A p r i l 2 0 1 5 COMPETITION SEASON HAS BEGUN! At this time of year most of us are a bit rusty and need a bit of work to get ourselves in the groove again. Said groove has been absent from my game for some time now but with the help of Paul Barham the corner I m about to turn is at least now in view! There have been many times recently when the social side of golf has been my sole reason for turning up and the golf aspect has all been a bit depressing but I m sure plenty of you know that feeling! Our inter club matches have started and golfer of the year qualifying competitions are imminent. The singles and doubles knockout draws have been made so please check the main notice board and get your games played sooner rather than later. How many times have I heard that people leave their games to the last minute and end up defaulting due to personal reasons. By the time I write this section next month we will be back from the overseas tour. I shall be keeping my proverbial fingers crossed for dry weather. The hotel where we are staying is of a very good standard and I look forward to playing the on site courses. There are still places available for the UK break to Breadsall Priory in Derbyshire but be very quick if you are interested. Wednesday 4 th March 2015 - Midweek Medal Stableford - Only 27 players found a lovely day with the course drying out very nicely, the wind did add some extra degree of difficulty however, as if we need it! Leader of the pack was the ever dependable Tony Lovell with a relatively modest 35 points (that s pretty rich coming from me, who scored 25 or so!) Closely following was Ray Dean on 34 and Malcolm Dellar on 33 points, very much a day for the old guard with not a Jepson or Welton in sight! The 9 holer was contested by 16 players and I am very pleased to report that Alan Bunn headed the field with 18 points, John Salmon was second on 17 and Gareth Herbert third on 15 by countback. EVE Wednesday 1 st Midweek Medal + 9 hole Qualifier Wednesday 8 th Captain vs Vice Captain Charity Match Monday 13 th Match vs Crondon Park (a) Wednesday 15 th Seniors Flag Trophy Monday 20 th to 23 rd Overseas Tour Wednesday 22 nd E/S Stableford and Match vs Three Rivers (h) Wednesday 29 th Seniors Joker Trophy Thursday 31 st Match vs Burstead (A) Wednesday 11 th March 2015 - Stableford - Due to the match vs Benton Hall it was the early risers that bagged the wine, led by Malcolm Dellar on 37 points. A new name to me..alan Lycett was second with 35 and our very own cavalier by the name of Dave Bennett third with 34. Continued on page 3
WEDNESDAY SENIORS RESULTS SUMMARY 4 th March - Midweek Medal - Stableford 1 st Tony Lovell - 35 Pts 2 nd Ray Dean - 34 Pts 3 rd Malcolm Dellar - 33 Pts 9 Hole - Manor 1 st Alan Bunn - 18 Pts 2 nd John Salmon - 17 Pts 3 rd Gareth Herbert - 15 Pts C/B 11 th March - Stableford 1 st Malcolm Dellar - 37 Pts 2 nd Alan Lycett - 35 Pts 3 rd Dave Bennett - 34 Pts 18 th March 4 Ball Betterball Pairs Stableford 1 st Tony Lovell/Alan Bunn - 44 Pts 2 nd Roger Mills/John Sheff - 42 Pts 3 rd Dave Muldoon/Ian Bradley - 41 Pts C/B 25 th March - Stableford 1 st Ray Dean - 37 Pts 2 nd Richard Tucker - 34 Pts 3 rd Chris Clarke - 31 Pts C/B
Wednesday 18 th March 2015-4 ball Betterball Pairs - Paul Wilkins kindly dropped out to enable a round figure of 38 players for this pairs event. The aforementioned Tony Lovell and Alan Bunn were again at their finest and came in with a highly creditable 44 points. John Sheff and Roger Mills kept up the fine scores with a 42 and new member Dave Muldoon and Ian Bradley were third with 41 on countback. Wednesday 25 th March 2015 - Stableford - A lovely day and a surprisingly modest turnout of 36 found the course playing very fairly. As is often the case, when the conditions are favourable the scores don t always match up to expectations, is it that we try a bit harder because we think we NEED to score well to be in with a chance? The very consistent Ray Dean was the victor with 37 points followed by Richard Tucker back from Italy on 34 and Chris Clarke with 31 on countback. INTER CLUB MATCHES We kicked off the season with a match against Benton Hall and a very friendly bunch they were. So friendly that we decided to allow them to draw 4-4. In announcing the running order for the day, Bob mispronounced the name of one of their players as Denise instead of Denis which led to much banter including requests to change room-sharing arrangements for the upcoming Benton Hall UK tour. For lunch, we had the carvery back on. It was a genuine carvery joints of roast beef and turkey and was a great success. The visiting captain was moved to thank us for the legendary Stock