Pro-Am

Last Thursday was the event we had all been waiting for...the Pro-Am. We had 18 teams made up of 3 amateurs and 1 PGA Professionals and there were some fantastic scores, here's how they got on...

Although the field was smaller than previous years that didn't compromise the quality of players as we had everything from top quality South Region players to ex European Tour as well as current Senior Tour players.

Everybody arrived at around 10:00am for breakfast and to meet their team before all heading out to the practice facilities to warm up their well-oiled machine of a golf swing which as you can imagine 72 golfers all trying to utilise the driving range, chipping green and putting green all at the same time was hectic to say the least! Onto the golf course they soon went...

At 12 noon, Barry fired off his shotgun and the 2017 R&CPGC Pro-Am was officially underway! We couldn't have asked for better weather, the sun was shining and the winds were somewhat calm. Combined with the good weather and excellent condition of the golf course the scoring had to be good.

We had Lady Captain Mandy Ellis manning the halfway hut with some delightful homemade treats for the golfers as well as alcoholic and non-alcoholic refreshments which all went down an absolute treat and so a massive thank you must go to Mandy for helping out!

There were 8 Nearest the Pins prizes up for grabs for the amateurs; 4 on the par 3's and 4 nearest the pin in 2 on 7th, 13th, 14th & 17th. I'm glad to say the R&CPGC faithful took a majority of these prizes. 

We also had 4 Nearest the Pin in 2 cash prizes for the Professionals, Rob had his name on the board on the 6th hole all day having been the first person to hit the green, knocking it into within 3 feet. However, his shot was beaten by the very last approach of the day! There was also a longest drive for the Professionals on the 18th which was won by possibly the strongest player in the field...yours truly!

First up we presented the team prize which went to Paul Nessling and his team from Cooden Beach Golf Club who shot an amazing 21 under par! Paul bagged himself a cheque for his hard work and his team each got themselves a brand new Callaway Epic Fairway wood.

Now for the Professional's Individual prize. Out of the 18 Professionals, 13 of them shot an under par round which goes to prove the depth in quality we had on show. There were three players tied for second place on 4 under par which were Richard Wallis, Peter Appleyard & Scott Stevens all of which fell just 1 shot short of the winning mark. The deserved winner was probably the most skilled player in the field, longest driver to sharpest short game, put that all together and what do you get? That's right, R&CPGC's Club Professional!

Thank you to all of you that supported the event and made it the success that it was and we hope you can make it again next year. Also a thank you to Jackie & Bernie for laying on another mouthwatering 3 course dinner and to Wendy and Mandy for keeping everybody watered during the meal.

 

Tour News

This week Alfie Plant was in action at Walton Heath Golf Club for the European Amateur Championship where 144 of the world's elite golfers would go head to head in a 4 round strokeplay format. Alfie safely made it through the halfway cut with a scores of 72 & 66, 6 under par and putting him in contention with the leaders.

A third round 67, 5 under par left him just 1 shot behind the overnight leader. I made my way up to Walton Heath GC for round 4 to cheer him on with the rest of his fan base and I can honestly say Alfie was playing some unbelievable golf , however, he did find himself 2 shots behind with 1 hole to play.

A superb birdie at the 72nd hole and a bogey from his playing partner, Lorenzo Scalise, meant they were both tied at 15 under par meaning the leader was a group behind with just a 1 shot lead. The pressure cooker atmosphere, the leader, Luca Cienchetti also made a bogey to drop back to 15 under par meaning Alfie had got himself into a 3 man playoff.

The playoff would be over holes 1,2 & 18. Alfie and Scalise both came out level par with the Cienchetti finishing 1 over par...sudden death loomed for Alfie and back to the first tee.

Both players made par and so onto the second hole, Alfie made birdie while his opponent made par and claiming victory to become European Amateur Champion 2017. This win is not only his biggest victory to date but has also qualified him to play in The Open at Royal Birkdale GC this year.

I'm sure Alfie will enjoy every single second of his experience and will, as always, take a strong following up there! I will be right by his side every step of the way helping when he needs it and enjoying the experience also!

