This Friday (2nd August) we are having a ‘fun comp’. The format this year is Texas Scramble.

We are hoping to go out in teams of four.

Normal Texas Scramble rules apply. And note the following:

• 15-hole comp, stroke play.
• All four players must use at least three of their drives. Mark each individual’s drive on the scorecard.
• To calculate handicaps we will use the simpler method of 10% of the aggregate course handicaps:
  Add up your course handicaps, and divide by 10. Do not round up or down any figure after the decimal point.

If you need to go out in a team of three, use at least four drives each.

Lymm V Sale, interclub friendly, Friday 26 July

Reporter: Mike Bennett (CoD)

It was a very good day for Lymm, winning the match 6-2

Our guests from Sale not only enjoyed playing the course but also really appreciated the excellent lunch.

The results were as follows:

Mike Bennett & Mark Pickles: W 5&4
Ian Whitehead & Barry Smith: W 3&2
Trevor  Williamson & Mervyn Roberts: W 3&2
Paul Lennie & Sammy Lee: W 2&1
Andy Timms & Dave Meir: W 1up
Bob Mycock & Phil Perry: L 4&3
Russ Jones & Steve  Bird:  L. 2&1
Peter Willson & Barrie Simpson:   W 2&1

Hawkstone Park Away Day

Reporter: Mike Bennett

There were 16 players due to attend, but unfortunately Colin Crail went down with illness the night before and sadly missed the event.

Day 1
Playing Old Course 

All arrived safely and the sun was shining.

Playing for the Hawkstone trophy: a four-ball better ball pairs competition.

The results were:
1st Place with 38 points
Colin Chisnall and Mike Bennett

2nd Place also with 38 points 
Mike Kendall and Steve Gosling (ghost)

After the competition we enjoyed a few drinks before getting ready for dinner. Food excellent and the wine was flowing.

As is happens, the majority of the people in the dining room were from Lymm Golf Club as there were also 10 ladies from Lymm!

Surprisingly. most of the guys went to bed at a reasonable time in preparation for day two.

Day 2 (Best 3 scores counting) 
Playing Championship Course

When we tee’d off the weather was really good but after the front nine deteriorated to consistent rain.

The results were:

1st Place(with 108 points)
Alan Thomas , Jeff  Ashurst, Colin Chisnall, Mike Bennett

2nd Place (96 points)
Mike Kendal, Ken Pearce, John Hayes, Dave Craggs

After the competition Les Williams announced the results of the two days and presented the prizes.

Colin Chisnall and Mike Bennett won bottles of wine on both days so they decided to auction 2 bottles. This raised £35 courtesy of Jeff Ashurst, which will be donated to prostate cancer. 

A big thank you was extended to Les Williams by all the players for not only organising two superb days of golf but contributing significantly to the prize fund. When you think of what Les has gone through during the last six months it was a great effort on his part.

Everybody left the venue saying, “roll on next year”.

Bottle of Wine Comp, Friday 26 July (and problems signing in)

Reporter: Paul Foster

This comp ran alongside the home match against Sale.

In 3rd place was Eric Cox with 31pts, R/up was Brendan Laing with 32pts.
Winner of the day and the recipient of a specially selected bottle of wine from the brobdingnagian Gosling cellars was Peter Broady with an excellent 33pts.

Once again ‘dead eye’ Peter [ known to some of his friends as ‘Boring Broady’ ] hit every fairway off the tee.

Six members managed to sign in, and these names were shown on the results page on the club website. Pete Broady, amongst others, couldn’t sign in, hence Peter’s name wasn’t on the club website as the winner.

A bit of discombobulation occurred on the patio following the round where it was noted a number of players were able to sign in for the competition on the day, but others could not.

The club website incorrectly allowed a 3 hour time slot on the day to sign in, 11am till 2pm. Six members managed to sign in, and these names were shown on the results page on the club website.

Pete Broady, amongst others, couldn’t sign in, hence Peter’s name wasn’t on the club website as the winner.

This issue has now been resolved.

