Stockbrook Seniors NEWSLETTER S e p t e m b e r 2 0 1 4 HEATWAVE With trees shedding their leaves, August was pretty autumnal as a whole but hope for further nice weather in September is always there. Richard Tucker is coming towards the end of his year as Captain and will, I m sure, be looking forward to a more restful year next year. Richard is a fairly quiet kind of guy generally but has been a formidable driving force this year, instigating some small but significant changes to our events and practices that have really put his stamp on things. Wednesday 6th August 2014 - A low turnout due to severe prospects of rain, which, although we didn t stay entirely dry, didn t turn out as badly as expected. The 9 holer was, not surprisingly aborted, for which Alan B was eternally grateful. The white tee medal saw 12 seniors enter, but was won again by Reis Jones, who will soon hopefully either get a job, or go to college, to give us a break! His score of net 73 pipped our own Tony Lovell (net 74) into second and Ray Hagger, who was third with net 75. The yellow tee competition had 13 entrants and was won by a guy who is playing some very good golf at the moment, (in between fags) Dave Bennett who, with a net 72 beat Chris Henry into second by a shot. Dave has a bit of a cavalier attitude to life and that s how he plays his golf not a safety shot to be seen! Wednesday 13th August 2014 - Stableford and Committee Cup - another perfect day for golf with a turnout of 51 to prove it! If you think you are going through a bad patch at the moment, think of me! I had 19 points, which was my lowest total ever at Stock Brook and has been on the cards for some weeks now. What a frustrating game golf is! Riding high on his recent fine displays at Forest of Arden was Peter Patterson with an excellent 36 Pts. from Jim Watson and Mike Prince respectively, both on 35 and separated by countback. Richard Bishop was the best of the past and present committee contingent and bagged the Committee Cup with 34 points, well done! EVE Wednesday 3 rd Midweek Medal Wednesday 10 th Five Club Trophy Wednesday 17 th E/S Stableford and Match vs Langdon Hills (h) Wednesday 24 th E/S Stableford and Match vs Crondon Park (h) Wednesday 16 th Seniors Championship Round 2** Wednesday 23 rd Stableford and Captain s Trophy Wednesday 30 th Stableford Thursday 31 st Match vs Burstead (A) Wednesday 20th August 2014 - Captain s Day Betterball Pairs followed by lunch in the Rosewood Suite - a very healthy turnout for this, one of the highlights of the calendar year. I, very mistakenly, thought that Chris Clarke and I had done pretty well with 41 points, alas, reality was vastly different. With a stupendous score of 49 points it was Dave Clarke and John Sheff who won the day with Richards Tucker and Glasby taking second on countback from Dave Bennett and John Hibbert, all with 47 points. Continued Page 3 Captain s Day attendees - more on page 4
WEDNESDAY SENIORS RESULTS SUMMARY 6 th August - Midweek Medal 1 st Reis Jones - Net 73 (non senior) 2 nd Tony Lovell - Net 74 3 rd Ray Hagger - Net 75 Seniors Yellow Tee Strokeplay 1 st Dave Bennett - Net 72 2 nd Chris Henry - Net 73 9 Hole Qualifier - Cancelled 13 th August - Stableford Competition 1 st Peter Patterson - 36 Pts. 2 nd Jim Watson - 35 pts. C/B 3 rd Mike Prince - 35 Pts. C/B 20 th August - Betterball Pairs 1 st Dave Clarke/John Sheff - 49 Pts. 2 nd Richard Tucker/Richard Glasby - 47 Pts. C/B 3 rd Dave Bennett/John Hibbert - 47 Pts. C/B 9 Hole Challenge on Manor Winner - Alan Matthews - 19 Pts. C/B 27 th August - 1-19 Stableford Trophy 1 st Rob Avery - 35 Pts. 2 nd Ray Dean -34 Pts. 3 rd John Hibbert - 33 Pts. C/B 27 th August - 20-28 Stableford Trophy 1 st Chris Long - 39 Pts. 2 nd Shoky Visram -37 Pts. 3 rd Paul Welton - 36 Pts.
