Welcome to our latest weekly newsletter, it's been another wet week here at Hartford - as well as more showers we've had wind, snow, ice and the odd glimpse of sunshine! It's been cold over the weekend but we're still quite lucky to have a course that has remained mainly open and still playable, the coldest golf course in the world is in Greenland - the Uummannaq course is home to the World Ice Golf Championships where the entire course is laid on gigantic icebergs and rounds of golf are played in subzero temperatures. The rules remain the same as regular golf although the course is a little shorter, the holes a little larger, the ball is orange and the green is white - sounds like fun!
Lot's of news for you again this week including:
- Underwood happy to be under-par in January Stableford
- Book a FREE fitting now on the new PING irons
- Now is the time to get a grip of your game
- January Sale continues
- How you can get 3 months membership for FREE
- The return of Night Golf
- Seniors news
- Ladies news
- Upcoming events
January Stableford review
There was a keen frost on Saturday morning meaning that the golf course was white over and conditions were tricky to say the least, there must have been a few funny bounces on the frozen solid greens but they did thaw out for the back nine.
It was Vice-Captain and 16 handicapper Paul Underwood that managed to handle the conditions the best to post a 38 point winning total, including an excellent birdie three on the sixth hole.
Captain Liam Tyrer continued his good form as he returned 37 points, Liam recently purchased a new Nike fairway wood and some new wedges and they're clearly doing the business for him! Third place went to 6 handicapper Gareth Eaton on 34 points.
The Winter Order of Merit sees Dave Johnson on top with 38 points, Paul Underwood (32) is second and Alan Royle (31) is in third place. The next competition is the Winter League this Saturday with an 11am start time.
Please note that the Club AGM and winter prize presentation evening has been moved to a new date as it clashed with Easter Sunday - it will now be on Sunday 20th March at 6pm with a nine hole competition beforehand.
The return of an old favourite
One of the highlights of the year is always our night golf event and the last one filled up so quickly we thought we had better do another one!
So on Friday 4th March Night Golf returns to Hartford, anyone that has tried this will tell you that it's great fun - all you can hear in the dark is lots of laughter on every hole and it really is a great social occasion.
If you've not tried night golf before you really should give it a go! See the attached poster for further details.
The event is strictly limited to 40 golfers and it always fills up fast so get your teams booked in now!
It was only last week that PING announced that the new G series of clubs was to be released in February but I'm pleased to say that as we are one of the top PING fitting centres in the country we already have the new irons available to trial and for fittings. And as they've just launched we've got a great offer for you.
You can be one of the first people in the country to try these new irons, but we will also offer a FREE fitting to the first FIVE people to book a fitting for the new PING irons, so you can try them out and get a full custom fitting completely free of charge! Book your slot now just click here.
What makes the new irons so good? Well PING don't often use the word 'revolutionary' so you know that when they do they have come up with something special, they're calling the face on the new irons a 'revolutionary COR-Eye Technology that provides four times the amount of face flexing for consistently faster ball speeds across the hotter face. A gain in ball speed and shot height generates more carry distance and a steeper landing angle. A specialized heat treatment creates Hyper 17-4 stainless steel, allowing for thinner, faster faces to gain distance.' We've already hit the new demo irons and we can report that they are definitely a serious bit of kit, they launch the ball nice and high and with some serious distance - the ball seems to hang in the air for ages!
Remember also that we have a PING fitting day coming up on Tuesday 16th February from 2-6pm, on this day you can try and of the new PING G range or any other PING clubs and get a FREE fitting from PING's expert club fitter John Bragger. Places are very limited so please book your slot now by clicking here.
Fancy three months free membership?
I know that many of you will want to play more golf this year so we make no apologies for reminding you about our great membership offer - it was good to see a couple of new members join last week and take advantage of our fabulous deal in which you get 15 months membership for the price of 12 so you are getting an extra 3 months included for FREE!
The deal is very simple - join now as a full 5 or 7 day member and pay upfront and your membership will then run all the way through until 31st March 2017 - you can play as much golf as you like with nothing more to pay. We also have a dual membership deal with our sister club Pryors Hayes which means that you can play golf at both venues.
With this fantastic deal membership works out from as little as £8 per week. We also offer discounted membership rates for under 18's and intermediate members (aged 18-25), here's a breakdown of the membership categories and the price you will pay to be a member for the next 15 months:
- Junior DUAL membership (aged under 18) just £120 only £2 per week!
