Help For Heroes 2017 Hankley Common 13th September

We definitely need, or should I say 'would like' more forumites to get involved :thup:

Obviously it's nice to have guests and friends join us to make up the numbers and have them share our annual experience and charity day, and some of them really do throw themselves into the foray and are more than welcome.

But, for the amount of forumites active on here and whom live well within driving distances of these events, which are home to some great heathland courses, I'd like to see a few more faces that post regular on here at our annual H4H Day.

Dates are always announced well in advance so it's only 1 or 2 at most holiday days to take to get involved and play at a top course at a reduced rate with a great meal, lots of prizes, banter and doing what we all enjoy, sharing a golf course with like minded people and building on or forming new relationships.

So, I'm hoping to see lots of new faces next year on top of our regular attendees and lets see some of those returning back that have slipped away :cool:
Will 100% be there next year.

Please don't make it a Wednesday tho as its kills the annual leave :D
 
Scores from today on links below, it was bloody difficult btw with stong winds at times, undulating greens and heinous pin positions - the greenkeeper is a sadist.

Congratulations to all the winners and thanks to my playing partners Elliott, JamesR and BIM for making it a very enjoyable round. 3 very good golfers and a hacker in our group:o

HK was a terrific choice and hope that we can go back there again some time soon, the course, food, hospitality, and location (for me) , was absolutely spot on.

Well done to Rich, Fish, helpers , Auctioneer and GM Staff!

Nett Scores (see notes on page for all winner info)
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BxOd88riQYyhRDRHaVc3YXA0RWc/view?usp=sharing

Gross Scores
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BxOd88riQYyhTUw4bm5fdDRJSWM/view?usp=sharing

Best Scores Analysis
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BxOd88riQYyhOERNS1NscXU1cnc/view?usp=sharing

Loved the speech from the battleback guy at the end (Stacy?) :thup:

THanks for posting so quickly Sean. You must have been up late.

Just to mention that Kraxx68 and Khamelion shared the Rick Garg Memorial Trophy. Very well deserved for their great support over many years. Rick would have approved of my decision.:thup:
 
Thoroughly enjoyed the day, catching up with great friends and making new ones...what a fantastic venue - well done to the crew for sorting everything out.

Although the golf from me was appallingly bad - for someone who plays with a slight fade, and usually aims for the left side of the fairways, hitting pull hooks all day was painful.

As for my only good shot of the day - cheers Nick!!

After that though I got on pretty well with them and even closed my round with the same guilty wedge on the nearest pin hole by sticking it to 18 inches to win it, and we were the last group to play the hole, apologies to Brian who'd just put his name on the sheet in the group ahead and was stood on the next tee wen I hit my shot. ;)
.

The curry night the evening before; I still can't remember paying the taxi driver at the end of the evening...:cheers: can't remember the last time I sank that much Stella.
 
Well, thank you to everyone who organise this event and I feel really lucky to have been allowed to attend and take part in it. The RickG oak plaque is something very special.

I was slightly late, but Peter later in the day said that he was made really welcome by everyone he meet and the ever so kind Chrisd took the time to talk with him, which he said thanks btw.:thup: Will try to get Peter to join the forum.

The course was brilliant, just so much space around it, its definitely on the revisit list but would need to change my game from a fade to a draw, as so many holes required a right to left shot. The meal afterwards, venison and pavlova thingey were very special.:clap:

The talk by the battleback guy and also listening to Fish on our table talking about some of his experiences, certainly makes you think and was very moving to hear.

Would like to give a big thanks to my playing partners Nick(Crow), TomC and Peter for their company, it was a very enjoyable/fun round and hope to have the pleasure again in the future. I had a couple of birdies and watching Peter having his heathergate moments were priceless, which he trumped by winning the after dinner game with him taking the title of King Queenie.

The highlight of the day for me was when, up steps Big Boy Nicky lad on our last hole(nearest to the pin) and snonks one to about 18inchs. He was the man for that moment, well done
Nicky lad, great to watch, made my day.:cheers:


Finally thanks to Richart, GM team,
Fish and everyone who makes this happen and I hope that I will never be allowed to come again, as I cant afford them.

Thank you again.
 