For all future Seniors Friday ‘Bottle of Wine’ competitions, members need to sign up in the usual way, up to 2 weeks in advance, and then drop your completed card into the box outside the pro shop.

Happy Mondays Game – 29th July 

Reporter: Peter Willson

A wonderfully dry, sunny day with some fluffy white clouds and a gentle breeze. Dry ground conditions and there is some run on the ball.

Game: Team Stableford 

The conditions certainly suited Mike Bennett who is continuing his recent run of great golf with 2 wins last week and being part of the winning team today – he scored a very impressive 41 points over the 15 holes played including 2 birdies – one for 5 points on the 7th 

Winners: Mike Bennett, Bob Mycock and Richard Yates – 28.7 points per player 

Joint Second: 
Tony Lambert, Phil Lomas and Steve Rowley /
Steve Bird, Phil Perry and Dave Waggitt

Both teams had 27.7 points per player

The Mitre Cup, Tuesday 6 August

Reporter: Mike Bennett

The Mitre Cup will be played next Tuesday

Here are the pairs, showing tee times, course handicap, and playing handicap:

11.06
Mike Bennett 24, 23,
Les Williams, 22, 21

11:15
Steve Gosling 17, 16 
Arthur Nuttall 20, 19                                    

11:24
Mark Pickles 8, 8
Peter Wilson, 23, 22

11.33
Ron Thornton  31, 30
Peter Broady 17, 17

11:42
Andy Timms  9, 9
Phil Perry 27, 25

11.51
John White  20, 19                                 
Rob Taylor 30, 28

12.00
Trevor Williamson 15, 14                            
Barry Smith 24, 23

12.09
Art Laird 25, 24                               
Phil Ormesher 25, 24

12.18
Keith Melia 23, 21                               
Jeff Ashurst 31, 30

12.27
Mike Pigott 4, 4                                     
Bob Ellison 22, 21

RESERVES :
Colin Hughes
Phil Lomas
Sammy Lee
Bob Mycock

Please note it is our intention to play the Competition over 15 holes. The format of the competition will be Four Ball Betterball, Stableford 95% of Course Handicap. Whilst your opponents are not yet established, this will be completed later today and will be put on the Senior Notice Board as from tomorrow. Please note that the Ladies have a Competition tomorrow, therefore you need to establish with your opponents their up to date Handicaps before commencing your Round. Should you wish to have a meal after the Competition, it is up to each player to organise this with Karen, prior to commencing your Round. If you could do this on the Monday, that would be even better.

IMPORTANT : Could all players selected, including Reserves, confirm their availability to Mike Bennett ASAP. 

email: bennett10@aol.com
mobile: 07866 603760

Tee-booking schedule for tomorrow (Thursday 1 August) 

Tomorrow we will book tees for the Peter Herrity Trophy (our annual charity game). The trophy is played over 18 holes, yellow tees.

Happy Mondays tee-booking schedule for Sunday 4 August

Obituary for George Winterburn

By Alan Thomas

I knew George on and off the golf course. We were part of a group of four couples who caravanned together often. George would keep us amused at our BBQ evenings, with tales of his travels and his job with Nuclear Fuels.

He was an avid reader, very knowledgeable, and eager to share his knowledge, not all of which greatly interested us! One example is a 30-minute explanation on the gauge of Spanish railway lines, which we never let him forget!

George’s interest in railways, and differences between national gauges, developed while employed at Sellafield, where he was tasked with supervising the movement of flasks (railway trucks) of nuclear waste around Europe.

As for golf: George was a member of LGC for about 40 years, and one of the original members of the senior section. He also enjoyed mixed competitions with his wife Christine. For three years, George helped me organise monthly social evenings at the golf club, which including booking artists, providing budgets, arranging meals and table planning.

George was an all-round good man, fairly quiet, but very knowledgeable, and who would help anyone out. It’s a cliché to say that he will be sadly missed, but for many of us at LGC and in Lymm in general, this rings very true with George Winterburn.

We send our heartfelt condolences to Christine, Rachel, Samantha and family.

George Winterburn’s funeral

The funeral will be held at Walton Lea Crematorium, Chester Road, Higher Walton. WA4 6TB. at 14:40 on Thursday 8th August.

