CAPTAINS REPORT
Before I propose the new Captain for Leek Golf Club I hope that you will allow me some time to reflect on some of the highlights of the last 12 months.
It was at the AGM last year that I had the privilege to announce Greg Rogula as our new Club Professional. I hope that you will agree with me that Greg has provided us with some fantastic prize tables this year he has been instrumental in providing the Club with a weekly newsletter and has participated in 20 of the Pro/Captain Challenge matches in aid of the Captain's Charity. He now appears to have settled in and with Jake we are fortunate at LGC to have the best Pro shop and Academy system of any Club in the County.
The Pro Am has returned to Leek and this year the Midlands PGA stated that it was the 2nd biggest event of its kind in the whole of the Midlands Region.
The County Ladies Championship was held at LGC and it showed the Staffordshire Union of Golf Clubs that, in the face of adversity, we can host an event of that stature as well as any other golf club in the County. It is a huge credit to Lady Captain and the Ladies Section that the event was a success and it elevated the Clubs growing reputation throughout the County.
I have not only been fortunate to have been Captain of LGC for these events but I have also had a very competent, knowledgeable and experienced team around me. I have had a fantastic Club President in John Carr right by my side providing invaluable guidance to me and a wonderful Lady Captain in Karen Griffiths to keep me on the straight and narrow. My Vice Captain, Trevor, has been very busy not only organising the friendly matches (which is very demanding and time consuming) but he has been heavily involved with the Club's Steering Group which advises on future projects. The Hon Sect. Dave Brookhouse and the girls in the office (Karen and Tracy) have provided a sounding board for some of ideas that I've had and I have to mention my wife Jackie who provided me with the support I needed when things didn't go quite according to plan and for being there to enjoy the many friendships offered by the members of LGC. She would personally like me to thank you for your kindness and your hospitality over the last 2 years and feels fortunate to have been included in so many of your social events.
Last year, when I stood here as your newly appointed Captain, I promised you all that I would do the best that I possibly could and I hope that you, at least some of you, have been satisfied with my performance. I am grateful for everyone on the Management Committee for being open and honest with me and for advising me on many of the issues that arose throughout the year. The Management Committee should feel proud of their achievements and take great credit for LGC being in a position to close membership for a period of time this year (which in the present climate is a testimony to the facilities that LGC has to offer), we have a waiting list in place and a healthy balance sheet` which would be the envy of any golf Club in the County.
My personal memories from the last year were smiles on the faces of our members. Only last week did I look back at the 600 photos that I had taken during the season and it gave me a feeling of satisfaction that you had appeared to have enjoyed the year as much as I had. My other memory was how everyone was able to pull together to make an event a success. The green staff working on the greens at the County Ladies Championship, Greg, Jake and John Cooper at the Pro Am, The Ladies Section have provided me with so much support and so many good memories that I will never forget. Mick Wainwright and his team at the Seniors Open, Steve and Sally at the 11th hole at the Mixed Open, Syd Birch the Seniors Captain meeting and greeting and the House Staff performing heroics for members, societies and teams that visit LGC on a daily basis throughout the year. And finally Mr Ivor Povey for his help in organising my Captain's Charity year which I believe as raised over £5,750 for good causes. To each and every one of you I thank you for your efforts, your commitment and your loyalty to LGC.
I am proud to have represented LGC and feel that the year has been a relatively successful one. I do wish that I could have done more for you, in particularly as regards the projects that the Steering Group have been working on but my time has come to an end. I hope that the incoming Captain and the incoming President are able to find the time in the coming year to continue with these projects because as a Club we are always striving to improve our course and facilities for the benefit of our members.
It is now my pleasure and privilege to propose Mr Trevor Eccleston as your Captain for 2015.........
LADY CAPTAIN'S FAREWELL
Well Ladies, where did 2014 go?
From my perspective it has flown by, but has left me with so many fantastic memories. When I stood here 12 months ago I said that the main reason I said "yes" to the invitation to be Lady Captain was because I knew that I would have your support and this has indeed proved to be the case.
The participation in my Captain's Days both here and at Lilleshall was fantastic, and the good wishes from those who were not able to join in was much appreciated.
When I reflect back, which I find myself often doing, the memories are full of laughter and smiling faces, so I think I achieved my objective in creating a year in which everyone enjoyed their golf.
