Christmas comp a go-go
Leaving the house at 5:50 am Saturday morning to be greeted by a thick layer of frost didn't bode well for the day ahead. Pulling into the car park at 6:15 and seeing 'Course Open' told me the green staff hadn't yet passed by to change the sign to 'Frost Greens'. How wrong could I be? Meeting Barry in the top car park revealed to me not only were we good to go on main greens, but the electric trolley ban was lifted! Onward and upward.
As ever with a shotgun start, activity in and around the shop was frenetic early doors. We dug in though and everyone made it to their appointed tee boxes in good order. 7:30 sharp and the horn sounded, whatever became of the humble shotgun?
Without doubt, those that secured the coveted Saturday morning slots paid a price for their endeavour. Despite playing hard and enjoying the experience, conditions were against them, putting across the icy greens hampered scoring every bit as much as the temperature. None of this was going to interfere with the enjoyment of our traditional early starters though and the usual suspects, Stally, Foster and Comber still managed to be first back in the clubhouse. Though Howard couldn't be hanging around for the photo call!
Battling round, stopping only to enjoy the fantastic hospitality provided by our Captain, Peter Goodsell and his merry band of elves, folk eventually wandered back to the shop and entered scores into the computer. Heading back from the 16th green the early clubhouse leader was Roger Robinson with 35 points, Andy Boorman then challenged for honours, but lost out on countback. Eventually, after most of the cards had been entered best score of the AM starters was returned by Ray Gardner, with a very well constructed 37 points.
Through the morning the frost cleared and conditions improved to allow easier scoring. This was borne out by Ray's score being the only morning card to finish in the day's top dozen, finishing 5th overall and being bested by Darren Yearly on countback, plus three scores of 38 points. Separated by their back nines, Geoff Westlake finished 3rd, Paul Langridge runner up, with Steve Leng top of the tree.
Sunday the weather was more balanced and this was reflected by an even spread of scores between AM and PM starters. Having launched the best score of Saturday morning, the 3rd tee repeated it's feat Sunday with Michael Stratton coming home with an excellent 39 points. Duncan Enwright and Sean Murphy both came close with 38, but Michael wasn't to be caught before lunch. The afternoon probably witnessed the best conditions of the weekend. John Aughterlony led the charge with 38, soon to be bettered by both Mika Sandhu and James Cross with 39 apiece. Neither of those were quite good enough though, with James beating Mika into 3rd place but Michael holding on to claim a well earned victory.
Quite apart from being a thoroughly enjoyable weekend's golf, the clubhouse came alive and members were enjoying the convivial surroundings.
Terry Heaver, seen above doing his snowman impersonation, did a fantastic job at the halfway hut ably assisted by Peter's band of elves and raised over £500 for the Captain's charity.
A first class Christmas Competition weekend, thank you to all the helpers and well done to all those that took part.
Christmas Eve Staff Challenge
In the spirit of the season we throw down our annual Christmas Eve Staff Challenge to all you lovely members. Join us at 10:30am for coffee before hitting the 'links' for a shotgun start at 11:00am, 9 hole Texas Scramble.
All you need do is assemble a team of 4 lambs and come to the slaughter. Playing from the BLUE tees, your target will be to better the Staff Team's medal score. For achieving this you will be handsomely rewarded, as well as being lavished with our legendary hospitality in the Lounge after.
Fun is the watchword here and as the alternative is a 5 hour retail therapy session at Bluewater, it is as people say, a 'no brainer'.
Numbers are limited to 10 teams, book in via the pro shop, £3 per person.
Advent Raffle
This year's Advent Raffle has gone viral! Reports are coming in form all over the globe of servers crashing as folk log in to see who the day's lucky winner is. On Wednesday as we had our first DOUBLE DRAW day, it was rumoured the Nasdac crashed for an hour, truly remarkable.
Anthony Harwood and Stephen Boynton were the lucky winners that day, they certainly weren't troubled by events.
Bargain of the Week!!
We have a limited number of ProQuip Tour Flex 360 windproof jackets at £59.99 & £49.99 each. Once they're gone they're gone, don't miss out on a genuine bargain.
Alternatively if you're struggling to get down to the pro shop, don't forget you can use our ‘Click & Collect’ service online to access our full catalogue of products. It provides the option of having your order delivered to the Rochester and Cobham pro shop for collection at your convenience, or you can have the order delivered direct to your door. It's that simple.
Click here to start shopping...
Winter Coaching Packages
In the run up to Christmas, the winter coaching packages I've offered have been well received. I've put a range of discounted packages together that I hope will suit every golfer, though if you have a particular requirement I'd be happy to discuss your needs.
Package 1 Become a Short Game WIZARD, Standard price £378 Xmas offer £252! Seven hours mixed sessions + a FREE planning session.
Package 2 Course and Practice Management, Standard price £468 Xmas offer £300! Five 9 hole playing lessons + 2 one hour lessons + a FREE planning session.
Package 3 The Complete Golf Game MOT ! Standard price £1140 Xmas offer £595! Six one hour short game sessions, five 9 hole playing lessons, six one hour range lessons and a FREE extended planning session.
All packages come with a personalised gift voucher, making it an ideal Christmas present.
Coaching Experience Day
New for this winter is my Coaching Experience Day
The day gets underway with a coffee and a gift pack full of essential goodies, before taking to the range for an hour's warm up. Next it's up to the tee for a 9 hole game during which I'll tune up areas of your course management, whilst assessing all aspects of your swing and short game. A leisurely lunch and debrief, some further analysis, then back out to play 9 holes with your very own professional caddie on the bag as we bring it all together. The experience will finish with a video assessment which I'll send through so you can play it back to your heart's content.
It's an opportunity to experience the tour player's mind set and at the same time advance the understanding of your own game. Just £180 and you'll see your whole game in a different light. Iron out those costly errors that constantly have you on the back foot.
