Andy Ward Pairs Trophy

Barry “Baz” Smith and Mark Pickles won the final of the Andy Ward Pairs Trophy today, 2-and-1 against Charlie Hill and Alister Cook.

The completion of the Andy Ward Trophy brings the seniors’ winter programme to a close.

Use of Mats

The committee has reversed last week’s decision on mats – by a vote of 5 to 3 – in favour of using mats everywhere (on the fairways and in the rough) until the club announces that we come off mats altogether.

Match Report for Summer League: 1 of 10 – Friday 17th March

47 cards posted (26 Div 1 and 21 Div 2). Weather fine, and the whole course open, but course soggy in places after several days of rain.

It was a high-scoring day, with 20 players achieving 30 points and more over 15 holes.

2s recorded: Jim Wilson.

Division 1	Division 2
1st: Martin Franks (on CPO) – 35 points	1st: Ron Thornton (on CPO) – 36 points
2nd: Grahame Brickell 35 points	2nd: Stuart Baird 36 points
3rd=: Mike Pigott Paul Foster 34 points	3rd=: Eric Cox Dave Craggs Jeff Ashurst 34 points

Alister Cook scored 36 points, and would have come second in Div 2, but Alister is still on WHS handicap, having not yet submitted a sufficient number of Friday-league cards for a senior handicap.

Note that 5 incorrect handicaps were submitted, once again causing extra and unnecessary work for Peter Willson, who, with the patience of a saint, does not disqualify the offenders.

Handicaps

As noted, incorrect handicaps are still being used (at least two per week). The senior handicap list is pinned to the senior noticeboard. I have also now published it on this website. See the new heading Handicaps, on the main menu. I will update the Handicaps page every time handicap sub-committee reviews it.

A general note on senior handicaps:
Things would be simpler of course if we all had just the one handicap to our name: the WHS handicap. However, many of our senior section are 5-day members who do not play in the weekend competitions off the white tees, and some seniors rarely play 18 holes. Furthermore, WHS handicaps are never adjusted in the months from late autumn to early spring.

All in all, the Committee has decided it is fairer to maintain our own handicapping, although we do encourage you to submit some WHS-qualifying cards every year (even if only over 9 holes) to maintain your formal handicap, which is used when playing other courses, and in inter-club matches.

To maintain senior-section handicaps, the Handicap sub-committee, led by Bob Mycock, assisted by Paddy Moran and Mark Pickles, took over the system and the spreadsheet put in place and managed by Rob Taylor. The purpose of the sub-committee is to ensure that everyone has a chance of winning, this includes members who might be recovering from illness or injury. The sub-committee meets about once a month.

Rob Taylor, as Secretary, still takes an interest in handicaps, as he does in all aspects of the senior section. He reports that our handicapping is working well, and that about 90% of players in the winter league had at least one ‘podium’ place, i.e. came first, second or third in the Friday competitions.

Warrington friendly match (Away)

John Armstrong has now announced the team for the away match against Warrington on 5th April. John has made several changes to his initial draw for the team and for the substitutes due to unavailability of some of those named. Peter Broady will be captain for the day.

Here is the team:

Start on 1st Tee	Start on 17th Tee
1. Peter Broady and Ken Pearce	6. Mike Pigott and Andrew Cox
2. Steve Gosling and Peter Willson	7. Paddy Moran and Colin Crail
3. Mike Bennett and Mark Pickles	8. Andy Timms and Stuart Baird
4. Mervyn Roberts and John Higgins
5. Paul Collins and Dave Meir

Reserves: John Hayes and Bob Mycock

John Armstrong had emailed the details to all team members, including timings and payment details.

Other News

We do not need to book any tees tomorrow (Thursday) evening because two weeks hence (Friday 7th April) is Good Friday, and therefore no senior match.

On the 14th April, we play the 2022 Championship (postponed from 2022 due to the drought and irrigation issues).

The 2023 Championship will be played on Friday 8th September. 8th September was the only available Friday in September due to a flurry of interclub matches throughout the month.

Reminder:

If you would like to be in the draw for this summer’s Singles Knockout – The Mike Smith Trophy – please make sure your name is on the list on the Seniors’ noticeboard before the end of March.

Newsletter Editor: Mark Pickles