The service will be followed by a reception for all family and friends, here at Lymm Golf Club.

We are light on news this week due to the fact that no senior events were held last Friday.

The Mike Smith Plate (singles knockout).

We have now reached the semi-final stage, with John Armstrong, Steve Barlow, Keith Melia and Peter Broady hoping to make it to the final:

Happy Mondays, 22 July

Game – Team Stableford 

6 teams – 17 players 

Dull, cloudy, soft wind and no rain – 20 deg. C

Winners: Alan Copeland, Steve Gosling and Phil Lomas – 29.3 points per player (ppp)

2nd: Steve Barlow, Eric Cox and Ron Thornton – 27.7 ppp

3rd: Les Fecitt, Ken Pearce and Peter Willson – 25.3 ppp 

Tee-booking schedule for tomorrow (25 July)

Please be ready to book at 8pm because 9th August will be a busy Friday morning, with a lot of competition for slots.

Happy Mondays tee-booking schedule, for Sunday 28 July

Padeswood and Buckley Outing (4th July)

Reporter: John Hayes

[ Editor’s note: apologies for the late publication of John’s report. The original seemed to have got lost in the ether. ]

The club senior’s group arranged for 20 of us to enter the Senior Open at Padeswood and Buckley G C last Thursday. After the 45 minute drive from Lymm everyone arrived in good time to enjoy a bacon butty before the first tee time of 10 40 am. The course and surrounds were in great condition on the day, particularly the greens which were fast and true, causing one or two difficulties for the first few holes whilst adjustments to weight of putt were being made.

There was also an internal competition for our group, the winners and runners-up being awarded cash prizes for their efforts Eventually the winners in our group were our Senior’s Chairman Mike Bennet and Stuart Baird, with a better-ball score of 37 points, giving a narrow victory on count-back over second place score of 37 points by Ron Thornton and Dave Meir. In third place with 35 points were Dave Craggs and John Hayes. Well done, Mike and Stuart.

As to the main competition, Mike and Stuart’s excellent round meant that they finished in fourth place in the guest member section. The winners were on 40 points and the runners-up were both on 38 points. (In the home member section the winning score was 42 points).

The weather conditions were fine and free of rain but there was a fairly strong gusty wind and the temperature was a bit on the low side for the time of year.

One of our more modest members, Bob, was at pains to point out during the “apres-golf” socialising that there had been only one gross birdie made by our group, noting that it was made on the hardest hole on the course. He declined to say who had made this unique birdie but I have my suspicions.

[ Editor’s note: Did Bob claim that he hit his gap wedge 190 yards into the wind? ]

All in all it was a great day out with good golf in beautiful surroundings – we all look forward to repeating the experience next year.

Paddy beats his age !

Paddy Moran, age 79, scored 78 gross (40 points Stableford) in last week’s Gordon Wood Trophy.

We believe that Paddy is the first ever member of the senior section to beat his age in an official 18-hole competition. A rare feat indeed! Congratulations Paddy!

Gordon Wood Trophy – Friday 12 July

Reporter: Paul Foster

Forty four player took to the fairways, with some super scores. Five players scoring under par, three scoring a magnificent 40 pts.

In 3rd place was Paddy Moran with the low gross score of the day shooting 78.

In 2nd place was Trevor Williamson also with 40pts.

But top of the pile, and a richly deserved win was Alan Thomas,

again on 40pts, including a 2 at the 2nd, and a magnificent par at the 16th, (one of only 2 players to par the 16th).

Five players recorded 2s, these were; Paddy Moran, Mark Pickles, Alan Thomas, John White and Trevor Williamson..

There were five birdies recorded at the 11th even though it seems to get longer and narrower each time we play it.

A great day enjoyed by all, and many congratulations to Alan Thomas.

Lymm Golf Club Gents Hinson Cup – Wednesday 15 July

Reporter: Paul Foster

This was a club competition open to all club members over the age of 55, played off the white tees.

Senior section members had to be guided to the white tees, and introduced to the 16th tee..!