Thanks Richard, and to all the committee, and everyone there yesterday. Sorry we did not make a speech, we were both so to speak 'Speechless' humbled and rather took back that we were given this honour, I can advise that both of us had a tear or 2, but managed to hold it in for the photo shoot. To be mentioned in the same sentence as Rick Gard is an honour and a privilege in its self, such a true gent and still very sorely missed, but keeping his name alive through this award is very befitting. Everyone deserves to be recognised for their contribution to these meets, but to be singled out, we will never forget that moment, this means more to us that we can even think of putting into (more) words, hearing Scott's speech about how he lost his leg puts everything into perspective though...

Dave & I have never thought of ourselves when we come down from up north, we average 700+ miles every year, spend a lot of money, but have never had any thought of ourselves, only that we can in our way give back something to those who serve in our armed forces and who deserve to be given the best opportunity and support via H4H through events like these. We are both lucky to be a part of this amazing family from Golf Monthly, and we have met some amazing people and made many friends along the way and been invited to play some of the best courses around that we would both never have the opportunity to otherwise.

Thank you very much, here's to the next 5 years and more...
For those who don't speak Geordie (Liverpool Phil) in translation, 'Stick' :thup::cheers: Thanks for the invite this year to West Surrey Phil, golf and pie were good! and to Richard (2BlueMunich) for the great day at Cuddington. :thup: much appreciated.

Khamelion & Kraxx68 saying thank you... see yas next year!!
 
To all who played in or contributed yesterday. I would personally like to thank you all, it was my first time at the event and it was amazing.

Special mention to my playing partners LiverpoolPhil, Kraxx68 and Mark Head.

I look forward to seeing you all again soon.

Regards
Ged
Yes, thanks Ged, great fourball, thanks for the advice, much needed, C U next year
 
Thanks Richard, and to all the committee, and everyone there yesterday. Sorry we did not make a speech, we were both so to speak 'Speechless' humbled and rather took back that we were given this honour, I can advise that both of us had a tear or 2, but managed to hold it in for the photo shoot. To be mentioned in the same sentence as Rick Gard is an honour and a privilege in its self, such a true gent and still very sorely missed, but keeping his name alive through this award is very befitting. Everyone deserves to be recognised for their contribution to these meets, but to be singled out, we will never forget that moment, this means more to us that we can even think of putting into (more) words, hearing Scott's speech about how he lost his leg puts everything into perspective though...

Dave & I have never thought of ourselves when we come down from up north, we average 700+ miles every year, spend a lot of money, but have never had any thought of ourselves, only that we can in our way give back something to those who serve in our armed forces and who deserve to be given the best opportunity and support via H4H through events like these. We are both lucky to be a part of this amazing family from Golf Monthly, and we have met some amazing people and made many friends along the way and been invited to play some of the best courses around that we would both never have the opportunity to otherwise.

Thank you very much, here's to the next 5 years and more...
For those who don't speak Geordie (Liverpool Phil) in translation, 'Stick' :thup::cheers: Thanks for the invite this year to West Surrey Phil, golf and pie were good! and to Richard (2BlueMunich) for the great day at Cuddington. :thup: much appreciated.

Khamelion & Kraxx68 saying thank you... see yas next year!!

Brilliant post and the award greatly deserved.

Loads have already echoed what I want to say. Fantastic venue and wonderful hospitality by everyone at Hanckley Common. Great to see old and new faces and the course, in my opinion was the best we've had on a H4H day. The food was absolutely top drawer and all three courses were delicious. Thanks to everyone involved in organising the day, especially the lovely ladies who do so much on the day and help lighten the wallet with a smile. As always happens every year I'd love to have had the chance to buy Rich and Robin a drink to thank them and have a chat but they are just so damn busy all day making sure everything runs smoothly. And boy, does it!!

Thanks to my playing partners Bogie Boy and GG26 and Jake O'Reilly from GM for their great company. We all hit some great shots, all found heather and the perils it presented and all hit a few we'd rather forget. I played like a clown but had a wonderful time doing so and if you can't enjoy golf good or bad in that setting then give it up.

It would be nice if could find a way to break that magical £100K barrier before next year's event but if not we'll smash it next year. Thanks to everybody, from those that put this on (and I have to thank MikeH and the GM team for their support as always) to everyone that played. It's always the highlight of my own golfing year and I can't wait for the details to ping up in here saying where the next chapter will be in 2018. Thanks one and all
 
Gutted that circumstances meant that I to pull out. Played there a couple of years ago in their Senior's Open and found the course stunning, so was really looking forward to a return visit with a "proper" reason to be there.

