Hello golfers,

Welcome to the latest edition of our weekly newsletter. In this week's email we look at the latest comp results, we have a tutorial video from Andy Sullivan, and we also look at the most underused club in your golf bag. Enjoy the read.

Coaching Trip

With the night’s drawing in and a chill in the air, how about booking something in the future to stave off the winter blues and improve your golf at the same time. John and I will be hosting a coaching trip to Portugal this year in November to the Penina resort and we are looking for members to register their interest.

- 4 nights’ b/b Mountain view rooms
- 3 dinners included
- 2 rounds on Championship course/1 on Resort course
- 2 hours free use with tokens on driving range on golf days with tuition.

Monday, 6 November 2017
- £525 per person twin/double room share
- £660 per person single room

- Additional dinner if required (so 4 nights’ half-board) £35
- Drinks package available with dinners for £12 a night

- Flights and transfers not included

- 14 people needed

Please contact me on stuart2104@gmail.com, all are welcome.

Captain Pro Playoffs

The Club Captain Richard and I hosted the Captain Pro Playoffs yesterday on the East Course Sunday – the playoffs are the culmination of the year long matches which Richard and Stuart have against fellow members of SPGC – The overall winners with 42 points were Gordon Hedley and David Parkin and the runners up with 40 points were Wally Nadin and Dave Spooner.

There was also a competition for those who have played in the Captain Pro matches during the season but failed to beat Stuart and Richard – the winners of this were Martin Dennis and Don Harrington with 42 points and runners up incoming Captain Tony Lopategui and Michael Clark.

It was a great day and as I said at the prize giving many thanks must go to my colleagues JD, Sam and John and also Chris Gane for helping me out this year and to Club Captain Richard and to his wife Cathy for being such great hosts throughout the year. Congratulations on a fine year Richard.

International Matches

The second of this seasons International Matches took place on Saturday, 16 September on the East Course – the course was in excellent condition and altogether 72 Golfers took part on the day – both sets of matches were very closely fought and the Irish team defeated the Rest of the World (Rotweillers) 5 -3 and the match between England and Scotland ended up as a 4-4 draw thanks to Club Captain Richard holing an outrageous (so he says) putt on the 18th

The day commenced with Coffee and Pastries which seemed to be a popular alternative to Coffee and Bacon Rolls and after the Golf a traditional SPGC Ploughman’s buffet lunch was well received by all the players

The final match this year is on Saturday, 14 October at 09.00 on East Course with ROW taking on Scotland and England battling against Ireland.

After two matches the overall position cannot be tighter with all to play for on 14th October

SCOTLAND – 3 Points
IRELAND – 2 Points
ROTWEILLERS – 2 Points
ENGLAND – 1 Point

If you wish to play in either of these matches could you update your availability in Match Management or contact the respective Captains – Upin Dattani (ROW), Charles Andrew (Sco), Kevin Collins (Ire) and David Brenes (Eng).

Portugal Masters

The Portugal Masters in Vilamoura has attracted many of the biggest names on the European Tour including defending champion Padraig Harrington, 2016 Masters winner Danny Willett, Ryder Cup star Thomas Pieters and last week’s KLM Open champ Romain Wattel.

Our very own Alfie Plant makes his professional debut at 12.50 on Thursday in the Portugal Masters. There was a nice article about him on the European Tour website and you can read it by clicking here.

This year will be the 11th instalment of the Portugal Masters. First contested in 2007, the inaugural tournament was won by England’s Steve Webster. Since then, Alvaro Quiros, Lee Westwood, Richard Green, Tom Lewis, Shane Lowry, David Lynn, Alexander Levy and Andy Sullivan have been champions.
In last year’s Portugal Masters Padraig Harrington played his way back into the European Tour winners’ circle for the first time since the 2008 USPGA Championship. He finished one clear of then defending champion Andy Sullivan.

The Dom Pedro Victoria in Vilamoura is part of Dom Pedro’s impressive portfolio of courses on the Algarve. Opened for play in 2004, it was designed by the great Arnold Palmer. It’s an American-style track with generous fairways and large, rolling greens. In 2005 the course hosted the World Cup, won by Wales.

Player Watch:

Thorbjorn Olesen – The talented Dane has been knocking on the door this season but hasn’t quite reached the heights he would have liked to. He has only missed one cut on the European Tour in 2017 and has showed great consistency. If he can get a few putts to drop at the right time, he should contend.

Andy Sullivan – He may not have been on top form in recent weeks but he loves this venue. He was the champion in 2015 and was runner-up last year. He’ll surely feed on good memories to produce a good performance.

George Coetzee – The South African has been third and sixth in this event in the past. He was tied third last week in Holland and will look to push on from that result.

Click here to keep an eye on this week's leaderboard.