I always wanted to have my Professionals Day competition for ladies and the same event for men in the same week with an evening presentation and party at the weekend but the diary would never allow it – usually the ladies event was in late autumn and the mens in May. This year the mens event was cancelled in May as the weather was horrendous (why have all the bad days been competition days this year?!). As I looked through the diary for another day, the only available one was September 20th which happened to be the same week as the Ladies Pro’s day – Happy accident!
So, after 12 years at the club I’m pleased to invite you to the first Professionals Day Party Night!
The emphasis will be on informality and value, there will be a presentation and a hot buffet of chilli, curry and all the accompaniments and I’ve got a band coming who come highly recommended called ‘This Way Up’. They play everything from 50’s Rock & Roll through to 90’s and 00’s – check them out at www.thiswayup-band.com.
The dress is smart casual and will be 7:00pm for 7:30pm start with the band coming on at 9pm. Tickets are only £15 and if enough people book there’ll also be a welcome drink! Tickets are available from the Pro Shop and everyone is welcome, whether you’ve played in the competitions or not.
Titleist Vokey Wedge Demo Day
This coming Monday we have the Titleist Vokey wedge demo day which is your opportunity to come down and try out all the wedges they make, learn about the different grinds and the different roles they play in your scoring. To manage the day we have 45 minute appointments and there are a few slots left to book with the first one at 11:00am and the last at 3:00pm. The course is being hollow tined so why not make the most of the day and the good forecast and come and try some of the most popular wedges on tour out. There’s no hard sell, no obligation to buy and no cost! Please call the shop, pop in or email to reserve your slot.
Trolley battery wear
Very often when we have a PowaKaddy trolley in to service or a battery to test we see the axle blocks have worn considerably. I would say in almost 50% of instances, the blocks have worn so much that the axle is tight up against the battery tray which is actually wearing a groove in the axle. This means your trolley is working really hard to get around the course and is the number one reason that batteries last less time that you would expect.
Here is a photo and short video showing the wear to look out for. Click here to view the video. Now would be a good time to check yours out as the trolleys will work harder over the winter, a service costs just £25 and the axle blocks are inexpensive to replace, certainly compared to a new battery and gearbox which can be required if the natural wear goes undetected. This isn’t a manufacturing fault, the clutches and the axle blocks have a limited lifetime of a few years depending on usage.
Steve Trotman won the Jubilee Cup on Sunday with a fantastic two under par 67, nett 65. The scratch team Captain has been busy focusing on his team this year and as they lead the league going into the final two matches, it was great to see Steve shoot such a good score. I was also pleased as it was the first round Steve had played with his new PING G30 driver! I’m quite impressed with the new model and it measures up pretty well to what it should be in terms of specifications – not a very common thing these days. There are shaft options as well and with Steve we went to the 10 gram heavier tour shaft and 0.75” shorter than standard length which gave him a better shot dispersion compared to his trusted PING G10 model.
Unusually in the competition almost a quarter of the field scored a two!! Over thirty two’s with most coming on the third including a hole-in one from Andy Ward! Thee downside is that the two’s only paid out £4.48 but that’s still nearly 5x the outlay or 10x in Andy’s case as an ace receives double the payout. What was surprising is that the flag was on the front of the green which is usually a hard place to get near – does this show that everyone tends to underclub or that the greens are a touch softer or that you’ve all learnt how to strike the ball first and create plenty of spin?
Then on Tuesday in the social 9 holes event, Geoff Wheatcroft scored his first hole in one. His ace also came on the 3rd hole and secured him a whopping 5 stableford points!
Scores from the night:
Nigel Metcalfe 20 points £14
Andrew Metcalfe 19 points £12
Josh Smith 19 points £10
Mick Dilworth 19 points £9
tied Tim Burton and Steve Sutton 18 points £6.50 each
As I mentioned to the competitors this week, there are two things you can guarantee will occur.
- The day the kids go back to school will be the best weather for weeks
- The week before the greens get hollow-tined will see them at their best!
The annual Course maintenance is scheduled for next week and it always seems a shame to aggressively work on them when they are so good but remember, one of the reasons they are so good is because this work takes place every year. Please give Andy and the lads full priority on the course. The course remains open but some holes will be out of play periodically. The Tuesday social will go ahead. I’ll send a message out on the club system when the course is fully back in play.
I’m glad to see that Paul McGinley made a popular choice with his Ryder Cup wild card picks with the in-form Stephen Gallagher (plus a Scotsman on home turf) and the Ryder Cup stalwarts Lee Westwood and Ian Poulter. It promises to be a huge event and another great golfing spectacle as long as late September in Scotland behaves itself.