Sadly, after yet another poor turnout from the Gower Seniors team, the visit to Gower Golf Club on Thursday, May 29, will prove to be Tenby's swansong against Gower. For the second week in a row, Gower were unable to muster a full team to match visiting Tenby Seniors. It is so disappointing when a club commits itself to a club event against another, and then fails to provide their requirement of a full team. As a result, regretfully, Tenby Seniors feel that they cannot consider Gower for matches for next year. As to the match, the day turned out fine and Tenby proved to be too strong for the under strength Gower team for the second week running. In harness with captain Roy Morgan, this week, was another Morgan, namely big Dave. They were up against Gower captain Bob Hughes partnered with Colin Rowlands. It was a very close game with never more than two holes between them all the way round. Roy complimented Colin's par four on the 16th that he made with a superb third shot to within an inch of the cup, but went on to say that David Morgan came into his own on the 18th to have a fine five to enable them to have a brown hatters win on the final hole. Jim Martin is suffering an inconsistent streak lately and this week had Des Stone to gee him up. They were playing Hubert Thomas and Frank Walker and Frank was very pleased with his partner Hubert. On the first hole, Hubert was bemoaning that his putting had been terrible of late, yet after Jim puttered in from just off the green on the par three second for a birdie two, Hubert had no problem sinking his eight-feet putt to match him! As the round wore on, Hubert positively revelled in his putting and chipping, constantly thwarting Des and Jim's attempts to take holes. Despite the fact that Jim had two birdies in the first six holes, he and Des were two down as Hubert was having a birdie spree. The Gower pair was only one over gross after five holes. With both Des and Jim struggling to find any consistently and Hubert playing such a fine short game, it was no surprise that the Tenby pair were seen off on the 14th hole. Bob Howse decided he would do a spot of cockling on his way to the Gower, set off to Penclawdd, but unfortunately lost his way. That certainly was not the case when he got to the Gower as he and Ken Gouldsbrough proved to be far too strong for Clive Young and Richard Keane. According to Ken, they lost the first, but after that it was one-way traffic, as Bob Howse played out of his skin. When I asked Clive for a comment, he said there was nothing worth saying, as they found Bob too hot to handle, pity about his road navigation as I would have enjoyed some cockles. There is no doubt about it Bob is in a rich vein form of late. As Ken said when Bob had a fine birdie three on the 12th, that just about killed the Gower pair off and the Tenby pair gave them an early bath on the 13th. Ron Brown for Gower partnered by comedian Len Bastin, had a real up and down game. He went on to say: "One minute I'm up, next minute I'm down and I was ready to chuck my clubs in the ditch and take up snooker!" As it transpired their fortunes changed and they got on top of the Tenby pair, Stan Hudson and Malcolm Arlott. The Tenby pair went two down after two and stayed that way until they won three holes in a row from the fifth to go one up, but lost the ninth to go all square at the turn. A poor hole from Gower saw Stan and Malcolm go back one up and they went two up on the 11th. Three halves on the trot maintained that lead but the fightback from Ron and Len saw them eventually win the game on the 18th. Vice-captain Brian Waters and Owen Monaghan found themselves two down after two against the Gower pairing of Reg Morgan and Ray Collins. Brian said that he and Owen played badly initially, but then got some form together as they halved the next five holes. Into the back nine, their form improved still further and him and Owen backed each other up well winning practically every hole after the turn and eventually overcame Reg and Ray on the 15th green. Because of their depleted numbers, match number five had Derek Bath partnering Gower's vice- captain Michael Ingamells. Derek said that their opponents, John Cook and Tony Ranoe played extremely well. All though 'Bubbles' felt he and Michael could have played better, he did not think they would have overcome John and Tony as they were in such fine form and eventually went down four and three down. In the next match, yet again Tenby had to help out Gower by providing J.D.R. Williams to partner Gower's Keith Hickman. They were playing against Martin Neilan and Geoff Aston and it proved to be a very tight game. Martin though considers that man management is his strength and he found the way how to get the best out of his partner Geoff. According to Martin, his method was to drive before Geoff and hit a really crappy drive and put Geoff under pressure. Geoff responded magnificently and rose to the occasion. Their opponents found Geoffrey to be a very tenacious opponent and held them off right up to the 18th green. Despite the heckling coming from the gallery adjacent the 18th green from the raucous Tenby players enjoying their beers on the sun deck, Geoff sunk a 'Denise Wise' (a nasty five- footer), Geoff considered it a 'Madonna' (a really nasty five-footer) to win the game by one hole. Michael Thomas, of Gower, found himself on his own against Brian Morgan and Rod Clarke, but did give them some decent opposition to take them to the 15th hole. Rod said that Michael, playing off 28 handicap, played very well, especially round the greens and made excellent use of his shots. He went on to say it was a shame that Michael found himself in that position. Rod was very pleased to have Brian as his partner otherwise, in his opinion, things might have been different. In Brian's case it was a little bit embarrassing as Mike had given him his first job and took him on a trial and finished up working for Texaco for eight years! The final game saw yet another one-sided game as Denis Cooper had to take on Newman Vincent and Clifton John by himself. Both the Tenby boys looked like they were on a boy scout trip sporting their beige coloured shorts. Dennis said he found it extremely difficult to match them as they played a very straight game; he went on to say that Newman in particular played extremely well carding a six over par 42 in the front nine. Dennis found it too much with Newman and Clifton in such fine form and eventually lost his match on the 13th green. At the speeches in the clubhouse, Bob Hughes remarked that his game proved to be an interesting walk; after giving the result, he quickly handed over to Tenby captain, Roy Morgan. Roy remarked how good the meal was and went to congratulate Clifton John on becoming the vice-chairman of Saundersfoot Community Council. Everyone was then entertained by Len Bastin, Gower's comedian with some very funny stories. Results: Roy Morgan/Dave Morgan beat Bob Hughes/Colin Rowlands one up; Jim Martin/Des Stone lost to Hubert Thoms/Frank Walker five and four; Bob Howse/Ken Gouldsbrough beat Clive Young/ Richard Keene six and five; Stan Hudson/Malcolm Arlott lost to Ron Brown/Len Bastin two down; Brian Waters/Owen Monaghan beat Reg Morgan/Ray Collins four and three; John Cook/Tony Ranoe beat Michael Ingamells/Derek Bath five and three; Martin Neilan/Geoff Aston beat Keith Hickman/JDR Williams one hole; Brian Morgan/Rod Clarke beat Michael J. Thomas four and three; Newman Vincent/ Clifton John beat Dennis Cooper six and five. Tenby beat Gower 7-2.
J.D.M.