Hello golfers,

Welcome to this week's newsletter. In this week’s newsletter we have news on key equipment, exercises for golf and men’s committee announcement.

Enjoy the read.

A word from the pro…

As many of you may know I am a Newcastle United fan and having watched them beat Manchester United at the weekend, it got me thinking about other underdog stories in golf.

There are so many to choose from, but one that stands out is John Daly (a personal hero of mine) winning the 1991 USPGA Championship. Starting the week as a 9th alternate, Daly probably thought he wouldn’t get to hit a shot in anger let alone feel the heat going down the stretch.

But fate would have that once Nick Price withdrew Daly was in.

Daly’s form going in to the major championship, which was held at Crooked Stick Golf Club, was less than convincing having missed 11 cuts in 23 starts in his first year on the PGA Tour.

But after an opening round of 69, the tone was set for what would be one of the most memorable weeks of his career. His 69 was some feat in itself, considering he didn’t get a chance to play a practice round because he had to drive the 480 mile trip due to his late call up.

He obviously fell in love with the 7295 yard venue as he followed up his 69 with an improved 67, which saw him at the top of the leaderboard. All of a sudden everyone started to take notice of this long hitting stranger.

Saturday and Sunday brought rounds of 69 and 71 to secure Daly’s first major win by three strokes and the Wannamaker trophy.

Although John Daly’s career didn’t kick on as much as he would have liked after this amazing performance, he did manage 5 wins on tour and another major in the 1995 Open Championship at the home of golf, St Andrews.

It is hard to believe someone with so much talent and two majors to his name never got a call up to the Ryder Cup team.

Get ready for the new season

With the season fast approaching, now is the time to check your footwear and gloves. Whether it is checking your soft spikes or treating yourself to a new pair, golf shoes remain an important part of a golfer’s equipment.

Can’t decide between spiked or spikeless?

There is no doubt spikeless shoes have become more and more popular in golf. But there is still an argument that spiked are better. With spiked shoes you will have more traction, especially in wet conditions. However, spikeless shoes are a more comfortable and usually lighter option when playing in dry conditions.

Verdict.

Unless you’re a member of a links course or only play very flat courses, it’s still worth having a pair of more traditional spiked golf shoes you can turn to in the winter and during summer showers. However, for the rest of the time, a pair of spikeless golf shoes are a great investment. They are generally more comfy on firmer ground, while rotating between pairs will increase the lifespan of your shoes and the versatility of your golf wardrobe.

New season on the horizon...

Our season of matches starts on 15th March 2018 with an away fixture at East Brighton – hopefully without any sea mist this year. I have asked Alex Henderson to Captain our team for this match. Please sign up on the match notice board or via our website. The following five matches are available for sign up on the notice board and all matches are available for sign up on the website here.

Could you spare a little time?

I am looking to try and improve the match experience for both our home team players and the visiting team. Cottesmore is an interesting and challenging course for everyone and there are a number of holes where having a ball spotter would be a great help. If you think you can occasionally spare some time to help out on our home match days, please let me know.

Thanks for your anticipated help.

Cold, wet & windy scramble…

Or to give it its proper name the Winter Scramble, took place last weekend in less than favourable conditions. The early birds faced a largely frozen course while those of us lucky enough to have a later tee enjoyed conditions that would make Sir Ranulph Fiennes long for the relative warmth of Everest's north face.

Undeterred, sixty six players made their way round the eighteen holes.

Judging by the scores it is far better to play early than at the back of the field.

In 3rd place with a score of 59.0 were David Salmon (on his birthday too!), Will Human, and Ernie Cloete. Runners-up in 2nd place with a score of 58.2 were Declan O'Reilly, Sam Boylett, and Jack Alexander.

Winners with an incredible 55.2 were Stuart Radford, Richie Moody, and Ade Verbeeten.

Well played guys!

My thanks to Malcolm Holmes for his assistance at registration selling the Rockinghorse pins - and of course to all of you that bought one. Thanks to Donald Day for getting the draw together (numerous times!) and for doing cards on the day.

Lastly, thanks to those who stayed for the presentations. I know it's a long day, but it's great that the winners get an audience for their hard work!

This Sunday sees the end of the scrambles for a while as we play the Chicken Peck. Let’s hope we have better weather in the run up to this event. We will be running a raffle at the Chicken Peck, so if you are entered and able, raffle prizes would be greatly appreciated.

Upcoming events and competitions

The weather has played havoc with the competitions so far this year and we have extended entries for the competitions because of that. However, we will be getting back to closing the entries two weeks prior to the competition date.

Please make sure you sign up in time.

18 Feb Chicken Peck
24 Feb B Team Old v New
25 Feb Boozers Scramble (Griffin)
03 Mar A Team v Lingfield (Away)
04 Mar Grouse Foursomes

Sign up for the Grouse Foursomes will close on Sunday 18th February.

The Boozer's Scramble is run by the ladies and there is a sign up sheet in the Gatwick bar.

Sign up for the A & B Team matches is on the PSI and website.

New documents coming...

The committee will be producing new documentation for 2018 - pulling together the New Members’ Guide and the Competition Manual in to a single document. Ahead of that publication, I wanted to let you all know your committee for 2018.

Paddy Dowzer (President)
Paul Young (Captain)
Martin Bolton-Smith (Vice-Captain)
Trevor Pigram (Immediate Past Captain)
Donald Day (Handicap Secretary)
Malcolm Holmes (Minutes Secretary)
Grant Moyse (Treasurer)
Andrew Peate (Men's Representative)
Nigel Gray (Men's Representative)

I want to extend a welcome to the committee to Nigel and Grant. We will be ably assisted throughout the year by Tony Cockerill and Jason Davey who manage the Crown League and B Teams respectively.