- Intermediate DUAL membership (aged 18-25) just £420 only £7 per week!
- Adult 5 day membership £460 only £8 per week!
- Adult 7 day membership £650 only £11 per week!
- Adult DUAL 5 day membership £600 only £13 per week!
- Adult DUAL 7 day membership £775 only £10 per week!
Remember that Dual membership also includes golf at Pryors Hayes, which is also an excellent venue and is an 18 hole course. What better way to start your new year than becoming a club member and really getting into your golf? Contact me here to register your interest in membership.
January Sale in full swing
The January Sale is still on and there are many bargains to be had, as we are selling stock we are adding new offers every week as well as the on going '3 for 2 offers'on many items:
- 25% off all Galvin Green and Adidas items including the waterproofs
- Buy Callaway X combo set (£349) and get 2 doz. Callaway Chrome Soft balls and tour cap FREE (worth £65)
- 3 for 2 on all golf ball dozen packs (except Titleist ProV1) (cheapest item free)
- 3 for 2 on all golf gloves, packets of tees, accessories and you can mix and match the 3 for 2 (cheapest item free)
- The return of our famous clothing sale rail with items reduced by upto 50%
- Free accessory station and accessory of your choice when you buy a Motocaddy electric trolley
As usual it would take too long to list all of our sale items so please call in and have a look around, you never know what bargains you may find!
Let us check your grips now!
It amazes me how many golfers are using sets of clubs with grips on that are obviously years old and very worn, the grips on clubs don't last forever - heat, dirt, and oils from your hands all age your grips and cause the natural degradation of the grip.
Grips lose their tackiness and become harder and shiny over time so basically they can become very slippy and not very nice to hold on to. Remember that the grip is your only contact with the golf club, basically if the grip isn't right your shot won't be right!
If you're holding a worn grip you will have to grip the club tighter and the extra tension won't do your swing any good at all, on some occasions your hands might even move on the club mid shot meaning that your chances of hitting a good shot are slim. The other aspect to remember is that they are lots of varying grip sizes to suit the size of your hands, if you're grips are too thin you will have too much hand action in the shot and the ball will fly left of target, grips that are too big will limit hand release in the shot and the ball will go right.
If you're not sure if your grips are worn or if they're the right size bring them into the shop and we'll check them for you and let you know if they're right or not, as a rule of thumb you should get new grips every 18 months or so. Regardless of whether you play golf every day or only twice a year, ozone, heat, dirt, and oils are constantly at work breaking down the materials that make up your grips. Granted, frequent play and personal preference may dictate re-gripping sooner, but normally there's enough degradation of the material after a year to warrant fresh grips. Keep in mind that grips lose a significant amount of their original feel long before they become hard and glazed over. Because it happens slowly over time, most golfers fail to notice it. That's important to remember because just a tiny, imperceptible slip at contact will be magnified to many yards by the time the ball reaches its target.
New grips don't have to cost a fortune either, we can re-grip your clubs from as little as £4 per club so make sure that you bring them into us to be checked - it's a great habit to get into of checking your grips at this time of year every year and then they can be right for you for the start of the season, don't underestimate the importance of the right grip!
The seniors played a nine hole Stableford on Tuesday and the weather was reasonable, Bob Bowen had a storming round as he scored 22 points including five pars in his last six holes, Bob's handicap falls to 19. In second place was Paul Frost with 21 points and third place went to John Webster on 20 points.
Next Tuesday the seniors play an 18 hole Stableford.
After their Christmas break the ladies were set to play two competitions last week, unfortunately the weather was against them so it was decided to put both back by a week. So this Thursday the ladies play a nine hole Stableford and then there will be another nine hole Stableford on Sunday - let's hope for some improved weather!
The ladies have been drawn to play at home against Frodsham Golf Club in the first round of the Mail on Sunday Classic, a team of five ladies will represent Hartford, the match is scheduled for 31st January.
Ladies nine hole Stableford - Thursday 24th January 9.32am
Winter League round - Saturday 23rd January 11am
Ladies nine hole Stableford - Sunday 24th January 12.04pm
Seniors 18 hole Stableford - Tuesday 26th January 9.16am
Ladies nine hole Stableford - Thursday 28th January 9.32am
Winter League - Sunday 31st January 10.44am
Junior competition - Sunday 31st January 1pm
Future date for your diaries - AGM and winter prize presentation evening Sunday March 20th at 6pm.
