Welcome to another edition of your pro shop newsletter which this week takes a look at The Masters, a recap of our Captains' Drive-in, plus all the latest competition results and shop news.

Enjoy this week's read.

There's no event quite like it...

The Masters does have the best build up to a Major – I enjoyed watching Tom Watson win the par 3 competition, Jack Nicklaus’ Grandson get a hole in one and all the kids that were talented enough to be involved.

But who will win The Masters?

Well I don’t think Sergio will defend it with an unfortunate ‘13’ on his card in the first round – that’s the only trouble with medal I guess. Sad to see Sergio playing good shot after good shot with the balls all spinning back into the water - but that’s what can so easily happen at Augusta. I think Bubba Watson has a good chance this year as he has recently started playing well again. 

A competition for earlybirds

The first twilight golf competition is this Tuesday, that’s Tuesday 10th April. To remind you, this is a new initiative - a game of golf which you can play in a couple of hours followed by a drink in the bar. I’m sure you would agree this is certainly a good concept! and I hope it’s a concept you would like to be involved in. A nine holes stableford competition, which plays a composite par 36 course beginning from the 6th tee.

Duncan Cheslett has created a bespoke scorecard of the course and you can take a look at it by clicking here.

Times are available on BRS from 4.00 to 6.30, so put your name down on BRS if you want to give it a go. It will cost members of Reddish Vale £2.50 plus optional £1 for 2’s, enter in Pro Shop as normal. There are people down to play looking for playing partners so that could be you.

Coaching this April

Here is a list of the upcoming coaching and competitions for April.

Sunday 8th April - coaching on the practice ground (intermediate 1-2) (beginners 2-3)
Sunday 15th April - coaching on the practice ground (intermediate 1-2) (beginners 2-3)
Sunday 22nd April - Junior competition (intermediate 18 holes @ 2pm) (beginners 5 holes @ 2.30pm)
Sunday 29th April - coaching on the practice ground (intermediate 1-2) (beginners 2-3)

We hope to see you all there.

If anyone is interested in going in any of these sessions please bring them along.

And they're off!

If you missed the drive-in, I can tell you that all three Captains got the ball away and it was most entertaining too. Mike Canning is now club Captain, Mal Woodcock is Lady Captain (again) and Harry Darby is our new Junior Captain. Here are a few pictures to share with you. Note the two people on the left standing behind the net before the Captain tees off. You will note they have moved (and I have never seen Steve Cole nor Steve Smith move so quickly) by the time the next picture was taken a few seconds later!

Pro’s Cross Country

Thanks for an excellent entry on the day, and for all the positive feedback about the course it is much appreciated - I hope you really enjoyed it. I was pleased that several of our more recent members commented upon how much they enjoyed it, having never played a cross country before.

There are lots of other possibilities with the layout but we do need an element of safety – it’s probably safer than the normal layout! Reverting back to the traditional format of Texas Scramble this year would have helped you immensely and I am aware the ‘brutal’ two from three to count Russian Stableford has been a very stringent examination in recent years!

1st – Lee Costello, Lewis Cooper & Ross Birch – 46.7
2nd – Kevin Gale, Jeff Watson & Graham Kennedy – 47.8
3rd – Lee McLachlan, Ian Foster & Gary Hughes – 48.0
4th – Chris Connolly, Andy Cummings & Chris Roberts – 48.8

Twos: 78p each.

Pro’s Running Stableford

1st – Martin Boocock – 37 pts
2nd – Paul Sloane – 36 pts (CPO)
3rd – Andy MacKenzie – 36 pts
4th – Robert Little – 35 pts (CPO)

Twos: £8.80 each.

Click here to see the full results.

Wednesday Section Stableford

Somehow we got to play on Wednesday although it was very wet indeed.

Div 1 Winner - Lee Costello – 37 pts
Div 2 Winner – Anthony Lyons – 36 pts
Div 3 Winner – Paddy Weadick – 36 pts (CPO)

Twos: £7.20 each.

10 years at Reddish

Thank you for all the emails and thanks for being at Reddish Vale for the past ten years – it means a lot. I can tell you I really enjoy being your club Pro and I am determined to continue making improvements here in the next ten!

Last weekend’s flash sale with 10% off everything took everyone by surprise including myself as I only decided to run the offer the day before it started! Maybe in another 10 years there will be 20% off everything - who knows? Lots of people made excellent savings, Alan Finney made the greatest saving with 10% off a new set of PING G400 irons.