Having rested during last Tuesday's rain, the Seniors were out in force this week. Thirty-eight apprehensively drove into the golf club, with a high expectation of playing in showery weather. What a delightful surprise it was then to spend the day on the course in breezy bright sunshine. This week's event was a Team Challenge with groups of three setting off with high expectation of beating the course and their fellow competitors. Every player's score counted in this medal competition and to keep the game flowing any lost ball scored eight. One honest golfer declared his legitimate nine on the 16th alongside his eight for a lost ball on the 17th. Well done Richard!! In the first group out, Clifton John demonstrated the idea admirably by losing some more balls this week and having five 8s on his card. Despite that, his team rallied round and were leaders in the clubhouse for most of the afternoon. As the cards came in Roy Morgan noticed a distinct pattern emerging. Each group of three had one card that, for want of a better word, rationalised the team score. Three such cards had a net score in the 90s and the rest were in the high 80s, so maintaining the equilibrium for their respective teams. However, there is always the exception to every rule and this was provided by the team of Doug Havard, Bart Youll (fresh from his travels) and 'Uncle' Jim Taylor, who were consistent in their net 77 and two 75s, respectively. This did earn them a placing in a very interesting competition. The seniors welcomed back Chris Sierwald after a prolonged absence. He was accompanied round the course by Newman Vincent, who would have introduced him to 'ready' golf (keep the game flowing by hitting your ball if you are ready). If Newman was into ready golf, then John Cook was into nearly golf. He scored a net 79 which could have been far better had he sunk all those putts that 'nearly' went in! Best score of the day was earned by Brian Morgan, who was delighted with his net 72. Unfortunately, his partners in crime could not quite match his brilliance; Alex Leese managed 80, while Martin Neilan, having an off day, could only scrape together an 85. Another good round was had by Stan Hudson, sliding in with a 74. His partners added to his score with a 79 from Meurig Jones and 82 from Terry Evans. Des Stone must have been the only player to arrive back in the clubhouse with wet feet. Having successfully negotiated the course, he arrived at the 18th and proceeded to wing his drive low and left into the newly-formed water hazard. Having to skirt the hazard on the left-hand side, he discovered that there was no way that he could reach his ball without wading in to retrieve it. This he did and having given it the Barns-Wallis treatment, he had to wade in ankle deep again, to reach the other side - much to the amusement of his playing partners, Dave Morgan and John Cook. It was a pair of strong men this week holding up the rest of the teams. The booby went to Philip Marsden and Paul Nixon. Nothing was paid out for twos this week, but we will give a special mention to Stan Hudson, Mike Nesbitt-Hawes, Dave Miller and Peter Woodhouse for trying to exact money from the committee for the ones they scored. Two teams came in with the same points total to gain equal second place and they were: Roy Morgan, Clifton John and Tony Morris and Doug Havard, Bart Youll and Jim Taylor. This week's champions were Stan Hudson, Terry Evans and Meurig Jones. Next week sees the last eclectic competition of the winter season and will be followed on March 20 with a three-club competition over 15 holes followed by lunch and presentation.
Early bird catches the worm!
The early bird catches the worm, so they say. And so it proved with the Chicken Trotters of Tenby Golf Club on Friday. One of the early starters - well, if truth be told, everyone starts at a rather unearthly hour, don't they - got a good score in and no one was able to match it for the rest of the morning. The man strutting his stuff was Pat Rees, who had been denied a prize a fortnight before when rain washed out proceedings, but there was no stopping him this time as he romped in with 31 points - six better than the par for the day of 25. For his efforts, he pecked up a tidy sum of £2.50, while running him close for top perch was Derek Bath, who returned to the hutch with 30 points. His prize was £1.50, but he soon had his 'bubble' burst as Chief Chicken Morran Boot warned him that he would be consigned to the sin bin... and it was more than likely that the lid would remain firmly on for the rest of the season! With weather conditions better than of late, there was also an improved turnout, with 20 players taking to the course to do battle, but once again not one of them was able to mark an elusive two on the card - they are certainly getting hard to come by these days. And what's more, with no booby pay-out either, as three tied for bottom spot (on 17 points we think), money man Micky Johnston had a glint in his eye, as the Chicken pot must be nearly full to overflowing. Should be a good end of term party for our feathered friends!
Murphy and Co have the best yellow balls
Last weekend, the Saturday Swingers took part in their first ever Yellow Ball Competition. With three in a team, each player had the onerous responsibility of having the yellow ball every third hole the best two out of three players scored on each hole but one of these had to be the yellow ball. The yellow ball stableford points were doubled on each hole. However, if the yellow ball player failed to score at least one point, his team was unable to register a score on that hole. Revised stroke indexes were used for the event. Five teams totalled in excess of 90 points, including Richard Ormond, Clive Webb and Mike Wainwright (91 pts) and Paul Hoyland, John Stenson and Neil Webb (93 pts), who claimed 11 points on the fifth hole. In third place were Paul Heywood, Dave Llewellyn and John Rees with 95 pts. They were the only team to score on every hole. John's two on the 12th hole was itself worth eight points. Second with a very creditable 98 pts were Phil Mumford, Dave Blackmore and Jonathon Webb. The short sixth let them down. However, the victorious trio, with a magnificent aggregate of 106 points, were Colin Murphy, Dai Skyrme and Don Sigsworth. Their score included 12 points on the third, two gross birdies, both with shots and one being with the yellow ball. Their total would have been even higher had they not failed to score on the 16th hole. The prize money was presented the same evening during Ladies' Night at the Gower Hotel. Colin received a special award for his fabulous 30 points scored on his six yellow ball holes. Don spoke on behalf of the winning team, but unfortunately no- one present had the slightest idea what he was talking about! The leading scores were: Murphy, Sigsworth and Skyrme (106 pts), Mumford, Webb (J) and Blackmore (98), Heywood, Llewellyn and Rees (95), Hoyland, Stenson and Webb (N) (93), Ormond, Webb (C) and Wainwright (91), McNeilly, Davies and Gillespie (85), Schooling, Toy and Frayne (82), Cope, Keating (P) and Court (80), Aston, McKeown and Anthony (78), Morris, Roberts and Upham (78), John, Goodridge and Currie (77), Lovatt, Rossi and Thomas (75) and Amos, Diment and Rogers (71).