Now into May and there doesn't seem to be any constant in the weather at the moment, although Alan Boucher posted this picture of the 18th on Facebook on Bank holiday Monday with this quote 'Good mornings golf at Hockley GC, nice to play with the sun on your back!'

 

FootJoy Belt offer

Receive 10% OFF any FootJoy belt when you purchase any item of FootJoy clothing. Select your perfect belt and buckle combination to compliment your outfit, 3 different buckles and 5 different belts to choose from.

 

Lithium Battery Trade In

- Do you have a lead acid battery?
- Is your current battery struggling to get you round the course?
- Is your current battery weighing down your trolley?

If any of the above apply to you then why not take advantage of the already popular lithium battery trade in. Simply trade in your old battery and you will receive £25 OFF a new lithium battery or lithium battery Motocaddy trolley. A lithium battery has many benefits and here are just a few to show you why it makes sense to buy one;

• extremely light weight in comparison to a lead acid 
• up to 5 years warranty on a lithium battery 
• longer lifetime

A standard 18 hole lead acid battery will average 250 rounds before needing to be replaced, a lithium battery will last 4 times as long as that and averages 1000 rounds of golf before needing to be replaced. Hurry as this offer finishes on May 10th.

Click here to find out more.

Game Improvement Champion Update

Thank you to those that came forward, I have now found my 'Game Improvement Champion", in fact I have two! Ian Leggatt playing off 22 and Lucy Barraclough off 20. Over the coming weeks I will report their journey, progress and targets in the newsletter along with pictures, so keep an eye out next week.

Your Complete Equipment Solution

On Friday we launched our Complete Equipment Solution which is a fantastic opportunity for you to improve your game over the coming months. If you spend £399 or more on PING hardware, we will give you a FREE custom fitting and a FREE lesson from one of our PGA professional staff.

Pay us a visit and see how much distance and accuracy you could gain. Click here to find out more.

Click here to get in touch to request your fitting.

  

Grip Control

Here's a very simple grip drill that you can practice that will allow you to gain more control of your swing. A lot of amateurs lose control of their grip at the top of the backswing in an attempt to create power. Golfers are often told not to grip the club too tightly, but gripping it too loosely can also lead to problems. By partially letting go of the club at the top in an effort to gain length and distance, loss of friction will compromise control and most likely result in a poor strike and lack of accuracy.

This same move can also lead to an early release of the club through impact. One of my favourite drills to teach somebody how to maintain a correct grip pressure throughout the swing is by using two tees, carefully placed in the grip. As illustrated in the close-up image, you will see one tee placed just between my left palm and grip, and the other between right palm and left thumb.

Once you have placed the first tee between the end of your grip and your left palm (for right handers) you will need to use your mouth to place the tee under the right palm - it takes a bit of practice to get it right.

With the tees in place, try and make full, balanced swings. You will feel like your swing is more restricted and shorter. If the tees fall out of the grip, then you know you are losing control. The right hand image demonstrates a backswing that is wider and stronger. Maintaining this grip control will allow you to extend better through impact, too. This will eventually lead to better striking, more control and distance.

Congratulations to Kay Warner who achieved the third hole in one of her career on the 130m 15th on the Gloria New course in Turkey last week. She celebrated with champagne with her eleven playing companions from Hockley. Luckily they were on an All Inclusive package!

The winners of the Ladies Peugeot Coronation foursomes were Gilliam Geary and Carole Cullen with 36 points.

 

 

Our congratulations go to Ross Garfitt and his wife Vicky on the birth of their son Remy Pip Garfitt, who was born at 11:08am on Saturday, 25 April, four weeks early and weighed 4lbs 10oz.

Everyone is doing well.

 

 

Away to Broadstone Seniors, Hockley Captain Graham Light led his team to a hard fought draw 3:3 on 30th April. Broadstone proved as challenging a course as ever, but Hockley certainly has the edge on them when it comes to quality of the greens! Although his magic failed to work during the round, one of the Broadstone members Ken, bamboozled eight of us with his card tricks during an excellent meal afterwards. The return match is on 5th August.

Our Seniors are away to Stoneham on 7th May and Round 2 of the Knighton Heath Trophy takes place at Hockley on 8th May against Canford School. The 14th May sees us playing Hayling Seniors hopefully on a calm day!

A good turnout for the Saturday Medal, although most entries were in the morning due to the pending rain which didn't happen until much later in the day.

Winners:
Division 1 - Shane Rose with an amazing nett 66, playing off 3.
Division 2 - Congratulations to new member Scott Williams who scored a nett 70. Scott only joined last week, I think he likes Hockley!!

There was a lower entry into the Sunday Stableford as it was raining first thing! This was processed as one division and the winner was another new member Michael Peace with 38 points.

Millenium League Team

Hockley's Millennium League Team really got back into the 'swing' of things on Sunday, 3 May with an excellent win over Brokenhurst on a bright but breezy Sunday afternoon.

The score was 8 points to 2 which puts us back into positive territory.

 

Saturday, 9 May our French visitors will be joining us from Etretat and the tee is reserved from 10.30 am - 12.30am

Saturday, 9 May - Men's Long Course stableford, enter on the day in the Pro Shop

Ladies Medal - 1st round of the Habin Cup

Sunday, 10 May - Etretat match the tee is reserved from 9.30am - 11am Men's Medal, enter on the day in the Pro shop.

The second round of our Gales/Hockley match against The Burley - Tee reserved from 2.00pm - 3.15pm

Monday, 11 May - Men's Short course stableford

Tuesday, 12 May - Ladies Trimmer Cup, enter on the day in the Pro shop.

The Satterthwaite Salvers on Bank Holiday Monday, 25 May, this is a club mixed foursomes event open to ALL members. Sign up in the foyer and also enter on the psi in the changing rooms.

Click here for more information.

Our Pro Am will be held on Friday, 29 May and Hockley members are more than welcome to play, why not invite a colleague to play in a team with you?

For further information please click here or contact one of the Pro Team.

Help required

We are after some Lady volunteers to operate the refreshments on the 11th for the Pro Am. Probably starting about 10.30am through to 4pm, on a rota basis. Please let Tracy know if you are able to help. Thank you.

The Men's Invitation on Sunday, 14 June is now open for entry, £55 per pair. Why not invite a friend, relative or work colleague to play at Hockley with you. Entry forms are available in the foyer, click here for more information.