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Chipping in! Our featured club website this month is Wyboston Lakes Golf Centre, Bedfordshire

Wyboston Lakes Golf Centre is a superb 18 hole, par 70 golf course set in 350 acres of picturesque countryside amongst lakes and alongside the banks of the River Great Ouse. The 5963 yards long course offers some challenging holes for all standards of golfer, including the 3rd, 5th and 7th which are testing par 3s surrounded by water. A warm, friendly welcome is given to all visitors, whether you visit as part of a corporate group or golf society. more info...

Amateurs win Tour Cards

English amateurs Hannah Ralph of Sussex (left) and Kym Larratt of Leicestershire (right) have earned full cards for the 2010 Ladies European Tour after successfully making their way through qualifying school at La Manga. Lancashire’s Corisande Lee will also be offered some playing opportunities next year.
The school was described as the most fiercely contested in the 31-year history and for many of the players was a two-week test, involving seven gruelling rounds.

Hannah Ralph (Cowdray Park) was 11th overall, with a five-under par total for 72 holes (70 75 71 71). Her scoring was impressively steady throughout the event, with just five bogeys and one double throughout the four rounds. Hannah is EWGA’s South Region champion and was runner-up in the English mid-amateur championship.

Kym was the top qualifier at the English amateur championship at Lindrick and went on to represent England in the Nations Cup in the Irish women’s open strokeplay championship. Her father, Bob, is a European senior tour player. Corisande Lee (West Lancashire) finished in 45th place with scores of 71 75 78 73. Cori was a key member of the victorious Lancashire team at the English County Finals and won the 2009 Leveret, one of the country’s top scratch events.

Nominate your club’s service champion

TIME is running out for nominations for this year’s England Golf Partnerships Awards. The award categories are- Services to Golf Lifetime Achievement (male and female) Young Golf Volunteer of the year under 18, Golf Volunteer of the year 18 – 25, Golf Volunteer Coach of the year, Club Development Volunteer, County Development Volunteer.

This is the opportunity to ensure that the volunteers in your club and counties are recognised for the excellent work they are doing. If you think that you have a volunteer who has gone that extra mile for the game of golf and deserves acknowledgement for their achievements then please be sure to nominate them. The closing date for nominations: 10th January 2010. Please go to www.golfvolunteers.org to get an application form

PGA Captain

Congratulations to Rob Edwards (Lee-on-the-Solent), who will take over as South Region PGA Captain at the AGM at Clandon Regis in early March, reports David Wheeler Secretary of Hampshire PGA. As well as enjoying a long and successful playing career Rob has also captained the Hampshire PGA and served on both County and South Region Committees. Here at Golf-NOW, we wish him every success as South Region PGA Captain.

A Cowdray Christmas

Cowdray Park Golf Club in Midhurst, West Sussex, are offering golfers what they descriibe as ,The Perfect Christmas Gift. For prices starting at £99, visitors can enjoy 18 holes on Cowdray’s picturesque championship course for two players including buggy.., and you can get 3 golf lessons with one of their PGA Professionals. Or why not sign up for a WILDLIFE SAFARI (a max of 3 people) and the opportunity to watch badgers and deer and experience a guided wildlife tour over the Estate. During the 3 hours, some at night, you will have the chance to see wildlife in its natural habitat - and that does not include the golfers!!

Cowdray also offer FLY FISHING and ,CLAY PIGEON SHOOTING. Visitors can STAY THE NIGHT in the Golf Lodge overlooking the polo lawns and the Cowdray Ruins. Your stay will include the use of a double/twin ensuite room with full English breakfast served in the clubhouse. Get Christmas sorted at Cowdray Park.

Surrey golfers raise 10K for charity

Golfers and friends of Silvermere Golf Club, Cobham, have raised just under £10,000 for vital breast cancer research by holding a successful fundraising day in support of Breast Cancer Campaign. The event took place on Friday 23 October at Silvermere’s sister club, Kingswood Golf Club, Tadworth. A mix of professional, amateur and celebrity golfers took part in a day of golf, including Ryder Cup winner Neil Coles and European Senior Tour winner Peter Mitchell.

Silvermere’s Managing Director Doug McClelland decided to hold the event in support of Breast Cancer Campaign as two of his close friends had been affected by breast cancer. Doug said “We’re absolutely delighted with how well the day went. We had a fantastic turn out and everyone had such a great time. We’ll definitely hold another charity event in the future. All our fundraising from now on will be in support of Breast Cancer Campaign to help them get a step closer to beating breast cancer.”

Juniors pass the test

Hampshire County Juniors defeated the Hampshire PGA Trainees to win the Paul Hurring Memorial Match at the end of October at Test Valley Golf Club. The County Juniors won three of the four morning foursomes and then extended their lead by winning six of the eight afternoon singles matches for a 9-3 victory- see picture.

Team Captain Rob Gowers was pleased with his team’s performance, especially as six members were playing in their last County Junior event. It was also the last fixture for Team Manager Tony Cullen who takes over as President of the Hampshire County Golf Union in December. The only consolation for the PGA Trainees was singles victories for James Mitchell (Shanklin & Sandown) and Gary Mills (Hockley).

