Drury Challenge Cup
The Easter weekend got off to a good start on Good Friday with the Drury Challenge Cup played in bright sunshine and short sleeve weather, was summer on it's way?
Continuing his fine form in recent weeks Curtis Ripley once again had a solid round returning home with 38 points to take the spoils in Division 2, in fact, on 5 of the first 9 holes Curtis made 3 points on each of them before steadying the ship with a more consistent back 9. However Curtis didn't secure the main prize as Richard Taylor came in with 40 points, winning Division 1 and the coveted title of Drury Challenge Cup winner. His 2 very solid 9's of 20 points apiece equivalent to a gross 2 over par, a very solid round well done to Richard!
Wood Cup
The fine summer weather of Good Friday rapidly returned to the usual cold, wet & windy conditions we have become so accustomed to for Saturday's Wood Cup, so scoring wasn't going to be as good surely?
Well that idea got blown out the water when Gary Chatfield & Graham Bardoe romped home with a staggering 45 points snatching the Wood Cup title away from defending champions George Crow & Sam Weston who's 42 point haul was an admirable defence. These guys will now be joined by 14 other pairs in a draw for the Mitchener Shield which is a betterball knockout. Picking a winner is going to be tough as the cut off point for qualification was a countback from 11 pairs on 38 points. In gale force winds and driving rain that really was fantastic scoring.
Shot of the day must go the recently crowned Ruby West champion Dave Stacey, is there any stopping this man at the moment?! After holing his tee shot on the par 3 11th Dave wasted no time getting up to the bar to carry on the celebrations from his recent victory and buying everyone a drink. So if you saw him out painting the town red on Saturday night you know why!
Callaway Experience Day
The second of our Callaway Experience Days took place last week and Rob was down there to meet & greet 5 R&CPGC members, here's what he though of the day.
"The whole set up at the Callaway Fitting Centre is just fantastic from the putting lab to the simulators where the club fittings take place, even the backdrop on the screen was of the 18th at St. Andrews!
First up was Ross Peters. Ross has never been fitted for clubs before which can be nerve wracking in itself, yet considering the environment he found himself hitting shots in this was no trouble for such a seasoned golfer. Once Matt Judd, the Callaway expert, found the right head & shaft combination Ross was on average 15-20 yards longer. Similar results with the Great Big Bertha driver made it hard for Ross not to order both, along with a couple of wedges for good measure.
Next was Peter Heyburn, who was also looking at some new irons. With his short but fast tempo swing he was thinking lighter shafts might help, however, Matt pointed out that due to the shortness of Peter's swing he is putting the shaft under immense pressure and so heavier shafts would be better equipped to deal with that.
Another member looking to improve his fortunes was Frank Skinner, especially with the irons and wedges. Once again Matt pulled it out the bag and managed to find Frank more distance and much tighter dispersion. Frank has gone for the Apex CF irons and the Mack Daddy 3 wedges, but I think he only wanted the wedges for the bright lime green grips!"
PING G Series Driver
The new PING G driver has been designed using biomimicry. Basically PING have studied the way a dragonfly's wing structure works in order to recreate a thinner crown for the driver by taking out 8 grams of weight to maximise CoG (centre of gravity) for high launch/low spin gaining maximum distance.
At the back of the head is a small speed pocket called Vortec Velocity to reduce turbulent wake in order to increase clubhead speed meaning extra yardage. In the clubface PING have removed 4 grams of weight which will move the CoG further back and lower in the head to achieve ultimate launch conditions. This is the most extreme CoG of any PING driver which will increase dynamic loft (the angle the clubface returns to the ball at impact) and elevate the MOI (moment of inertia) or simply the amount the club twists during off centre hits to ensure the ball finishes online.
Both Vortec Technology & Crown Turbulators have reduced drag by 37% for greater clubhead speed & ball speed meaning extra yardage is almost a certainty so don't be surprised if you start knocking balls onto par 4's off the tee!
We have plenty of demo options in the ProShop, so if fancy test driving one pop in and see what the PING G can do for your game.
A Day At The Races
While the Cheltenham Festival was going on we had our own ladies day at R&CPGC with afternoon tea with a little flutter on the races too. The day was a complete success collecting £187.00 from the tote betting which was controlled by John 'Honest' Aughterlony & Warren 'Slippery' Wood (titles supplied by Terry Heaver), all money raised will go to the Captain's Charity, The Honeypot Children’s Charity.While everybody was cheering on their chosen horse they were tucking into some lovely homemade cakes courtesy of Jackie & Bernie, all beautifully served on adapted R&CPGC logo plates which Tony had a Blue Peter moment with!
To sign off the day there was a best hat competition judged by the Hugh Hefner of the golf club, Terry Heaver, I bet you didn't think you would be doing this when you signed up for captaincy! After a very thorough inspection Terry chose Mandy Ellis as the winner who also took the opportunity to raise a glass of bubbly to Sheila Grant to which everybody wished her speedy recovery.
Terry has also promised a similar event later on in the year so keep your eyes on the noticeboards for any updates!
Hickory Day
As part of the 125th Anniversary celebrations, Captain Terry Heaver has organised a hickory golf day where you can use the clubs our ancestors used hundreds of years ago on Sunday 16th May. As there are a limited number of sets spaces will be capped at 80 members so if you want to play make sure you get name down as soon as the list opens on Saturday 30th April in the ProShop. The day will cost £25 which will also include a sleeve of special golf balls which must be used with the clubs to preserve them.
Pro-Am
The cream of the crop of PGA Professionals from the south region will be taking to R&CPGC in our annual Pro-Am on Thursday 30th June so if you want to be involved please follow the link here for an entry form & return it to the ProShop.
Dates For The Diary
Clinics
Our clinics are now under way and there are still spaces available if you think your game needs a bit of strengthening. Each session will cost £10 and spaces are limited to 8 members, please find the dates & times below and sign up in the ProShop.
Thursday 7th April 5:00pm - 6:00pm, Chipping
Sunday 10th April 10:00am - 11:00am, Chipping
Thursday 14th April 5:00pm - 6:00pm, Putting
Thursday 21st April 5:00pm - 6:00pm, Full Swing
Sunday 24th April 10:00am - 11:00am, Putting
Thursday 29th April 5:00pm - 6:00pm, Full Swing
FootJoy Shoe Fitting Day
Don't forget on Thursday 7th April we have our expert from FootJoy coming down to see if members are wearing the perfect sized shoe for them. Wearing the wrong sized shoe can be a major power loss in your swing. Sign up in the ProShop or click here now to make sure you book your place.
Callaway Fitting Day
The third instalment of our Callaway Experience Days is next week on Wednesday 6th April at the National Fitting Centre in Chessington and there is still room if want to look at a change in clubs. Both Rob & myself have been there for the first 2 Experience Days and have been blown away by the facilities there, sign up in the ProShop and find the times below.
8:00am - 9:30am AVAILABLE - Click here to book this slot
9:30am - 11:00am Kurt Ridgewell
11:00am - 12:30pm Jamie Taylor
1:30pm - 3:00pm Duncan Johnston
5:00pm - 6:30pm AVAILABLE - Click here to book this slot
Promotions
Titleist 4 For 3
Time is running out to stock up on golf balls for the summer with Titleist's Prov1 & ProV1x offer when you buy 3 dozen you get the 4th dozen FREE and if that is not enough you will also get FREE personalisation too!
Click here to start personalising.
Masters Sweepstake
The Masters is right around the corner and so our Masters Sweepstake is underway make sure you pick up your form from the ProShop and bring it back by Thursday 7th April at 12:00 so we can get you onto the leaderboard in time.
