The Pro Shop Northamptonshire County Golf Club

Hello Golfers,

Welcome to another edition of our newsletter. In this week’s mail we look back on an exceptional Open Championship, when you should play for position off the tee and explore the difference between game-improvement and players' irons.

Enjoy this week’s read!

Competition news

Baxter Cup

Congratulations to Roger Green this year’s winner of the Baxter Cup. The Cup was originally presented by Arther Baxter in 1939 for a fourball matchplay.

In 1954 the competition became an 18 hole medal competition between the winners of the Saturday Medals.

Medal & Baxter Cup

Baxter Cup Winner - Roger Green - Nett 69

Overall Nett Winner - Martin Sharman - Nett 67

Overall Gross Winner - Daniel Thomas - Gross 71

Division 1

1st - Gary Purton - Nett 69 (cb)
2nd - Theo Brown - Nett 69 (cb)
3rd - Roger Green - Nett 69 (cb)

Division 2

1st - Martin Sharman - Nett 67
2nd - Michael Cheney - Nett 68
3rd - Joe Draper - Nett 70 (cb)

Division 3

1st - Peter Dugmore - Nett 72 (cb)
2nd - Simon Griffin - Nett 72
3rd - Neil Stephenson - Nett 73 (cb)

Upcoming events

Saturday 4th August The County Cup (Open)

Saturday 4th August the course will be closed for the majority of the day for the County Cup.

This is an Open 36 hole Medal with players travelling from afar to play in this prestigious trophy competition.

Past winners include a number of players who have played in Walker Cup & Ryder Cup matches. 2 past captains of Walker Cup & Ryder Cup matches and over a dozen players who have gone on to have a successful career on the European Tour.

This week

Sunday Deek’s Salver 11am to 2pm aprox

Monday NLPGC Past Captains 10am to 1pm

Course Maintenance week starts 6th August , please note if you have a Knock out to play.

Course news

The current situation

The greens on the whole are fine, they are stressing out with the daytime heat, but with careful watering they are holding on. There may be a little disease in the next few weeks, a preventative has been sprayed and we are carrying out all the cultural treatments and have a fungicide in stock should the weather conditions cause the disease to become more aggressive. They are staying a green colour because of the wetting agent we use, not because of the amount of water they are getting.

The irrigation system is holding up. After 54 days of no rain the system has run every day for the last 50 days.

It is taking between 1 and 2 greenstaff per day to keep on top of any repairs that are required and hand watering any areas of the greens that are excessively drying out. The fairway irrigation hasn’t been on this year, watering greens, tees and approaches we have already used 1.5 million gallons of reservoir water. That’s about half. Had we watered the fairways they wouldn’t have stayed green as the system is not capable of applying that much water in the night and the reservoir would have been empty in early July, leaving no water for the rest of July, August and September.

We have lost some areas of grass, predominately around green surrounds and bunker tops. Time will tell just how many other areas there are once the rains come. (I guess Carnoustie will be in the same situation)

We have scarified and thinned out all the areas of cut rough, so there will hopefully be an improvement come next spring. We will start work on a few selected areas of deep rough in the coming weeks.

Our members are still not raking the bunkers after they have played their shots. This is a worsening situation, if you have any suggestions to help it will be much appreciated.

Regards

Rob Hay

Course Manager

Bad Etiquette on our course

Members please ask your friends to follow the Etiquette of the game.

Written Under Care of the Course in the Rules of golf.

Bunkers

Before leaving a bunker, players should carefully fill up and smooth over all holes and footprints made by them and any nearby made by others.

If a rake is within reasonable proximity of the bunker, the rake should be used for this purpose.

This really happened it is not a staged shot. The player foot must have touched the rake at some point. Players are spoiling the enjoyment of the players following them.

Ladies news

Stableford 24th July

Overall Winner - Andrea Alston - 40pts

Division 1

1st - Mary Wetherley - 39pts

2nd - Diana Murkin - 37pts

3rd - Karen Lobb - 36pts

Division 2

1st - Diana Wells - 38pts

2nd - Diane Moore - 38pts

3rd - Di Saunderson - 36pts

Division 3

1st - Andrea Alston - 40pts

2nd - Anita Smith - 39pts

3rd - Stephanie McAra - 34pts

Seniors news

Alan Wrigley Northamptonshire County Seniors Champion 2018

Seniors Report

Two more matches to report.

Firstly the return match against Burford saw us gain a victory by 4 matches to two.

Having captained both fixtures Rob Pearman a former member at Burford was particularly pleased to add this victory to the half gained when we visited Burford earlier in the month.

We then visited Wellingborough and Match Captain Roger Brady reported as follows;

On yet another hot, humid day, the Senior Team travelled to Wellingborough who boasted a 100% home win record.

