Well done Michael John, on winning the Gents’ Spring Meeting on Saturday 20th May by a clear 3 shots!

Michael reports that his golf has come on “leaps and bounds” since he’s stopped “competing in the seniors”. The Spring Meeting was indeed a fruitful meeting of the recent logarithmic growth of Michael’s WHS handicap and a subsequent run of good form.

Michael’s first place follows on from Michael’s 3rd place in last week’s Saturday competition (the Watkins Cup round 1). He is the current leader of LGC’s Order of Merit.

And well done to Mike Pigott, who also had a good day on Saturday. Mike has usurped our own Steve Gosling from the top of the Hole-in-One list, a position that Steve had held since last August:

Mike’s Hole-in-One was a perfectly executed shot: one bounce and in:

 

Interclub Match versus Bramhall, Home at Lymm, 19 May 2023

Captain’s Report: Steve Gosling

The morning did not start well as we had rain for the first 7 holes before it brightened up and clothes dried off.

During those first few holes if you were in the rough ( as I frequently was) you got soaked from the long grass.

Results were an improvement on recent matches (Bob’s captaincy excluded) but we continued our run of honourable draws, i.e. we lost again

Steve Gosling / Mark Marsland – Loss
John White/ David Craggs – Loss
Bob Mycock / Pete Broady – Loss
Mark Pickles / Ken Narraway – Loss
Peter Willison / John Higgins – Win
Mike Pigott/ Grahame Brickell – Half
Paul Collins / John Haynes – Win
Barry Smith / Phil Lomas – Win

Learnings from the day……
Must play from the 10th tee , we appear to win matches from there
All jokes are old ones ….if you have been around as long as some of our members!

Comedy Rankings?

Steve Gosling’s joke – as Captain of the Day – met with a few laughs, a few groans, and a chorus of, “the old ones are the best, Steve!”

However, Steve is by no means the worst stand-up comedian in the senior section. Currently, that title goes to Mark Pickles, yours truly, whose joke at Northenden last year met with almost no laughs, although, to be fair, Dave Craggs’ phone went off just before I was about to deliver the punchline!

I admire anyone who knows he is not a natural-born comedian, but stands up and gives it a go in any case!

Today, by far the funniest after-match speaker in the senior section is Bob Mycock, or at least that’s what Bob Mycock tells me. (I wasn’t there for his last Captain-of-the-Day speech and ‘mermaid’ joke, but he assures me that it ‘brought the house down’.)

However, this coming Friday, at a home match against High Legh, our Captain of the Day will be Paddy Moran. I know Paddy very well, and although we’ve had a lot of good laughs over the last two years, I’ve never pictured him as a stand-up comedian. Nevertheless, Paddy tells me that he is “much funnier than Mycock, and without any of the smut”.

I’m looking forward to the match this Friday (I’m in the team), not least for Paddy’s speech. Did you know that Paddy’s son – who started out as a teacher of French and Spanish – changed career and is now a professional stand-up comedian?!!!

Individual Stableford, 19th May, alongside Bramhall Match

14 cards submitted. Light breeze, rain for the first 6 holes then cloudy but sunny spells. Temperature rose to 18 deg. C.

Winner: Andrew Cox – 30 points
Second: Rob Taylor- 29 points
=Third: Eric Cox and Joe Priestner – 28 points

Andrew receives a bottle of wine.

Interclub Match versus Ringway at Ringway – Wednesday 17th March

Captain’s Report: Trevor Williamson

A glorious day at Ringway today. We all agreed that the score didn’t matter – win, lose, or draw, the opportunity to play on such a good course, in great condition, on such a fine day, was all that mattered. Good job, because we lost 6 1/2  to 1 1/2!! 

Congratulations go to Peter Wilson/Richard Yates, David Meir/Steve Gosling, Andy Timms/John White, who managed to halve their matches.  The other pairings fared less well.  

Andrew Cox/Trevor Williamson, Steve Barlow/Jeff Ashurst, Mike Bennett/Grahame Brickell, Paul Lennie/Barry Smith, Sammy Lee/ Melvyn Roberts, all promise to do better next time, 

Home advantage, where local knowledge, especially on the greens, was the deciding factor.

We hope to demonstrate this in the return leg at Lymm, in June. Turning round a 5 match deficit will be a bit of a challenge, but like the miracle at Jericho, those involved today share a belief it is possible, if selected! 

Tee Booking Schedule tomorrow (Thursday 25th May)

This is the tee booking schedule for play on Friday 9th June, Round 6 of 10 of the summer league. If your name is in the left column, please book for your group. 

Happy Mondays – 22 May

Reporter: Steve Gosling

An assortments of shorts and white legs arrived early on Monday, 6 teams went out for a Team Stableford in the sunshine.

Scooping the cash this week was Phil (four point) Perry and Steve Gosling
A respectable 30.5 average

Second place with an average of 28 were Bob Mycock, Charlie Heath and Phil Lomas

Third with 27.3 , Eric Cox, Pete Broady and Paul Foster

Consensus going forward was to use Senior Handicap and not WHS for the Monday comp, as it’s over 15 holes and WHS for many is outdated with very few 18 hole cards being submitted.

Eric Harper

I was informed today that Eric Harper passed away yesterday. This is indeed sad news for our senior section, and perhaps someone in our section who knew Eric well will send condolences on behalf of us all to his loved ones. I will report further next week, as appropriate.

Newsletter Editor: Mark Pickles