RINGWAY Golf Club has bucked the national trend of falling numbers with a good retention of members as well as a significant growth in the membership of girls and ladies last year.

Membership committee member Gerry Carey said: “Compared to other clubs our membership has been fairly robust with just a few vacancies in the gold (seven day) category.

“In particular our ladies' section continues to grow and is boosted by the new category of associate, which we introduced about 12 months ago.

“This is for advanced beginners and is proving to be a very enjoyable and successful conduit into the full activities at the club.

“Once a person has concluded a number of lessons with our professional he or she can join as an associate for £50 which runs for a whole year and is not renewable.

“During that time any number of rounds can be played with guests and all at our daily guest fee.

“A key part is that the associate members can submit cards and obtain a full handicap which enables them to enter competitions.

“The professional staff have also organised a series of groups teaching lessons throughout the summer and running into the winter for lady beginners into two groups – u18 (Girls Golf Rocks) and over-18 (This Girl Can) – and they have proved to be incredibly popular with more than 70 entrants to date and an anticipated stream of new entrants.

“It has proved to be a very innovative and popular scheme backed by enthusiastic members and the professional staff.”

Sale Golf Club have been drawn at home to Ellesmere in the Dunham Forest Trophy inter-club knockout competition, organised by the Manchester and District Golf Alliance.

The tournament features the club professional and the six top amateurs in a singles matchplay format with more than 90 clubs in the mix looking to make finals day at Dunham Forest Golf Club in September.

Meanwhile, the fixtures for the Northern Order of Merit, sponsored by Galvin Green, have been released and the top amateur players in the region will be competing for the title currently held by Cheshire star Tom Dolan.

Among the local fixtures are the Stockport Salver and the Wilmslow Crow combining for the Cheshire Cat, the Prestbury Open, the Royton Sword at Crompton and Royton and the Hulbert Trophy at Manchester.

The full fixture list is:- Crosby Challenge Plate (West Lancs) April 9, Caldy Quart (Caldy) April 13, Henriques Trophy (Hesketh) May 7, Southport & Ainsdale Bowl* (S&A) May 20, Formby Hare* (Formby) May 21, Frank Stableford Open (Wallasey) June 4, Calvert Trophy (Ashton & Lea) June 10, Eaton Talbot (Eaton) June 11, Hulbert Trophy (Manchester) June 18, Bromborough Bowl (Bromborough) June 21, Wilpshire Trophy (Wilpshire) July 1, Acorn Trophy (Accrington) July 2, Royton Sword (Crompton & Royton) July 9, Stockport Salver* (Stockport) July 20, Wilmslow Crow* (Wilmslow) July 21, Grange Park Rose Bowl* (Grange Park) August 6, Pines Trophy* (Hillside) August 12, Birkdale Silver Goblet* (Royal Birkdale) August 13, Revidge Cannon (Blackburn) August 14, Childwall Trophy* (Childwall) August 21, Prestbury Open (Prestbury) August 25, Trafalgar Trophy (Nelson) August 27, Mere Trophy (Mere) August 28, D E Ingham Trophy (Rossendale) September 3, Preston Guild Trophy (Preston) September 9, Ashton Trophy (St Annes Old Links) September 10, Old Links Trophy (Bolton Old Links) September 23, Pendle Witch (Clitheroe) September 24.

The competitions indicated by a * are for world ranking points.