The highlights are numerous but there are a few things that immediately spring to mind: hosting the Staffordshire County Week-end in torrential rain! For me it was a wonderful opportunity to meet some of the best lady players in the county and the officials who make these events happen, but even better than that was the epic effort put in by everyone at Leek Golf Club and especially the greens staff, who deservedly were invited to the presentations which allowed us to show our appreciation of their efforts. It was a display of teamwork at its best.
Frances winning Lady Captain's prize in her 80th year! Her smile was from ear to ear and for a few moments she was rendered speechless. Not something that happens often. The whole day was a wonderful blur of fun; Mr Captain on the first tee, the Millennium Hut turned into a grotto, my Mum and Dad joining in and Ursula having her trousers taped up on the 11th. And all of this preserved in a fabulous album.
My Farewell Dinner - 50 Ladies and John Balay. And of course I have to mention Wayne! He certainly made the evening go with a swing.
My charity raising for the Leukaemia and Lymphoma charity was kept low key. I am not very good at asking people to sponsor me, so I went about it quietly. Down to everyone's generosity, particularly the donation from John Balay in honour of Kath his late wife, and the odd bucket of water, I was able to raise £1,650 which has been forwarded to the charities office in London, where I hope it will help in their campaign to find new treatments and better care for blood cancer patients.
And now to my thank you's and I make no apologies for the long list:
To the committee that has supported me throughout the year. I have tried to create an environment where everyone feels comfortable expressing their opinions and I believe that as a team we have acted in the best interests of the section. I would like to give a special mention to those that have retired this year-Sheila Hollins and Doreen Cooper and to Paula Parkes and Gill Damjanovic, whose personal circumstances have caused them to resign. I would like to bid a fond farewell to Marilyn who has served as Hon. Treasurer over the last twelve months
I would like to give a special mention to Maria who took on the role of Secretary last year and has kept me on the straight and narrow this year, whilst learning the ropes herself.
Can I also take this opportunity to congratulate our Handicap Secretary - Jenny Cordon - who last week took up the position of Staffordshire Veterans' Lady Captain.
I would like to thank everyone who has played in the Scratch Matches, the inter-club knock-outs and the friendly matches throughout the year. Anita has done a sterling job this year and such was her level of organisation I just had to walk through the door say hello to the visiting ladies and play my game of golf! We had fantastic year in the friendly fixtures winning 6 and drawing 2 out of 10 fixtures.
A big thank you goes to the ladies who year in year out give freely of their time to help out with serving refreshments to players in our Open competitions - you know who you are, and to Mary Allen for once again organising our Christmas Decorations.
As Lady Captain you spend a lot of time at the club and in doing so you gain an appreciation of the hard work that goes on behind the scenes to make our club what it is: so a big "thank you" to Jen and Tony and the catering team, to Dave, Karen and Tracey in the office, to Kath for her horticultural skills and another shout-out for the Greens Staff.
And now to the two Dave's.
Dave Gallimore has been a dynamic Club Captain giving his all to a very demanding role. Whilst he is often seen laughing and joking I can assure he took his position very seriously and has strived to take the club forward during his tenure. From my perspective it has been a pleasure to be a part of his year as Captain and I would like to express my thanks to both him and Jackie for supporting all the ladies' functions.
My final thank you is to my husband Dave. I could not have carried out this role without his complete support. He was behind me every step of the way, encouraging and reassuring and throwing himself whole-heartedly into my special days. He reckons he has earned a barrow full of brownie points, he probably has, but I know he has a capacity to use them quickly.
I bid successfully on a piece of jewellery made by a local silversmith - Jacqueline Harold- in aid of Movember, and I have used the money given to me by the section as a token to remember my year by.
Ladies - it has been an honour and a privilege to be your Captain during 2014, but now it time to handover the baton to Jayne. Jayne has been a huge support during the year and I know she will be a fantastic Lady Captain and she has a tremendous year planned out for us all. Jayne you will have my total support in the coming year and I wish you every success on behalf of everyone.
