Hello again golfers
Once more it's another action packed newsletter for you! In the sporting world the redoubtable Andy Murray almost singlehandedly pulled Great Britain through their match against Australia to reach the Davis Cup final for the first time in 37 years, Japan beat the Springboks of South Africa in the biggest rugby World Cup shock of all time whilst England and Wales got off to winning starts. We saw contrasting emotions in the world of golf - the hottest player of the moment Jason Day romped to victory in the latest Fed Ex cup event and he was overjoyed to establish himself as the new world number one. But the Solheim Cup, played between the best lady golfers in Europe and America was unfortunately tinged with tears and controversy, more of which later in the newsletter.
It's also been a busy week here at the Club with plenty going on, we do have some very exciting news for you with our launch of a new driving range membership card that will allow you to save a fortune on your practice range balls, here's some of this week's topics:
- Our best value driving range offer yet
- TaylorMade R15 price drop
- Ian Daines is the knockout champion
- A major midweek victory for Martin
- Liam and the lads have a quacking time in North Wales
- ProQuip new arrivals
- The good and the bad in the world of golf
- Ladies news
- Seniors news
- Upcoming events
Make the most of your winter practice time at Hartford
We have some great news for the hundreds of you that are regular users of our driving range with a new range membership card, we are offering the best value prices for range balls in the area and it means that you can really make the most of the dark evenings in the winter and get out and practice on our floodlit driving range. Here is a summary of the options and the savings you can make:
GOLD Card 50 x 50 balls £100 save 44%
SILVER Card 20 x 50 balls £48 save 33%
BRONZE Card 10 x 50 balls £28 save 22%
The new cards are available in the shop now and they will go live next week replacing our old digicard system, as a further special launch offer the first ten people to buy a GOLD card will receive for FREE a dozen Titleist Velocity balls worth £22.99. I think you will all agree that there isn't a better value driving range in the area and as winter approaches why not make the most of your practice time and really work on improving your game!! Remember you can book a lesson on the range all year round through the pro shop by getting in contact here.
TaylorMade price drop on R15 range
Now that we are nearing the end of the season there are many bargains to be had, each week we will be having a week's flash sale on a certain item in the shop, this week we are having a price drop on the TaylorMade R15 range of drivers and fairway woods.
The R15 is TaylorMade's flagship driver with it's high level of adjustability and TaylorMade are the most played drivers on the professional tours of Europe and America, originally £329 we have now reduced our last three drivers in stock to the bargain price of just £249, a huge saving of £80!
If you're looking for a fairway wood, which again is an adjustable club, we have dropped the price on them from £199 to just £159, a saving of £40!
With price drops like these we can smash the perception that the internet is cheaper, a quick scan of the main authorised internet sites that aren't selling inferior counterfeit clubs shows that we are offering the lowest prices on the R15 range and we will also custom fit the club for you to find the right set up - something you can't do if you buy the club off the internet, as we will make sure that you get the right equipment we can guarantee good results!
ProQuip new arrivals
The latest new Autumn range of outerwear to arrive in the shop is from ProQuip, they are probably best known for making the waterproof suits for twenty European Ryder Cup teams and the new range of thermal and waterproof wear is just as good as ever. As we said ProQuip are known for their waterproofs and their quality is undeniable but they are quickly making a name for themselves with the quality and the good value of their outer wear, the zip neck lined sweater is made from merino wool which is lighter than any other sheep's wool but also extremely thermal as it's a tight knit material that retains heat, with the lining inside the sweater it also offers ultimate wind protection from even the coldest day and it looks extremely smart when worn on and even off the golf course.
Also check out the Pro Flex soft shell full zip jacket, as well as being shower proof this jacket will keep you protected on even the windiest of days but allows you freedom of movement when making a swing - there's nothing worse than trying to play golf with so many layers on that you can't move and feeling like the Michelin Man! If you are after a good value no-nonsense waterproof suit have a look at the Aquastorm Pro suit which comes with a three year waterproof guarantee, the trousers come in various leg lengths and the whole suit is outstanding value at just £99!
Linda Percival Singles Knockout Final review
11 handicapper Ian Daines was the last man standing in the singles knockout Trophy as he beat Matt Leach (22 handicap) in a closely contested final, Matt had claimed quite a few big name scalps on the way so Ian knew he had his work cut out.
Matt used his shots wisely in the early stages of the match to establish a four hole lead with just five holes to play, at this stage Ian showed his steely resolve by not buckling and a hot putter meant that he made two birdies in the space of four holes to pull back to all square going up the last hole.
With the pressure on the eighteenth hole resulted in a scrappy half which meant that they had to go up the nineteenth hole for a sudden death play-off, Ian's good drive set up a birdie opportunity and by the time he reached the green he was stood over a twenty foot birdie putt to win the match, to Ian's delight the ball tracked straight into the hole and Ian was the winner but it was an agonising defeat for Matt.
Well done Ian three birdies in that last seven holes was some way to finish!
