Grand National Sweepstakes

Congratulations to Lady captain Gail Neville who won the sweepstakes for Saturday's Grand National. The winner 'Pineau De Re' was actually picked (and paid for might I add!!) by her husband Dave. It remains to be seen whether Dave will see a share of the spoils. Duncan Whitehead completed the top two with his pick of 'Balthazar King'. Your prizes will be in the post.

Winter League and Winter League away day

Congratulations to the pairing of Steve O'Keeffe and Dave Neville on being crowned this year's winter league champions. Some very steady golf over a long winter period was topped off with a closing birdie on the 18th by Dave. Well done to you both.

As is tradition the winter league is finished with an away day and a prize giving afterwards. This year's away day took the men to Northenden Golf Club in south Manchester. On a wet and wild day the pairing of Andy Miller and Duncan Whitehead came out on top by 1 point with Andy draining a 75 footer in front of the clubhouse to seal victory. Well done Andy and Duncan.

Herons' Reach Handicap Team Trials

Every member has been invited to try out for the Handicap Team for this season. The format is Better Ball matchplay with a partner against a pair from a club in the Fylde.

Criteria for eligibility is as follows -

• An active handicap of between 4 and 14, and over the age of 21.
• Available for selection every Tuesday evening for Home and Away games from 4pm onwards.
• Meal afterwards which you must attend. (£7 cost per meal)
• All members eligible apart from Season Ticket Holders
• Team selectors favour members playing in club competitions.
• If you are interested in playing then please attend the session below -

Tuesday 15th April (9 holes) - meet at 4pm on the putting green.

You will be greeted by Team Selector Pete Morgan and his Vice, Ian Bullock. They will then select pairings to go out.

Better Wedges, Better Pitching

Click on the image above to find out more about "bounce"

Many golfers struggle with their pitching to get the correct contact on the ball with varying degrees control. For many golfers this is due to the fact that they do not use wedges that complement their pitching technique. It has been proven that the best pitchers of the ball have a fairly shallow angle of attack into impact and therefore do not take much of a divot.

The problem for many golfers is that they are generally too steep into impact and take a deep divot. One way to help with this without changing your technique is to use a wedge with more bounce. For most golfers they only consider bounce when playing bunker shots but it is the same for pitching. You do not want the leading edge of the club digging into the turf too much and if this is the case a wedge with more bounce will help you out.

The best way to make sure you have the correct wedges to improve your game is to get some advice from your PGA professional.

To contact Alastair at the PGA Golf Academy at Herons' Reach call 01253 832505.

4BBB Stableford