Played Sunday 20 May 2012

1st J. Wyllie 65
2nd B. Marshall 67
3rd G. Hewitt 68

The confirmed dates for the next round of the VER League are as follows

Sunday 1st July HOME at 14:00

Sunday 8th July AWAY 13:30

The DDGC junior team beat Hadley Wood 4 : 3 to win 8 : 6 on aggregate to secure a place in the VER League Trophy draw. Elliot Roch secured back to back wins and is really playing some impressive golf this early in the season. Jack Flanagan has come out of golfing retirement…now that the rugby season has finished…to set up a great win. Halves from Ben Marshall & Ryan Craig secured our place.

Rumours that Junior Captain John Wright is considering retirement following his defeat are ill founded. But he has asked never to play against a  girl again!

Victory has put us up against our old adversaries Sandy Lodge who beat us last year in this same competition. Sandy Lodge has recently been awarded the status as an open qualifier course so it will be in tip top condition for our visit.

Both dates are still to be finalised so watch this space for more information once known

Played Sunday 6th May 2012

CONGU
1st Joshua Whinnet 45 points
2nd George Hewitt 43 points
3rd John Wright 39 points

Success for two of our improving Junior members at the Bedfordshire Schools Golf Association Championships held at John O’Gaunt Golf Club on 2nd May 2012.

George Hewitt and Jonathan Wyllie, representing All Saints Academy, came first in the High Handicap Pairs element of the Championships with a combined total of 71 Stableford points a full 5 points clear of their nearest challengers.

Recently, both lads have been putting in a lot of practice, including participation in recent club matches and their golf is clearly on an improving trend – something we are seeing with a number of our Junior members – lets hope this spurs both George and Jonathan and acts as an impetus for all our Junior members to work on improving their games. Well done boys!!

Recognition must also go out to Bedfordshire Schools Golf Association where David Sweetnam and his organising committee did an excellent job in organising these Championships at one of the County’s premier venues.”

They are both in a rich vein of form and George has subsequently been cut to 24…and it is only May! Jonathan won the junior fiddle so keep a track of both these boys progress as the season has only just started!

Prepare to be amazed! Take a look at the attached video that will help give you some substance to the tips given below about which is the best golf ball or you.

The video shows a Golf Ball hitting steel at 150 mph. This one you will not believe, but @ 70,000 pictures a second this will make you a believer. Whether you are a golfer or not, this is pretty amazing. I thought golf balls were fairly hard. No one has a swing speed of 150 mph, including Tiger Woods who is just under 130 mph.

So…

1- The Pro V-1 golf ball by Titleist is actually a three part ball, but you have to have a club head speed of at least 100 mph or more to be able to compress all three stages. If you don’t the ball never fully compresses and you don’t get the distance out of it that the pro’s do.

2- We, will get more distance out of a ball that only has two stages of compression…like the Titleist NX Tour. It is more suited to our swing speed and we can compress it upon impact and can hit it further than the Pro V-1 ball.

3- So the secret is not to buy the most expensive balls out there because we are actually decreasing the distance we can hit the ball, unless your club head speed is over 100 mph, which unless you are 21 to 50 years old, isn’t going to happen!!!

And the lesson is…speak to Darren and ask him what is the best golf ball for your game. Just like club selection and the type of club you play, it is a very important part of your overall game

My thanks to JimMcGuigan for providing this information

One of the major challenges the club had last year with over 30 boys representing the club for different teams…and with only 12 shirts in circulation…was how to make  a team shirt available for everyone. It was either the wrong size, it had been ‘lost’ in a cupboard somewhere, there were 2 matches on on the same day or the players simply forgot to return them for their team mates in time.

Having checked out what the other golf clubs in the area do the answer was pretty simple really. Get the boys to buy their own shirts that they can keep for good.

John Hill & Darren have worked hard to source a quality and lower cost alternative to the men’s shirt and with the help of a club member have invested in a new clothing range that is available to purchase now. Darren is selling these at the cost price of £13 a shirt in DDGC white with a  junior team logo embroidered onto them. They are available in a wide range of sizes from the very small to the very large so their is a shirt for everyone…so get your order in now.

The Royal British Legion is well known for the extensive help it gives to veterans from conflicts in which British Armed Forces have taken part. With the current deployment of British troops in various parts of the world, many of our “veterans” are, these days, fairly young – yet still very much in need of the care we can provide.  To involve younger people in the work of The Royal British Legion, the RBL launched the RBL Junior Golf Challenge.

The event is a national knockout tournament played as revised matchplay, with teams of four playing in pairs. Each pair play their opponents over the full 18 holes and the side winning most holes overall would be the winners. This differs from normal matchplay where one pair might win 3 & 2, for example.

The A team that comprised Brandon Black, John Wright, Elliot Roch & Ben Marshall played away to Whipsnade Golf Club. The team were in form and Elliot had a comprehensive knowledge of the course having been a member there for many years. But alas, we could not match the strength of the home side as both sides lost

The B team’s match was a lot closer and Freya Daniels, George Hewitt, Jonathan Wyllie and Ryan Craig were disappointed to lose by a single point to a strong Letchworth side

My thanks to David Wyllie & Brain Marshall for stepping in as team managers.

Finally, and most importantly, the RBL would like to raise money for the Poppy Appeal in the process so if you would like to make a donation please see Alan

The Peter Nightingale Plate will be rescheduled from its planned date on Sunday 13th May.The DDGC VER League team are playing their return match at Hadley Wood on this day so it was felt prudent to change the date as half of the players would be away. Sincere apologies to those who had planned their diary around this date…as I know it is a very popular event

At the time of writing Noreen and Alan are working hard on squeeezing in an alternative date and as soon as I know you will too

Our first match in the Tavistock Trophy that includes Caddington, Aylesbury Vale & Aspley Guise will be held on Sunday 27th May 2012.

Please let me know if you are unable to play on this day.