

Unfortunately the ladies excellent Bell Cup run came to an end on Saturday evening. Again over to LC Jan for the details:

While a hundred or so members were enjoying Peter and Ben’s BBQ on the terrace, the Hale team were battling the Prestbury ladies away in the early evening gusty wind.

Unfortunately Prestbury’s home advantage won out and we lost in the 3rd round. However a great journey having already beaten Wilmslow and Ringway.

Special mention and thanks to Rosie Gerrard, Bell Cup Team Captain,  for all her organisation coordinating the Bell Cup Ladies over the last two years.

Well we have the men’s Summer Meeting to look forward to this weekend and then it’s the Pro Am the following Saturday. Competitons and results are coming thick and fast at this time of the season…

Open Sweepstake

Believe it or not, the final men’s major of the season, the Open, takes place at Royal Liverpool in just over three weeks time. As usual we are running a sweepstake for this.

It’s £5 for one space or £10 for three spaces. Please just reply to this message or drop into the Pro Shop to take part. Prizes are available for 1st, 2nd & 3rd overall plus the best and worst score each day.

Medal 5

Congrats to Charlie Hindle for shooting an excellent nett 66… with a double bogey on the last! Tony Bray shot a gross 75 which included a one under par back nine to secure the lowest gross of the competition and second place overall with a nett 68. Derek Marshall also recorded a nett 68 but was beaten by Tony on countback.

Nine & Dine

Friday saw the club host a back nine step aside texas scramble. The winning team with 28 points were Andrew & Gill Kay, Rosie Gerrard and Dave Smith. Rob Manley, Kathleen McNairney, Keith Thompson and Diana Hogben also scored 28 points but were beaten into second place following count back. Third spot went to Gail & Tony Sampson and Barbara & Robert Spark with 27 points.

Lady Captain’s Day

The day before was lovely weather for the lady captain Jan Ravenscroft’s big day. Everyone had a lovely time.

The scoring in the 18 hole comp was very good. Noelle Morris won with 41 points and then there were four players with 40 points. Following the card play offs, Diana Hogben finished as runner up and Tracey Thompson was third.

Caroline Smith won the nine hole event with a whopping 24 points. Ann Coulson was second with 20 points whilst Barbara Grant finished third with 19 points.

MCJL at HGC

On Sunday, we hosted the Mid Cheshire Junior League here at Hale GC as twenty seven juniors from six local clubs took to the fairways. Sadly it wasn’t for long as the storm that was forecast rolled in. We had to sound the klaxon and stop play for 45 minutes or so. We then made the decision to complete the competition over nine holes rather that the 18 that was originally planned.

There was some very good scoring with three players scoring 22 points and two players scoring 21 points. The Hale juniors playing were junior captain Matthew Hodder, Olly Mills and Alex Keeling and they scored a very creditable 16, 16 and 15 points respectively.

Spare a thought for one of the boys from another club who made a gross eagle at the first for five stableford points and then proceeded to only pick up three more points over the following eight holes for a total of just eight points. He took it superbly well and was very philosophical about it afterwards. I’m delighted to tell you that all of the juniors were an absolute credit to themselves, their golf clubs and the game of golf.

Huge thanks to the volunteers on the day who were Bill Harvey, Phil Hickson, Noelle Morris and Peter Hardern. Special mention to Edwina Greenwood from Warrington who also just couldn’t do enough to help…. even using her umbrella to escort Michael Oliver to his car as the rain was falling at it’s heaviest!

Eagle

Thanks to Mike Thompson for sending in this snap taken by Roger Sheen after Mike had holed his approach shot from 144 yards for an eagle twoI Paul Hilton then proceeded to hole his shot out of the left-hand bunker for a birdie three!

MIke reported that sadly their rounds didn’t continue at that stellar level adding that “in fact, second time around I got an eight at the 12th, so normal service was resumed!”