Geoff Garnett rounds up the golfing news in and around Cheshire.
Great effort by Bramhall Captains
DURING their time in office in 2016 the Lady Captain, The Captain and The President of Bramhall Golf Club had a combined Club Charity – The North West Air Ambulance. The Charity was the choice of Lady Captain, Maggie Lee and Stuart Clegg, Vice-Captain in 2015 who, sadly passed away before he could take office as Captain.
The Captain, Mel Ince, The President, Bill McWalter along with Lady Captain agreed to adopt this Charity for their year in office in memory of Stuart. They were delighted to arrange the presentation of a cheque for £9126.61 to Debra Millican, a representative of The North West Air Ambulance – a fantastic result.
Mel Ince said: “The cost of fuel for one helicopter for one month is £13500, £4950 could kit out one helicopters’ clinical crew with uniform and medical kit and £250 could supply a response bag that carries drugs and medical equipment to treat patients in major trauma accidents.
“As you will see keeping this lifesaving service in the air is expensive, but has been fuelled by the generosity of our members and our contribution will be used in the North West area. “Without the generosity of members and friends this amount could never have been raised and so thank you to everyone for all their efforts. Something tells us that Stuart Clegg would have been very proud of us all and if you ever see the Yellow Helicopter up there in the sky remember – you have helped to keep it there. Thank you from all of us.
Judith ready for new role
RINGWAY stalwart Judith Wainwright (pictured) has been involved and very active in golf both with her club and the Cheshire County Ladies Golf Association on and off the course since the 1970’s.
At Ringway Judith served on the ladies committee for two years and was Lady Captain in 1985 and she was Lady Secretary in the mid 1990’s for three years and also served on the club council for five years including two years as the chairperson.
Her best handicap was seven and she has always been a good golfer at club level. Judith was the East Cheshire secretary for four years in the 1980’s and then became involved in the CCLGA in the late 1980’s where she was on committee for three years and a county selector for three years in the 1990’s and was County Captain in 2000.
Now she is delighted and honoured both for herself and Ringway Golf Club to be chosen to serve as the CCLGA President for two years and one of the top events the CCLGA will be hosting in 2017 is the Northern Ladies Foursomes at Vale Royal Abbey in April.
Mottram greens team continue to do great work
TIME flies when you are having fun and enjoying yourself and this theory is certainly echoed by Mottram Hall’s hugely experienced course manager Stuart Stenhouse who can hardly believe that he has been working there for the past 12 years.
Stuart has worked at many different golf courses in the UK and abroad including links, parkland, desert and heathland.
His career highlights include managing the ‘Grow In’ of the Centenary course at Gleneagles in the 1990’s and working on golf courses in the UK, Eire, Middle East, South Africa and Europe and being part of the team that delivered the President’s Cup at Fancourt, South Africa, in 2003.
He then went back to Gleneagles for the Ryder Cup to help on the course for the Ryder Cup week.
He has also managed many tournaments including the European Tour, Bells Scottish Open, Irish PGA Championship, English Seniors championship, WPGA Macdonalds Championship of Europe, Scottish PGA and the PGA Cup.
At Mottram Hall he has also managed the Legends Tennis Tournament and produced a Premiership standard football pitch used by teams from the UK & Europe including FC Bruge, Real Betis, West Ham and Southampton.
Stuart said: “Currently at Mottram we are re-sanding our bunkers to improve their overall quality and we have also been carrying out a Tee levelling programme for three years.
“We do the usual aeration work to all areas but we use techniques that are less disruptive and have a minimum impact on the members and guests experience.”
“Over the years at Mottram I have always had a great team that work very hard and take pride in the golf course and the estate.”
“My gardeners also produce wonderful gardens every year that always attract comments from our guests and without this team we would not be able to sustain Mottram as Cheshire’s Premier Hotel and Estate.”
Mottram’s Head of Golf Robert Warrener added: “Stuart and his team have once again provided an outstanding golf course during the winter given the harsh weather we have experienced since late November.”
“The feedback myself and the operations team have received, especially on the condition of our greens, from not only our members but also our visitors has been fantastic.
“With all this positive news Mottram Hall took the title of best golf course within the QHotels group for 2016 which is a superb achievement and brings great credit and recognition to the hard work Stuart and his team have been carrying out on a daily basis.”
“With all of the on-going work that the green keeping team is now undertaking in preparation for the season ahead it goes without saying that our members and guests will continue to experience championship golf at Mottram Hall in 2017.”
