Open Championship Review
Here at the Golf Club everyone has been talking about Rory McIlroy's stunning wire to wire Open Championship victory. It was a great tournament played over a course presented to an impeccable standard and Rory McIlroy was a deserving victor with a fantastic winning total of 271 - 17 under par. I know many of our members visited Royal Liverpool during the week of the Open Championship and overall attendance was put at a figure of 203 000, what was most encouraging was the fact that over 5.5 million TV viewers tuned in on Sunday afternoon to watch Rory lift the famous Claret Jug, this figure was way up on the 3.1 million that watched Phil Mickelson's victory in 2013.
Rory McIlroy could certainly become the next dominant force in golf as Tiger Woods was in the early 2000's and hopefully he will inspire a whole new generation of kids to get in to golf. The fact that he has now won three of the four majors at the youngest age apart from the two greats Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods shows the level to which he has already risen and few would now bet against him winning the next major coming up in just three weeks - the PGA Championship at Valhalla Golf Club.
Open Sweepstake winners
The following people won prizes in our latest Open Championship sweepstake:
£100 voucher for 1st place – Gaz Hough
£20 voucher for runners up – Mike Pickstock and Matt Jackson
£13 voucher for last place – Adrian Larkin
The vouchers are available in the shop to be collected, well done to all the winners!
Rory's winning equipment
Many people were quick to write Rory McIlroy off when he changed his equipment deal to Nike Golf but he dominated the Open Championship with massive drives and impressive putting showing that he made the right move. Using what he has said is the "best driver/ball combination he’s ever had" – the Nike Covert 2.0 Tour driver and Nike RZN Black ball, he averaged a stunning 328 yards off the tee in breezy conditions – 45 more yards than the field’s average.
The newest product in his bag is a Nike prototype MMPROTO 2-iron, which made its debut at the Scottish Open last week. McIlroy sported apparel from Nike Golf’s Performance Collection and the Nike Lunar Control shoe.
He is the second Nike Golf athlete this year to win a major. Fellow Nike athlete Michelle Wie won the U.S. Women's Open last month.
- Driver: Nike VRS Covert 2.0 Tour 8.5-degree (Kuro Kage XTS 70X)
- Fairway Wood: Nike VRS Covert 3-wood/15-degree
- Irons: Nike MMPROTO (2), Nike VR Pro Blade (3-9)
- Wedges: Nike VR Forged 47-degree, 54-degree and 59-degree
- Putter: Nike Method 006
- Ball: Nike RZN Black
- Apparel: Nike Golf Tour Performance Collection
- Footwear: Nike Lunar Control
Kieran Underwood burns the course up
We have had some great scores in our competitions this summer but none have been as good as 13 year old Kieran Underwood's in last weeks Midweek Medal. Kieran has been playing well throughout the season and we always see him hitting balls on the driving range after school, the hard work is certainly paying off as he shot an awesome 69 off a 12 handicap to score a nett 57. Kieran's round got off to a good start with a birdie on the first hole and an eagle two on the sixth meant he was two under par after six holes, after bogeys on seven and nine Kieran then hit nine consecutive pars on the back nine to blow the field away. Kieran's good form has certainly been noted by the Handicap Secretary as his handicap has now been reduced to 6.
Second place went to Chris Whalley with a nett 64 which included two birdies and in third place was Alan Tayler with a nett 66.
Hartford Stag Trophy
The Stag Trophy is one of the few competitions that we play with two divisions based on handicap, and it was our very own Handicap Secretary Ian Daines that showed he can be as much of a bandit as anyone else here by returning a nett 64 to win division one comfortably with a round that included three birdies. As a result I'm sure that Ian will be observing himself now for signs for a general play cut!! Second place in division one went to Dave Johnson with a nett 68 and third was Steve Bond also on 68.
Division two was won by Chris Coates who scored a nett 64 as well, this was just good enough to beat Steve Hulse (who just sneaked into division two!) with a nett 65 and third was the ever improving Matt Leach with 66.
