Autumn League

Reporter: Paul Foster

With autumn setting in, and the Autumn League approaching, we will see some necessary changes to our Friday competitions following the recent email from Keith Melia regarding holes being out of action.

For the Autumn League we will be operating the Senior Section’s manual handicap system from round 1. Amended handicaps using the manual system over the Autumn League will be available each week on the LGC seniors web site.

Pre-registering rounds will not be required for the Turkey Trot or for the duration of the Autumn League. The winner will be the best 5 rounds out of a possible 10 rounds.

A minimum of 7 Rounds should be played in the Autumn League. If 6 rounds or less are played, the League will be cancelled.

All Autumn league competitions are scored over 15 holes only. The designated course is the first 15 holes open on that day. (i.e. if hole 1&2 are closed but all others are open, the competition is played over 3-17 for that day).

If fewer than 15 holes are open. The scores achieved on these holes will be pro-rated up to 15 holes for the consistency of recording the players’ league positions in the League.

A sleeve of balls will be awarded to players who score a two on the designated course during the Autumn League. Apart from the overall league prizes and trophies, there will be a small weekly monetary prize (that goes onto your account in the Pro’s shop) for the winner of each division on the day.

We will continue to have 2 divisions. As last year, Division 1 players have a maximum playing handicap of 18. Although Division 2 has more players in it, experience over the past few years since we introduced divisions indicates that far fewer Division 2 players compete in the Autumn and Winter periods. For example, last year, although Division 2 had about 10 more players, only 21 played the necessary 5 rounds or more, compared to 26 in Division 1.

Interclub friendly, home to Warrington, Friday 19 September

Reporter: Andy Timms (Mr Captain and CoD)

And so the series of summer friendly matches drew to a close with our traditional climax of entertaining our friends from “the” Warrington golf club. A slight change to the way the day ran saw us meeting up early for bacon butties and coffee before a slightly later than usual start. This seemed to go down well with the majority of those there, so we’ll be adopting this new arrangement going forwards into next year’s matches.

The match itself was played in largely dry conditions, thankfully, and saw a convincing win for the home team by a score of 6-2. The individual scores were as follows :

Mr Captain & Art Laird – Won 1 up
Andrew Cox & Stuart Baird – Won 2 up
David Donnell-Jones & Ron Thornton – Halved
Steve Gosling & Colin Hughes – Lost 6&5 !!
Pete Broady & Les Williams – Halved
Mike Pigott & Grahame Brickell – Won 4&2
Paddy Moran & Mervyn Roberts – Won 4&2
Mike Bennett & Ian Smith – Won 1 up

The day was then rounded off by a fine fish and chip meal and a presentation including a joke which (even if we all had heard it before) did raise a decent laugh.

A final comment – on behalf of everyone who played in the matches this year, I’d like to propose a vote of thanks for Grahame Brickell and Steve Bird who have both been brilliant this year in their organisation of the matches. Bring on next season…..

Bottle of Wine Competition, Friday 19 September

Reporter: Paul Foster

A mixed bag for the final episode of the Châteaux de Willson challenge. A day for low handicappers it seems, as the top 6 positions were all 12 hcap or less.

Nobody beat par today again out of an improved 29 entry’s, with just one 2 scored, that man PC…!

Please note there were 29 pre-registered for the comp, with only 25 entering their score into Ig, and 24 cards handed in. I repeat, If you enter a comp you must either remove your name if you do not intend to play, or, you must enter your score into Ig.

Results

Winner – Colin Royle with 30pts on a CPO
R/up – Paul Collins with 30pts
3rd – Koos Alders with 29pts

Peter, has by all accounts an exceptional bottle of wine for Colin this week, from the dusty dark corners of his stately residence underground wine cellar, I feel an 1869 Château Lafite Rothschild on offer…!

That’s it for the BoW Fridays this year, bring on the Autumn League…

Full comp results on the LGC website here.

Turkey Trot, this Friday

This coming Friday – 26 September – sees the climax of the Senior Section’s golfing year: the Turkey Trot.

