It was another busy week in the sporting world and here at the Golf Club as many of you have been getting out on the golf course and taking advantage of the glorious weather. The English cricketers won the Ashes in emphatic fashion against the Australians and the football season has now kicked off with a shock home defeat for well fancied Arsenal (sorry to mention this Paul Underwood!) and in the WGC Bridgestone Invitational Irishman Shane Lowry romped to victory meaning that he has now secured his US PGA Tour card for the next two years.

It's also great news that world number one and defending champion Rory McIlroy is fit to play in this week's final major of the season - the US PGA Championship at Whistling Straits, there's a full preview to come along with plenty of other news this week:

• US PGA preview
• Texas Scramble results
• Captain's Day preview
• Summer Sale continues
• Seniors news
• Junior news
• Upcoming events

US PGA preview

The 97th PGA Championship returns to the man-made links of Whistling Straits for the third time, it's the final major of the season and it boasts the highest quality field of any major this year including the fit again world number one and defending champion Rory McIlroy.

Interestingly the golf course land was originally used as a landing strip for US Army aircraft training, as a result it was very flat and barren before it was transformed by chief designer Pete Dye into one of the world's most picturesque and unique golf courses.

Whistling Straits is set within the back drop of Lake Michigan, eight holes run alongside the lake adding to the links style feel of the course, amazingly the course also boasts nearly a thousand bunkers dotted almost everywhere (by contrast St Andrews has just over 100) Dustin Johnson came a cropper last time he played there as he was penalised two shots for grounding his club in one of the huge waste area bunkers.

With a length of over 7500 yards Whistling Straits will offer a stiff but fair challenge, good scores can be had around here but equally if you go offline you can be punished greatly by the many bunkers and the lake that comes into play on many of the holes. The eighteenth hole is a par 4 of 520 yards in length and it usually plays the toughest on the course so don't be surprised if we see some late drama!

My prediction is that it will be a similar tournament to the recent Open Championship with a congested leader board and a close finish, the last two majors at Whistling Straits have ended in play-off finishes and this could well be the same with so many of the world's best players in good form, look for a score of around twelve to fourteen under par to be the winning total. In terms of players Bubba Watson has the game to win, he is driving the ball long and straight from the tee, his putter is also working well and he seems to be full of confidence being in contention every time he tees it up at the moment.


 

Texas Scramble results

Thanks to Vice-Captain and competition secretary Paul Underwood for sorting out the Texas Scramble competition on Sunday, here is his write up of how things went.

'It is always nice to have a change of format from the usual Stableford or Strokeplay event and all that played in the Texas Scramble at the weekend enjoyed the day. Eighteen players turned out for it, which led to five teams playing eighteen holes in glorious sunshine. In order to mix it up a little more there was a weighted draw which meant that there was a good spread of handicaps in each group. The front nine was fairly close with just one shot in it with the leading team on four under par. Tactics came into it a little more on the back nine as there was a minimum number of drives that each player needed to take. In the end it was the team that managed this part of the game best that came out victorious when Javier Lang hit a glorious shot down seventeen for his final allocated drive followed up with a world class approach shot by Dave Johnson for a four inch tap in birdie to take their team to seven under par. A solid par on the last meant that Dave, Javier, Alana Grogan and myself won the event with Steve Dunning, Bob Bowen, Alan Royle and Paul Lang in second at four under.'

The next competition is the Captain's Day a week on Saturday, more details of which are below.

Captain's Day coming up next Saturday

This will be your final reminder that you can save money on the Captain's Day tickets if you buy them in advance! There is live music, disco and casino with a BBQ and late bar for the bargain early bird price of £20 per ticket if you buy them now, if you pay on the night tickets are £25. They are available now to buy in the golf shop.

Before the evening's entertainment organised by Captain's Liam Tyrer and Annie Rowland there will be a Stableford competition starting at 11am with the ladies playing before the men, including the on-course drinks buggy keeping you all refreshed!

After the golf there is a good chance that the tradition of the men's captain visiting the ninth pond for a nice swim will probably be continued, I'm sure that you will all make sure Liam doesn't avoid a soaking! Once Liam has dried off it will be on to the evening's entertainment where there will be live music, a disco, casino and a BBQ starting at 7.30pm.

Tickets are available now, to re-iterate please buy in advance as they will cost you more on the night!

Knockouts update

We are now at the semi-final stages of the summer knockout competitions, the matches are as follows:

I&J Daines Pairs Knockout matches:

Mike Angel & Jonno Ness vs. Martin Major & Antony Green
Kieran & Paul Underwood vs. Liam Tyrer & Gareth Eaton

LJ Percival Singles Knockout matches:

Antony Green vs. Ian Daines
James Eaton vs. Matthew Leach 





Summer Sale continues

Our summer sale is still on for the next couple of weeks, as the sun has been shining many of you have already grabbed the chance to pick up a bargain golf shirt from our sale rail, many of them are reduced by up to 50%.

Also did you know that we have some great deals on new and ex-demo sets of irons at the moment?

Many of the sets are reduced by as much as £200 from the original price meaning that you can save a great deal. Here are some of the best buys:

• Titleist 714 AP1 irons save £81 - were £480 sale price £399
• Nike Vapor Combo irons save £150 - were £549 sale price £399
• TaylorMade Tour Preferred CB irons save £200 - were £649 sale price £200
• Adams Blue combo set save £70 - were £499 sale price £429
• Nike Vapor Speed irons save £70 - were £499 sale price £429
• Callaway Big Bertha irons graphite save £200 - were £799 sale price £599
• PING K15 irons save £200 - were £649 sale price £449

  

There are many sale items so please call in to have a look at our full selection, the sale will be on for another two weeks so be quick! 


 

Free junior taster sessions

The free junior taster sessions with Adam Powell PGA have proved to be very popular, Adam can start your young ones off in their golfing careers with some free tuition in a fun and friendly environment and the first taster session won't cost you a penny, all equipment is provided too! 

These free golf taster sessions are open to any young beginners aged 5 to 15 years old, and they are perfect for any junior boy or girl that wants to have a go and try golf for the first time, the last two summer holiday session dates are as follows:

These free golf taster sessions are open to any young beginners aged 5 to 15 years old, and they are perfect for any junior boy or girl that wants to have a go and try golf for the first time, the session dates are as follows:

Thursday 20th August 3pm
Saturday 22nd August 11am

All the sessions last for an hour and will be for a maximum of 10 juniors and all equipment is provided. As there is a limit on numbers you must book your child on the session in advance, you can book by contacting me here.

 

The seniors played their re-arranged Summer Special on Tuesday, this is a Stableford competition consisting of the first nine holes played from the white tees and the second nine holes played from the yellow tees.

The winning score came from 13 handicapper Alan Nevin, who is certainly in a purple patch winning his second seniors competition in a row scoring a brilliant 43 point total including three birdies, I'm sure the handicap secretary will be watching Alan's good form closely!

Tom Hutchinson was unlucky to score 42 points but finish in second place, Tom had a cracking back nine score of 26 points and his round also included three birdies.

In third place was Bob Griffiths who scored 41 points despite two blobs. Here are Alan and Bob at the prize presentation, along with a great photo bomb from Alan Tayler in the background! 



 

• Junior club championships - Saturday 15th August 1pm
• Ladies evening 9 hole Stableford - Monday 17th August 5.32pm
• Seniors 9 hole roll up - Tuesday 18th August 9.16am
• Ladies 9 hole roll up - Thursday 20th August 9.32am
• Captain's Day - Saturday 22nd August 11am