I don’t know about you but I managed to put on 4 pounds over the holidayperiod and it’s getting rather difficult to shift it these days! We have a verysmall family so had a quiet Christmas sharing our time between two 90 yearold mothers! By the time you read this it will be New Year and I hope youcelebrated it in style. It’s a time for reflection and on that note I am glad toreport that there was fine crowd of us at the funeral of Bob Howes justbefore Christmas. He was a spirited giant of a man and will be missed by allwho had the pleasure of his company over the years.The greenkeepers are still being kept busy, trimming grass that SHOULD havestopped growing ages ago and we are all keeping our fingers crossed that thecourse remains open which will allow us to at least have a chance of shiftingthose extra pounds!

Wednesday 2nd December 2015 - Midweek Medal Stableford - 35 seniorsand one non senior for this one. Unless I’m mistaken it was a first singles winfor John Hibbert with a very tidy 39 points. Close on his heels and nowprobably back in the US was Frank Pullen with another classy 37 but only oncountback from Ian Bradley who is showing some form at the moment.

The nine holer was again well attended with 24 players and the cream reallyrose to the top for this one, namely James Nolan with 17 points. A trio on 16points was led by Ted Staples followed by Norman Ives and Rob Davies whowas making a rare appearance.

Wednesday 9th December 2015 - Presentation Day with 9 hole competition.The day started with the unveiling of a bench dedicated to our good friend

Alan Hemple which sits after the 18th hole, our hearts go out to Eileen.

Our annual prize giving and a good attendance for the meal in the RosewoodSuite. All went well APART from the small detail of who won on the day!Unfortunately because I was taking photos, I couldn’t take the results aswell, and somewhere along the line they have been lost, for which I am sorryto all those who did win. The day was well organised by Bill Thorpe and youcould almost see the weight of responsibility lift from his shoulders once wesat down, or just maybe it was the wine!

Wednesday 16th December 2015 - By popular request the scheduled com-petition was changed to a waltz due to course conditions, true golfing de-mocracy!

continued on page 3

EVEA NEW YEAR…..NEW HOPES AND BEST WISHES TO YOU ALL

Wednesday 6th

Midweek Medal - Stableford + 9 Holer

J a n u a r y 2 0 1 6

Wednesday 20th

Stableford and 9 Hole Stableford

Wednesday 27th

Greensomes

Wednesday 21st - E/S Stableford andMatch vs The Rayleigh Club (h)

Wednesday 28th

4 Ball Stableford - Best 2 & 3

Wednesday 13th

Texas Scramble

THANKS FROM PAST CAPTAIN BOB

Gentlemen - thank you so much for your gener-ous contributions at the end of my year, thatenabled me to be presented with an Apple Watch.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with thisgadget, it not only tells the time (essential for awatch!) - but also allows messages, emails,makes and answers phone calls and a variety ofother tasks that can be programmed - includinga GPS that enables my ‘Golfshot’ application tobe used … please feel free to ask for a demon-stration!!

I am so very pleased with it and thank you allagain for your kind generosity. I will think of myyear as Captain every time I look at it.

Kind regards.

Bob Braine

WEDNESDAY SENIORS RESULTS SUMMARY

2nd December - Midweek Medal - Stableford1st John Hibbert - 39 Pts

2nd Frank Pullen - 37 Pts C/B3rd Ian Bradley - 37 Pts C/B

9 Hole - Manor - Stableford1st James Nolan - 17 Pts

2nd Ted Staples - 16 Pts C/B3rd Norman Ives - 16 Pts C/B

16th December - Waltz1st Tony Lovell, Ken Benson and Bernie Lees - 75 Pts

2nd Alex Ullmer and Bill Thorpe - 73 Pts3rd Paul Welton, Chris Clarke and Ian Bradley - 70 Pts

23rd December - Texas Scramble1st John Hibbert, Ray Humphreys and Ian Bradley - net 61.62nd Richard Glasby, Peter Cook and Bernie Lees - net 62.93rd Bob Braine, Barry Sanders and Vic Muggeridge - net 63

30th December - Texas Scramble1st John Sheff and Tony Lovell - 44 Pts

2nd Richard Glasby and Mike Freeston - 43 Pts3rd Tony Collings and Derek Kerstein - 42 Pts C/B

On a lighter note -

GOLF TRUISMS

Golf balls are like eggs. They're white. They're sold by the dozen ...and a week later you have to buymore.

