With Bubba having won his second Major, Easter is here and the Spring weather continues, now is the time to get out and play some golf. We have great deals for those wishing to take the game up and for the more experienced we have some great Society packages too….. and for those that swing a little like Bubba and suffer a few niggling aches we even have a local Chiropractor coming to the club to talk about how to avoid them. Enjoy our newsletter and let's hope this great weather continues. We look forward to seeing you at Cottesmore soon.

We have Chiropractor Andrew Robson coming down to Cottesmore to speak to us about all those niggling golfing injuries and how to prevent them from occuring. 

Andrew will be coming to the club on Wednesday, 7th May at 7:45pm.

To find out more information please click here.

If you wish to attend please email directorofgolf@cottesmoregolf.co.uk.

As it is a World Cup and Ryder Cup year we thought we would spread the sporting joy by offering you two fantastic deals!

World Cup Offer - Enjoy our 'Eagle' package with a FREE pint of Draught beer per player to enjoy whilst on our balcony overlooking the 18th green or watching the World Cup highlights. Offer runs 12th June-13th July.

Ryder Cup Offer - Here at Cottesmore we love creating a great golfing atmosphere...SO behold the Ryer Cup Package, designed for you golfers to have the feel and format of the Ryder Cup. The package includes coffee and bacon rolls on arrival, morning 18 holes on our Phoenix course playing in a fourball betterball matchplay format. Then a light lunch before 18 holes on our Griffin course playing in a singles matchplay format followed by a one course meal. Private function rooms are available, a starter will be provided on the 1st tee and a wide range of prizes can be purchased from our proshop.

You can get this for £60 per person ! Available Monday - Sunday for all of 2014.

Reasons why sleep is so important:

- Improves immune function 
- Improves cardiovascular health
- Improves mood state
- Increase metabolism and suppress appetite
- Reduces stress 
- Improves brain function 
- Live longer 

How much sleep is optimum? About 7-9 hours. However, it is thought that an hours sleep before midnight is worth two after.

With this great spell of weather there has never been a better time to try golf. Not only is your first group lesson FREE (2pm on Saturdays and all equipment is provided) but all the professionals at Cottesmore are also offering your first individual lesson half price. If interested in trying golf for FREE, click here.

Our Professionals also hold regular get togethers, when new golfers have the opportunity to play on the course. You will play with other new golfers with a PGA Pro on hand to offer help and guidance.

We had seven 'newbies' last weekend playing on the course, enjoying the sunshine and getting more experience and meeting new golfing buddies.

Women in Golf Day at Cottesmore - a day of coaching to encourage women to Get into Golf  on Saturday May 17th. To register your interest click here.

We have the complete pathway for you to learn golf efficiently. If you are interested in Get into Golf through 2014 please register here.  

Calum, Steve and Sam were all playing this week (Tuesday) in the Sussex PGA Spring Meeting at Mannings Heath and all came off the golf course scratching their heads thinking 'what the h@ll happened there?

All had a little practice, all were full of expectation and all suffered the same fate! Reading the article above, my guess is that they all watched too much of the Masters, did not get enough sleep and without realizing it, paid the price.

This is the beauty of you having lessons from our professionals, they still play and compete and go through the same frustrations that you do. They understand what goes wrong (and its not always technical) and know what needs to be done to fix it. For the record the winning score was 72 and your pros shot 77, 78 and 79 respectively. Their next event is the Kent Open at the end of the month at Princes. A much tougher task but all three will be practicing (and sleeping) to improve on this week's performance.

It amazes me how many people are unaware of basic rules, even those that think that they do. That is the point of this section of the newsletter. This week we are talking about water hazards (Rule 26).

If your ball is in a water hazard (yellow stakes) you may play it as it lies or, under penalty of one stroke:

• Play a ball from where your last shot was played, or 
• Drop a ball any distance behind the water hazard keeping a straight line between the hole, the point where the ball last crossed the margin of the hazard and the spot on which the ball is dropped.