As they say .... There's always next year .................

Many congrats BTW to Richard, Robin, Vicky and all others involved in the organisation of the event, those who twisted arms to get prizes, those who freely donated prizes and hostings, etc, etc. Awesome work.

Oh. And to those who turned up there as well to play and opened up their wallets for the auction.
 
Thoroughly enjoyed the day, catching up with great friends and making new ones...what a fantastic venue - well done to the crew for sorting everything out.

Although the golf from me was appallingly bad - for someone who plays with a slight fade, and usually aims for the left side of the fairways, hitting pull hooks all day was painful.

As for my only good shot of the day - cheers Nick!!



The curry night the evening before; I still can't remember paying the taxi driver at the end of the evening...:cheers: can't remember the last time I sank that much Stella.

...so you never spotted that I spiked the pint I bought you with a wee voddie ;)
 
It was ok i suppose :D

My week started on the Monday playing with Kraxx and Khamelion at West Surrey , as per normal playing with the traveling duo it was all fun and banter throughout with some great golf mixed in between with Stu winning the guest prize and Dave having an encounter with a Stick !

Then onto Hankley , I have been lucky to have played it before and it is one of the best Heathland courses about- the amount of heather was obscene. Played with Mark the Auctioneer who was superb company - lots of sloppy moments and he played some great golf shots with some memorable pars on tough holes , played with Stu again who started off with a 5 yard tee shot but a great 20 points for the back nine including a monster 60ft putt for birdie !. Our final PP was Ged the Pro - excellent company who offered some great insights and was a pleasure to play with , took a lot of time out to offer tips to all which worked with Mark very well, his demeanour as a coach is brilliant and I would highly recommend any of the guys in the NW to seek him out if you need lessons , also provided a good number of humorous moment both on and off the course. I'm glad to see he has joined the forum and will certainly look forward to his input in Regards coaching tips etc.

Lots of thanks to all the helpers especially the ladies , it's always a pleasure.

It's always a great day meeting old friends from the forum that I have got to meet over the years and it's good to meet new guys - as Fish says all those guys that haven't gone to a meet you really are missing out - regardless of what is typed on here when we all meet up at a golf club it's all smiles and laughs and this forum is a superb platform for that

big thanks to the BB guys for coming - great to meet you all and hopefully will see you again soon , it's always a pleasure getting three of you to play on the day

Finally to Fish and Rich - played many games with both you and the work you do not just for this day but for the forum as whole is first class - rick would be proud of both of you. See you both on the course soon

Sorry one last bit - our two travellers - fully deserved award , shame that we only get to play golf the once a year but it's always a time I look forward to and I'm already looking for somewhere for us to play next year
 
What a day! Great company (Imurg, TheDiablo and duffereman). Some good golf from all of us and a lot of bad :-(

Course superb, ditto the food, shed a manly tear at Scott’s speech and hoped no-one noticed.

Many thanks Rich and Robin and everyone that helped organise. See you next year.
 
Thanks Richard, and to all the committee, and everyone there yesterday. Sorry we did not make a speech, we were both so to speak 'Speechless' humbled and rather took back that we were given this honour, I can advise that both of us had a tear or 2, but managed to hold it in for the photo shoot. To be mentioned in the same sentence as Rick Gard is an honour and a privilege in its self, such a true gent and still very sorely missed, but keeping his name alive through this award is very befitting. Everyone deserves to be recognised for their contribution to these meets, but to be singled out, we will never forget that moment, this means more to us that we can even think of putting into (more) words, hearing Scott's speech about how he lost his leg puts everything into perspective though...

Dave & I have never thought of ourselves when we come down from up north, we average 700+ miles every year, spend a lot of money, but have never had any thought of ourselves, only that we can in our way give back something to those who serve in our armed forces and who deserve to be given the best opportunity and support via H4H through events like these. We are both lucky to be a part of this amazing family from Golf Monthly, and we have met some amazing people and made many friends along the way and been invited to play some of the best courses around that we would both never have the opportunity to otherwise.

