Pontefract report

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Fifteen of us took to the course at Pontefract on a hot sunny day that saw tans topped up by some while others kept their cool to successfully break par!

The course was in great condition with a few narrow fairways to test the driving accuracy of all. Whilst the greens were not as quick as Howley Hall they were certainly not slow. They did run true and consistent throughout the course.

I’d like to officially say thanks to the club for looking after us and thanks for honouring the same original 2020 price despite an increase for other societies who booked for this year.

Onto the results and to say there were only 2 par 3’s out of the 4 being hit. These were won by Mike Pottock on the 3rd hole and Ian Dyson on the 17th who also paid a visit into the 2’s club. The captains prize on the 9th was also won by Ian Dyson, who with a little consistency throughout may have challenged for the trophy rather than being on the bang average score for the whole group of players. The longest drive was deservedly taken by Lee Wetherill who hit a super shot.

So to the main prizes and in 3rd place with 37 points was Kev Harper. In second was Roger Worth with a cracking 39 point but the winner of the Hickling trophy with an amazing 41 points was Mike Pottock. Well played Mike and well done to the others who won a prize.

The average score was 30 points meaning the buffer zone was 27-33. The handicaps have been updated accordingly with 8 players seeing their handicaps alter after this event.

 

Onto our next outing which will be Captains Day at Woolley Park G.C. on Thursday 5th August. This is a full day out costing £50 plus £5 for the sweep. Please see the fixtures page on this website for details.

CAN YOU PLEASE ADVISE ME ASAP IF YOUR ATTENDING AS IT’S JUST OVER A WEEK AWAY.

Lets see a great turn out to support Alan in his year’s captaincy. Not forgetting the fact he has just moved house and so there are bound to be some great prizes that he has found in the back of his garage and has dusted off. There maybe even a finest MacGregor driver amongst the top prizes that he has found, ya never know!!!

 

Howley Hall Report

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In true railway fashion….Apologies for the delay and any inconvenience caused!!!!…..

18 players turned out for what proved a tough track around Howley Hall to play for the Webster Cup but wow how nice was it?  The greens were super quick and anyone off the fairway had them in some bother to say the least. This was reflected in the scoring with what is possibly the lowest average score we have ever had.

Despite the low scoring, unbelievably there were 4 trips to the 2’s club with Lee Hepworth having TWO visits whilst Jahn Kay & Ian Dyson had the one trip each!

Lee’s 2’s were also accompanied by him winning 2 nearest pins on the 14th and 18th. Well done Lee. Appears you enjoyed your day. Hope to see you support us again soon.

The other nearest pins were won by John Kay on the 4th & Lee Worth on the 8th.

Longest Drive was taken by Mike Pottock who hit a beauty down the 11th fairway. Mike also won the captains prize (nearest in 2) on the 2nd Hole.

Onto the overall results and in third place with 29 points was Ian Dyson. Second with 32 points was Dan Fenteman and the winner with a great score on the day was Lee Worth with 33 points.

Thanks to all who attended, especially those who turned up for the first time and well done to those who won a prize.

On to the handicaps…. As controversial as they are with people losing shots for finishing over par, it does keep our handicaps fair to all who play within the society and gives everyone a chance of winning in the long term.

The handicaps are updated accordingly on the relevant page.

Finally,

Our next outing will be Hickling Trophy at Pontefract G.C. on the 22nd July. All details are the site and I will send out email for attendance in due course.

 

 

 

Richmond Report

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Thursday saw a great turn out of men for the unique combined scoring system for the annual Richmond trophy of which I’m pleased to say has finally been found. I shall not name and shame the holder for fear of mass micky taking……..ok it’s Lee Worth!

A great time was had by all and I’d like to say thanks again to Richmond G.C. for their hospitality on a day that saw some awesome golf and in turn saw some not so awesome golf.

The morning 9 hole stableford was won by Keith Barnes with a great score of 22 points. He pipped Karl Clark who finished in second on a count back but it would be Karl who was to take the last laugh later in the day. Read on to find out…….

The afternoon saw the weather warm nicely and the golf certainly hotted up for the 18 hole medal competition.

In third place with a net score of 70 was Billy Milne, Second was Karl Clarke with 69 and the winner of the afternoon with an unbelievable 67 playing with a handicap of just 5 was James Pickersgill. This meant James’ gross score was just 72 shots which is almost a society record only ever been beaten with a 71 at the Oaks in 2011 by Ian Dyson (yeah come on I had to get that in as I was rubbish yesterday and hey, I’m writing this report!!!!).  In all seriousness well played James sir, a fine round of golf that I’m sure wouldn’t have been out of place on Sky Sports.

The nearest pins were taken by Billy Milne on the 4th & 7th Holes. Steve Patrick on the 12th and Rob Russel on the 9th & 18th. The longest drive was won by Billy Milne.

The 2’s club saw visits from Billy Milne, Rob Russel and James Pickersgill.

And finally the captains prize for nearest in 2 was won by Lee wetherill who it a monster tee shot, almost taking out Keith Barnes who was about to putt on the green!

So back to the Richmond trophy and the winner who had 27 solid holes of golf was Karl Clarke with a combined score 40 points (on the sliding scoring system we use for the trophy).

For the handicaps, the average score in the afternoon was 75 meaning the buffer zone was 72-78. Please see the handicap section the website for the updated handicap list.

Finally I’d like to say welcome back to Robin East who had his first outing after his Hip replacement, Hope you had a good day after the saga with finding you a buggy!