There was a nine hole challenge on the Manor for those who wanted to get in the bar a bit earlier, and this was won by Alan Matthews with 19 Points on countback. A very nice lunch ensued with Richard Tucker thanking everyone for their support throughout the year. Very nice to see Dan Doody (although I didn t get the chance to speak to him!) and best wishes were sent to Alan Hemple in his absence. A big thanks to all the partners/wives who attended, it s you that make this event different to many others during the year, well done! A very fine total of 785 was raised for the Alzheimers Society through the raffle and the 4 th hole challenge which makes me personally proud to be part of the section. Wednesday 27 th August 2014 - After a whole day of rain on Tuesday it was a pleasant surprise to see the course in such good condition, notwithstanding the poor bunkers, many of which had turned into lakes again! The poor greenkeepers, they have already spent so much time draining them, they must be fed up! Two competitions today.stableford 1-19 handicap and 20-28 handicap, with golfer of the year points on offer and a trophy to boot. The smaller group of so called better golfers saw rather modest returns and was led by me with 35 points. Ray Dean closely followed with 34 and John Hibbert beat 3 others to 3 rd place on countback with 33. The 20-28 group saw much better returns and was popularly led by Chris Long with 39 points. Shoky Visram had a fine 37 points and GOTY leader Paul Welton bagged 3 rd with 36, another fine display. Since I ve been at the club it s the first time I can remember Chris winning anything on a Wednesday so it s great to see him achieve what we know he s capable of, and hopefully for him, it s the first of many. Team Report Monday 18 th August - The day began with an early start, and due to a bit of a mix up, 1 player short, which was unfortunate but ultimately didn t affect the result! Chris Long volunteered himself as the lone 2 vs 1 combatant and did very well for 10 holes, at which point he was 1 up, which was a fine effort, but numbers told in the end. Tony Lovell and myself construed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory and lost on the 18 th with me duffing a chip. We were not the only ones struggling though, as we lost the match overall 7-3. A lovely carvery afterwards saw me not eating again till Tuesday, so not exactly skimpy on the portion front! A nice bunch of lads to play and a very interesting course, with lots of doglegs and in very good condition, although not up to the quality of Stock Brook (no, I wasn t paid to say that!) Things you didn t know about golf - I can t ratify these but it s only a bit of fun The youngest golfer to shoot a hole-in-one was Coby Orr, who was five years old at the time. It happened in Littleton, Colorado, in 1975. 22.8% of golfers are women. Golf was banned in Scotland from 1457 to 1502 to ensure citizens wouldn't waste time when preparing for an English invasion The term birdie comes from an American named Ab Smith. While playing 1899, he played what he described as a "bird of a shot", which became "birdie" over time. The word golf does not mean "Gentleman Only, Ladies Forbidden". This is an internet myth. Read more here Don't feel bad about your high handicap..80% of all golfers will never achieve a handicap of less than 18
Yellow Tee Strokeplay winner - Dave Bennett 13 th August Stableford Winner - Peter Patterson Pairs Betterball Winners - John Sheff and Dave Clarke 1-19 Category Stableford Winner - Me! 20-28 Category Stableford Winner - Chris Long
Rules Q & A B's ball was lying badly. B was deliberating what action to take when A, his fellow-competitor, said: "You have no shot at all. If I were you, I would declare the ball unplayable." What is the ruling? A - A is penalised two strokes for giving advice and, if B follows that advice, he too will incur a two stroke penalty. B - A gave B information on the Rules and, hence, no penalty is incurred by either player. C - As A's suggestion could have influenced B "in determining his play", it constituted advice and A is penalised two strokes. Answer at the bottom of the page On a Lighter note By The Rules Two friends were playing golf one day. They decided that they would adhere strictly to the rules with no improving their lie. After a few holes, one guy's ball landed on a cart path. As he reached down to pick up his ball to get relief his friend said, "We agreed that we would not improve our lie." No matter how much the first fellow tried to explain that he was entitled to this relief, the second fellow would not allow it. So the man went to the cart to get a club. As he stood over the ball he took a few practice swings, each time scraping the club on the pavement, taking out big chunks of concrete and sending out lots of sparks! Finally, after several practice swings he took his shot. The ball took off and landed on the green about 6 feet from the pin. "Great shot!" his friend exclaimed. "What club did you use?" "YOUR 7-iron!" he replied. Lady Luck Lady Luck was seldom kind to Sam. Although Sam had a real zest for life he was constantly beset by bad luck. He loved poker but poker did not love him; he played the stock market with great anticipation but always seemed to be the one who bought high and sold low. His life seemed to be full of more downs than ups. His greatest delight was his golf game. Not that Sam was a great golfer; in fact, he never managed to break 100, but the odd shot that somehow ended up in the general area he had in mind was enough to keep his hopes alive. Finally Sam became ill and passed away. But just before he died, he asked that his remains be cremated and his ashes be scattered just off the fairway on the ninth hole of his home course. Accordingly, a gathering assembled to carry out Sam's wishes. It was a bright sunny day and was going well. Then, as the ashes were being strewn... a gust of wind came up and... blew Sam out of bounds. C - As A's suggestion could have influenced B "in determining his play", it constituted advice and A is penalised two strokes.