Midweek Medal review
It was the last Midweek Medal of the season on Wednesday so the Order of Merit trophy was up for grabs as well as the Medal, the winner on the day was Dave Shering who turned his game around after a lesson with our professional Adam Powell.
Dave fired a brilliant 79 -15 = nett 64 including birdies on holes five and thirteen. In second place was Adam's dad, Ken Powell with a nett 66 and in third was Graham Bower also on nett 66.
The Midweek Order of Merit went to Martin Major (pictured) courtesy of his fifth place finish in the Medal, this helped him leap frog above Stuart Fallows and Chris Whalley and after a fourth place finish in the Medal James Eaton climbed up to the runners up spot.
Captain's away weekend review
Captain Liam Tyrer fresh from his Masters success last week took a group of our members to North Wales at the weekend to play at Nefyn and North Wales Golf Club's. The format was a Ryder Cup style match with Liam's team against Vice-Captain Paul Underwood's team, after the first day at Nefyn the score was 6.5 - 3.5 in favour of the captain's team including a half for Liam in his match after being dormie three down against Paul.
After a night out in Llandudno (where Dave Johnson was burning up the dancefloors - see our Facebook and Twitter pages if you dare!) there would have been some sore heads on the golf course on the Sunday morning for the pairs matches, again Liam's team came out on top to secure a win by the score of 10 - 5. Here are the guys before they teed off at Nefyn including Steve Nicholson dressed as a large duck - apparently it's the only birdie he's ever seen on a golf course!
Ladies news
Our ladies played a Sunday Stableford at the weekend, it was a close affair at the top with four players tied on 35 points. After a card play-off the winner emerged as Elspeth Forbes, in second place was Alison Worrall and third place went to Ann Broster, Kath Hough was the unlucky fourth lady to also have 35 points. Well done also to Alison for a great birdie on the second hole. The next ladies competition is the final Summer Stableford of the season this Thursday over 18 holes.
Seniors news
The seniors played a 9 hole Texas Scramble on Tuesday, the winning team played their nine holes in two under par gross scoring three birdies on the way and it comprised of Bob Bowen, Reg Drew, Frank Yarwood and Rhett Butler. Next week there is an 18 hole Stableford for the seniors.
The Solheim Cup made for compelling viewing on Sunday morning but unfortunately for all the wrong reasons, as the fourball matches came to a conclusion (having over run from the night before thanks to some ridiculously slow play!) and with Europe enjoying a healthy lead Suzann Pettersen and younger playing partner Charley Hull failed to concede a short putt, as American golfer Alison Lee picked her ball up without the putt being conceded she had technically broken the rules and Europe claimed the hole. It wasn't a very sporting gesture from the European pair and tears and recrimination followed as both sides stood by their players, however events served to fire up the Americans who in the afternoon mounted the greatest comeback in Solheim Cup history to win the match 14.5 - 13.5 having been four points down.
As one of Europe's senior players Pettersen drew some hefty criticism for her unsporting actions and after reflecting on events she was moved to issue a heartfelt apology 'having not seen the bigger picture' the next day through her Instagram account, (click here to read the statement), the incident marred the whole tournament and from then on team Europe were in an impossible position - win the tournament and know that it was a tarnished victory or lose thanks to an American team fired up by claiming the moral high ground.
In tournaments like this there is so much pressure on the players to win and the lines of what's a sporting action or not can be blurred but let's hope next year's Ryder Cup is played in a better spirit as we don't want our great game of golf and its image of fairness suffering a tarnished image.
On a more positive note Aussie Jason Day realised a long held dream at the weekend as he became the world number one golfer after winning the latest Fed Ex Cup play-off event, the BMW Championship at Conway Farms, he is now odds on favourite to take the ten million dollar first place prize money at next week's final event the Tour Championship. Day is on one of the hottest streaks in golf as he has now won four of his last six events and he tied the PGA Tour's 36 hole scoring record with an unbelievable 18 under par total, mind-bogglingly he is 101 under par for his last seven tournaments!
In 2007 Jason Day asserted his desire to be ranked number one in the world, at this time Tiger Woods was dominating the game and 20 year old Day was criticised for being delusional and arrogant, eight years later he has answered all of his critics by doing his talking on the golf course and achieving his lofty ambition, looking likely to claim the title of player of the year in a season when Jordan Spieth has won two majors would be a great achievement and Day summed up perfectly his determination when he said 'everyone has dreams, as long as you stick to them and work hard, you can accomplish anything.'
The last competition of the Summer season takes place this Sunday as we play for the President's Trophy, can Gareth Eaton hold on to his lead in the Order of Merit and complete a winter and summer double? Remember also that you can still enter the Winter League pairs competition for just £5 a pair, the first round will be played on 10th October you can enter any time before then.
Ladies Summer Stableord - Thursday 24 September 9.32am
President's Day - Sunday 27 September 11am
Seniors 18 hole Stableford - Tuesday 29 September 9.16am
Ladies 9 hole roll up - Thursday 1 October 9.16am
October Medal - Saturday 3 October 11am