The Turkey Trot is earlier in the calendar this year, the plan being that we would be playing the full WHS qualifying course off the proper tees. Unfortunately, we have had the short-notice plans from LGC that maintenance of all tees is to be carried out over the next few weeks, and drainage work on holes 1 and 12. Therefore, there is no need to enter the competition on IG. Paul Foster will manually go through the cards. There will be no more WHS qualifying rounds in the Senior Section competitions this year, because even if the course fully re-opens in mid October, our senior handicaps will have been manually adjusted after the first two Autumn-league rounds.

Entry to the competition is free to all paid-up members of the Senior Section, who will compete for the massive purse of £60: two £30 cash prizes, one each for the winner of Division 1 and Division 2 respectively. See Paul Foster’s piece above, regarding the divisions for Autumn and Winter.

Although £30 will be unlikely to get you a turkey for human consumption, it will more than cover the top-of-the-range turkey pet food, if you want to give your loyal companion a treat at Christmas.

Subs are due 1 October

It is now time to pay your £25 annual subs, which are due by 1 October.

You can pay the £10 fee for the ABM lunch at the same time. Do not pay into the inter-club match account, use the main Senior’s account, as shown here:

Lymm Golf Over 60s
60-20-29
50244779

Happy Mondays report for 22 September

Reporter: Peter Willson

A beautiful crisp, and yet little chilly, start to the day with clear blue skies. Little to no wind. The course is looking good following the recent rain which has softened it up and the greens are receptive and running true. However the pin positions were still the very challenging ones that had been set up for the LGS Finals Weekend, hence the lowish average scores.

5 teams – 19 players – for the Team Stableford game 

Winners: Paul Foster, Ken Pearce, Mark Pickles and Steve Rowley – 102 points or 22.5 ppp

Second: Mike Bennett, Pete Broady, Colin Crail and Rich Yates – 93 / 23.3 ppp

Highest individual score – Mark Pickles 30 points, which included a ‘2’ on the difficult (today) 13th, with the pin on the very back of the green.

Tee-booking schedule for tomorrow (Thursday 25 September)

Happy Mondays tee-booking schedule for Sunday 28th

Galloping Grandads!

Paul Foster went to watch his son and his daughter finishing the Warrington half marathon last Sunday, and much to his surprise, our own Alan Copeland was amongst the good, the bad and the ugly crossing the finishing line.

Alan, it seems, is no slouch in the running the shoes, and posted an impressive time of 1:43:38, which was very similar to the time posted by Paul’s son.

Newsletter Editor: Mark Pickles

Interclub friendly Lymm versus Leigh, Friday 12 September

Reporter: Grahame Brickell (CoD)

Oh I do enjoy golfing days like last Friday… sun was shining, still warm for the time of year, some dampness on the ground, and as you get to the lounge/bar before the game, the room was fairly full, the coffee & biscuits were going down well and there was good buzz about the place.

Mr Captain, after a gentle nudge from myself, welcomed our guests and we endeavoured to ensure everyone knew who the they were playing with and then we headed out to do friendly battle.

I played with Les W. We found ourselves 1 down after the first due to a lengthy putt from one ‘‘of them”, but following a long edge-of-the green burdie putt at hole 6 from me, we got to the turn 1 up. From there played some solid golf through to 15… where we were sitting pretty, at +2, but up steps their Mr Long putter nailing one from off the green for a 4, needing me to hole my 20ft for a half ..good job I did, they were devastated!

They took 16, with 5 nett 4’s, 17 was halved, down to the last which again was halved. We won 1 up.

Our 1 up win was the lowest winning margin!!
Messrs Craggs & Alders 5&4
2 x 4&3 wins
Only 1 match was halved
Lymm win 7.5  – 0.5

Great games all round with plenty of good spirit being in evidence on both sides.

Roll on this Friday and our last match of the season, Warrington ! Another good win is required to round off the year.

Grahame.

Friday BoW Competition, Friday 12 September

Full results here on the main LGC website. Stuart Baird takes the bottle.

Presentation Lunch and Annual Business Meeting, Friday 17 October

Reporter: Dave Craggs

The presentation lunch this year will be held on Friday 17 October.

The format will be the same as our previous presentation lunches. The business of the ABM will precede the presentation of our 2025 Trophies to those that triumphed during this year.

No long lists to plough through nor boring monologues, just the usual barrel of laughs and a fitting end to another fabulous year.

