And it's a warm welcome to our first newsletter of the year bringing you all the latest happenings at Cheshire's friendliest Golf Club!
We're looking forward to bringing you plenty of news this year that hopefully you will find of interest and that will also help your game as we aim to make 2020 your best golfing year yet!
Remember that this is your newsletter so if you have any suggestions or features you would like to see then let us know in the pro-shop, we hope you enjoy this week's read..... • This could be a big year for Joel...
• January Sale is now on!
• A first update from Dan
• Some exciting golf equipment coming in 2020
• Book on our Ping fitting day in February
• Video/Photo of the week
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January Medal After a wet end to 2019 this year has been relatively dry so far (we know it's very early days!) and it was nice to play the January Medal in reasonable weather conditions, as with all of our winter Medals the format was Stableford and who would win our first club competition of the decade? |
It was one of younger members - 15-year-old 4 handicapper Joel Cann who took the honours with a fine score of 42 points, Joel scored a one-under-par gross score of 69 and he had a total of four birdies in his round.
It was an impressive win for Joel playing off such a low handicap and we expect him to have a big year.
His hard work ethic means that his games continue to go from strength to strength and Joel is surely destined to be a scratch golfer sooner rather than later.
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 | | Joel Cann |
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Jack Martayn was runner up in his very first competition with a 40 point score, he scored 22 points on the front nine and another 18 on the back.
Jack is also working on his game through a course of lessons with Adam Powell so look out for him to feature highly this year too! Liam Tyrer hasn't played much over the winter but when he does he seems to play well - he completed the top three with 39 points.
Liam had a back nine of 22 points and the only hole he didn't score on was the ninth!
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 | | Jack Martayn |
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This weekend we return to Winter League action as we play round 6 of the Winter League on Sunday at 11am - as usual the tee sheet is nearly full! |
Upcoming events - Winter League round 6 - Sunday 12th January 11am
- Seniors roll-up - Tuesday 14th January 9:16am
- Midweek Stableford - Wednesday 15th January
- Ladies 9 hole Stableford - Thursday 16th January 9:24am
- Daily Mail Foursomes - Saturday 18th January 11am
- Winter League round 7 - Sunday 19th January 11am
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January SALE news The new year signalled the start of our January Sale and in the first week we have seen the shop nice and busy with bargain hunters, throughout January look out instore for the following.... - Our best membership offer of the year - 15 months for the price of 12 on full memberships
- 25% OFF all clothing, waterproofs and hats (excluding the sale rail)
- 25% OFF all golf bags in stock
- 20% OFF all new putters inc. Scotty Cameron, PING & Odyssey
- 20% OFF all new wedges (excluding Titleist Vokey's)
- TaylorMade 2019 woods reduced by up to £100
- Pinnacle 15 ball packs down to just £12.99
- Up to 50% OFF many shoes inc. Under Armour, FootJoy, adidas and Skechers
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The January sale will continue throughout the month but be quick as many of our best sale items are already being snapped up! |
On the green....with Dan 'Happy New Year. I hope everyone enjoyed the festive period and is looking forward to spring being just around the corner. I would like to use the newsletter to keep you up-to-date as regards the ongoing developments on the course and to help promote a better understanding of the work we are doing. I started as Head Greenkeeper in late October and would like to thank the membership I have met for their warm welcome.
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Many of the membership though also jokingly commented, “What a time I have picked to join” as regards the heavy rainfall and short dark days. To this, I say Yes, but from my point of view this is how I want to see the course currently, as it helps us see our weak points and helps us know where we can improve. Most of the work we have completed on the course has been maintaining and improving drainage and woodland management work to improve the quality of our greens. Joining the course during the wet season has really highlighted the wet areas of the course and due to knowledge of course drainage, we have been able to rectify some pretty serious wet spots on the course already, such as the surrounds of the 8th green. Improving on the current drainage in the future will be a primary objective, as by and large the course is extremely well-draining in the winter, we just need to solve these few issues and link all these well-draining holes together. |
Maintaining the existing drainage will also become a regular feature too. We are blessed with a sandy based free draining site where water is quickly drained from the surface and keeps the course open and playable.