The above diagram shows a ball being hit from point A and finishing in the hazard at point B. X marks where the ball last crossed the margin of the hazard. It is this point X that MUST be kept between you and the hole (O) when you drop the ball. This is defined in the diagram along the line DX. Even if the tee shot had crossed the hazard and then gone in on the other side, a player cannot drop the ball on the other side when the hazard is marked with yellow stakes. This is only an extra option when the water hazard is marked by red stakes (lateral water hazard).

Hopefully you find the above helpful. Please feel free to pop into the Golf Shop at anytime to clarify or ask the Professionals about any rule.

This week saw four of our Juniors competing in The Parsons Memorial Trophy at Ifield. It was 36 holes Foursomes Stableford. Our two pairs were Josh Dance, Richard Bailey and Egor Zotov, Jay Eggleton. Josh and Richard won best pairing with an impressive score of 42 points in the afternoon round. The pairs scores were: Richard and Josh - 31 and 42; Egor and Jay - 33 and 31. The team came a very respectable 4th overall with a grand total of 137 pts and only being 5pts behind the eventual winners.

This Saturday is the First Junior members Order of Merit event, the Easter Cup. First tee time on Saturday is 10.30am on the Griffin course. If you are interested in playing please put your name on the sign up sheet in the pro shop or email proshop@cottesmoregolf.co.uk.

At the start of this week the Juniors were also in action at Copthorne in the Andy Beer. Sadly our team of Josh Dance, Egor Zotov and Josh Greig only managed an 8th place but big congratulations to Josh Greig (middle) who outshone the older & more experienced boys with an impressive 37 points.

The Easter Golf Camp was enjoyed by many last week with medals being won by 12 kids in our Kids Fun Golf Day too.

Junior Days are being well supported with the next one on Saturday 19th April before the Summer Coaching Schedule starts Saturday 26th April.

The Summer schedule is available here.

Josh Greig (pictured right) also collected his Junior Academy 2013 Order of Merit award from Calum last week.

Steve launched his Ladies and Vets practice clubs last week with many taking advantage of his wisdom. The next date for the ladies is Tuesday 22nd April at 11am where he will be concentrating on chipping. You can register in the Pro shop. Next dates for the Vets Practice Club is Thursday 17th and Thursday 24th April 11am.

Thursday evening Practice Club with Sam Smitherman commences on Thursday 1st May. This will run each Thursday at 6.30 for 60 minutes and cost £6 for members and £8 for non-members. So for those of you who struggle to get the best out of your practice this is your best opportunity. Please register in the pro shop.

Ladies Section 
- The Monthly Medal Silver division was won by Jenny Frei with a nett 73 and the Bronze division by Svetlana Malkova with a nett 71. Well done to both ladies!
- Division 3's first home match was against Brighton and Hove last Monday and despite the very wet conditions, the team played well and secured a 7:0 victory! Many congratulations to Margaret and all her team. 
- Division 2's latest outing was away at Singing Hills on Saturday and this time the previous 5:2 victory against them was reversed, with Irene and Linda Atkins securing our only two wins. It is a quite tricky course and was rather windy but their ladies played well and deserved their victory. The next outing for Division 2 isn't until June, so we have time to lick our wounds and re-group! 
- Penny and Pat got through to the quarter finals of the Scratch Foursomes county competition but lost out to an excellent pair from Royal Ashdown. They enjoyed the competition and it was a fine achievement to get through to the quarter finals. Congratulations to both players. 
- The draw for the Spring Meeting - Thursday 24th April - has been done and sent out; a copy will be on the board in the changing room. 
- On Friday 25th April, my second charity quiz night is on with 4 teams entered so far. I can guarantee an enjoyable evening, so please think about entering a team and coming along; the entry forms with all the details are in the pro-shop. It would be great to see you there! 

Men's Section
- The two Winter Greensomes finals were eventually played on a beautiful April day. First off in the morning was the Plate final which was won by Ian Jones and Steve Brice (pictured below left), 2013 captain and current captain respectively. Their opponents in a tightly fought match were John Cooban and Geoff Atkin but Steve and Ian came out winners 2 and 1 with Ian holing some crucial putts.

