Hello golfers,
Another busy week at Hockley, I hope you enjoy another edition of our weekly newsletter bringing you up-to-date with all the latest news and offers.
Macmillan Cancer Support
We had an email from Macmillan Cancer Support about their national Coffee Morning which we partake in and you may be interested to know that 2016 was their best year yet. Thanks to all you fabulous supporters, Coffee Morning has raised a mind-blowing £29,509,727.94. That's 562 nurses, or keeping 502 of our Information and Support Centres open for a year. Thank you to you all.
Sainsbury's Active Kid's Vouchers
We are collecting the Sainsbury's 'Active Kid's vouchers on behalf of Naomi House and Jacks Place, so if you are shopping in Sainsburys and are offered the vouchers, please accept them and hand into the pro shop. Thank you.
Charity Games
The winner of the bonus ball this weekend was Andy Evans.
Charity Easter Raffle
A Charity Easter Raffle of chocolate and wine is now on the bar with all proceeds going to the Captains' Charity, priced at only a £1 a ticket, please give generously and buy as many as you like. Many thanks to Ann Younger for creating this beautiful basket for us, your support of these events will be very much appreciated.
How To Groove A Good Swing Path
By far the most common problem average players have is slicing, their shots start to the left of the target and curve big time to the right. That's because they swing the club from out to in, cutting across the ball with an open clubface. It's the classic "over-the-top" move, and it produces those weak shots to the right that so many golfers are trying to eliminate.
Just about all better players swing into impact from inside the target line. To learn to consistently swing from the inside, put a headcover on the ground a couple of inches to the outside of the ball, on the backswing side. The headcover acts as a visual reminder - It's telling you; "Don't go there". Using a middle iron, practice hitting balls without hitting the headcover. If you can do that, you'll be coming through on a great swing path (right).
Make a mistake and clip the headcover, and you'll get instant feedback, without hurting your hands or your club.
If you are still struggling with this techinque and would like to book a lesson, please click here to get in touch.
Ladies Coffee Morning
On Tuesday, 4 April we will be welcoming ladies from other clubs to play in the in the Ladies Coffee Morning. There are still some spaces left if you know of any ladies that might like to take part they can book through the pro shop.
We will have a raffle and stallholders selling a variety of products including: Phoenix cards, Neal's Yard Remedies (organic health and beauty), plants, a cake stall, fudge, Daisy Accents selling bags, jewellery scarves and other accessories and Tracy will have a clothing sale rail outside the pro shop. All members are more than welcome to come along to join us in the clubhouse to browse the stalls from 9.00am to 3.00pm. Last year entry fees for the Coffee Morning contributed over £1,200 to the club funds. In addition, £400 was raised for the Captains' Charity.
Captain/Pro Matches
Tough winds and tough games this week against two past Captains; Robin Webb and Adie Nicol with newly engaged John Fisher and GM Paul. Due to the strong winds scoring was tricky, but made for good matchplay conditions. After comfortably losing the first we had a little fight back for a couple of holes and despite losing the seventh to two eagles we were 1Up against Paul and John and level with Robin and Adie at the turn. The next few holes were halved, but then Nick went on a bit of a roll, holing from 25 feet on 14, lipping out from 30ft at 15 and then holing from 30ft to take out Robin and Adie 3&1. Our birdie on 17 squared up our match with Paul and John so all to play for down 18. Nick just missed the green with our second shot and John hit his front edge and so advantage to our opponents. Paul knocked his putt 15 feet past, easily done on a downwind downhill putt, which left John with a putt for birdie that just failed to go in leaving Nick with a 10 footer for the win. Did he knock it in? Course he did right in the middle for a one hole win.
We have our last game on Friday with the Final following the next day, so fingers crossed for another good couple of games to finish this series of matches off.
On The Course...
We recently played our first home match against Lee on the Solent which we managed to win 4-2. This was a very friendly match enjoyed by everyone and we look forward to the return match in a few weeks.
Last week we played the first leg of our Triangular matches at South Winchester Golf Club with South Winchester and Royal Winchester. The golf was very challenging with strong winds, fast greens and tight fairways. We came equal second with the Royal, but our hosts won this round nine points ahead. However, there are two rounds to go with the Final round being played at Hockley so we can still win this event. Well done to Dave Morgan with 36 points, the highest score of the day. There are many more matches coming up and still plenty of time to add your name to the list, click here to take a look at the attached fixture list.