Initially, it looked like County would have to play with a 'man down' as one team member had obviously not set his alarm but thankfully, he appeared on the tee just in time!

With the ball running a 'country mile' on the bone hard fairways and bounces resting in the lap of the golfing Gods, it was no surprise that many matches spent most holes ball searching!

With six of the seven matches completed, the overall score was tied but alas, Wellingborough preserved their record with a last match win; 4 to 3 final score.

The day completed with a fine meal and we look forward to the return at County on 10th. September.

Roger Brady

Seniors Away Day

On 20th August the seniors will visit Burton on Trent GC for our second away day of the season.

Any senior i.e. Over 60 years of age is welcome to participate. This applies to all senior members and not just those who participate in matches.

A notice has been put onto the seniors notice board for those who would like to play.

We shall have a light lunch before playing 18 holes with a meal thereafter.

Please join us, the more the merrier!

Dennis Walker

Tour News

An Italian job well done

Well that was intense, wasn’t it? The 147th Open Championship at Carnoustie saw Francesco Molinari become the first Italian to ever win a Major, after seeing off challenges from the likes of Rory McIlroy, Justin Rose and Tiger Woods.

What was particularly impressive about Molinari’s victory was his mental strength – being in the same pair as Woods in the final round naturally invites huge galleries, but the Italian refused to buckle under the added pressure.

13 pars over the first 13 holes in very tricky conditions laid the platform for a final round of 69 – by no means the lowest round of the week, but on a day where players such as Jordan Spieth were struggling, it was very much a case of slow and steady winning the race.

There was nothing too spectacular about Molinari’s round, bar his excellent birdie on the 18th, but his putting was exemplary. One highlight was his two-putt from 90 feet on the 12th – a masterclass in lag putting and a moment which meant he kept his momentum going.

Molinari’s first Major victory sees him climb to 6th in the world rankings, whilst Tiger’s best 72-hole total at a major since the 2012 Open was enough for him to once again enter the top 50. It was thrilling to have Woods competing again on a Sunday – it may now be a case of ‘when’ as opposed to ‘if’ he adds to his haul of 14 Major trophies.

Danger!

Are you the type of golfer who considers the danger ahead of you and plans accordingly, or do you pull a driver from the bag on every par-4 and par-5 without a blink? If you’re the latter then you need to read on.

Consider the danger
You hear pros talk a lot about the ‘smart shot’ in their post-round interviews. If you’re on the tee and there’s a bunker, ditch or other hazard around the distance that your driver or fairway wood normally flies, then make sure you change club to one that takes the trouble out of play, as displayed in this graphic. While you’ll have a slightly longer shot to the green, you’ll greatly reduce the chance of a big number.

Know your numbers
Of course, key to all of this is knowing how far each of your woods carries. If you’re looking to add more distance and control to your game, come and test the TaylorMade M4 driver, M4 fairway and M4 hybrid. If you have a fitting we can hit all three in a range of different specifications until we find your ideal set-up for the course.

watch our review >

Which model is best for you?

It goes without saying that each brand has several iron models in its range because each one offers something different. This is where tapping into our expertise can be really useful. During a fitting we can explain the pros and cons of each iron set and help you to discover the model that is perfect for your game.

Mizuno JPX900 Hot Metal iron

If you’re seeking maximum distance with plenty of forgiveness, we think you’ll be drawn to the Mizuno JPX900 Hot Metal iron, which has a powerful thin face. During testing we can look at your consistency and yardages with this and other heads and shafts to ensure you leave with a set that’s ideal for your game.

Mizuno MP-18 MMC iron

If you’re looking to upgrade to a more workable iron as your handicap gets lower, you shouldn’t overlook the Mizuno MP-18 MMC model. During a fitting we can test it in multiple shafts and against more forgiving irons like the JPX900 Forged or more compact irons like the JPX900 Tour to see which look, feel and ball flight you prefer.

explore Mizuno's range >

Spotlight: Callaway Chrome Soft TruVis

If you were a fan of the previous generation TruVis, which helped to increase focus and visibility by maximising your view of the golf ball, then you're going to love this.

The new and improved 2018 Chrome Soft has greater ball speed and reduced long-game spin compared to last year's model, increasing distance throughout the bag. Couple this with two TruVis colour options (white/red and yellow/black) and you have a ball that will be going in a lot of golf bags this summer.

watch our video >

Video of the Week

In our final Tips from the Tour video, we take a look at how to play out of the bunker when your ball is plugged. Remember these few simple tips and you'll be getting up-and-down in no time.

Hope you enjoyed the newsletter and have a great weekend.

Tim Rouse
Golf Lane
Church Brampton
Northampton
NN6 8AZ

Phone: 01604 842226

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