The sun is shining, the grass is growing and The Masters Tournament is done for another year meaning that you're all probably well into the swing of things now and enjoying your golf season. With the weather forecast looking good for the next few weeks we almost seem to have missed spring and jumped straight into summer!
Here at the club the golf course is in absolutely fantastic condition, 'the best condition it's ever been in' and 'the best greens I've played on this year' are just a couple of comments I've heard this week from visiting golfers.
We also have our first 'major' of the season coming up this Saturday - the Inaugural Trophy starting at 11am, so called because this was the first competition played here back in 2002. The Inaugural was won last year by this season's Captain, Paul Underwood and he will be amongst the favourites when defending his title at the weekend. There are still a few spaces left if you wish to play, just enter your name on the entry sheet on the notice board before Saturday.
Remember also that you can still enter the Singles Knockout and Pairs Knockout by putting your name on the entry list and paying the £5 entry fee any time before the draw takes place on Saturday after the Inaugural Trophy, if you're looking for a pairs partner let me know and I can probably fix you up.
April Midweek Medal Results
The recent good weather meant that we had a record entry for a Midweek Medal last Wednesday as 31 players teed it up altogether, the winner was our outgoing Captain and 11 handicapper, Chris Bird with a fine nett 67. Chris played reasonably well on the front nine but his winning score was really made on the back nine as he reeled off seven pars in a row to come back in a gross score of 36.
Chris' good back nine allowed him to edge out a rejuvenated Martin Major on a card play off, Martin's nett 67 included a birdie two on the sixteenth and he's now had two consecutive runners up spots as well as winning last months Midweek Stableford. In third place was Lee Slatford on nett 68, Lee was playing in his first competition of the season but he didn't show any rustiness in his game and his round included a birdie on hole fifteen.
Irish trip for our members
A hardy group of our members visit Scotland at around this time every year, however this year the 16 of them decided to go for a bit of variety by visiting Ireland. They played at the well known courses of Druids Heath, Druids Glen and the Ryder Cup venue - the K Club, and by all accounts all of the courses were extremely challenging but in decent condition.
The overall winner was 5 handicapper Steve Bond who scored a quite brilliant 40 points on the second day, Chris Bird had the best score on days one and three. Here are some of them before teeing off at the K Club on the last day.
We have a great offer on at the moment of FREE personalisation on Titleist Vokey SM5 wedges, you can have your own name or a small logo in varying colours stamped on your wedge for no extra cost! Every golfer will know that the Vokey wedges offer superior short game control and they are the number one selling wedge model in the country, as long as you order before the end of April you can now have one of these wedges with a unique twist of having your name or a short word stamped on the wedge, this is normally an extra service that can cost up to £40 . If you would like to order one please contact me here.
Just one week to go on our shoe trade in deal
I know that many of you have already taken advantage of our fantastic shoe trade in deal and our bin of old shoes has been filled up on a couple of occasions, but remember that the deal is now only on for another week ending next Thursday!
If your current pair of shoes are leaking or looking tired now is the ideal time to upgrade and trade them in and get up to £20 OFF a new pair of shoes ready for the summer.
The trade in deal applies to many of the 2015 models from adidas and FootJoy and runs throughout April, you can trade in any old pair of old golf shoes in so make sure you take advantage of this great deal.
Further to the shoe trade in deal we have a trade in offer on lithium batteries and trolleys - trade in your old worn out battery and get a £25 discount OFF the purchase price of a new lithium battery or a new trolley with a lithium battery.
I am sure that if you have played the golf course recently you will agree that it is in great condition, if you're now playing quite often why not think about a membership deal. Here is a breakdown of all our membership options - I'm sure that there will be an option to suit any individual and you can save a lot by joining:
Full 7 Day membership £640 or £57/month
Full 5 Day £460 or £42/month
Dual Full 7 Day membership with Pryors Hayes £800 or £75/month
Dual Full 5 Day £625 or £55/month
Flexible Dual membership £200 for 200 points (18 holes costs as little as £12 )
Senior pay/play membership 7 day £160
Senior pay/play membership 5 day £100
Intermediate (age 18-25) £400 or £35/month
Intermediate Dual £625 or £55/month
Junior Dual member (age under 18) £120
Joint memberships (couples/same address) receive 10% discount on FULL membership
Please contact me here if you have any membership enquiries.
Two of our promising young members have recently been playing in national junior tournaments.
2 handicapper Tom Duncalf played in the England under 16's Spring Championship at Hawkstone Park last week, out of the 81 players that entered Tom made the cut of the top 40 and finished in 12th place overall.
+1 handicapper Rhys Nevin-Wharton played in the McEvoy Trophy at Copt Heath, this is the National Championship for under 18's, he made the cut with two rounds of 72 and was hitting the ball well but had a cold putter all week and eventually finished in 24th place.
The seniors played their 'Spring Special', which is nine holes played from the white tees and the second nine played from the yellow tees, considering that the seniors don't get much practice off the white tees the scores were very good. Alan Phillips had a day to remember as he blitzed around the course in 45 points, he went out in 20 but really came to life on the back nine scoring 25 points including a birdie on hole thirteen, he beat ex-captain Graham Bower on a card play-off after he also returned 45 points. Graham's had a string of good results recently and he clearly liked the white tees as he scored 22 points on the front nine despite having a nine on the third! Tom Hutchinson came third with 41 points, next week the seniors play an 18 hole Stableford.
It's the ladies first board competition of the season on Sunday as they play the Ladies Barnes Trophy, it starts at 12.04pm and there are still places left! If you're a lady golfer that wishes to enter then get your name down!
Inaugural Trophy - Saturday 25th April 11am
Ladies Barnes Trophy - Sunday 26th April 12.04pm
Seniors 18 hole Stableford - Tuesday 28th April 9.16am
Ladies 9 hole roll up - Thursday 30th April 9.32am
May Medal - Saturday 2nd May 12.04pm