One unseen downside of this is; that sand particles find their way into drainage systems quicker, build up and can cause blockages. This is easily rectified with an annual maintenance plan to keep all systems running free and clear and to prevent any new problems arising in the future. |
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As I am sure many of you have seen as well we have been completing some tree work too, specifically around greens with the most shade One of the grasses major requirements for growth is sunlight. It is in effect solar powered. With full sunlight it is able to growth at its optimum rate, absorb nutrition, fight disease and recover from damage. On the contrary, grass growing in shade is slow to start growing, grows thin and long, it is weak and vulnerable to disease and slow to recover.
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With our tree management policy, we aim to encourage the former as much as possible, whilst maintaining the character and strategy of the course. Creating playing surfaces with full sunlight and wind flow is the most beneficial thing we can do to progress the course forward and improve the playability and enjoyment for you.
In November we also employed a new assistant greenkeeper, Tom Massey. Tom is new to greenkeeping but enjoys the outdoors and maintaining an active lifestyle. He has really thrown himself into the role and been quick to learn new skills and take on responsibilities.
We have a two-man full-time team at Hartford and in small teams, it is important that each staff member pulls their weight if we want to achieve our goals. This could not be any truer for Tom. He has taken pride in his work, been flexible with time to get jobs finished and embraced the goals we are trying to achieve.
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Looking to the future winter months we look to finish spiking the tees, approaches, fairways and roughs. This will help rainfall get through the soil profile quicker and allow air into the soil to help grass breath. We look to continue with the woodland management to further improve our playing surfaces to give a better year-round performance and we look to finish clearing any remaining leaf debris from the course. This will promote a clean, unchoked playing surface, help find golf balls much easier and give us the clean presentation we want heading into the new season.
Thank you for the positive support since joining Hartford Golf Club. We are really looking forward to the oncoming season and seeing what can be achieved.' Dan Ashelby - Head Greenkeeper |
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Golf equipment to look out for in 2020..... As usual, the new year brings with it some cool new golf products that will be released in the next few months, here are four of the best things to look out for.... |
1. New clubs from TaylorMade - you will see a lot of talk of SIM (Shape in Motion) this year, due to be released in the next couple of weeks.
The latest drivers and fairway woods from kings of innovation TaylorMade feature a new shape which reduces drag on the downswing and increases clubhead speed - the key to more distance, who doesn't want that?! |
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2. Look out for an exciting new iron release from PING around March time, we can't say too much yet but if you come along to our PING fitting day on 12th February (details below) you might just get a sneak preview! 3. Callaway has a new flagship driver coming soon, details are under embargo until next Tuesday so look out for more info next week, but let's just say their latest new release will take your breath away! 4. We all like a Titleist Vokey wedge release and it's no secret that there will be a successor to the SM7 range out in March, already seen on Tour we can't tell you too much about technology yet but word is that these wedges are quite radically different to the current SM7 range. As the new clubs arrive in the next few weeks look out for some reviews and features and we are also on the look out for club testers so if you would like to volunteer to trial some of the latest equipment to hit the market and give us an honest review then please let us know here.
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PING fitting day
We have our first fitting day of 2020 coming up on Wednesday 12th February with PING from 3-7 pm, as previously mentioned there may be some new clubs available to try on the night as well as the ever-popular G410 range that continues to be amongst our best sellers. On the night you can receive a FREE 40-minute fitting session with PING's Steve Purdy who will point you in the right direction of the best clubs to help your game, it's a great chance to get some expert advice and try some of the best clubs on the market before the start of a new season - an opportunity not to be missed! We only have 6 slots available so don't delay in booking - contact us here to secure your slot.
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Best drives from the January Medal!
This week we have for you some of the best (and worst!) first tee shots from this Saturday’s January Medal, including an early contender for club thrower of the year award! Enjoy!
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Hands up if you’re still feeling stuffed from the excessive (but highly enjoyable) eating over the festive period... We’re not going to ask anything too strenuous of you this week as we ease our way into the new year so don’t worry! Instead, take a quick look at the image below and see if any of it looks familiar to you.
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With a new season upon us and plenty of new products arriving in your local pro shop over the next few months (more on this in the coming weeks), now’s the perfect time to wave goodbye to the old tatty golf shoes, the worn-out gloves in a pile at the bottom of your bag, and the golf balls with more scuff marks than dimples! If you’re the type of golfer who keeps on top of their equipment then we salute you but if any of the above rings true, pop by the shop this weekend and give your stuff a winter MOT. We’re always here to help.
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