Course Maintenance

The greens have been micro tined this week, in the end it was on Wednesday and Thursday due to being too wet on Tuesday. So no Wednesday competition was possible this week, but these will resume next week. Remember these are Pro's stablefords run by myself and played from the yellow tees. These will take place throughout the winter and you can just roll up and enter on the day. You can play in 2's, 3's or 4's.

Tuesday's wind and rain did not stop 16 of our seniors section from turning out and as you can see make an excellent job of clearing the bank to the right of the 17th green. What a difference! Efforts by club members on this scale are so helpful to Nick and his team who can concentrate on the more specialized work that volunteers couldn't do, and to the golf club as a whole. Well done to all those people who helped.

And as always there are lots of other tasks which you could get involved with! Perhaps we should have a list of tasks from Nick made available, so potential volunteers can see what needs doing and take their pick?

Stay upright this winter

I have replaced four sets of cleats (softspikes) with metal spikes this week. All four people had the slipped, taken a tumble and landed on the ground. I am not aware that health and safety are doing assessments of spike suitability yet, or a spike MOT but this is often overlooked until it is too late. I recommend that you either do your own check, or bring them me and I will replace them if necessary.

One problem is that because all golf shoes are supplied with cleats, (which originated from America and are great in the summer on a dry course and better for walking on hard surfaces) people just presume they are suitable for all conditions. However, because a cleat is like a claw they can easily become clogged with mud and grass and no longer grip. If shoes were supplied with the British winter in mind, or even our 6th hole; I am certain the traditional single metal spike which does not become clogged would be the spike of choice. The picture illustrates what I am talking about.

Bring your shoes into the Pro Shop and depending upon the fitting, I can usually replace spikes while you wait. I sell spikes individually and fitting of them is free.

Blaze destroys clubhouse

Northenden is a golf club which we know has been on something of a roller coaster ride for the last year or two, but the fire that completely destroyed the clubhouse last Sunday morning has brought a new low.

I can't imagine the upheaval of a golf club losing its clubhouse, but that is what the members, owners and staff there are trying to come to terms with. And even then, there must be so many questions to answer about when and how they can move forward.

Work to make the area safe such as isolating all power and gas supplies and demolishing what little remained of the building was done almost immediately. Investigation work to establish the cause of the blaze has lasted several days but as far as I know, remains a mystery. Some Northenden members have been here for a game this week as we have extended the courtesy of our course to them while their course remains closed. One Northenden member told me they were hoping to resume competitions within a couple of weeks.

Results

Geoff  Loughlin won last week's Bogey comp with a great score of 3 up. Geoff continues to improve his technique and lower both his scores and his handicap which has now dropped from 20 to 11 in just over four years. I would predict that Geoff will play off single figures next year. Stewart Flint finished second with 2 up, third was Bob Kelsall and Ivan Kennedy finished fourth, both finishing on 2 up.

65 players entered Sunday's stableford which is high so prizes went down to 6th this week. Les Hattersley regularly tells me he should be receiving shots back after being cut by two shots to 10 following previous successes. Les played to 7 this week as he came out on top with 39 points, Pete Woodfinden finished second with 38 points beating Paul Wheelton on a countback. 2's were worth £9.30 each.

Tomorrow is a 4BBB Stableford, it is a team comp played in two's with the best score on each hole counting. There are some spaces left if you wish to enter the comp, please check brs or phone us in the shop to get your name down.

Presentation meeting - Saturday 25th October 6.00

Tomorrow's presentation meeting is a big one which concludes this season's prizes and also includes the vouchers for this year's knock outs. Please note that as always, the vouchers go down to losing semi-finalists in the knock outs.

If you have won a current voucher or a previously unclaimed voucher please turn up wearing your jacket and tie to receive your voucher from The Captain.

Here is a list of all unclaimed vouchers
And here is a list of all vouchers winners

Bunkers - Know what you're doing!

As you know our bunkers are rather solid. When bunkers are solid the ball tends to roll around them and end up in the same collection area. Of course this makes the problem worse as these areas become even more compacted and you must contend with a very bare lie. This is now a tough shot as you need to hit close behind the ball but not get the ball first!

Now then, most sand irons are designed with a large bounce angle on the sole, so the club will enter the loose sand on the surface but will then bounce off the compacted sand beneath, lifting the ball out on a cushion of sand. This is exactly what you DO NOT want for a bare lie.

If you are playing shots from a bare lie with a club designed for soft sand, you can expect trouble! The club will bounce off the surface too easily and result in a thin strike where the ball either hits the face of the bunker and finishes back in its strike mark or goes like a missile over the other side of the green - most annoying and very destructive. Players often struggle to commit to the next shot after one of these. And by the way if you open the face of the club you are further increasing the bounce angle and making the problem worse. The black wedge in the picture is a lob wedge with a low bounce angle which as you can see by the lack of shadow, sits with its leading edge flush on the hard surface. This is ideal for a tight lie. The wedge on the right is a sand iron. It has a greater bounce angle and sitting with face slightly open, you can see a big gap between leading edge of blade and the counter top it is resting on. This would be bad for a tight lie!

Using the right wedge will help you. Learning to strike the sand in the right place will help you. Having the correct length of back swing for the length of the shot will help you. I hear lots of moans and tales of woe caused by poor bunker shots - so why aren't more people using the right equipment and learning how to play them more successfully? Don't suffer - come and see me for a bunker assessment!