Thank you very much, here's to the next 5 years and more...
For those who don't speak Geordie (Liverpool Phil) in translation, 'Stick' :thup::cheers: Thanks for the invite this year to West Surrey Phil, golf and pie were good! and to Richard (2BlueMunich) for the great day at Cuddington. :thup: much appreciated.

Khamelion & Kraxx68 saying thank you... see yas next year!!

Seeing as my forum wife has so eloquently spoken for the two of us, thank you dear, I've just got the one thing to say..


Stick


Well if you thought that was it, you can hadawaynshite, stick. It's been another fantastic 5 days of golf, home course on the Sunday, then West Surrey with a guest invite to the Mariners Society from Phil, which was a great day, weather played nice for the most part and even though I spent a lot of the time in the trees, stick, the course was well presented with some interesting holes and of course the usual mickey taking and banter. The meal afterwards, best steak and ale pie I've eaten, thank you again to the mariners and Phil for the invite.

Tuesday, saw myself and Stu at Cuddington as guests of Richard (Blue in Munich), a course which he is rightly very proud of and which he likes showing first time guests the view, especially the Wembley arch which is visible from the front of the club house, even though it is some 16miles away, which Richard also remarked was about as close as Rafa would get Newcastle to it, oh how I laughed. Two par 5's to open was a test and the course was presented beautifully, even though the greens were a little sandy as they had recently been top dressed and fertilized they were still very true. Of all the courses I'd played through the H4H days Cuddington had gone top of the list, that was until I played Hankley, sorry Richard, it is close mind you. Thankyou for the invite, I looked forward to playing the course again at some point as it is a cracking course.

Wednesday, From arrival LiverpoolPhil introduced me to Scott, we sat down and he asked my name again and explained that his memory wasn't that good, he asked my name again a little later and asked if he could call me Geordie as my accent helped him remember. That was not a problem, he went on to tell me why he was a little forgetful, showed me his leg and arm and then how he got the injuries, I was for the first time that day speechless, I told him that I had no words, that I just couldn't comprehend or imagine what he had been through, so I just simply shook his hand, it was all that I had to offer. Having a wander out towards the 18th green, Hankley looked like it was going to be special and it didn't disappoint, a real test of concentration and accuracy required as the heather was brutal and to put any score on the card you had to stay on the short stuff, as I found out. My front 9 consisted of 7 blobs and two scoring holes 5 and 6, giving me the massive score of 3 points, the back nine was somewhat better, I actually started to play golf and returned with 18 points, parring the 17th and 18th. Having to put up with me for 18 holes was Steve (ArnoldArmChewer), Scott (BattleBack) and Bill Elliot (GM Magazine) thank you guys for putting up with my hacking for the front 9 and thank you Bill for the very sound advice, which did go to helping me on the back 9. Just before the auction Scott said a few words about how much the H4H days mean to him and other wounded service men and women, he described very vividly the circumstances and events that led him to being wounded, he described the aftercare that is made possible by the fund raising through H4H days, from the very first shoe boxes of items that school children would send to how it is now possible for wounded soldiers to take part in many different events, it was very emotional but he held it together well. Then came the auction with Mark, who was brilliant as usual, who was that bought the first item? Hobbit is that you hand going up, that'll be another fiver thank you, gotcha and with the auction complete and the money from all those who attended, the preliminary figure was a fantastic 13k which takes the running total for all the H4H days to 96k. Congratulations to all the winners, who put together some great rounds of golf in very testing conditions. Thank to all who assisted in getting the day organised, Rich & Vicky, Robin and all the team who made the day run effortlessly.

Finally, To receive the Rick Garg Memorial Trophy is an honor, shock doesn't come close, I'm still totally taken aback, nice things like that don't happen to me, when Rich called out mine and Stu's names, I started to fill up and was thinking I ain't getting up and blubbing and looked up the room at Stu, thinking if he doesn't move soon, I just about held it together. I apologize for not saying anything, I couldn't for the second time that day I was speechless and with my accent and the few pints I'd had, all you would've heard would have been, "sasdk jhopia ssorufns vkpof, thank you"

So now I will write, "Thank you very much for the Rick Garg Memorial Trophy", and as Stu wrote above we both feel very honored and humbled to have received it, coming down to the H4H days is not to win anything, it's is to play some golf with the good friends we have made, raise some money for a very worthy cause have a few beers and have a damn good time.

Thankyou, gan canny

Stick
 
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