Brook carvery. Next up was a visit to The Burstead and another very close one it was, and yet again 4-4! We are therefore unbeaten thus far so bring on the next one. Our new match secretary Pete Jepson is very pleased with member support for these matches and would be very happy if this were to continue, as it will make his job that much easier. Please remember though that there are dress requirements and a tradition for each home player at Stockbrook to buy drinks for the opposition, as they will do for us at away matches. On a lighter note - Hells Bells Two fraudsters approach 20 blind men and say "Do you want to go on holiday?" The blind men reply "Yeah of course" So the blind men give the fraudsters 2000 each. The fraudsters drive them up to Blackpool, put them on the beach, and then go to the pub, Whilst there they think that the blind men are going to get bored. So they buy them a ball and give it to them. The blind men go "What s this?" "Its a ball," replies one of the fraudsters "Well we cant see it!" The fraudsters think hell what we gonna do, they spot a donkey with bells round its neck so they go and buy some bells and wrap them round the ball, and then go back to the pub. A while later an old woman walks into the pub and says "I tell you what, the world these days is really demented" "Why?" ask the fraudsters. "Because there s 20 blind men kicking hell out of a donkey down on the beach!" Small World Two men were having an awfully slow round of golf because the two ladies in front of them managed to get into every sand trap, lake, and rough on the course. They didn't bother to wave the men on through, which of course is proper golf etiquette. After two hours of waiting and waiting, one man said, "I think I'll walk up there and ask those gals to let us play through." He walked up the fairway, got halfway to the ladies, stopped, turned around and came back, explaining, "I can't do it, one of those women is my wife and the other is my mistress! Maybe you'd better go talk to them." The second man walked toward the ladies, got halfway there and just as his partner had done stopped, turned around and walked back and said: "It s a small world."
Midweek Medal Winner - Tony Lovell 9 Hole Manor Winner - Alan Bunn Stableford Winner - Malcolm Dellar Stableford Winner - Ray Dean
PRO TIPS with Paul Barham This month we look at - Bunker Shots Hi guys In this month s article I want to talk about the one part of the game that we all practice least and that is bunker shots. I am very rarely asked by anyone to take a look at their bunker play, either because it is not a weakness in their game or like all of us we hate practicing anything we are not good at. Firstly you must make sure you are using the right club for the shot, I have 3 wedges in my bag, a 48 degree,52 degree and a 58 degree, I will use all 3 wedges depending on the shot I have. If I have a high lip on the bunker I will all use my most lofted club(58) my gap wedge (52) is a club I use a lot which will give me elevation and some extra distance. I would advise you all to practice with your wedges to see the difference in the ball flight and to see which one suits you best. Let's now look at the set up for the basic bunker shot. In picture 1 you can see a very common fault where the ball is positioned too far to my right foot at address, my head is too far to the right with the shaft leaning too far forward. This will lead to hitting too much sand behind the ball which will reduce the distance the ball will travel. In picture 2 you can see the ball position is inside my left heel, the hands are level with the ball with my weight favouring my left side, also note that my stance is wider than normal with flexed knees. In picture 3 you can see that in my backswing my arms are too far away from my body with no wrist hinge whereas in picture 4 there is a big difference with how much closer my right elbow is to my side and how much more my right wrist as set,this position will create a slightly steeper downswing and also allow the clubhead to accelerate through impact. In picture 5 you can see a very common position through impact where my weight is too much to my right side which causes a very scoopy hand action whereas in picture 6 you can see my weight is a lot more on my left side with my arms extending. Myself and Craig Laurence will be holding a short game clinic on Tuesday 14th April from 10am till 12 noon, there are a few spaces available. Hope to see you soon. PIC 1 PIC 2
PRO TIPS with Paul Barham Bunker Shots - continued PIC 3 PIC 4 PIC 5 PIC 6 To Book lessons or for more information contact Paul Barham Mobile: 07713 304523 Email: paulbarham09@gmail.com