The weather was fantastic over the weekend and I hope that many of you managed to get out for a game. It certainly feels like summer has now arrived, there wasn't a competition on Saturday so many of our members took the opportunity to play knock out matches and the course was certainly looking in great shape.

Here are some photos I took looking back down the first hole and some action shots of members Liam Tyrer, Gareth Eaton, Chris Coates and Bob Bowen on the fifth hole who were playing a pairs match with Gareth and Liam eventually triumphing. 

Today sees the BMW PGA Championship kick off at the magnificent Wentworth Club and as the European Tour’s largest event this really is the jewel in the crown. Other than The Open and the 2014 Ryder Cup, the BMW is the largest golfing event in our golfing calendar and it always attracts many of the world's leading players including Rory Mcilroy, Henrik Stenson, Justin Rose and Sergio Garcia. Coverage is on BBC and the Sky Sports channels throughout the weekend.

Miguel Angel Jimenez certainly showed that despite turning 50 years old recently, golf is a sport which can be played well regardless of age. Beating Richard Green and Thomas Pieters in a three way play-off to win The Spanish Open, the Spaniard will no doubt encourage elder golfers to dust off their clubs.

Remember that May is National Golf Month and we have plenty going on here at Hartford Golf Club if you know anyone that may be interested in trying golf for the first time.

Simon wins May Midweek Medal

One of our newer members won the May Midweek Medal last week. Big hitting Simon McFarland played when he was younger but after a long break from the game he joined as a member in March and he is clearly now rediscovering his old form as he scored a nett 67 to take first place and reduce his handicap to 12. Stuart Fallows finished in second place with a nett 69 and in third place was Paul Foster on nett 71, there weren't any two's so look out for a rollover next month.

The next competition is the Benny Trophy on Sunday 25th May - let's hope the sun continues to shine!

Evelyn takes her game to the next level

There is nothing more rewarding to us than to help a golfer improve their game. A perfect example is one of our lady members - Evelyn Vass, whilst Evelyn has always been a good player she had an old set of 'off the shelf' irons that hadn't been fitted for her and for this reason her golf game was being held back. She took the decision to see us for a fitting over the winter so that she could make sure she had the correct clubs to help her game as this season started. The result was a new set of fitted TaylorMade irons that we knew would help her take her game to the next level, and since they have been put in her bag her results in her last five ladies competitions have been first, second, first, first and first!! You can only get so far with an 'off the shelf' set before they will limit your scoring and ability to improve, with a fitting session we can check that you have the right clubs in terms of shaft flex and weight, lie angle, head shape, grip size, length - after a fitting we have seen countless golfers radically improve their scoring and handicaps through more consistent golf and that is why nearly 85% of our competition winners have been fitted for their equipment here.

The latest victory for Evelyn was on Sunday in a ladies 18 hole Stableford, although the turn out was relatively low scoring was very good and it was Evelyn who played the best with a great score of 43 points meaning a handicap reduction down to 14. She had 23 points after nine holes and scored at least two points on sixteen out of eighteen holes - fantastic consistency. In second place was Sue Gunning, who might have won on many other days with a score of 40 points, and third went to junior golfer Katie Pickering who scored 37 and had an amazing 5 point hole on the third which is good going and very rare!!

The ladies played their latest West Cheshire Shield match and it was a tough one away at Wallasey Golf Club on Monday, Wallasey is where the game of Stableford was invented and is an awesome track, being one of my personal favourite courses. The result didn't go our ladies way, many of whom had never played a links course before, they suffered a whitewash but they really enjoyed playing such a wonderful golf course and their games will be better for the experience of playing a championship standard links course.

There was a popular winner of the latest Seniors 9 hole competition on Tuesday as Keith Morrish returned a quite magnificent score of nett 28 including a birdie on the difficult last hole. Keith is another golfer who has recently visited us for a fitting and invested in new equipment that has clearly helped improve his game - again the benefits of custom fitting are shown! In second place was Frank Yarwood with a nett 31 and third place went to Tony Ledson on nett 32, the only two was scored by Ken Powell.

The Seniors play an 18 hole Stableford next Tuesday 27th May starting at 9.32am.

New shop layout and stock arrivals

If you have called in to the shop in the last week you will have noticed that we have had a big move around and I think the shop is looking better than ever with some really fashionable new clothing collections in stock.

We have some great colours in for the summer and with the sun out maybe it's time to invest in a nice new moisture wicking cool shirt or a new pair of shorts or spikeless trainer style shoes. Please call in and have a look around, we are open until 9pm every day of the week and we have more new stock in than ever!

Callaway Fitting Day

The next fitting day in our calendar is with Callaway Golf on 25th June from 3-7pm. On the day a Callaway fitting expert will be available to give you a full FREE fitting on any of the current Callaway range and there will be some special offers also on the day. If you would like to book one of the 30 minute fitting slots please click here.

Titleist special offers

If you have called in to the shop recently you may well have noticed that we have some cracking deals on the 913 range of Titleist clubs, the drivers are now reduced to just £249, fairways £169 and hybrids at £149 plus we will also throw in a sleeve of Titleist golf balls of your choice with any purchase, and with any new set of Titleist 714 irons purchased we will give you a dozen Titleist balls FREE of charge!

• Ladies 18 Hole Stableford - Thursday 22nd May 9am
• The Benny Trophy - Sunday 25th May 12.04pm
• Seniors 18 Hole Stableford - Tuesday 27th May 9.32am
• Ladies 9 Hole roll up - Thursday 29th May 9am
• June Medal - Sunday 1st June 12.04pm

Future date for your diaries - Captain's Day and evening Summer Ball Saturday 9th August