It’s the Captains’ Drive In this Saturday and again we are doing a sweep for charity. This time for the Macclesfield Samaritans. It’s £5 to enter and 1/2 of that fee goes to the charity and the other 1/2 goes into the prize pot, which will be vouchers to spend in the Pro Shop. Entrants need to estimate the combined distance of the drives from the lady capatin, gents captain and junior captain. Please let me know if you would like to enter and help out this excellent cause in the process.
Telephone Number
The Pro Shop telephone number is 0161 249 8427. Up until a few days ago, the old one (0161 904 0835) was still working but not any longer, following our IT and broadband upgrade. Please amend your records accordingly.
Ping BunkR
This new sand iron from Ping looks tremendous. I have a demo of it but haven’t had chance to try it yet so I’ll report back when I have next week. Everything about it is designed to make those dreaded bunker shots as easy as possible. So if they’re not your favourite gof shots, you need to give this club a try. Click here for more details.
Junior Season Opening Golf & Dinner
This took place last sunday. We had 19 juniors playing and 60 for dinner afterwards. I reviewed junior golf at hale Gc in 2024 and looked forward to what’s coming up in 2025. It was a really fun evening.
Fraser gregor and his afther Andy won the alternate shot competition on the day with 22 points pointing ted & Di Cotterrell on countback.
Thanks to Phil Hickson for hi help as co junior organiser and also to captains elect Glyn Isaac and Vicky Chamberlain for coming along on the day.
Indoor Winter League Final
The indoor winter league final powered by Trackman took place on Saturday. Congrats go to the grandfather and grandson combination of John Book & Ollie Grives who beat Jonny Yates & Jane Wilkinson by 3&2 over 9 holes. The final (and the qualifying rounds)was played over the stunning Lofoten links golf course in Norway. Thanks to everyone who entered.
Ladies
Well done to Sally Blackburn for continuing her good from and winning last Thursday’s 18 hole stableford with a whopping 44 points. Runner up with 42 points was Helen Williams.
In the 9 hole stableford, Jan Ravenscroft came out on top with 21 points beating Gillian Healey on a cpo.
Pauline Keeling was also presented with the Joyce Fisher salver for most improved .
Seniors Texas scramble
Last Wednesday’s 9 hole Texas Scramble was won by Roger Sheen, Gary Beal, and Hon. Sec. Robin Russell-Fisher with an excellent 25 stableford points. Ian Hunt, Andrew Fishwick, and Chris Adams were second with 22 points beating Glynn Isaac, Ian Goulty, and Joe Boyd into third place following a card play off.
Manchester Alliance at Stand GC
Congrats to James Munnery & Chris Hinton for finishing as runners up with 41 points at Stand GC last Wednesday. The format is pairs betterball stableford. Ted Shaw and I also played but unfortunately we weren’t quite so good – we think the homecoming proved to be just a little too emotional for us!
Jon Sherman
I really like this article which appeared in Jon Sherman’s weekly email so I’ve shared it with you below. He has a website called Practical Golf and has written some good golf books and in modern parlance created lots of good “content”.
When Mark Broadie’s book Every Shot Counts came out in 2014, it challenged some commonly held beliefs among golfers.
One in particular was the importance of putting.
Most golfers do the simple math and think, “If I shot 87 today and took 34 putts, then about 40% of my score was determined by my putter.”
(This is exactly how I used to think about it)
But scoring is more complicated than that.
Broadie wrote, “Putting is important, but golf is not a glorified putting contest. Between almost any two groups—the best pros and average pros, pros and amateurs, or good amateurs and poor amateurs—the numbers show that putting contributes about 15% to the difference in scores.”
When I first read that, I hated it. It went against everything I believed and had been told.
However, over time, I’ve realized this is one of the most important lessons from his work. Here’s why…
Because putting is the final act on each hole, it feels like the “make or break” moment. If you miss an 8-footer for par, you walk to the next tee grumbling about your putter, convinced it cost you a stroke.
But every shot before that putt played a role, too. If you fixate on putting as the deciding factor, you put unnecessary pressure on yourself.
I regularly talk with one of the best putters in the world, and even he experiences ups and downs. But his best performances always come when he’s locked into his process—not fixating on what the putt means for his score. That’s when his skill shines.
Now, this isn’t easy when you play golf for a living. It’s also not easy for the rest of us because we care about our scores.
But I truly believe this is one of the best mindsets you can adopt to improve your putting. It has made a tremendous difference in my game.
I’m not saying putting is meaningless or that you shouldn’t care on the greens. It’s an important part of golf.
However, if you can shift your mindset—placing less pressure on yourself to achieve a specific result and focusing instead on a process you can control—you’ll putt better and score better.
Because ironically, the less you chase a score, the more likely you are to get the one you want.
Hole in One
Massive congats to Barbara Spark for recording her first ever hole in one on Sunday at the 4th hole. She was playing with husband Robert and Freda & Ian Hunt.
