Good Afternoon,

Welcome to this week's newsletter with all the latest news from Hornsea Golf Club.

Enjoy the read.

Nathan's news

So, it’s Nathan again doing the newsletter this week as the parents have gone away for a couple of days to celebrate their 21st wedding anniversary. Hopefully they have a nice couple of days and me and my sister manage to hold the fort!

Wiles Cup

First bit of news from the Pro Shop is the Wiles Cup where Dad and I managed to qualify for as you will see later on. For myself personally this is something I’ve always wanted to qualify for with him as he’s always talked about it and when I bogeyed the 17th with him nowhere to be seen I thought it might cost us, but luckily it didn’t. Now the next step is to go and win each match and hopefully meet the other Hornsea pairing in the final.

Are you prepared?

Second piece of news is to keep your eye out in the shop for the winter stock which is starting to arrive in both the gents and ladies sections. Depressing to think about winter I know but make sure you shop earlier to avoid being cold later down the line. I know I required a hat for the first time this week and I’m sure it won’t be long before they are required more regularly. Also look out for some more Volvik golf balls coming in the shop in the next week or so. There may even be some different colours for you to try.

A different aspect to the game...

The final thing for me this week to discuss is last week over in the US the World Long Drive Championships took place. Now I know this might not be everyone’s cup of tea as some prefer just the normal game, but for myself I really do like it. Seeing people just hit the ball as hard as possible and as far with music and cheering fans really brings a different aspect to the game.

The other side of it is the technique. As much as it is about being very strong and hitting it very hard, there is different ways to get the ball to go further with their body shape that if normal people tried in their normal swing it would not work out. The clubs that these people use are also very interesting. If you look at Rory McIlroy and Dustin Johnson who both hit it a long way using 10 degree drivers with extra stiff shafts, which isn’t all that far away from what people at your local club play with. The long drive players are using drivers that have got around 4 degrees of loft with shafts that are around quadruple the strength of a stiff shaft.

Over to the event itself. The early round was mainly surrounded by one thing happening and this was Wes Patterson who swung so hard at the ball the driver snapped round his back as you can see in the video below. Also keep your eye on the lady in the background. Her eyes never left the ball and didn’t even notice the snapped club heading her way!

Watch it here.

In the end, the event was won by Justin James with a winning drive of 435 yards. That is the equivalent of driving the front of the 6th green here at Hornsea. Now if you know someone that has ever done that I would love to meet them. 

Watch the winning drive here. 

Overall I think this a fantastic event for the game of golf as it brings a total different element to it. It gives the fans something different to see compared to people trying to keep the ball in play and make a score this is all about power and distance.

Good luck to our Alliance Teams!

The Hull and District Team take to Springhead in hope of following a similar result to last year were Paul Lockwood and Adrian Bird scored a 57. There will be a report in next week’s newsletter but if you follow the Hornsea Golf Club twitter then the results will hopefully be on there either later today or tomorrow.

Let’s see another great score!

Next Wednesday the East Riding Alliance Team begin their challenge as they look to go one better than the last two years and win the season long race. The first event is taking a place at Pike Hills and we have a strong team out consisting of Stretton Wright and Barry Thompson, Nathan Wright and Malcolm Train with our final pairing Steve Uzzell and Ross Meggison.

A strong 3 pairings to begin what is hopefully another successful year.

Will he hang on?

Dad won’t be happy as even though he has moved up into 2nd place overall Paul Gibson had a great week topping the weekly standings and increasing his overall lead.

The weeks are ticking by now with 10 events remaining and Paul has a big lead. Will he hang on?

A few too many beverages...

This proved to be another great day with 60 players heading to Filey for a day of golf, food and maybe a few too many beverages for some as can be seen by the group travelling home on the bus! The course was in good condition and the pins were set up quite tricky with a tough into wind going out but blowing you back in on the last few holes.

Wiles Cup

Qualifiers for the Wiles Cup are Dave Prescott and Paul Duckworth followed by the old man and me as seen earlier on! The teams in first and 3rd position are unfortunately unable to qualify for the Wiles Cup due to the age and handicap restrictions.

Let’s hope that we can meet in the final at Hull early next year!

Conditions good for growth...

There's not a lot happening this week on the course, but cutting remains the priority with conditions still good for growth while the boundary hedges will continue to be trimmed over the next few weeks for the winter months.

Dates for your diary

• Saturday 16th September – Assistant Pro’s Trophy
• Sunday 17th September – Knockout Finals Day
• Tuesday 19th September – Ladies Invitation Day
• Thursday 21st September – Midweek Stableford