It's Wonderful

That You Should Care for Me

In the words of the famous song 'It's Wonderful', the caring members and guests that turned out on Friday to support the captain in his attempts to raise money for his chosen charity and club teams, could be heard muttering the following compliments of Tenby Golf Club. It's a wonderful golf course, in wonderful condition, at a wonderful location, what a wonderful way to support the captain, David Blackmore.

All week the weather had been typical of the month, with frequent showers soaking up the enthusiasm of the local members, but on the Friday, as if by divine intervention, the skies cleared and a field of over 120 entrants experienced the most wonderful day of the year with sunshine on their backs and the course in wonderful condition. To quote from the song, 'who could ask for anything more'.

The day had been supported by many and varied sponsors, with visiting teams travelling from as far afield as Bristol, Caerphilly, Aberdare and Pontypridd. A famous son of the latter named town not only took part in the event, but also agreed to give of his experience as a personality and be the afteer-dinner speaker later in the day. No it wasn't Sir Tom, but it was a Tom who is as equally famous in the valley town of Pontypridd and that is Tom David of Wales, The Lions and Barbarians fame.

Who can forget the famous try by the Barbarians against the All Blacks in January 1973, culminating in Gareth Edwards going over after receiving his pass from Tommy.

Also taking part in the event was another famous Welsh personality of stage, screen and radio fame, Owen Money MBE, who is a very good friend of Tenby Golf Club and consistently supports any charitable event that is organised.

The teams set off on this difficult links course with great enthusiasm and confident that they could face the challenge with ease. After all, it was the best two scores out of a team of four that were to count, which should make it quite easy to score well on a course that was behaving very well in the weather conditions. For those who are familiar with the old links at the Burrows, there is no such thing as easy to score.

Scores were coming into the clubhouse in the low 80s, which proved to be the par for the day, until the teams entered by the Valero company broke through the 90 points barrier and threw down the challenge for the rest of the field. Many came close, but none was able to overtake the score set by this formidable group of players.

The final results saw the Valero team 2, consisting of Terry Davies, Jeremy Morris, Nick Johnston and Peter Jones, winning the competition with a score of 92 points.

They were closely followed by the Valero team 1, consisting of S. Harries, M. Barrett, D. Forrest and S. Law, with a score of 91 points.

Third was a team of local members representing the Tenby Auto Centre, consisting of Steve Williams (sponsor), Ian 'Yobbler' Thomas, Robert Brown and Richard Ormond, with a score of 89 points.

Just out of the prizes in fourth place with 88 points were the Philosan 4 made up of Rob Hall, Mike Smiddy Huw Phillips and Tony Key.

The nearest the pin on the sixth hole went to G. Davies, 77cm, the nearest the pin on the 17th went to Rob Owens 33 cm and the longest drive on the 14th was won by Darren Colwill.

Generous prizes were provided by club members for the raffle, with two outstanding donations being made by the club of a free day's golf for four and by Andrew Evans, of the St. Brides Hotel, who provided a pamper day at the wonderful facilities of the hotel spa.

The charity selected by the captain of the club, David Blackmore, was the John Hartson Charity for research into testicular cancer. Mr Hartson's manager attended at the function and provided two items for the auction. The first one was a signed copy of John Hartson's book and the second, one of his Welsh international shirts signed by the great number 9 himself.

Not being one to miss out on taking advantage of the celebrities attending the day, Chris Beecher, the vice-captain of the club and one of the main organisers of the event, managed to obtain signed photographs from the guest speaker, Tom David, not least one of that famous try signed by all who took part in its creation.

The evening commenced with a welcome address from the captain, David Blackmore, who thanked all of the sponsors for their generous contributions and all of the competitors who gave of their time and effort which added to the success of the day.

He also thanked the catering staff for their contribution to the day and the greens staff who manicured the course to its prime condition for this time of the year.

Generous thanks were given to the local members who contributed prizes and to the main organisers of the event, Chris Beecher and Tony Key.

The evening concluded with hilarious stories from Tommy David, who referred to his experiences on and off the field of rugby, with some intimate details of what went on during the 1974 Lions tour.

Sincere thanks must go to Tom, who makes himself available to support Tenby Golf Club whenever he can; a true friend of the club.

Accounting of the proceeds is yet to be finalised, but it is safe to say that the charity will benefit substantially from the event.

All in all, a wonderful day was had by all. In the words of the song, 'it was awful nice, it was paradise, it's where I want to be'.

Another golf day is in the process of being organised for the John Hartson Charity which John himself will be attending with many of his sporting celebrity friends. If you would like to be part of the day and sponsor a celebrity team, please contact the captain, David Blackmore, at Tenby Golf Club on 01834 842978.