Welcome to this week's newsletter bringing you the latest news from around the club, competition results and a look at what we have to offer you in-store.

Enjoy the read.

Captain’s next presentation

The Captain's next presentation is on Saturday, 9 November at 5pm.

If you couldn’t make it to collect your voucher, please turn up at this next meeting to collect it.

Rodney Gorton

Last week I showed the scorecards of Rodney Gorton in the 1969 Reddish Vale Trophy. The scorecards provoked a few comments so thank you for those. If you missed the image here it is again. You will notice the 13th hole was par 5 (stroke 8) in 1969 – so the course then was a par 70.

I understand it was changed to par 4 (stroke 1) as we know it today sometime in the mid 1970’s when the parameters of hole length/par were changed.

What I did not know, and what will surprise you, is that Rodney’s scores of 67 and 64 (nine under par) were not enough to win the Reddish Vale Trophy outright! Thank you to David Calvert who read the article and informed me that an 18 hole play-off was required the following week between Rodney and Gerry Mooney from Liverpool who had also scored 131.

As you can see on the board, Rodney won the play-off in what was a year of exceptionally low scoring.

History of the club

We have such a long and rich history at the club but it is amazing how so much of it seems to have completely disappeared over the years. There seems to be remarkably few old pictues of how the course was. Some of our longer standing members can remember such images but they seem to have vanished.

If you have any historical pictures or items of interest about the club/course, I would be very interested to see any. Please dig out any old photos you may have so that we can copy and share them.

1, 2, 3 to count Stableford
Saturday, 19 October

1st - Josh Tunnicliffe, John Northrop & Anthony Phillips - 81
2nd - Paul Sloane, Simon Davenport & Marc Singleton - 80
3rd - Lee Costello, Gary Brown & Jeff Watson - 79

Pro Shop Stableford
Sunday, 20 October

At last, we had some decent weather on a Sunday and a good entry in the comp. Alister Trodden’s 38 points was enough to win the Stableford by one from several players on 37. Prize money was good so follow the link to to view all prize winners.

Wednesday Section (white tee non-qualifying Stableford)

35 played yesterday so not bad…

1st - Jon Milner - 39 cpo - Well played Tash Man
2nd - John Seaton - 39 - John is well pleased that mats are back in use
3rd - Simon Nicholls - 37

Next week's competition...

Next week’s competition is the final white tee Stableford and after that we go onto yellow tee Pro’s competitions as in previous years. Sometimes we have had up to 40 players in such comps on a good day so let’s keep Wednesday’s good in the winter – thanks in advance to all those who support it.

Sunderland Jackets/Gilets

These are very nice and have been flying out during the past week. They look good on and off the course so you could wear these anywhere no problem. If we did not have your size there is some more stock on its way, which I hope will be here before the weekend!

Distance - Do you know?

1. How far away the hole is? Callaway make some very affordable laser rangefinders. The advantage with a laser is that you can aim it at the flag and know exactly how far away it is. The ‘250+’ model which has the jolt technology (meaning it locks onto the pin more easily) sells for £229. There is a more basic one for £199 which does the job, but I would recommend the jolt technology for even a steady hand.

We also sell the Bushnell watch (ion2) and the hand held (Phantom) which are GPS units giving yardages to the front, middle and back.

2. How far you hit each club? If you book a gapping session you will. You need to play two or three decent shots with each club to get a good average. It takes around 45 minutes and you will receive a laminated card with your distances for future reference. Every shot is played with the same ball of your choice to guarantee total consistency.

A gapping session will also highlight any gaps in your set and yardages you may struggle with, as well as any two or more clubs which are doing the same job. If this could be you, book in and see! The cost is £25.