Thanks to all who attended last week's Divot Party. At the greens meeting on Monday evening, I pulled Tom Kitchen's name out of the hat as the winner of a sleeve of Nike balls as a thank you for his efforts.

 

The second green is coming along nicely now and will be monitored by Guy and his team. This green will be back in play as soon as it is fit for purpose, the last thing we want is to push its opening back further by playing it too soon.

The summer tees have gone out this morning. The new tee posts will be installed tomorrow and once they are in the knockout competitions can begin. Don't forget, it's the qualifying round for the Lombard Trophy on Saturday where the lowest nett winner will pair up with myself at Formby in the regional finals later in the year.

Hole 14 - 138/122 Yards (Par 3)

The shortest on the course but by no means the easiest. Most of you will have enjoyed the Masters this week but not many will have paid attention to the finer details of Jordan Spieth's victory. The top players are the very best at plotting their way around. A number of times you could hear his caddy telling him to aim for 'the TV tower' or 'the bloke in the yellow hat'. Picking targets as specific as this focuses the mind.

On hole 14 I will often pick a line in respect of the clubhouse, the ladies locker room, the snooker room etc. depending on where the flag is. This will help to find the green which is essential here. The plateau McKenzie green is its own defence, there are no bunkers needed here as chipping from almost everywhere is tricky. Often the best place to miss this green is long where the second shot can almost be left to gravity alone. Best tip is to leave yourself an uphill putt whenever possible.

The Midweek Stableford results are as follows. First place went to Alan Jones who beat Paul Jenkins on countback after both scored 27 points. Lance Flor came third with 25 points.

Saturday's Individual Stableford was the last winter comp which has felt like a long time coming. In Division One, with a winning score of 41 was Rick Austin. He was two ahead of junior John Kitchen in second with a card playoff deciding that Dave Cederholm's 38 was better than Paul Jamieson's for third. Four scores of 37 were recorded in Division Two. A job for the computer as Richard Knowlson took top spot from Mark Leat in second and John Body in third.  

The Junior Spring Meeting fell afoul of the weather on Sunday which was a shame as numerous juniors have been practicing hard during the half-term break.

The ladies played an 18 hole Stableford on the winter course for the last time in the Pro's Benefit. There were prizes for the top two scores, winning with a magnificent 40 points was Beryl Chase who pipped Barbara Eyres by one shot.

 

There are still a few places left on my half-day Short Game Clinic on Wed 22 Apr from 9:00am-12.00pm. Sign up in the pro shop or contact me to register.

It was a near miss for Rory McIlroy in the Masters but at least he looked great all week. We have his Masters outfit for each day in the shop now so please come in and take a look.

The Masters Sweep was well supported again with all the names being picked within five days. Prizes have now been credited to the winning accounts. The main prizes went to Howard Williams, John Stobbart and Brian Edwards who pulled out Spieth, Rose and Mickelson.

There's just a few days left on Titleist's 4-for-3 campaign with FREE personalisation.

There's still a chance to get some money back on those old shoes you've had in the garage with up to £20 trade in value against some of the new FootJoy range.