Hello golfers,

I hope you've all had a fantastic week on and off the golf course and welcome to another exciting edition of the weekly newsletter bringing you up to date with all the latest news and offers from Hockley Golf Club.

Captain/Pro Challenge

On a warm winters day with hardly any wind, we had a lovely three hours on the course in the company of Guy Paterson and Martin Tressider with Danny Francis and Jeff Ashford. Both games stayed close initially, with Danny hitting the best shot early, a 5-wood from 200 yards to about six feet on the 4th to set up a win. Damian and I then had four pars on the trot from the 6th to turn three up on Guy and Martin and one up on Danny and Jeff. They then won 10 with a nett par, but then lost 11 and 12 and Guy and Martin halved 10, 11 and 12, but lost 13 to a par. With three more steady pars we saw off Guy and Martin to win 4&3. Our game with Danny and Jeff stayed close down the stretch and after they won 15, but lost 16 we were two up with three to play. We halved 17, but our steady par on 18 closed the game out 3&1.
Our next game is against the greenkeepers who I'm sure will come out and enjoy all their hard work they have put in to get the course playing as good as it is.

Lesson of the week

This week I received an email from Nick Bell who came for a lesson because he'd lost his timing slightly and was prone to hitting the occasional shot left of target.

When we started he was leaning over the ball just a little too much, restricting his turn and making him stand up on the way back gaining height, obviously what goes up must come down. So, although he did hit a few good shots he had the capability of hitting a few destructive ones, this was one of the reasons for his inconsistency. I got him to stand up to the ball and this led him to a freer move away, staying more stable to the top of his backswing which then enabled him to rotate stronger into the ball, because his body worked better his hands did less, leading to straighter more powerful shots.

He also struggled with the 16th hole, so you can imagine how pleased I was for him to receive this message - ‘Thanks for both video clips and your guidance and advice this morning. It was much better today although I had a couple is shots go left, but I now know why this happens. However, I put a 7-iron on the 16th green to about 12 foot which is something I have not done for a while’.

If you’re struggling with any part of your game, then come and see us for a lesson or click here to get in touch.

Ladies events

The Bridge Drive was held on Thursday, 11 January with nine tables of four. The ladies committee members served the tea at the half-way break. Thank you to those who attended and purchased raffle tickets. We made £148 on the raffle for the Captains' Charity.

On Tuesday, 16 January we had our first fun morning. 23 ladies took part on a beautiful sunny morning, with cold blustery winds. The format was a bowmaker stableford with the best two scores in a team of three. The winners with 57 points were Lesley Milne, Viv Stephens and Vicky Kimber. Well done ladies. Thank you Tracy for selecting such nice prizes for the winners and runners-up.

Short Course Stableford

Not a huge entry into the short course stableford considering how busy Saturday was, but our overall winners were:

Division One - Richard Gillespie with 41 points.
Division Two - David Morgan with 39 points.

Upcoming Events

We have a number of events coming up at Hockley, including:

• Thursday, 18 January - Ladies Stableford.

• Saturday, 20 January and Sunday, 21 January - January Men’s Short Course Stableford.

• Sunday, 21 January - Winter Foursomes Semi-final – Please note the tee is reserved from 7:45am – 8:30am.

The PGA in Hampshire Dinner

The PGA in Hampshire Annual Dinner will be held on Thursday, 22 February  at Kutis Royal Pier Restaurant. Tickets are £40 per head to include a set three course Thai menu and a drink on arrival, the dress is smart casual. Please contact me or a member of my team if you would like to attend.