Well done to all who won a prize and thanks to everyone who turned up to support the society it does make the organising worth it to see so many people attend our days out.

Our next meeting is on Friday 18th June at Howley Hall G.C. Details can be found on this website in the events list. This is a rescheduled day from April and as its only 2 weeks away can you please advise me ASAP of your intentions of playing or not. 

 

 

Normanton G.C. Report

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A great 21 players turned out on a cool & breezy day which encountered a hail shower turning the greens white for a while but it didn’t stop some great golf being played.

I’d like to say thanks to Normanton G.C. for squeezing in extra tee times to accommodate us and also for their super hospitality throughout the day. The course was in decent condition with quick greens if a little bobbly in places, however the cold weather recently has been playing havoc with all clubs presenting perfect courses.

We played an 18 hole Stableford competition which provided some up and down golf for most but a few turned on the style and showed the rest of us how it should be done.

In first place and the winner of the Keeble cup was Steve Patrtick with a great score of 38 points, beating Mr. ‘Steady’ Colley on a count back by a single point. In third place with a good score of 37 was Lee Worth. Well played gentlemen!!

Paying a visit to the 2’s club were Richard Teale and Roger Worth & winning the nearest the pins on par 3’s were Richard Teale, Paul “killer” Kilburn, Dave Saynor (again!) and Keith Barnes. The longest drive was taken by Craig Wetherill hitting the important fairway despite missing almost all of the others!!  The captains prize was won by Chris Copstake, wining the nearest in 2 competition on the 8th hole.

Well done to all who took a prize.

I’d like to say thanks to the 2 guests, Chris & Keith and also to Nigel for inviting them. We’d love to see your support in the future.

HANDICAPS…….

Steve Pattrick loses 2 shots and will be down to 16 as does Dave Colley & Lee Worth who will be playing off 13 & 16 respectively.

Controversially, Lee Wetherill loses a shot and will be playing off 6 next time out, as does Dave welsh who will be down to 17.

Gaining shots include Killer (1 shot and will now be 21) and Mike Pottock (now 19) with 2 shots returning to John Kay and John Goundry who will now be both playing off 22.

Finally, on to our next outing which will be a visit to Richmond Golf Club on Thursday 3rd June for what is arguably the best value day out of the season. We really need to see some great numbers for what it always a great day but sadly has been under represented in the past but not one to finish on a negative I’m confident we will see a huge convoy travel up the A1 for this year and for many years to come. Please see ‘events’ menu on the website for information. SEE YOU THERE!!

 

 

 

Hillsborough G.C. Report

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Today finally saw us get together for our first outing of the season, the first for some 18 months since we last played a society fixture because of the pandemic.

A super 20 players turned out on a dry but chilly day and encountered a course with ‘difficulties’ which provided some disappointment to most. There were 4 temporary greens and hole number 2 was out of use altogether. It has to be added fairly to the club that they were great in their response and agreed to look after us next time we visit, together with a partial refund for todays game.

We played an 18 hole stableford competition which resulted in some great scoring.

The All Sports Trophy was won by Mike Pottock with a magnificent score of 44 points. In second place, just a single point behind was Dave Colley & third was Dan Fentaman with a super 41 points including a trip to the 2’s club.

Dave Jordan had a great day too winning nearest the pin on the 6th hole together with a visit to the 2’s club with Dan (mentioned above) and if that wasn’t enough Dave also won the captains prize, winning nearest the pin in 2 at the 7th hole.

The other nearest the pins were won by James Pickersgill on the 10th and Dave Saynor on ’17 A’ which was a sub for the 2nd hole being out of use.

The longest drive was won by John Kay in what must have been a monster drive on the 12th as he beat my Sunday best!

A Special mention and thanks to the guests Hearl Lenton & Andy Stanger, hope you enjoyed your day and will come and support us in the future.

It has to be said that a great day was had by all and we are going to take up the clubs offer of a discount next season with a return visit to what is highly likely to be Dave Colley’s Captains Day. A big thank you to Hillsborough G.C. for their hospitality and also to Mark in the office for his understanding of our frustration regarding the greens. I for one can’t wait to see their course next summer in all its glory.

Moving on to handicap matters……

It’s been agreed that the new World Handicap System doesn’t really work within our society as not everyone is a member of a club meaning some peoples handicaps will change often whilst others will hardly change other than on society days. It also has to be said that the CONGU system of receiving just 0.1 of a shot back for an over par score per round is also unfair and outdated as we only play 8-10 games per year and therefore handicaps will barely increase where necessary. It has therefore been decided to use the average scoring system with a buffer zone of 3 shots either side of said average score. This means that 4/5 points below the average in stableford (or 4/5 shots above average in medal) will gain 1 shot & 6 points or more below the average will gain 2 shots. Going the other way it means that 4/5 points above the average stableford score (or 4/5 shots below in medal) will lose one shot & 6 points and above will lose 2 shots off their handicap. This means the slopes of each course will not be used which stops any small confusion as we encountered today. It should make life easier as only whole shots will be calculated for new handicaps together with a fair increase or decrease in handicaps accordingly given as already pointed out that we only play a handful of games per season. The handicaps are uploaded on the players page accordingly.

Finally, our next golf day will be on Thursday 6th May and will be at Normanton Golf Club. Final details will be posted in the next couple of days. I believe it will be a breakfast sandwich with tea/coffee and one round of golf. CAN I PLEASE ASK YOU NOW TO EMAIL ME IF YOU ARE OR ARE NOT ATTENDING OR DO SO ASAP AS THE NEXT EVENT IS JUST 2 WEEKS AWAY.