STOCK BROOK GOLF CLUB SENIORS SECTION DIARY REMINDER ANNUAL MEETING 21st OCTOBER 2014 7.00pm for 7.30pm The Seniors Annual Meeting will be held on the evening of Tuesday 21st October 2014 at Stock Brook Golf Club, Manor Suite. A formal Calling Notice and Agenda for the Annual Meeting will be sent out at least two weeks before this year s meeting. It will invite the submission of proposals for discussion at the meeting, subject to the following requirements: A resolution was passed at the 2006 Annual Meeting that in future years all proposals including those raised by the Committee, should be published at least 1 week in advance of the meeting with clear supporting arguments. It was also agreed that the proposer or a representative should repeat the proposal at the meeting and answer questions from the floor. Any such proposals should be received in writing by the Captain or the Committee Secretary, as soon as possible please. Please come along, hear the reports, have your say and socialise. Richard Tucker Seniors Captain Bob Braine Seniors Secretary 3 August 2014
Chris Long has asked me to print this, just to prove that he came top, which he couldn t believe! It s been a while since you won anything Chris, but a more popular winner would be hard to come by..well done fella. CURRENT GOLFER OF THE YEAR STANDINGS - top 18 Flag Joker Bogey C/Ship S/Ford 5 Club Singles K/O Points Paul Welton 7 8 8.5 8 31.5 James Nolan 12 9 21 Richard Tucker 12 8.5 20.5 Peter Jepson 7 12 19 Ray Dean 7 7 5 19 Tony Lovell 8 6 3.5 17.5 Rob Avery 5 3.5 7 15.5 Joe Lawton 9 0.5 4 13.5 Tony Collings 12 1 13 Steve Haigh 3.5 6 3 12.5 Chris Long 12 12 Shoky Visram 1 9 10 Bob Braine 0.5 8 1 9.5 Steve Barry 9 9 John Shade 6 3 9 Roger Mills 6 6 Peter Patterson 6 6 Stephen Chambers 5 5
PRO TIPS with Paul Barham This month we look at - THE GRIP In this months article I would like to remind you all of the importance of the grip. 85% of golfers slice the golf ball, there are so many ideas of how to stop this dreaded shot, like; Drop the arms on the inside in the downswing, the 7 to 1 path, release the hands, wide follow through. All these are things we have all heard and sometimes tried, I'm not saying there wrong but are very hard to doing during a swing that lasts just over 2 seconds. I have been teaching now for 30 years and during this time had great success improving people's slice by simply improving their grip. Our hands are the only part our body that has contact with the club and with a subtle change can improve the ball flight instantly! I often speak of strong and weak grips during my lessons but this does not mean that your gripping the club too tightly or too loose( it would always help to make sure that you are not strangling the club) it means the position of the hands on the club is incorrect. In picture 1 you can see a neutral grip, note the v's on both hands are pointing towards the right shoulder with 2/3 knuckles of the back of your left hand visible from your left eye. In picture 2 you can see how the handle sits under the fleshy pad of your left hand and across the top 2 joints of the index finger, the right hand sits gently on top of the left making sure the handle sits across the top joints of the 2 middle fingers (picture 3). This is a conventional grip but in picture 3 you can see a weak grip with only 1 knuckle being visible on the back of the left hand with the 2 v's pointing more towards the left shoulder. This is the worst grip to have and the most common for slicers! The position of the hands encourage the opening of the clubhead in the takeaway making it very difficult to recover this position through impact. For those of you who do slice and get too much loft on a lot of your shots then please try changing the position of both hands so they feel more to the right of the handle which will make your clubhead feel closed during the swing, I guarantee you will get instant results! Pic 1 Please come and see me for a grip check if your unsure. Pic 2 Pic 3 To book lessons or for more information contact Paul Barham Mobile: 07713 304523 Email: paulbarham09@gmail.com