The next competition is now the August Medal on Saturday 2nd August, also please remember to purchase your Captain's Ball tickets from the bar as soon as you can as they must be purchased in advance. It is coming up on Saturday 9th August and after the golf there is an evening ball including; live music, Pimms on the patio and a barbecue with black tie dress encouraged. Tickets are £25 from the bar and Captains' Chris Bird and Jill Bebbington have put a large amount of effort in to organising what will be a great evening's entertainment.
Click here to find out more information.
New PING irons tested out
One of our professional's, Adrian Hill, tested out the new PING G30 irons last week and the results were very impressive. The G30's predecessors, the G25 irons, were good and won many awards for the best game improvement irons on the market including the Todays Golfer and Golf Digest Gold Awards so they were always going to be hard to improve on but PING have ceratinly managed it with the new G30's. Technology wise they have made an iron with an ultra thin face that launches the ball higher and significanty farther, this responsive face encourages faster ball speeds, we also noticed that G30 iron heads have been made slightly longer boosting forgiveness, and a new sole design ensures solid contact. Adrian commented that he could feel more weight in the head and as a result the irons had a really solid feel and club head speed was increased.
He hit the irons very straight and consistently long with an average of 179 carry with a 7 iron, which is around 10 yards longer than he usually hits with other irons. If you would like to try the G30 irons out for yourself please call in to the shop and we can lend you a demo iron to hit on the range, we are also an authorised PING custom fitting centre.
I make no apologies for reminding you again that four of our members are doing their bit for charity by embarking on a high altitude Alpine trek in aid of the charity Tiny Steps which is a new local charity, their aim is to provide a sensory and social cafe for children with additional needs and their families in the Northwich area.
You won't see Martin Major, Gareth Eaton, Antony Green and Steve Nicholson on the golf course soon as they are setting off on 25th July to walk 85 miles across high alpine passes and cross twelve glaciers along the classic route from Chamonix to Zermatt with around 38,000 feet of ascent and descent - they are expecting the walk to last around 8 days.
The lads have left a sponsorship form in the shop so that you can sponsor them, it would be great if as many people as possible could help them raise money for this great local cause. You can also donate by clicking here: http://www.tiny-steps.co.uk/donate/
We are still offering lots of great freebies with purchases:
FREE bag with any new set of TaylorMade or Callaway irons (min. 7 sticks) purchased.
FREE PING socks when you spend over £35 on PING clothing
FREE Nike shoe bag with purchase of FI Impact, Lunar Control or Waverly shoes
FREE limited edition adidas cap with purchase of adizero one shoes
Ex demo woods SALE
We are selling off some ex-demo clubs and there are a few bargains to be had, many are in great condition:
PING G25 drivers ex demo £129
PING G25 fairway woods ex demo £89
PING G25 hybrids ex demo £79
Titleist 913 drivers ex demo £149
Titleist 913 fairway woods ex demo £109
Titleist 913 hybrids ex demo £99
But be quick as we have very limited stock of all these clubs - when they're gone they really are all gone!
The ladies played an evening Stableford on Monday and the winner was Sue Gunning with a nine hole score of 21 points. Sue just edged out young Katie Pickering who showed that the junior girls can also play well by scoring 21 points but just losing out on first place by a card play off, in third place was Joanna Cameron with 18 points.
The next ladies competition is their Club Championship which is coming up this Sunday at 1pm - it's not too late to enter you can still play by putting your name on the entry sheet on the ladies notice board.
- Ladies Club Championship - Sunday 27th July 1pm start
- Junior Competition - Monday 29th July 1pm start
- Seniors 18 hole Stableford - Tuesday 29th July 9.32am start
- Age UK golf morning - Wednesday 30th July - tee reserved 8.30-11.30am
- Ladies Summer Stableford 18 holes - Thursday 31st July - 9am start
- August Medal - 2nd August 2014 12:04pm start