Abbie - Our ladies County Champion!

I have had the most amazing three days at Delamere; it still hasn't sunk in yet. I had a good mind set and knew I was playing well before the tournament. I shot six over gross on the Thursday morning with a quadruple bogey, but I didn't give up and knew I had a good score in me. Playing the second round I was five under gross playing the last and managed to make birdie after racing my eagle putt six foot past, it was the best round of golf I have ever had which gave me a massive boost going into the rest of the tournament. My handicap reduced from 2.6 to 1.5. 

Matchplay is my favourite format and knew that I could give them all a run for their money. I won my matches 4&3, 7&5 and 4&3 to make it into the final. After playing good golf and a few convincing wins, I knew I was feeling really confident going into the final. I love my K15 driver and rarely missed a fairway with it all week; I put myself in some great positions and holed plenty of putts. The greens were really fast and you only had to touch a lot of them, but I have the experience of playing our greens which gave me a massive advantage.

I was two up through nine in the final, but my lead soon slipped back to A/S after 13 holes. All week I hit my tee shot down into the dip on 14 and knew exactly the shot to play from it so I was pleased to find my ball in the dip again. I hit a 9-iron in close and made birdie to go back to one up. 15th hole I made a huge mistake by missing the green and leaving a flop shot over the hill, but I managed to commit to the shot and hit the flag and made four for a half which felt more like a win.

I was one up playing 17, I hit a good drive, but I saw the pin was tucked behind the left bunker, I played my shot to favour the right side to leave me a decent shot but pushed it into the right hand side bunker. I had a long bunker shot on the 17th which I hit to four foot. Poppy missed her par putt which meant I had a putt for the win, I should have been nervous over the putt but I was really calm over it.

The putt went right into the middle of the cup!

I shot one over gross in the final to win 2&1 and couldn't wait to contact the Pro to tell him the good news. I have had great support from everyone and thank you to all that have left messages for me.

Brilliant Abbie

When Abbie rang it was the best phone call I have ever received. I could still hear people cheering in the background and I only wish I could have been there. You may have read the email I sent out on BRS shortly after I knew Abbie had won, and I had the pleasure of going out onto the course and telling Ian and Sheila the great news.

Needless to say I am extremely proud of Abbie and what she has achieved. I have coached her for several years now and I have seen her work hard, improve her technique and develop into a better player. As a golf teacher it is very satisfying to see all pupils improve and enjoy the game more, but this win is really the icing on the cake!

What next?

The good news is that because Abbie has taken regular coaching for several years she is technically very good which provides the perfect platform for future success. Abbie is dedicated and always keen to improve so we don't really know how good she may become yet. Abbie has entered several tournaments this summer including the English Ladies Championship at St Annes Old Links in August. I'm sure she will be delighted to answer your questions, tell you all about her golf and especially how it feels being the County Champion whenever you come into the pro shop!

When I nipped out to tell Ian and Sheila the great news on Saturday, I spotted them on the 5th tee. I parked my buggy on the left of the first fairway (just in case!) while I waited for them to play. While I waited I had the pleasure of watching Denise Weadick hole her tee shot (with a 3-wood) at the 2nd which is Denise's first hole-in-one. Congratulations, Denise!

I am very pleased to tell you about how busy I have been in the new Swing Room (pictured above). Since the weather has been less kind of late it has really emphasized what an asset this is. On Wednesday morning I managed two hours of lessons that would previously have been lost or re-arranged because the weather outside was so foul. You can book lessons in the Swing Room, and on any element of your game from putting to driving. You can also hire the room for half an hour or an hour to practice or play golf in there.

The launch of the new facility has concentrated very much on the members of Reddish Vale so far, so you have the first opportunity to view the room, see what it is all about and have a go yourself. The technology is amazing and more than anything it is really good fun! Thank you to everybody who has already booked in, and enjoyed their FREE 10 minute appointment in there. Book yours by contacting us in the pro shop or get in touch here.

By the way, one of Abbie's favourite jobs is to set up the Swing Room by turning everything on, and of course, no set-up of the room would be complete without playing a few shots to make sure everything is working correctly!

Sat 2 May - The winner of Division One in Saturday's May Medal was John Schofield with 77-9=68, John is now off eight but he will definitely reduce more throughout the year. Lee Addison won Division Two with 80-11=69 and Division Three was won by Jamie Oldham with 93-21=72. Ryan Jackson had the lowest gross with 74. The twos were worth £9.77 each.

Sun 3 May - Sunday saw the Mixed Open take place, the weather wasn't too clever in the morning but by 10am the sun came out and the greens had dried up quickly. There was a good turnout of players from all over the area. The winning team was Jeff Stockton and his Partner Tracy Slater with 41 points, second winning on a card play-off was Abbie and Steve Marsh with 40 points beating Mr Rhodes and Mrs Stott and Adie Ord and his Partner Julie Beglin, both with 40 points.

Sun/Mon 3/4 May - The Pro's Running Stableford ran on Sunday and Monday. Macauley Dentith won with an outstanding 43 points, shooting one over gross. Macauley (pictured here) was two under gross through 15 but blobbed 16; he has now been reduced from 8 to 7. Second was Dean Martin with 38 points and John Brown finished third with 36 points, beating both Paul Jackson and Pete Lamb on a card play-off. Prizes went down to 6th this week. There were 11 twos worth £5.63 each. Click here to see the full results.

Wed 6 May - The Wednesday Section was cancelled this week due to the greens being under water by about 3.00pm. What a shame the rain is choosing Wednesdays and Saturdays!