The ABM and trophy presentation will commence at 1.30pm and we aim to sit down to lunch at 2pm – so please plan to be there before to allow time to enjoy a pre-lunch drink with your friends if you so wish.

A list is now up on the Seniors Section notice board adjacent to the locker room.

Please put your names down as soon as possible so we can have a clear shot at reckoning the numbers for Karen and her team.

The lunch will consist of steak pie and chips followed by apple crumble & custard. The meal will be subsidised to the tune of £8.00 leaving you to pay only £10.00.

If you wish to pay your annual subs of £25.00 at the same time, please pay £35.00 which should be paid to:

Lymm Golf Over 60s
60-20-29
50244779

Ref: ABM-surname

Tee-booking schedule for tomorrow (Thursday 18 September)

Happy Mondays tee-booking this Sunday, 21 September

Andy Ward Pairs Trophy

Reporter: Peter Willson

The draw has been made, with guidance and assistance from Russ Jones. Your partners (don’t blame me – it’s the pooter which selects the names and pairings), the draw and dates for completion of rounds can be found on the main LGC website under ‘Upcoming Competitions’.

Five 1st round matches to be played by 14th November; 2nd round by 12th December.

Newsletter Editor: Mark Pickles

Seniors’ Championship 2025 – Friday 5 September

Reporter: Paul Foster

Another pleasant late summer’s day, with little wind, no rain, and the sun intermittently peeping out from the clouds for the biggest annual prize on offer for the seniors, in a field of 25 players.

Another Rommel to add to the list, John Higgins!

With the ever increasing numbers of buggies, we now have our own version of the ‘Wacky Races’, where the Army Surplus Special and the Arkansas Chuggabug (Alister Cook & Steve Barlow) criss-cross the fairways vying for position.

Five players beat par today out of twenty six entry’s, with two 2s scored, Colin Crail & Barry Smith. Lowest gross score was Mark Pickles.

Seniors Champion for 2025 and winner of the coveted Green Jersey was Tony Dixon.

Results:
Winner – Tony Dixon with 34pts
R/up – Art Laird with 33pts
3rd – Alan Copeland with 32pts on a CPO

Friday BoW Competition Friday 5 September

Ten entries for this weeks 9-hole ‘Willson wine of the week’ competition for those who had not qualified for the Seniors Championship. Alister Cook had the only 2.

Results:
Winner – Les Williams with 21pts
R/up – Ian Goodman with 20
3rd – Martin Lowe with 19p

Interclub friendly, away at Northenden Golf Club, Monday 8 September

Match Reporter: Bob Mycock

The Lymm Team selected by Grahame (the eternal optimist) for the match at Northenden duly turned up for duty, in good spirits and in possession of our swimming trunks and snorkels just in case the River Mersey had burst its banks again after the torrential rain over the weekend.

Luckily, this time the Mersey behaved itself, and and Ron Thornton was able to put away his mankini for another Day (phew). The course however was still showing signs of the New Year’s Day Floods on the front 9 holes, with most of the bunkers GUR and still awaiting repairs. But generally the course was in good condition with mainly lush grass on the fairways.

On to the match, which was played in the a friendly and good spirit, but ultimately resulted in a resounding hiding in Lymm’s favour of 5 1/2 to 2 1/2, or an honourable draw (if you are from Northenden).

Lunch provided the biggest slice of cheese and onion pie (seen this side of Cheshire) with a couple of hidden chips…

Many thanks to the team on the day for a great performance and their support on an impressive away win.

Tatton League 2025

Reporter: Mike Pigott (Tatton team captain)

After the triumph of winning the league last year, this season was a bit of a disappointment. However, after playing the final round at Heyrose yesterday, we managed to finish a creditable 3rd place behind the eventual winners Antrobus and silver medalists Heyrose. Both the leading teams have a bit of a reputation of having a number of spurious high handicappers in their fold so finishing close to them was a fair achievement. And I am told by Andy Timms (Club Captain and deep-thinking statistician) that 905 points was 14 points more this year than we made last year when we won the title.

As Lymm captain of the Tatton side I would like to congratulate Antrobus on their great comeback to win the title and remind them we are only loaning them the trophy for twelve months!

