A farewell to Captains Chris and Dana…. 

Last weekend was our Captains Farewell event to mark the end of tenure for our 2015 Club Captains Chris Prewett and Dana Dickens. They have both done a tremendous job over the past year with organising a Charity Day, and raffle events through the year to raise a fantastic amount of money for their chosen charities. We also welcomed our new Club Captains for 2016 in during the presentation and we wish Allen Artis and Rita Outram all the best for the coming season. Once their term officially starts on the 1st April 2016, I will introduce them to you all in next week's newsletter. I'm sure most of you already know or have met them both in the past. 

In the Captains Farewell event, the Mens' section shield was won by Dave Fowler with a terrific score of 45 points. He held off Dave Neville on a back 9 countback to win his first trophy at Herons' Reach! Well done Dave, and I'm sure that handicap will tumble this season… In the ladies section, Division 1 was won by Deborah Hough and the 2nd division by incoming Captain, Rita Outram. 

The event was well supported, though it was a shame more didn't come to the presentation meal and the Captains handover.

   

 

With the course drying out with every passing day, we have been able to get mowers out on to all parts of the course!! I have even seen striping down the 18th fairway, which is a sure sign that Summer is approaching!! The greens have been fed with iron and are awaiting the top dressing after Easter. This should all culminate to fantastic greens for you over the coming weeks. 

This does however lead me on to the biggest problem that blights our course - pitchmarks. While the greens are still soft, I have been out there inspecting the greens at differing times of the day and my findings were astonishing. It seems the majority of fresh, untouched pitchmarks are happening between 7am and 10am… Members only times!! I cannot stress the importance of taking a few seconds to repair your pitchmark when you are on the green. If you are in a fourball, you are probably stood on the green watching people putt for at least 3 minutes, and it takes 10 seconds to repair a pitchmark! 

It also takes 24 hours for a repaired mark to heal, whereas it takes a un-repaired one at least 15 days!! I urge you all to repair your own pitchmark and at least one other. Many thanks for your help and co-operation on this.

 

Following on from last week's piece by Alastair Taylor on wedge fittings, this week he explains why "bounce" is important, something that is sometimes not considered when buying new wedges.

Please click on the image to view the video. 

 

With the Masters tournament fast approaching, we have decided to do a mad offer on brand new drivers over the next couple of weeks… If you buy a driver from either Callaway, Nike, TaylorMade or PING and our selected past Major champion wins the event, you get your money back!! 

FREE Callaway driver if Phil Mickleson wins.
FREE TaylorMade driver if Justin Rose wins. 
FREE Nike driver if Charl Schwartzel wins. 
FREE PING driver if Louis Oosthuizen wins. 

  

T&C's apply, ask in the shop for more details. Custom fitting available. Offer available until Wednesday 6th April.

And finally, don't forget the clocks go forward on Saturday night, so means lighter nights from Sunday!!