Three way tie

Sam Holloway (Cams Hall), Shaun Hall (The County) and James Green (Portsmouth Golf Club) shared victory in the Rowlands Castle Golf Club Pro-Am, reports David Wheeler. All three shot two-over-par rounds of 74 on a chilly and blustery day at the Rowlands Castle club. David Egan (Portsmouth Golf Centre) and Steve Mitchell (Blackmoor) shared fourth place on 76.

Hall also won the Pro-AM with his team of Alan Smith, Alex Marshall and Simon Smith pictured. Their fourteen-under-par score of 130 was two shots better than James Green and his team of Ron Quarrington Jnr, Ron Quarrington Snr and George Hunt (132). Third place went to Ben Cummings (Dummer) and his team of Mick Cummings, Neil Marie and Madge Cummings (136), with Dean Elder (Rowlands Castle), Marty Sands, Dean Elder Snr and Stuart Brown in fourth and the all ladies team of Emma McBride (Royal Winchester), Sandra Healy, Jayne Badger & Debbie Tapply (138) fifth.

Belgian delights

Ten Hampshire PGA Teams returned from Belgium last night in mid October after competing in the 54 hole ERIF UK Belgian Pro-AM. The annual season ending Tour, which was celebrating its 10th anniversary, saw teams compete at the superb venues of Royal Hainaut Golf Club and Mont Garni Golf Club, near Mons. Jon Le Roux won the top Professional prize after finishing six-under-par for the three rounds in the ERIF UK sponsored tournament. Le Roux successfully defended the title he won in Le Touquet last year. Second place went to Swanmore’s Kevin Bowden, who opened with a five-over-par round at Royal Hainaut but then rolled back the years with two four-under-par rounds at Royal Hainaut and Mont Garni. Tim Cornick (Portsmouth Golf Centre) finished in third place with Hampshire PGA Captain James Pitcher in fourth.

Cornick won the Pro-AM with his team of David Bartlett, Robert Miller and Joe Goddard. They shot an incredible 44-under-par for the 54 hole event despite the fact that their handicaps were three, four and five. Second place, after a final round countback, went to Bowden’s team of Martyn Holman, Gary Cheater and Paul Torrible with Le Roux’s team of Graham Smith, Sam Parrott and Andy Sinton in third place. The Tour was sponsored for the fifth year by ERIF UK Limited and organised in association with Driveline Golf.

Senior Champions

Kent are the kings of English seniors golf again. They regained the title from old rivals Cheshire when they beat them 5½-3½ on the concluding day of the County Finals at Tandridge, while Dorset and Staffordshire tied their match to share third place. After the morning foursomes had been halved, Kent took command in the singles, winning four of the six games, their internationals proving better than Cheshire’s. It was a delighted Kent captain Nick Allen who said: “We have always previously come second to Cheshire and it’s about time we came out on top. I am very grateful that they didn’t play as well as us today.
Roger Fielding, the Cheshire skipper for all of their previous title-winning finals, was tasting defeat for the first time but praised Kent’s performance. Meanwhile the battle for third place couldn’t have been closer. Staffordshire edged the foursomes 2-1 but Dorset hit back in the singles and at one stage looked as if they might take the match comfortably but Staffordshire experienced players fought back to make it a tie.

Chipping in for Christmas

CLEVELAND Golf has introduced some brilliant new product lines, which include new CG15 wedges, the LAUNCHER DST driver, fairway woods and hybrids as well as the CG7™ and CG7™ Tour Black Pearl irons. Precision is the key to success with Cleveland. The new Cleveland CG15 wedges feature the most advanced wedge technology Cleveland Golf has introduced in almost a decade. The secret lies in the combination of a Laser milled face and Zip grooves that offer the ultimate control with the highest spin level ever reached in a Cleveland Golf wedge, sounds good? Well the technical whizzes at Cleveland tell us that this breakthrough surface optimises ball-to-face friction and maximises spin under The Rules of Golf , so now you know ! If your partner is struggling to find that perfect present for the 2009 Christmas stocking – here is the answer ... see www.clevelandgolf.com

Houston lift off!

England men and women internationals Matt Haines and Stiggy Hodgson along with Holly Clyburn and Rachel Jennings will represent the English Golf Union (EGU) and the English Women’s Golf Association (EWGA) respectively in the Spirit International Amateur Championship being staged on 4th – 7th November in Houston, Texas. The biennial event takes place at the Whispering Pines Golf Club, north of Houston, and attracts leading players, both boys and girls, from many overseas nations. Haines, 20 (Rochester & Cobham, Kent - picture © Tom Ward) was capped at boys level and has been an England international for the past three years after making his debut in the 2007 European Men’s Team Championships in Denmark.

In that time he has won the McEvoy, Carris and Lytham Trophies, while this year his successes have included winning the Berkhamsted Trophy, the Hampshire Hog and Salver and a shared victory in the Duncan Putter. He has also finished runner-up in the St Andrews Links Trophy and the Welsh Open Stroke Play and reached the quarter finals of the Spanish and English Amateur Championships. Hodgson, 19 (Sunningdale, Surrey), like Haines, played in last month’s Walker Cup having made his full England debut as part of the victorious Home Internationals team. A former boy international, Hodgson’s victories have included the McEvoy and Carris Trophies and the Duke of York Young Champions Trophy, all in 2008.