It's a warm welcome to our latest newsletter, hopefully you enjoyed the Bank Holiday weekend and it was good to see that it was pretty warm and dry for most of the three days - nice for us to not get as much rain as they seemed to have got down South! There was plenty going on here as usual including an amazing winning score in the ladies Club Championship, read on for news of this and much more.

This week's news:

• Sharon's round of a lifetime
• Beth blitzes the Bank Holiday Stableford
• It's another good Day at the office for Jason
• Golf Course news
• New clothing arrivals
• New Callaway products have landed early
• Ladies news
• Seniors news
• Upcoming events

Ladies Club Championship

Sharon Dunning may not have been playing golf for long, but I think it's fair to say that she probably had the round of her lifetime on Saturday in the re-arranged ladies Club Championship as she scored a fantastic nett 58 playing off 34, the most amazing thing is that she even had a score of eleven on the twelfth hole, so in theory it could have been an even better score! Sharon scored six pars including reeling off four in a row on the back nine, needless to say the Handicap Secretary has noticed this exceptional scoring, after winning an evening Stableford just two weeks ago Sharon's handicap has gone from 36 to 27 in the last fortnight, a remarkable handicap drop and testament to how quickly she is improving, well done Sharon.

   

19 handicapper Alison Worrall has also been playing some great golf, after a number of good rounds recently she was looking like the red hot favourite on Saturday, again Alison returned a great score of nett 66 and on almost any other day this would have been a good enough winning total, however thanks to Sharon's nett 58 unlucky Alison had to settle for second place and her handicap drops to 18. Here is Alison collecting her ladies prize from last week's Captain's Day competition from lady captain Annie Rowland.

The good golf didn't stop there as Jill Bebbington and Sandra Peake also returned fine nett 66's to take third and fourth place respectively, the ladies section is going from strength to strength at the moment and there is some top quality golf being played amongst the ladies but also a great friendly atmosphere.

Bank Holiday Stableford

The weather was pretty kind to us for the Bank Holiday Stableford after some early morning showers it brightened up nicely for our golfers and Beth Littler again showed how well the ladies are playing at the moment by scoring 45 points to take the victory. In her short competitive career Beth has now won two out of five competitions, a pretty good effort and her handicap has dropped to 33.

Ladies vice-captain Audrey Kettle also had a great game as she scored 43 points, she also loses three shots off her handicap and is now down to 27, well done Audrey! In third place was another rapid improver in twelve year old Ben Barrow who scored 41 points, this included an excellent birdie on the sixth hole.

There is another competition this Saturday, the September Medal starting at 12pm, the last remaining spot for the Hartford Masters will be up for grabs for those that haven't already qualified.

World of golf

In the world of golf the Fed Ex Cup is now reaching its climax in America with Aussie Jason Day taking victory at the Barclays at Plainfield Country Club by a massive six shot margin, Day is now the hottest man in golf, he may still only be ranked number three in the world rankings but he's won three of his last four tournaments and he only just missed out on a play off for the Open Championship after a short missed putt. At the moment Day is 'blessed with a combination of fearsome length, laser like irons and a putter kissed by the god's', I think this pretty much sums it up perfectly!

Left hander Brian Harman also had a Sunday to remember as he recorded two hole in ones in the final round, having previously never had an ace on the PGA Tour in over 100 events it shows that waiting for a hole in one for a professional can be like waiting for buses to arrive!

Jordan's Spieth's reign as world number one lasted just two weeks but with the next tournament, the Deutsche Bank Championship, boasting the top three golfers in the world in Rory McIlroy, Jordan Spieth and Jason Day it promises to be a real clash of the titans over the next few weeks as they battle it out for not only the mind blowing $10 million dollar prize money but also the bragging rights of finishing the season ranked number one player in the world.

Spieth took missing the cut at the Barclays in good spirit by reminding everyone that Billy Horschel, last year's Fed ex Cup winner also missed the cut at the same tournament before going on to win twice in the last three events, few would bet against Spieth making a similar comeback this year although he will have a fit again McIlroy and dominating Day to contend with, it should be a great few weeks!

