BIRDS OF A FEATHER SHIVER TOGETHER!

A very cold, very windy morning greeted the Chicken Trotters on Friday, January 27 - not the kind of weather that lures players out onto the course, in fact I’m convinced that the morning routine in many a Trotter household went something like: Hear alarm clock, look out of window, consider options, snuggle back down and sleep on!

Despite the conditions, 10 tough tenacious Tenby Trotters tramped to the tee, and when all was done and dusted the result looked like this:

There were no twos! - not surprising really.

In third place with a meagre 24 points, Mike Fox (Acting Chief Trotter don’tyerknow!) paid himself 30p. Our esteemed Editor, Neil Dickinson, bettered this by scoring 27 points and claimed second place and a whole 50p. Continuing his ‘purple patch’ of high scoring rounds, Newman Vincent soared into the lead with a fine 29 points and £1 to add to the Vincents’ ‘Back to the warm Canary Islands’ fund.

Paul Bradley hits such a long ball that the wind has more time to move it off course; this was the main reason for his award of this week’s Booby prize, 30p and the addition of two strokes to his shrunken handicap.

And that, dear reader, is all there is to tell about last Friday’s Trot. Perhaps this week the weather will be warmer, the field will be bigger and there will be something momentous to report!

Fingers crossed!

M.F.

Monthly Medal

Seventy-nine players entered the January Monthly Medal last Saturday. Leading scores and prize winners were as follows:

Division One: 1. Paul Davies 83-14-69, on countback (medal plus £42.50); 2. Martin Morris 78-9-69 (£39); 3. Tim Edwards 81-10-71 on countback (£21); 4. Andrew Cope 77-6-71 (£10.50).

Division Two: 1. Cameron Jnr Davies 97-27-70 (medal plus £42.50); 2. Philip Booth 90-19-71 (£39); 3. Stephen Watkins 92-19-73, on countback (£21); 4. Grant Watkins 96-23-73 (£10.50).

Twos: Paul James, Timothy Davies, Richard Morton, Chris Beecher, Tim Edwards, Richard Prout, Robin Hagley, Michael Smiddy (£9.90 each).

Bag draw: Steve Williams, Steve Maytum, Steve Watkins, Mike Anthony, John Gilman (£15.80 each).

Pro Shop draw: Mike Smiddy (Logo holdall bag),

Handicap changes: Philip Booth 19 to 18; Andrew Cope 6 to 5; Cameron Jnr Davies 27 to 25; Paul Davies 14 to 13; Terry Davies 11 to 12; Robin Hagley 17 to 18; Jeffrey Haley 20 to 21; Rob Hall 14 to 15; David Hancock 13 to 14; Ralph Johns 18 to 19; Martin Morris 9 to 8; Martyn Neilan 11 to 12; Jeremy Peters 14 to 15; Richard Prout 13 to 14; Michael Schooling 5 to 6; Darren Thomas 6 to 7; Neil R. Thomas 8 to 9.

20 YEARS OF TROTTING

January 24, 1997, was a fine day, which prompted 48 Chicken Trotters to strut their stuff on the links. With a field this big, the money available to the Chief Trotter allowed for prizes to be awarded to the top seven players, as well as for two scorers and the low scorer’s Booby prize.

Starting with the twos - of which there were six from five players! - it went like this: David Leeke and Jack Garland both sank their second shot on the sixth, M. Maxwell and Charlie Farr both scored twos on the 12th, and the accurate Vince Shaw popped in twos on the sixth and the 12th - they all received 40p per two.

The other prize winners were: In lowly seventh place with 31 points, winning £1.20, Mike Fox. In sixth slot, Matt Hescrop scored 32 points for a £1.30 prize. Dennis Mitchell pocketed £1.50 for his 35 points, while John Bonar was presented with £1.80 for a better 35-pointer. Ray Irish and Glyn Price scored an inseparable 36 points , sharing first place and receiving £2 each.

Last, and for this week - probably least - Eric Day limped home with 17 points, receiving sympathy, 30p and two additional strokes to aid his improvement.

Elsewhere in 1997, the Teletubbies first appeared on BBC television and Katrina and the Waves won the Eurovision Song Contest with Love Shine a Light - those were the days!

M.F.

Totals Toppling

On the last day of January 2017, 39 Seniors blanketed the Tenby links - all trying to squeeze a couple of extra Stableford points out of the course, because there are only a few more eclectic games left before we complete the programme and slide seamlessly into the summer season of inter-club matches. I know that everybody was trying their best - but compared with the winning scores in the last two eclectic games, 47 and 45, the winning score of 37 seemed a trifle pedestrian - but one must take into account the weather, which was misty, a trifle windy, somewhat drizzly and very wet underfoot - and the greens, which were far from their best. All the above conspired to ensure that not a single player managed to equal or better the competition scratch score of 38 Stableford points.

Nonetheless, there was evidence of good golf, for instance Jeff Banfield and Keith Hubbard scored a sought-after two on the sixth, as did Hywel Probert on the 12th and eclectic improver Newman Vincent on the seventeenth, they were showered with much gold by our ever generous treasurer Stan Hudson. Stan also managed a smile when handing the £10 charity raffle prize to Senior’s captain Dudley Williams!

The serious money was distributed like this:

I must mention the 37 points scored by Des Stone and Jeff Banfield, the same score as positions 1, 2 and 3 - but just lacking a smidgeon of Ooomph on the back nine. So, once again depending absolutely on scores on the closing holes, we have in third place the Cuddly Kiwi, Allen Watts, who was pipped for second place by the Lethal Lawman, Jim Moffatt (helped by a rare Eagle on the par 5 14th hole), who in turn was denied the lead by the best of the 37’ers - Roger Scholfield, who can bask in the winners spotlight at least until next Tuesday!

Of course, if you want to improve your golf and enjoy the friendly rivalry of one of the oldest societies within Tenby Golf Club - simply poll up on a Friday (today perhaps?) and join the Humanopoultrytarian Chicken Trotters as they compete for huge prize money over 15 holes. The very suntanned Chief Trotter, recently returned from exotic climes, extends the hand of welcome to any gentleman member wishing to join this select group - 8 am-ish is fine!

See you there!

M.F.