On a personal note I would like to thank the players in the squad for making themselves available and for bearing with me when they weren’t selected, a task I found quite difficult for most games. The following players represented Lymm Seniors during the year: Paddy Moran, Ian Whitehead, Colin Royle, Mike Pigott, Richard Cooper, Steve Gosling, Grahame Brickell, Rick Shaw, Russ Sollitt, Mark Pickles, Andy Timms, Russ Jones, Dave Meir, Martin Franks and Martin France.

The league table finished Antrobus 927, Heyrose 919, Lymm 905, Birchwood 903, High Legh 900, and Styal 850.

All who made themselves available for selection are meeting up for a golfing and socialising day at Lymm on Monday 6th October. Hopefully we can all have a bit of fun, and formulate a way of winning back the title next year!

Abergele Seniors’ Open – 4-Man Team

By all accounts, Peter Broady did an excellent job, as he does every year, organising a Lymm possy of happy and smiling Seniors to compete in the Abergele GC Seniors’ Open last Thursday.

Peter reports: “Sunshine and heavy showers were the order of the day on the golf course. The greens flooded on one occasion but soon recovered when the sun came out again. Despite the weather we enjoyed ourselves”.

Results of Lymm’s in-house competition:

Winners: Trevor Williamson. Ron Thornton. John Booth. Les Williams.    70 points.
Runners up:  
Mike Bennett. Richard Yates. John White. John Armstrong.    63 points.

I spoke to Peter today, who tells me that there were four prizes for the main Abergele competition, with 4th prize on 76 points and 1st prize on 80 points.

Tee-booking schedule for tomorrow (Thursday 11 September)

Happy Mondays tee-booking this Sunday, 14 September

Andy Ward Pairs Trophy

Do you want to play in the autumn/winter pairs knockout, but have not yet put your name on the list? Please enter your name before this coming Friday (12 September). On Friday, Peter Willson will remove the list from the Seniors’ noticeboard, and create the draw for the competition on I.G.

Newsletter Editor: Mark Pickles

Urgent: Time to Enter the Doubles Knockout!

As noted in last week’s newsletter, the entry sheet for the Andy Ward Trophy – the Autumn/Winter doubles knockout – is now on the Seniors’ noticeboard.

Peter Willson is concerned that, as yet, there are very few names on the list. In view of the fact that Peter will be making the draw on 12 September, please enter your name as soon as possible if you wish to compete.

Seniors’ Championship this Friday

If you’re competing in the Seniors’ Championship this Friday, 5 October, make sure that you have booked into the competition on IG.

Similarly, if you are playing in the BoW comp on Friday, book beforehand in IG.

Notice of our Annual Business Meeting

Our ABM will be on October 17. This year, there are a few of us who are coming to the end of our three-year stint on the committee, and therefore we are looking for new volunteers to replace us.

If you would like to be on the committee, please put your name on the list on the Seniors’ noticeboard, or speak to a member of the committee. Dave Craggs, our secretary, would be a good person to speak to, because he has a grip on all the business of the committee, including which committee roles are likely to become vacant.

Bottle-of-Wine Competition, Friday 29 September

Well done George Clark, who won the bottle of wine last Friday, in a field of 39 players. It’s nice to see George win. George has watched his good friend and regular playing partner Joe Priestner enjoying much of the glory this year!

You can see the full results on the main LGC website here.

Friendly Away Match at Bramhall Golf Club

John Armstrong reports that score at Bramhall on Monday was 5 – 3 to Bramhall. It was a very close match with no few than four of the matches halved!

John says the golf course was in excellent condition and the greens superb. A few squally showers did not prevent another great day of inter-club golf!

Tee-booking schedule for tomorrow (Thursday 4 September)

Happy Mondays tee-booking schedule for Sunday 7 September

A helping hand

Four of us had a very enjoyable away day at Mere Golf Club on Monday!

After a great day’s golf, after chucking my golf bag on the back seat of my car, I noticed that Steve was preparing to get his new golf buggy into his car. I offered to help, and was astonished at the weight. Steve is a strong man, but his golf buggy is without doubt a two-man lift. Steve is on a waiting list to store the buggy at Lymm Golf Club, but in the meantime will need to transport the buggy home-and-back in his car.

I know that some of the buggies that our members use split in half, and are therefore obviously easier to lift, but please do offer an extra pair of hands to anyone needs to bring his buggy by car.

Newsletter Editor – Mark Pickles