Greetings Golfers,

Well the season is now well underway, with competitions now becoming qualifiers and the white competition tees are back out! With that, the men's handicap team played on Tuesday night against Knott End in the annual 'Fyre Trophy'. This was Friendly pre-season competition played over 2 legs, home and away and was the brainchild of our current Captain, Chris Prewett who originally donated the trophy when he was last Captain, back in 2010. The name of the trophy was derived from the words 'Fylde' and 'Wyre'. With the scores tied at 2 ½ -2 ½ from the first leg at Knott End, the Herons' team stamped their authority on the white tees at home with a resounding 4-1 victory, to take the trophy 6 ½ - 3 ½. Well done to the team on the first trophy of the season, and we hope for many more wins in the coming season ahead. I will keep you updated.

Staying on competition golf for the moment, the entries for the Men's Knockouts are now out. Please see the golf shop or the members board for more details and to enter yourselves into it. There are 3 competitions - Mens Singles Knockout, Mens Doubles Knockout and the Mixed Knockout. The ladies section have already drawn their knockout matches, and their looks to be some good match ups.

May Fixtures

May also sees the start of some trophy competitions and qualifiers. One that is always fun to play is the Blue Tee Texas Scramble, get yourself a team of 4 and book yourself in! It's a busy month and the notable competitions are:

May 14th - Captains Charity Day 
May 23rd - Blue Tee Texas Scramble 
May 30th - Trinity Hospice Trophy



Here are some words from our 2015 Captain, Chris Prewett on his recent changes to his game….

"All golfers can talk a good game, and trust me I am no exception. I've parred and birdied every hole at Herons' Reach, and I've eagled the 2nd, 6th, 9th and 13th; but unfortunately this has taken me 8 years! 

A couple of years ago I bought a Taylor Made RBZ 9.5 degree driver from the bargain bucket at Herons' Reach for £89. It had been a demo club and came with a 70 gram Diamana shaft that was worth around £130 on its own. The guys in the shop adjusted it for me and to be fair I have played quite well with it, but as the people who play with will testify, I have always been prone to a dodgy drive or three, and definitely when I am not expecting it. I have blamed my swing, stance, clothing, in fact anything I could think of; all except the club that is, because it was my RBZ, it was perfect for me and I loved it.

Now people say that you can't buy a game of golf, but I'm inclined to disagree to some degree. Having had a couple of lessons, established that my swing path is very consistent and measured the yardage gaps on every club in my bag I have also come to realise the importance of having fitted clubs in your hands. During one of my lessons with Alastair where we got talking about launch angles and spin speeds I realised that my RBZ wasn't doing me all the favours I thought it was. At this point Alastair put one of the new Nike Vapour Pro drivers in my hand and asked me to hit a few balls with it and it felt great. Alastair suggested that I go to the Nike Fitting Day for a proper assessment, which I agreed to. The guy from Nike compared the RBZ with several Nike drivers, he tweaked the settings, swapped the shaft and even the club head. Once we were set he then compared the two drivers head to head, and the results in terms of numbers were stunning. It was at this point I fully realised how clever the technology behind fitted clubs can be, and how important having the correct shaft is.

I'll leave Alastair to fill in the technical details here, but in short I went from a 9.5 degree driver to a 12.5 degree driver and the shaft went from 70 grams stiff to 60 grams stiff. With all this I gained over 20yds carry, the backspin reduced giving me more roll out and the deviation of my most wayward drives was nothing that I couldn't live with.

Over the next couple of weeks I hit more fairways than ever before, I had more birdie chances because I was putting my drives further down the holes, thus leaving shorter irons into the greens. The driver is so forgiving that any wayward drives were still playable (except the one in the pond on the 2nd, but that's another story).

I've not fooled myself into believing that this driver has solved all the faults with my game, it can't, and yes I am still off a handicap of 17.7. 

What I do have following the lessons, the gapping session and the acquisition of the new driver is a renewed confidence off the tee and in my overall game. Yes I'm hopeful that my handicap will come down as a result this season, but only time will tell. 

Chris Prewett, 
Club Captain

Hopefully we can all see that by taking a small amount of time and effort to find out what is best for our game we can make some big improvements just as Chris has at the start of this season. If you would like to find out more call the Golf Shop or come along to our PING Fitting Day on Tuesday 5th May from 2pm to 6pm. To book you fitting please click here.



Bonus Ball Draw!! 

The bonus ball draw is back for this Bank Holiday Weekend. This week is your chance to win the latest innovative putter from PING. The new Karsten putter has adjustable technology, allowing you to shorten or lengthen this putter from 31" up to 38". The cost is just £2 per square, and the draw will be made on the next lottery draw once all squares have been sold. RRP on the putter is £149, so you could get yourself a great prize to start the season off! One of our professionals will gladly fit the winner to suit the putter to your style on our state of the art SAM putt lab in our swing studio.