Autumn League, Round 1

Reporter: Paul Foster

A wet and wild day. Who needs sunshine when you can have 15 holes of monsoon golf, especially for the late starters who played in heavy rain from the first putt to the final putt. This turned the course into a real test of resilience, patience and waterproof clothing. More than a few players discovered their waterproofs weren’t as “proof” as advertised. From soaked socks to slippery grips it was a day to get back as quickly as possible to the safe haven of the bar and join Art and Alan for a warming glass of red wine. Despite the soggy fairways, puddled greens and plenty of slippery grips, twenty five players showed great spirit and determination to see the competition through. Did that bother us? Of course not, spirits stayed high (and so did the umbrellas) and we saw Dave Craggs and Paul Foster navigating the soggy chaos to finish top of their respective divisions, clearly Paul and Dave are part duck, part golfer..!!

Results

1^st Division winner: Paul Foster with 29pts
R/up: Grahame Brickell with 28pts on a CPO
3^rd: Dave Meir with 28pts

2^nd Division winner: Dave Craggs with 32pts
R/up: Paul Lennie with 29pts
3^rd: Alan Ranscombe with 27pts

Happy Mondays Report

Reporter: Peter Willson

A cloudy start but it turned into a very pleasant late Autumn day which was surprisingly warm. Game: Team Stableford 4 Teams each with 4 players.

Winners: Steve Barlow, Kevin Bocquet, Alan Copeland and Tony Dixon – 108 points or 27 ppp.
Second: John Booth, Dave Craggs, Phil Lomas and Alan Thomas – 106 points.

Highest Individual score – Steve Bramall – 31 points.

Tee-booking schedule for tomorrow (Thursday 9 October)

Happy Mondays tee-booking schedule for Sunday 12 October

Subs overdue

Most members have now paid their subs, but there are stil a few stragglers that our Treasurer will approach to see if they want to remain in the Senior Section.

We know things are uncertain at the moment, but it’s still important that you pay your subs. If you don’t think you can pay the whole amount, please contact our Treasurer, who will consider a monthly payment of £2.50 for 12 months, which includes a very modest interest rate. Please note that if you do not make any payment by November 1st, your credit rating could be affected and you might find it difficult to buy things on tick in the future.

Pay £25 into:

Lymm Golf Over 60s
60-20-29
50244779

LGC Seniors at Prestatyn Golf Club Senior 4BBB Open

Twelve of us made our way to the Welsh border, from where we crawled at 20mph – past many traffic-enforcement cameras – along the coast road to Prestatyn.

Players included Mr Captain – Andy Timms, and Phil Young (last year’s captain). Apart from Jeff Acton, the rest of us were all members of the Senior Section, with tee times of 10:20, 10:30 and 10:40.

Naturally, I arrived first, and was out on the practice area, which I had to myself. There is a long driveway to the clubhouse, which runs along the practice area. Mike Pigott, who travelled with Grahame Brickell, told me later that he and Grahame were laughing out loud when, from a long distance, Grahame pointed out a lone figure and said, “I bet that’s Pickles”.

I think I can say that everyone enjoyed the day. The weather was good. Gentle breeze, fairly bright with lightly overcast skies, and no rain forecast until well after we were due to finish playing. The course was in superb condition, with true and fairly-fast greens.

A handwritten note on the first tee cautioned us that crows on the golf course have been stealing golf balls on the third hole. This didn’t stop Mike Pigott – who hardly ever loses golf balls – from miscalculating the odds and opening a box of Pro V1s, only to see a crow swoop down and fly off with his new ball on the third hole. Mike wasn’t the only one. My playing partner Paul Collins and I saw our balls being carried off the third fairway by a pair of crows seemingly acting in tandem, swooping down from on high as soon as the balls landed. I think that that most of the other Lymm players suffered similar losses.

PC and I played with Trevor Williamson and John White. Trevor and John had a great round, with 40 points. The highest score for the whole Prestatyn open was 41 points, and Trevor and John just missed out on the prizes on CPO.

For our internal comp, we all put a fiver in the pot, with prizes for the best and second best round, and a nearest-the-pin. Trevor and John took first of course, Paul and I took second with 35 points. All the remaining four teams posted 34 points. These Stableford scores might seem low, but, for some reason, North Wales golf courses have a notoriously low course handicap and slope rating which, for instance, meant that I had to play off 4, and Paul off 5. Mike had to play off 2! Fair to say, I think that all pairs played well, and well above average for the main comp.

Back to the crows. There are several theories about their thieving behaviour, such as that the crows think the balls are eggs, and are storing them in a winter larder, just as jays and squirrels hide away acorns. Another theory is that the crows simply like collecting and hoarding shiny objects (perhaps to impress a mating partner, like bower birds do). However, when we returned to the clubhouse, I was talking to a Prestatyn member who offered the most convincing explanation. He said there is a former member called Dafydd ‘Dai’ Waggitt who lives in a house overlooking the third green and is suspected of training the crows to collect golf balls, and then hoarding them to impress his wife. I asked, “Is his wife impressed?” He said, “No. She was overheard saying, ‘FFS, Dai; how am I supposed to get into the garage with all these golf balls in the way?'”

Bye bye Lindsay!

Lindsay Fox left Lymm Golf Club today, after 24 years of service, heading for pastures new. I’m sure that I can speak for all of us in the Senior Section in saying that we will miss Lindsay. The seniors’ committee agreed to present Lindsay with a £50 M&S Voucher. Of the few of us in the clubhouse at lunchtime today, Arthur Nuttall, who served for 7 years on the seniors’ committee, was ‘volunteered’ to present the voucher and a card signed by many of us to Lindsay.

We wish her well in her new venture.

Health and Safety News

An unhinged-looking senior, getting ready to start up a chainsaw, was photographed on Monday walking around Lymm Golf Club car park. If you see him again, report him to the office. Under no circumstances should you approach him.

Joking apart, Phil Omersher responded to Dave Craggs’ appeal in last week’s newsletter for a chainsaw. Phil kindly offered it for no payment, suggesting a donation be made to charity instead.

Newsletter Editor: Mark Pickles