Rules Quiz
Your second shot comes to rest on the green. When putting, you hit the ball too hard and it rolls off the green into a bunker. You deem your ball unplayable and take relief by placing another ball on the putting green where you putted from and hole the next putt. What is your score for the hole?
A – 5
B – 6
C – 7
Answer is at the end of this newsletter
Find the Fact – Mike Kendall
Only one of the following statements about Mike is correct. The other two are false. How well do you know our Friday tee-times organiser?
- Mike first saw his future wife immediately after regaining consciousness in an ambulance after being knocked clean out during a football match
- Mike was a contestant on “Who wants to be a millionaire”. Mike didn’t win the million, but did manage to walk away with £16,000 having answered nine questions correctly
- Mike once had to stop Roy Keane from throttling another guest at a social function which Mike had organised and which Roy attended
Answer below
The hidden workout – what 18 holes really does to your body
Author: The Editor
Most of us like to think of golf as a gentle stroll with occasional swearing. But the science says otherwise. An 18‑hole round is, in fact, a proper workout — the sort your GP wishes you’d do more often.
A typical round at Lymm means 5–6 miles on foot, including slopes, rough, and the occasional detour to look for a ball that was “definitely just here a second ago.” This steady movement over 3–4 hours gives your heart and lungs a genuine endurance session.
Walking 18 holes burns more than twice as many calories as brisk walking for the same time. Carry your bag and you’ll burn even more — though your shoulders may file a complaint later.
💪 Muscles That Get a Free Workout
- Legs: All that walking, especially on uneven ground
- Core: Stabilising during the swing
- Shoulders & arms: Repeated high‑force swings
- Back: Both from swinging and from bending to pick up the ball (some more often than others)
Golf swings generate surprising force — in fact, biomechanically they can be more demanding than a baseball swing.
❤️ Good News for Your Heart
A full round helps:
- Lower blood pressure
- Improve cholesterol (especially HDL, the “good” one)
- Regulate blood sugar
It’s essentially a long, low‑intensity cardio session disguised as a social outing.
😓 Fatigue & Wear‑and‑Tear
After 18 holes, it’s normal to feel:
- Tired legs
- Tight shoulders
- A stiff lower back
- A strong desire for a pint
Up to 62% of amateur golfers experience some form of overuse injury, most commonly in the elbow, wrist, shoulder, and back — usually from enthusiastic swings and less‑than‑enthusiastic stretching.
🧠 Mental Effort Counts Too
Golf demands concentration for hours. That mental load adds to overall fatigue — especially on days when the putts refuse to drop.
🏁 The Takeaway
Playing 18 holes is not a gentle dawdle. It’s a multi‑hour, moderate‑intensity workout that boosts heart health, strengthens muscles, improves balance, and burns a surprising number of calories. So, the next time someone says golf isn’t exercise, feel free to hand them your step count.
Summer League – Round 3
Reporter: Paul Foster
The long awaited transition to WHS handicaps finally hit the fairways this week, as 44 brave (or mildly concerned) golfers teed up without the comforting cushion of the ‘mat’. This is a bold new era of fairness and accuracy. For the vast majority of us, it felt more like showing up to a knife fight armed with a teaspoon. Conditions didn’t exactly roll out the red carpet. Lively squalls occasionally sweeping across the course, turning well-struck drives into abstract art, and for the later starters, leaving umbrellas performing interpretive dance routines. Putting, usually a gentle art, became a psychological thriller (as usual for me). Greens that looked innocent enough from a distance revealed hidden agendas up close. Three-putts were the day’s most popular scoring method, with several players boldy exploring four-putt territory. Despite all this, spirits remained high. After all, golf isn’t about the score – it’s about the shared suffering, the exaggerated storytelling afterward, and the firm belief that next week, in calmer conditions, everything will be completely different.
In summary: 44 golfers, mostly with new handicaps, zero mats and enough wind to qualify for its own membership. Remarkably, out of all the competitors, only one managed to beat par, his name whispered in hushed tones in the bar, as if he had discovered a loophole both in the WHS system and the weather itself, in the corner was Ron Thornton beavering away trying to find a mistake in the winners score card.
The other 43 are currently reviewing their life choices, green-reading techniques, and possibly their membership.
A character-building day, if nothing else
Please don’t forget to pre-register on IG for all seniors rounds.
Two 2s scored today, Duncan Clarke and Tony Dixon.
Results
Division 1
| Winner | Koos Alders | 30 points |
| Runner up | Russ Jones | 27 points (CPO) |
| 3rd place | Paul Lennie | 27 points |
Division 2
| Winner | Andrew Ransom | 31 points |
| Runner up | Ron Thornton | 28 points |
| 3rd place | Alan Copeland | 27 points (CPO) |
Summer League – Round 2 CORRECTION
In last week’s newsletter third place in division 1 was incorrectly attributed to Koos Alders. In actual third place (only your Mum loves you if you’re third) was John Armstrong, with a very creditable 34 points. Since moving off the mats Paul Foster is no longer allowed to “slash and burn” our handicaps, he has now started getting his kicks by arbitrarily relegating players from division 1 to division 2 before working out the placings. This accounts for why John did not appear in the winners list last week. Apologies John and well played.
Happy Mondays Report – 20 April
Reporter: Steve Bird
A glorious Spring morning greeted 22 players in four groups of four and two of three. The scores were not great, and the general consensus was that the fairways were not conducive to ball roll-on and the greens were ‘weird’. No one could explain why as they looked fine but for some unknown reason three putts were common and many short putts were missed – even after allowing for the new gimme rule.
The winning team was Steve Barlow, Peter Willson and Richard Yates with an average score of 27.6. Steve top scorer for the day with 31 points
Runners up were Alan Copeland, Eric Cox, Charlie Hill and Phil Lomas (welcome back Phil) with an average of 24.75.
Tee booking schedule for tomorrow Thursday 23 April
Happy Mondays tee-booking schedule for Sunday 26 April
Rules Quiz answer
The correct answer is A. Explanation: Two shots onto the green. One putt that rolls off the green. One penalty stroke for taking unplayable relief under option 19.2a (stroke and distance relief). One putt that is holed. Total = 5 strokes
Find the Fact answer
Answer 3 is correct. Mike did need to “step in” to prevent the truculent Irish mid-fielder from lamping another guest at Mike’s daughter’s birthday party. Mike’s daughter attended the same school as Roy Keane’s daughter. It is not known if Roy Keane ever attended school.
Newsletter editor: Ian Goodman
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