Good afternoon. I hope you are all well and not getting to depressed by this cold weather. I for one really don't like it. Monday was the first time we have been closed for over 2 years. Just thought I would put a quick golf related joke in though to cheer you all up!!

Arnold Palmer and Tiger Woods are playing the 16th hole, when Tiger's tee shot lands behind a huge, 100 foot fir tree. Tiger looks at Arnie and says, "How would you play this one? Lay up and take the extra stroke?"

Arnold replies: "When I was your age, I'd just play right over this tree."

Tiger, not wanting to be shown up by ol' Arnold Palmer, proceeds to hit the ball high, but not high enough. It bounces off the tree and lands out of bounds. Tiger, really ticked at this point, asks Arnold how he EVER hit a ball over that tree.

Arnold replied: "Well, when I was your age, that tree was only three feet tall."

It's a little like some stories you hear at Hornsea as even I remember when we first started planting trees here at Hornsea.

Whilst the weather is not so good it's not a bad time to give all your golf clubs a quick check over. One thing that most people neglect are the grips.

How Often Should I Get My Clubs Regripped?

As a rule of thumb, you should re grip once every year or every 40 rounds. Regardless of how often you play, ozone, heat, dirt and oils are constantly at work breaking down the materials that make up your grips. Granted, frequent play and personal preference may dictate re gripping sooner, but with normal use there's enough degradation of the material after a year to warrant fresh grips. Keep in mind that grips lose a significant amount of their original feel long before they become hard and slick. Because it happens slowly over time, most golfers fail to notice it. That's important to remember because just a tiny, imperceptible slip at contact will be magnified to many yards by the time the ball reaches its target. Many people find that getting in the routine of re gripping every Spring as the golf season "officially" begins is the easiest way to remember.

I have many different grips in stock with more arriving shortly. Please bring your clubs in and let us asses if they need re gripping or not.

One of our lovely lady members is selling her 4 wheel ride on golf trolley. It's a fantastic bit of kit and will take away the aches and pains of walking round the course.

To see the advert click here.

Yorkshire Order Of Merrit

Did you all know that Hornsea member Luke Robinson won the Yorkshire Order of Merit last year. He was only recently handed the trophy which is now on display in the clubhouse in the trophy cabinet. He had a great year last year winning 2 events having 2 second place finishes and numerous other great results. I know that Luke is planning on playing more golf this year not only in the Yorkshire area but also nationally. Good luck Luke. 

For his full results from last year please look at:
www.yorkshireorderofmerit.org

Saturday 24th January 2015 - Pro's Stableford
Sunday 25th January 2015 - Individual Stableford inc Mark Hurn Trophy Qualifier
Thursday 29th January 2015 - Mid Week Stableford

Hull & District Golfing Association

This weeks event is due to be played at Withernsea. At the time of me posting this newsletter I don't know if the event will be on or off due to the weather. Please look at fthe website for full results and standings, www.hullanddistrictgolf.co.uk

East Riding Golf Alliance

Next event is at Easingwold 28th January. The team is, 9.50 (1st tee) Steve Uzzell & Andy Fox, 10.00 (11th tee) Sam Middleton & Mark Cooke. Reserve Chris Wilson. Hornsea are currently in 2nd place. For full details of results etc please look at www.eryga.co.uk

Thursday 15th January 2015 - Mid Week Stableford
1st Mark Cooke 35pts £25, 2nd Malc Train 30pts £15, 3rd Ian Pearson 30pts £10.
2's Club - No 2's

Saturday 17th January 2015 - Club Stableford
1st Peter Smith 42pts £25, 2nd Martin Rowbotham 37pts £15, 3rd Leigh Gawley 36pts £10.
2's Club - Paul Sellers, Stewart Taylor, Peter Smith, Steve Newton, David Rogerson, Martin Rowbotham, Paul Hitchen.
59 entries, all cards returned and put through the computer. Thank you.

Sunday 18th January 2015 - Individual Stableford inc. Mark Hurn
1st Steve Carmichael 34pts £25, 2nd Andrew Prout 33pts £15, 3rd Lee Guest 32pts £10 2's Club - No 2's
Tough conditions again today. Just a little frozen all day!!

Slow Play

Slow play and teeing off on time recently on a weekend seems to be causing problems. Please read the following report that Paul Lockwood has done after coming down last Saturday.

Click here to read a full report.

Greens

Good progress was made on the bunkers around the 7th last week but this cold snap has stopped any more work on the.

Whilst the weather is so cold the staff are doing quite a bit of machine maintenance and also tree work. The path down to the first tee has also been given a good tidy. We have taken on a new member to the greens team. Paul Lazenby started on Monday 19th and we hope he will be a great asset to the team as he has worked on golf courses before.

You might wonder why we go on about people not abiding by the rope rule, you can clearly see on this picture above where someone has taken a trolley not only over the ropes on the 7th, but between the new bunker and the green.

New Look Dining Room

We now have new dining room chairs which help to give the dining room a much more restaurant feel.

Burns Night

For those of you that are not going out this Saturday there are still some places left for the Burns Night celebration.

Please contact Paul behind the bar to book you place.

Paul Gibson - PGA Teaching Professional

To find out what Paul has been upto this week you can visit his blog below. It's always a great read.

www.paulgibsongolf.co.uk