Day's winning equipment:

• Driver: TaylorMade R15 (10.5 degrees, Mitsubishi Rayon KuroKage S TiNi 70X shaft)
• 3-Wood: TaylorMade AeroBurner 3HL (16.5 degrees, Mitsubishi Rayon KuroKage S TiNi 80X shaft)
• 2 iron: RSi 2 (True Temper Dynamic Gold X7 shafts)
• 3-PW: TaylorMade RSi TP (True Temper Dynamic Gold X7 shafts)
• 47-Degree Wedge: TaylorMade Tour Preferred EF (True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400 shaft)
• 52-Degree Wedge: TaylorMade Tour Preferred EF (True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400 shaft)
• 60-Degree Wedge: TaylorMade Tour Preferred EF (True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400 shaft)
• Putter: TaylorMade Ghost Spider IB
• Ball: TaylorMade Tour Preferred X
  

It's that time of year again when Andy and his green keeping team carry out course maintenance in order to set the golf course up for the winter, the main part of the work was carried out this week when the greens were hollow cored and top dressed.

This means that for a couple of days the greens won't be at their best but it is essential work that means that the greens will in their usual top condition throughout the winter. I'm sure that you will agree Andy and the team are doing a great job here at Hartford and at our sister club Pryors Hayes.




The in-form Alison Worrall scored 40 points to win the ladies Summer Stableford on Thursday, this included a fine birdie on the fifteenth hole. In second place was Jean Clare just a point back with 39 points, this good score came despite two blobs aswell! In third place was Kath Hough with 36 points.

The ladies have competitions on the next two Thursday's, this week it's a nine hole Strokeplay and the week after it's the Midweek Trophy Stableford competition.  




Our seniors played a three clubs and a putter challenge over nine holes this week and again the weather stayed fine, the format was Stableford and the winner was 25 handicapper Joe McLean with an excellent score of 20 points, in second was the ever consistent Alan Nevin with 19 points including a fantastic birdie on the difficult third hole, and next was Phil Pickering on 18 points.

Next week the seniors play a nine hole Stableford on Tuesday before a team match against Walton Hall seniors on Thursday. 




Thursday 3rd September - Nine hole Stableford 9.32am
Saturday 5th September - September Medal 12.04pm
Tuesday 8th September - Seniors nine hole roll up 9.16am
Thursday 10th September - Ladies Midweek Trophy 9.32am
Thursday 10th September - Seniors match vs. Walton Hall 10.36am
Sunday 13th September - Hartford Masters 11am





Autumn/Winter clothing arrivals

This week we've had some nice new clothing collections arrive so far from Galvin Green, Ping and Nike, the new Under Armour range will be arriving very soon also. We've got some nice new shirts in from Galvin Green based on their stunning new summer sky and fire colour stories right through to Insula tops for the cold mornings and the lifetime guaranteed Gore Tex waterproofs to protect you from the wettest weather.

Also look out in store for new PING clothing that includes items based on the very Autumnal themed Mulberry colour block and the latest Nike collection is based on shades of blue and a striking fuchsia colour that Rory McIlroy was seen wearing at the recent US PGA Championship.

As I always say, these photographs don't do the striking colours justice at all, please call in to have a look at our new stock if you can!

   

New Callaway demo clubs have arrived

We've managed to get our new Callaway demo clubs in early, they aren't released until Mid-September but we can use them now for fittings. We now have the awesome looking new Great Big Bertha drivers and fairway woods in with a good selection of shafts, we also have the new Big Bertha Alpha Double Diamond driver. They have only been in for a few days but we've already heard plenty of positive feedback and the new Great Big Bertha driver head is the lightest they have ever made, this equates to phenomenal distance. However don't take my word for it, ask to trial one next time you call in.

The new MD3 wedges have also landed in the shop, boasting a head design based on short game wizard Phil Mickelson's preferences with three distinct grind options and different groove options depending on what you are looking to achieve with your shots around the green.