Good Afternoon,

Welcome to this week's newsletter, we take a look at the USPGA Championship and the BBC's coverage, AGM reminder, more Holes In One, great Junior news, competition updates and course maintenance news.

Enjoy the read.

Nathan's News

So with the rest of the family away its down to me, Nathan, to do the newsletter this week. I’m sure they are having a lovely little break while I am trying not to burn the house down. They’ll be glad to know so far I haven’t!

This past week golf returned to the BBC in the form of the final Major of the year, the USPGA Championship. A lot of people regard this as being the weaker of the 4 Majors, however in the end it is still a Major so all the top players want to be there. This year BBC secured the rights to broadcast this event over Sky. Now for those that regularly watch golf on Sky have very high expectations in terms of the quality of the coverage. Unfortunately, the BBC failed to get even close in a lot of people’s eyes. From starting the coverage on the red button until late every night, to some very average commentary to say the least.

Now this brings us to why the BBC got the rights in the first place? The USPGA and all the other golfing boards are aiming to increase participation in the game, so their idea was to give the rights for to a free service, so that more people had access to watching the coverage, in order to try and get more people interested. However, by hiding the coverage behind the red button I can’t see how this would help. If they want to increase participation for me, they need to be offering more funding to schools and to the coaches so that the younger generation can get more into it.

To the actual golf that was played. The USPGA Championship for me has always been the lower scoring on the 4 Majors. However, Quail Hollow proved to be a very different challenge. The course had been majorly altered with lots of length added and the type of grass changed to make the course a much harder challenge. This I would say was a success with only 13 players finishing under par. 

When discussing the participation and increasing numbers, players like Justin Thomas, Jordan Spieth and Rickie Fowler are such great people to look up to as they are not only on the tour together playing great golf, they are also such great friends off it. This is the way to encourage the younger players by showing them not only the golf, but the friendship side as well.

If you have children, grandchildren, nieces, nephews, family friends or any other young person you know then get them down for the junior fun golf on a Saturday morning 10:00am or the girls only session at 12:00pm for just £3.00 its worth a go!

AGM & Members Meeting

Just a quick reminder to all that this is taking a place a week today, Thursday 24th August 19:30 start in the lounge. Just to reiterate Stretton’s point from last week him and Yvonne won’t be attending as Natasha is collecting her GCSE results on that day. One thing is for certain she will have done better than all the family!

Filey Exchange

This exchange is fast approaching so next time you are at the club it would be brilliant if you could pay the money outstanding.

Click here to enlarge the time sheet.

Autumn Trophy

Saturday saw Hornsea hold the Autumn Trophy. Again as every year there was a large entry from golfers that travel from all over Yorkshire with 73 pairs taking part. The weather in the morning was fine with just a gentle breeze blowing, which definitely gave the early starters an advantage as by 4pm, the rain, yet again, had started to fall, which really hampered the later starters.

All that played enjoyed the day as always though and it was great to listen to so many complimentary comments about the course and its condition. Many have already booked for next year. In the end the very first card to be returned with a great score of 63 held on all day to take first prize. This despite quite a poor start to their round. A back nine of 28 helped them though to victory. All the prize winners, which are highlighted, have been put into credit in the shop at Hornsea. Thanks to all that supported the event.

Yet More Holes In One

I know I said this last time, but this year really must be a record for the amount of ones recorded this year. This last week, Peter Blood, had one here at Hornsea on the 7th hole, whilst Steve Hawkins and Jim Clubley made ones playing at away courses.

Well done to you all.

European Tour Fantasy League

Again this week we saw a bit of Paul’s lead chipped away. With the gap closing as the season heads into a quieter spell before the season really finishes with a flourish come October and November. Will the rest catch up or will Paul march to the win?

Thursday 10th July – Mid Week Stableford

1st £25 Nathan Wright 40pts
2nd £15 Jon Mitchell 39pts
3rd £10 Alan Barker 38pts

2s £6.83 each – Lee Nicholson, Danny Norton, John Cordock, Ross Meggison, Lee Guest & Alan Beaumont

Sunday 13th August – Ladies Sunday Stableford

1st Christine Gregory 37pts
2nd Debbie Goddard-Taylor 35pts
3rd Barbara Teal 33pts

Sunday 13th August – Pro’s Stableford

1st £25 Chris Stephenson 42pts
2nd £16 Dave Blanchard Snr 40pts
3rd £10 Alan Beaumont 39pts

Well Done Matt & Will

More great news for the juniors this week. Starting with Junior Captain Matt McDonnell, he played his first 2 games for the East Riding Boys team in the past week. In the first game he won his foursomes in the morning and followed that with a half; unfortunately the team didn’t manage to win. Then in his second game a loss in the morning foursomes was offset by his first singles win and this contributed to the teams victory.

Also Monday was the Burstwick Junior Open, which Will Marshall won with a fantastic 42pts. Everyone at the club should be delighted to have these 2 leading the way for the club’s future. Hopefully their form will carry on for the rest of the season and we will see both of them playing for the club’s scratch team and the East Riding Boys team come next year.

Ready Golf

This isn’t a new idea, but more and more clubs are trying to adopt it. I don’t like talking about the winter months, but I shall be giving this a push when daylight hours are short. In fact, I’m sure most would say introduce it for the whole year round. Why not give it a go next time you play? Some say you can get around up to 45 minutes quicker playing in a 4 ball if you adopt the following.

‘Ready Golf’s’ philosophy:
- If you are ready to play and it’s safe then play!
- No ‘Honour’ (except Matchplay) - the first player ready plays.
- Players should play their own ball before helping to look for a lost ball.
- When not playing your shot, you should be preparing to play your shot.

Ready Golf Examples:

• Hitting a shot when safe to do so if a player farther away faces a challenging shot and is taking time to assess their options.

• Shorter hitters playing first from the tee or fairway if longer hitters have to wait

• Hitting a tee shot if the person with the honour is delayed in being ready to play

• Hitting a shot before helping someone to look for a lost ball

• Hitting a shot if a person who has just played from a greenside bunker is still farthest from the hole, but is delayed due to raking the bunker

• On approaching the green, place your bag nearer to next tee box

• When a player’s ball has gone over the back of a green, any player closer to the hole, but chipping from the front of the green, should play while the other player is having to walk to their ball and assess their shot

• Marking scores upon immediate arrival at the next tee, except that the first player to tee off marks their card immediately after teeing off

Upcoming Competitions 

Saturday 19th August – Pro’s Stableford
Tuesday 22nd August – Ladies RNLI

Paul Gibson Blog

Please click here to see Paul's blog.