    

- In the main event, the winter league final saw a fiercely contested match with Jake Peate and Barry Peate (pictured above right) eventually winning on the first extra hole with a superb birdie against Paul Field and Damian Radmall. Well done to all involved.
- On Thursday the Daily Mail Foursomes team - Mick Stacey and Trevor Pigram, followed up their success against Ifield by beating Copthorne at home in the second round. It was tight match with our boys winning 2 and 1. 
- On Saturday there was more success from the Mail on Sunday team. Having already beaten Mannings Heath 5-0 in the second round, they travelled to Slinfold in the third round. Against a strong team and with all our team (Mike Frei, Nigel Powell, Tony Cockerill, Ed Whiffin and Paul Field) receiving shots, a tense match resulted in a 3-2 win. Both our teams await their fate in the draw for the next rounds in a week's time.
- The Crown League players hosted a match against Milford on Sunday last and I am pleased to report that is was another successful win for the team with a 4 - 2 result. This is now the second match in a league of four clubs, that we have to play in the Southern Crown league, with matches at home and away. Our first match was also a win on 4 ½ to 1 ½ . Our next match is on Sunday 27th April away to Sherfield Oaks. If any member from the men's section with a handicap of 18 or below (excluding juniors) would like to play in one of the Crown League matches, please go to www.cottesmorematches.com and register your interest.
- Cottesmore will be hosting the Crown League finals this year in October, with the winners of the Southern league against the Northern league winners battling it out for the title, with the non-finalist having a fun stableford event on the same day.

Vet's Section
- A very bright but chilly morning, that warmed quite considerably into the afternoon, was met by 55 Vets for the Foundation Trophy in conjunction with the first round of the Haig Trophy. The course is in fantastic condition for mid-April and the closures earlier in the year due to the very wet weather during the winter are now paying dividends. Expectations were for some high stableford scores, but the very speedy greens soon put paid to that hope and nobody came in with anything above the mid-thirties. 
- Honourable mentions to Hugh Masterson with 33 points followed by Bernard Smith, 34 points on countback. Third place went to Bob Imrie, also with 34 points on countback with Alex Henderson second, also with 34 points. The winner was Mike Pearson, one of the early starters, with 35 points. Mike was unfortunately not available to be presented with his trophy (he will probably be amazed that his score stood to the very end). Hopefully, Mike will be around next week to receive the trophy. Congratulations also to the four 2's winners: Bryan Giddings, Russell Thorn, Trevor James and Geoff Chalfont
- Now the sad bit. An ambulance was called for Peter Stopford who felt unwell before he started his round and was taken to hospital. Mick Unwin, as advised previously, sadly died last Friday after a long illness. Mick was one of the founder members of Cottesmore. I will let you know the funeral arrangements as soon as I have them for anyone who wishes to attend. 
- Alex Henderson will welcome entries for this year's Open. It's only £26 including lunch, including anyone from the Men's section who are over 60. For the newer Vets members who have never played in it, it's an excellent day and gives you a chance to meet golfers from clubs other than those we play in matches. There is an overall winners trophy plus a prize and there are also prizes for the first 5 home players. Guests are welcome for £35 and there also 5 prizes for them plus the opportunity to be champion (a rare occurrence!!). 
- The early birds: Many thanks to the three who were up with the lark this morning, Geoff Chalfont and Mike Osborne for card duty and Alan Rengger for Clubhouse duty.
- Enjoy Easter and I hope that there is another large outing next Tuesday for the Graham May trophy, a stableford qualifier. This was the first trophy I won as a Vet when Ken Turnbull was captain in 2008. Maybe I will be successful again this year but judging from my recent excursions on the course that is probably just wishful thinking. 

Over the last couple of weeks we have been running the Brand Price Fit survey in our email and website. The results are in and I am delighted to say that Paul Deeney has been drawn out at random to win the dozen Titleist Pro V1 balls that was on offer to one lucky entrant.

The results were reassuring with 91% of you confirming that FIT was the most important criteria when buying golf equipment. This is great to hear as this is where we can provide the most qualified assistance in golf. If you have not been fitted before and want to ensure the next purchase you make is tailored to your physique and game then please come into the shop and speak to us. We are here to help.