Karen Griffiths (R) Lady Captain 2014 & Jayne Baxter (L) Lady Captain 2015
A TRIBUTE TO MICK JONES
Michael Jones a member of the club wished to celebrate a special occasion by treating his friends to a meal. He did not want it to just be an ordinary meal but something a little different, and so sort the help of a Brian and Roy to come up with a theme for the evening.
Mike has been a fervent fan of STOKE CITY for many years so that part was easy, we decided that the other half would be a "wake".
The dining room was resplendent with black table clothes and both red and white table napkins, all surrounded by a large display of red and white balloons (come on city).Michael was invited to the kitchen to inspect a very special black iced cake made by Jen and Caroline whilst the guests quickly donned black tee shirts with white dog collars. When he did eventually enter the dining room he was greeted with a very loud rendering of the Stoke City anthem "Delilah".
Dinner consisted of-
"HELL FIRE SOUP" (Carrot and Coriander)
"BURNT OFFERINGS" (Braised Steak)
"DEVILS PUDDING" (Crumble, Custard and Ice Cream)
Plentiful glasses of intoxicating wine, rounded off with a glass of winter warming port.
The evening continued with a great number of funny stories and jokes with Arthur Doherty just winning from Paul Bradley at the end.
To conclude Michael stated that he never thought that he would hear "Delilah" sang at Leek Golf Club by 20 Vicars, it had been a most memorable night and thanked everyone who attended.
RESULTS
Pro's Winter League - 30th November
1st Place - Dave Salt 41 Points (bk 9 - 21) - 5 Points
2nd Place - Dave Robinson 41 Points (bk 9 - 20) - 4 Points
3rd Place - Greg Rogula 39 Points (bk 6 - 14) - 3 Points
4th Place - Nick Damjanovic 37 Points (bk 9 - 22) - 2 Points
5th Place - Andy Martin 37 Points (bk 9 - 20) - 1 Points
Handicap Reductions
Dave Salt - 14
Dave Robinson - 15
Pro's Sunday Comp - 30th November
1st Place
Howard Rigby, Bob Russell, John Lawton andGary Kimberley- 88 Points
2nd Place
Roy Morris, Brian Baggaley, Ian Hunt amd Tony Brearley- 86 Points
3rd Place
Dot Cowburn, Steve Spooner, John Galley and John Leeke- 82 Points
TRACKMAN
My next customer on Trackman was Mr Captain (Dave Gallimore).
We started the lesson by hitting 7 iron shots to establish some figures and what we wanted to achieve from the lesson, as you all may or may not know is Dave plays off a 4 handicap.
Carry (yds) Club Speed (mph) Ball Speed (mph) Club Path (deg) Attack Angle (deg)
148.3 81.5 104.9 0.4 -4.5
After looking at the averages for Dave's 7 iron, he decided that he would like to hit the ball a bit further as he feels he doesn't hit it far enough for his handicap.
Looking at the above figures his club path and angle of attack are very good as is his ball striking but the figures that we need to look at in order for Dave to hit it further are his club head speed and his ball speed.
After analysing Dave's swing on video I noticed that he doesn't transfer his weight onto his back foot during the backswing. After explaining to Dave what I wanted him to do in order to achieve the weight transfer we hit more shots and we achieved the goal instantly, here are the figures
Carry (yds) Club Speed (mph) Ball Speed (mph) Club Path (deg) Attack Angle (deg)
155.1 82.4 110 2.8 -2.2
You will notice that by transferring his weight we increased his Club head speed by 1 mph but also increased his Ball Speed by 5 mph we both contributed to him gaining an average of nearly 7 yards.
After we worked on his irons we needed to have a look at Dave's driver to try to also increase the distance of that his figures for his Driver were:
Carry Total Club Speed Ball Speed Club Path Attack Angle
218.4 234.7 98.2 138.5 2.5 -3.1
Looking at these figures I instantly noticed that it was the Angle of Attack that was causing Dave to lose distance, so we corrected that and his figures improved instantly again.
Carry Total Club Speed Ball Speed Club Path Attack Angle
229.3 248.7 94.7 139.9 2.5 0.4
As you can see Dave's carry and total distance increased by more than 10 yards.
If you would like to book in for a Trackman lesson please contact me.
WORST JUMPER
Here is another entry into the Worst Jumper the Pro Shop has seen.
A very good effort from Steve Wales
Click here to get in touch.