 

The Open 

The Open Championship will be taking place from Thursday 20th July to Sunday 23rd July and so we will be running some promotions to celebrate this, here's what we got lined up...

Sweepstake

The infamous sweepstake will be back once again in the usual format where you construct a team of 4; 1 from the top 25 players in the world, the next from rankings 26-50, the next from rankings 51-75 and the last from anybody else in the field.

The team who has the lowest combined score for the 4 days will win the sweepstake and giving their ProShop account a hefty boost. If any of your players miss the cut their score will be doubles to give a 72 hole total, so make sure you pick wisely!

Entry forms can be collected from the ProShop and all teams must be returned to the ProShop by Wednesday 19th July. Good luck!

Lesson Sale

For just 4 days Rob & myself will have a special offer on all individual lessons whether that be 1/2 hour, an hour or even playing lessons where if you buy two you will get the third for FREE! All lessons will come with video analysis using our state of the art software, Coach's Eye, so that you can see what we will be trying to work towards.

Each batch of lessons will come with a structured programme so that both you and your coach have a clear idea of what we are trying to achieve. Make sure you are fast though because once the ProShop door closes on Sunday this fantastic offer would have expired!

Please click here to request a lesson.

Best Putter In The Club

Probably the most talked about putting competition in Kent will be making its return again, the Best Putter In The Club. As you may remember it was all nail biting stuff last year as twice defending champion Terry Watts was on course to claim his trophy for a third successive year until the last challenger of the day Dave Podd come along and spoiled Terry's party!

No doubt Terry will want to reclaim what he feels is rightfully his and no doubt Dave won't go down without a fight so if you want to upset the apple cart make sure you are on the putting green between 1:00pm & 4:00pm on Saturday 22nd July!

Please click here to register your interest.

Discount Balloon

For all 4 days of The Open we will have some the discount balloons making their way back to the ProShop, anytime you make a purchase you will get to pop a balloon and you could get anything up to 50% OFF! So if you've thinking about making a big purchase this could be your weekend and get just what you want for half the price!

Bursary Day Results

Last Saturday we had the Bursary Day; a fun competition which raises money for  development of youth members at R&CPGC. We had 21 teams of 4 all out to have a good laugh but with one eye of winning of course!

The guys were playing  a yellow ball competition where two scores were to count but one of them must be the yellow ball, so if you didn't score with the yellow ball you were really up against it! This didn't seem to be a problem for Keith Jenkins, Lee Bedford, Neil Anderson & John Barron because they come in with a cracking 84 points.

There was also a separate team prize for the score with just the yellow ball and coming in with a whopping 40 points was John Ribbins, XXX, XXX & XXX.

Well done to both teams, their prize is a fourball voucher at an away course chosen by Captain Terry Heaver. Once he has made his choice John will let the winning teams know!

Motocaddy S5 CONNECT

The latest addition to the ProShop this week is the Motocaddy S5 CONNECT and they have really pushed the boat out with this one, a real boy's toy!

The S5 CONNECT is the same single frame design as the S1 & S3 models complete with the exclusive QuickFold mechanism. This trolley only comes with a lithium battery making it super light and charging time drastically reduced, this really is a top of the range trolley!

But enough of the boring stuff, let's take a look at the gadgets...

So what makes this trolley so much cooler and fun than it's relatives is that you can sync it up to your phone. Motocaddy have developed their own GPS app so that you can now use your smartphone to plot your way round the golf course.

This new app allows you to see the usual front, middle & back green yardages but you can also have an overhead view of the golf course for ultimate planning. You can move the crosshairs around the screen to exact distances so you can lay up to your favorite yardage.

Maybe you're more of a feel player and all you need is how far away from the hole you are, no problem. Simply leave your phone in your golf bag and the LCD display on the trolley will give you all the details you need to know.

Maybe you take your work to the golf course, no problem. All you need to do is sync your phone by Bluetooth to your trolley and it will alert you if you have missed that vital phone call, text message or email as well as other apps such as WhatsApp and Facebook.

Now you would think you would need to head to the Halifax and get a mortgage for this stunning piece of machinery, well you would be wrong to think that. All this fantastic technology can be yours for just £549.99!

Please click here to learn more.