Lastly apologies to Colin Butterworth for getting his name wrong in last week's newsletter.
Tony Crawford,
Seniors' Captain.
Junior Knockout
Please remember to enter the Junior Knockout by Friday, 31 March, to date no one has entered.
Junior Coaching
I am running two junior sessions on Tuesday, 11 April and Tuesday, 18 April from 10.00am - 12.00pm, if you have any friends interested in taking up golf or you may want to come along yourselves. The cost is £15 for the two hour session, please contact the pro team for more information or to sign-up as this is limited to 10 per session.
Saturday's Short Course Stableford Results
Division One Winner - Richard Gillespie (39 points) and runner-up - Andrew White (37 points), beating Mike Henry on a countback.
Division Two Winner - Rob Tobin (40 points) and runner-up - Sam Coombes (35 points).
Martin Gill was the only winner of the twos sweep winning TaylorMade Tour preferred balls.
Sunday's Short Course Stableford Results
This was processed as one division due to the low entry. Winner - Crispin Weidman (41 points) and runner-up - Shane Andrews with (39 points), beating Richard Gillespie on a countback.
Summer Knockouts
Please ensure you have entered the Summer Knockouts by Friday, 31 March, if you wish to check your entry was received please contact one of the pro shop team.
Forthcoming Events
We have a number of events coming up at the club, including:
Thursday, 30 March - Ladies Spring Meeting.
Friday, 31 March - Men's Short Course Stableford and Capt/Pro Challenge at 11.55am.
Saturday, 1 April - Men's Medal (White tees), Ladies Medal and Capt/Pro Final. Please note the tee is reserved at 12.00pm.
Sunday, 2 April - Men's Long Course Stableford (White tees), Ladies Medal Winner's Salver and Junior Triangle. Please note the tee is reserved from 2.00pm - 2.45pm.
Tuesday, 4 April - Ladies Coffee Morning.
Sunday, 9 April - Hockley Masters Par 3 Competition.
Hockley Pro-Am
The Hockley Pro-Am takes place on Wednesday, 24 May, we would love to see more members playing in this event and supporting our club and Captain. Why not invite some of your friends to play and make up a team of three? Your chance to play with a Hampshire Professional and your entry fee includes coffee and a bacon roll on arrival, a two course meal and prizes.
Click here to get in touch for more details.
Millennium League
The Millennium League started (as the name suggests) in the year 2000 and is played 'home one year and away the next' between ourselves and Barton on Sea, Blackmoor, Broadstone, Brokenhurst, Ferndown, Hayling, Royal Winchester and Stoneham. We have won this in the past, but came bottom of the league last year! Matches are played on Sunday afternoons throughout the year as singles matchplay with the only requirement being that you have a handicap between 11 and 18. Tee times are usually 1.00pm or 2:00pm with a meal afterwards. The dates and times for this year are:
Sunday, 23 April - Broadstone (home) - 1.00pm.
Sunday, 30 April - Blackmoor (away) - 1.00pm.
Sunday, 21 May - Ferndown (home) - 2.00pm.
Sunday, 25 June - Barton on Sea (home) - 2.00pm.
Sunday, 2 July - Brokenhurst (home) - 1.30pm.
Sunday, 30 July - Stoneham (away) 1.00pm.
Sunday, 1 October - Hayling (away) 2.00pm.
Sunday, 22 October - Royal Winchester (away) 11.00am.
So, if you are an 11 to 18 handicapper, like playing singles matchplay on great courses, then you are just the guy I'm looking for. Please put your name on the sign-up sheet in the changing room.
Graham Light,
Millennium League Co-ordinator.
Masters Draw
We now count down to The Masters, only a week away and we have a few numbers left in our Masters Draw. Will you pick Dustin Johnson who has got to be hot favourite at the moment? Only £5 per ticket for your chance to win the first prize of over a £100 to spend in the pro shop, this would certainly knock a dent in the new driver or trolley you may be considering purchasing.
We will also be running daily prizes of £10 each for the best and worst scores and the main prizes will go up to fifth place.
