County Match Week 

Abbie is away all next week playing for Cheshire in County Match Week which I would say is her favourite week of the year. This year it is being held in Cheshire too, at Sandiway Golf Club; during this week the team will play five different Counties, one per day with foursomes in the morning and singles in the afternoon (10 rounds in five days!). The team with the most points at the end of the week go through to the National Finals, where they will play the winners of all the other regions. 

Last year Cheshire finished tied first on points with both Lancashire and Yorkshire, so was decided by aggregate scores from all the individual matches where they lost by a mere half a point. So let's hope they can go further and win it this year, especially with Abbie as County Champion.




Titleist Pro V1 - 67 years

Titleist have produced the limited edition '67 Pro V1 and Pro V1x' to celebrate their 67th consecutive year as the number one ball in the US Open. All that time you have looked at the name and played the balls but did you know how a 'TITLEIST' got its name? The leading player who wins the title is the 'TITLE IST'.




US Open 

It has been a good first day at Chambers Bay for Stenson who was the overnight leader alongside Dustin Johnson. The course looks very tricky to say the least and I have never seen so many short putts missed. The course is a new addition to the US Open rota and most unusual choice of venue for many reasons, not least because it was opened as recently as 2007. 

Jack Nicklaus publically appealed to the players not to slate the course too much this week, and that was before a ball was struck. Is it modelled on a '(British) Open' course, I wonder? I am not sure but somehow the whole place doesn't look right at all. Perhaps the course needed some more time to mature before hosting this event. Somebody clearly has spent lot of money but where are the greens? Either the greens look like fairways or visa-versa. The bunkers are cut with very straight edges and are clearly not natural. Make no mistake this is quite clearly American venture! Anyway, whatever the course is like, let's hope for an exciting tournament and a British winner.




Presentation 

Tomorrow's Presentation is at 6pm, click here to see the list of winners and click here for all unclaimed vouchers. If you have done well please make the effort to turn up and receive your prize from the Captain. Here is John Schofield receiving the Past Captain's Trophy at the last meeting.


Wednesday Exchange Day 

This coming Wednesday is the Exchange day with Hazel Grove. However, Hazel Grove allocates times from 12 until 2 o'clock only for their Wednesday Section, and these are the only times available for our visit next week. Contact the pro shop at Hazel Grove Golf Club on 0161 4837272 to reserve your times. 

For those who don't play at Hazel Grove on Wednesday, I will be running a Pro's Stableford here at Reddish Vale.




Sat 13 Jun - Saturday's Texas Scramble was won by Steve Smith, Dave Flanagan and Ken Barthram with 56.6. They knew they had played well, a real team effort with Steve holing some good putts. Dave and Ken were happy anyway and Ken seems to have fitted back in at The Vale very quickly indeed. Second were Gary Lardner, Danny Marsh and Graham Lees with 57.2. Andy Covell, Jeff Stockton and Louis Covell finished third with 57.6. Prizes went down to fourth.


Sun 14 Jun - Ivan Kennedy has been playing well recently, briefly off three Ivan is just back up to four and won my Sunday Stableford with 39 points. It was a day of good front nines as Anthony Phillips went out in 25 points but Anthony's total of 39 points had to settle for second. Dave Hamilton's 37 points beat Dave Pilling on a card play-off quite easily. After David's astonishing two-under gross on the front nine (playing off a handicap of nine) and 25 points, somehow David only scored a mere 12 points on the back nine?!

The twos were worth £5.66 each. The most noticeable two of the day came from Pete McDermott who hold an excellent 5-iron on the 17th; Peter thought it looked close and upon closer inspection the ball was resting against the pin. No sorry, twos on par fours don't count as double money! Click here to see the full results sheet. 


Wed 17 Jun - Wednesday was a foul day but we still managed to get 43 players in the comp. Ryan Jackson won Division One with 36 points. Division Two was won by Lee Addison with 38 points and Division Three was won by Martin Boocock with 35 points.