A pro-shop gets its name from the fact that you have to have the income of a professional golfer tobuy anything in there.

It's amazing how a golfer who never helps out around the house will replace his divots, repair his ballmarks, and rake his sand traps.

When you stop to think about it, did you ever notice that it's a lot easier to get up at 6:00 a.m. to playgolf than at 10:00 to mow the grass?

Golf is by far the ultimate love / hate relationship. Sometimes it seems as though your cup runnethand moveth over.

A good drive on the 18th hole has stopped many a golfer from giving up the game.

Water hazards are no walk in the park for fish, turtles or frogs either.

Golf is the perfect thing to do on Sunday because you always end up praying a lot.

A good golf partner is one who's always slightly worse than you.

If there's a storm rolling in, you'll be having the game of your life.

If your opponent has trouble remembering whether he shot a six or a seven,he probably shot an eight.

26 players braved the soggy conditions in 2’s and 3’s but the team of Tony Lovell, Ken Benson and Bernie

Lees were victorious with a cracking 75 points. The duo of Alex Ullmer and Bill Thorpe were 2nd with thehelp (this will wind them up!) of the ‘par man’ with 73 and three further back were Paul Welton, ChrisClarke and Ian Bradley with 70.

Wednesday 23rd December 2015 - Texas Scramble - A beautifully sunny day greeted the organisedamongst us who’d managed to get their shopping/jobs done and dusted. Not strictly true in my case as wedon’t do the ‘present’ thing but my wife did surprise me by going from no tree last year to 3 trees thisyear……WHY?????Again, a lovely day and some lovely scores! In form John Hibbert, ably abetted by Ray Humphreys (did Ispell it right Ray?) and Ian Bradley, were the victors with a brilliant 61.6 net. Richard Glasby, Peter Cookand Bernie Lees (again) were second on 62.9 and 0.1 further back were Bob Braine, Barry Sanders and Vic-tor Muggeridge on 63. A lovely atmosphere in the clubhouse after the golf which is what it’s all about forme, good camaraderie all round.

Wednesday 30th December 2015 - Betterball Pairs - A very windy day with heavy rain forecast for thelast few holes, which we managed to miss somehow. I played with the winners of this one and I have to say,I’ve seen Tony Lovell play better but John Sheff was a revelation! Wherever there were two shots given heeither got par or birdie so the points really racked up. Their score of 44 points was however, only one bet-ter than Richard Glasby and Mike Freeston. Derek Kerstein and Tony Collings were third with 42 on count-back and although Tony was the driving force, Derek played his part and it was nice to see him take somewine, well done fella.

Midweek Medal Winner - John Hibbert- singing!

Texas Scramble winners - Ray Humphreys, John Hibbert and Ian Bradley

Betterball Pairs winners - John Sheff and Tony Lovell

DECEMBER WINNERS

Presentation Day in pictures

PRO TIPS with Paul BarhamThis month we look at -

Putting

Hi guys

Hope you all had a great Christmas and I wish you a happy 2016!

In this month’s article I would like to talk about possibly the most important part of golf and that

is putting.

At the end of our round we talk about our long drives but very rarely about good putts we have

holed, about 20 years ago I was called 'one putt' because it was the strongest part of my game, at

the time I didn’t like that title but now as I have got older and my putting is not as good I would

love that back!

When I ask my pupils how many putts they average a round very few people can answer. I would

say most amateur golfers have 36 putts at least in 18 holes.

The tour professionals will average approx 30 with the best putters may get as low as 28.

When I looked at the statistics most good putters had 6 to 7 one putts per round, not all of them

are for birdies but they chip and 1 putt numerous times.

When I speak and watch good putters they all have a few things in common:

1. Great at getting the pace

2. Hole over 50% of putts under 8 feet.

3. Always hit their short putts firm.

4. Never worry about return putt.

The good putters I have played with always look very relaxed at address with their arms hanging

freely, the ball is always slightly nearer the left heel at address with their hands slightly forward

of the ball, the back stroke is never too long but always very smooth with the followthrough being

of equal length.

The most important think they all do is to keep their head still throughout the stroke.

Remember guys you don’t have to be strong to be a great putter but you need good basics so your

stroke repeats, and a lot of practice to get the confidence that you are never going to miss!

Good luck and let me know if you need me to look at your basics.

See you soon!

Paul

To book lessons or for more information contact Paul BarhamMobile: 07713 304523 Email: paulbarham09@gmail.com