The European team triumphs again!

Another wonderful Ryder Cup tournament has drawn to a close at Gleneagles with the European team winning for the third consecutive time. In truth the Europeans had the better golfers and they always seemed to have the upper hand even when the USA took an early lead after the first mornings fourballs.

Irishman Paul McGinley proved another good captain and decisively he got his players to play like a team whereas the USA team, under Tom Watson's captaincy, seemed to field some strange pairings and they certainly didn't gel as a team like the Europeans.

From a neural point of view and for the benefit of the Ryder Cup as a spectacle I do hope the American team can up their intensity on home soil in two years time as this tournament, as great as it was, was far too one sided going into the final day with a wide gulf between the two teams.

Golf course tips

One of our PGA teaching professional's and Lombard Trophy finalist Adrian Hill shares a few tips and strategies that may help you tackle the par 3 seventh hole at Hartford:

Hole 7 - Par 3 - 187 yards

"The seventh hole is quite rightly the feature hole at Hartford and it's one of the best par three's I have played anywhere.

My first piece of advice when you get to the tee would be to choose your club wisely. The hole does play shorter as it's elevated but also check where the pin is as front or back can make a big difference also remember as you are high up the wind will affect your tee shot more. This hole can play deceptively long if it is in to the wind and I've hit anything from a five iron to a nine iron before.

A good trick I often use when I'm under pressure is to visualise the shot I want to hit. Imagine the ball soaring into the sky and landing softly on the green. The key is to fill your mind with positive thoughts and not negative ones, it's amazing how much better your golf can become when you're confident -look at some one like Ian Poulter for proof of this theory.

Once you have decided on your club trust your judgement and commit fully to the shot you have imagined.

Your aim from the tee shouldn't be to go at the flag but aim specifically for a spot on the centre of the green you will never be too far away from the hole if you hit the green. However if you go flag hunting it's amazing how many times you can just miss the green and the way this hole is designed anything left or right will kick off the banking further away from the green.

I would also adopt the above rule if you do miss the green - don't be too cute with your chip make sure you commit and hit the middle of the green, from there you may hole your putt for par or at worst two putt and make a bogey but if you leave the chip short or go long because your aim is too much for the flag cut at the edge of the green you could end up with a big score.

Look back up the hole when you have finished playing and quickly review how you played the hole and what you may do differently next time, try my strategy and let me know how you get on."

Alan wins Presidents Day

The final event of the summer season took place on Saturday and Alan Tayler emerged as the winner with 42 points. Alan scored on every hole with 22 of his points coming on the front nine and this was his first competition win of the season. Our poor captain Chris Bird was over the moon thinking he had claimed victory with 44 points, but it emerged that his marker Jack Carroll had thought his handicap was 14, when the points were corrected he signed for a 42 and got beat on a count back by Alan - unlucky Chris!! Chris and Alan are the first qualifiers for next year's Hartford Masters.

Steve wins summer Order of Merit

The summer Order of Merit came down to a three horse race on Saturday and it was five handicapper Steve Bond who held his nerve to finish in top position. Steve's 37 points and sixth place finish in the Presidents Day was good enough for him to remain above rivals Paul Underwood and Dave Johnson.

It's a great achievement for Steve to win the order of merit as he plays off a low handicap and it's hard for him to win many of our competitions but he has been remarkably consistent this season with nine top 10 finishes. He also broke our course record this summer with a gross 66 and won the pairs knockout trophy with Tim Barnes so it's fair to say he's had a good season - well done Steve!!

Tom retains the Singles Knockout Trophy

Our young cheshire star Tom Duncalf defeated Gareth Eaton 4&3 to win the LJ Percival Knockout Trophy for the second year in a row. It's now over two years since anyone beat three handicapper Tom in a singles match play game at Hartford and I reckon he must have won around 10 games in a row which is a great achievement, if he wins next year surely he gets to keep the trophy for good - the question is can anyone beat him?!

Lee wins midweek Order of Merit Trophy

The last midweek medal of the season took place on Wednesday and 18 handicapper Steve Simmons took the honours with a nett 69. Steve just beat Stuart Fallows who also had a nett 69 but lost out on a card play off, unluckily this was the third time this season that Stuart has finished in runners up spot. Third place went to Dave Shering with a nett 70.

Well done to Lee Slatford who finished in seventh place which was good enough to see him take the midweek Order of Merit Tophy. Stuart Fallows, not surprisingly, came second in the Order of Merit also!!

New online tee booking system

We are in the final stages of implementing a new online tee booking system, this will be more user friendly than the old booking system and we will have special offers on green fees, if you book and pay online you will be able to save up to 25% on the normal green fee rates.

The booking system isn't live just yet but you can have a sneak peek and register now by clicking on the link http://www.brsgolf.com/hartford/visitor_home.php

Winter fixture list

We have put the final touches to the winter fixture list, you can click here to view it and it will also be available to view on the club website.

Entries for the Winter League are now being taken, this is a pairs competition with an entry fee of £5 per pair , it would be great to see a good turn out for this ever popular competition and the course is always in great all year round condition meaning that you can keep your game sharp over the winter months.

The winter season starts this Saturday with the October Medal taking place at 11am.

The ladies have finalised their winter fixture list, you can view it by clicking here.

The ladies most recent competition was an 18 hole Stableford and the winner was Sandra Peake with 36 points, she just edged out Collette Walling who scored 35 points and in third place was Elspeth Forbes with 33 points.

• Ladies 9 hole Stableford - Thursday 2nd October 9am
• October Medal - Saturday 4th October 11am start
• Seniors 9 hole roll up - Tuesday 7th October 9.32am start