Sixty two player took part with four senior section members in the top ten. These were Michael John, Les Fecitt, Steve Barlow and winner of the Hinson Cup Martin Franks, who scored a splendid 40pts, shooting a gross 77 in the process.

Congratulations Martin…!!!

Happy Mondays – 5 July

Reporter: Peter Willson

A dry and partly sunny day with a light breeze and a tad warmer
6 teams took part – 20 players
Game – Team Stableford

Winners: Les Fecitt, Charlie Hill and Ron Thornton – 27 points per player
2nd: Alan Copeland, Ray Rigby, Peter Willson and Richard Yates – 26.75 points per player
3rd: Steve Bird, Eric Cox, Steve Gosling and Tommy Lawless – 24.75 points per player

Tee-booking schedule for tomorrow (Thursday 18 July)

If you are named in the first column, please book tomorrow at 8pm for Friday 2nd August.

Note that 2 August will be our Fun Game. The format this year is Texas Scramble.

Happy Mondays tee booking:

Happy Mondays – 8 July

Reporter: Paul Foster

A super summer’s day for the Monday candidates.

Due to an away inter club friendly on the same day, just 4 teams ran for parliament.

Team stableford was the manifesto of the day, everyone played to the same rules with no spoilt ballots.

First past the post were; leader of the party Ray Rigby, ‘4 point’ Perry, ‘Muddy’ Lomas and Bocquet with an average score per person of 25.25pts. A landslide victory..!!

Runners up were; leader of the opposition ‘silly hat’ Fecitt, Rigby, Copeland, Booth and Waggitt with a score of 24.75pts per person.

In 3rd with a marginal seat were the coalition team of Chisnall, Thomas and Bramall

Alas, in 4th place (last….!) and this week’s monster raving looney party, were team ‘returning officer’ Foster, Rowley, and Tony Lambert (despite a super round from Tony) with a pathetic 21.66pts per person.

Anyone for a recount…????

Bottle of Wine Competition – Friday 5th July 

Held whilst Captain’s Charity Day competition being played: 

Winner: Alan Thomas – 31 points – on CPO 
2nd: Steve Gosling – 31 points
3rd: Tommy Lawless – 30 points CPO

Gordon Wood Trophy – Friday 12th July

We play for the Gordon Wood Trophy this Friday. This is an 18-hole annual competition, off yellow tees, for the senior section only. There is a monetary prize for the winner, and a trophy that will be presented at our annual business meeting at the end of the season.

Sign up for the competition in the Pro’s shop before you play. If you arrive before the Pro’s shop opens, write your name on a list that will be on the table, ready for Steve of Fizz to collect when they arrive.

Tee-booking schedule for tomorrow (Thursday 11 July)

Please try to ready to book at precisely 8pm, because Friday 26th will be a busy morning with potentially a lot of demand for free tee slots.

Happy Mondays tee-booking schedule for Sunday 14 July

It looks and feels autumnal today. I am hoping that summer is not over and we will soon see a return to warmth and sunshine! However, the Summer League is now over, curtailed to 8 rounds due to bad weather at the start of the season, and due to a very busy summer calendar.

The game on Friday (5th July) will be a bottle-of-wine competition. This is because it is Captain’s Charity Day, which will be a shotgun start at lunchtime, in which some members of the senior section are participating.

Congratulations:
Paddy Moran, winner of Division 1,
Michael John, winner of Division 2.

See the Leader Boards page for the full results.

Summer League Final Round

Reporter: Paul Foster

What a difference a day makes, earlier in the week it was parasols, silly hats and sun cream, Friday was umbrellas, waterproofs and woolly pullovers, crazy British weather!

Today there were 3 cards handed in, but no score entered into Ig, and 1 score entered into Ig, but no card handed in !!I

Onto the Friday’s results…

Winner of the first division on Friday was Colin Crail with 34pts, including a fantastic finish of 20pts on the last 7 holes.

R/up was Mike Pigott with 31pts off 3 handicap, tremendous stuff Mike, and in 3rd place Peter White with 30pts.

In the second division, the winner was Alan Copeland (AGAIN) with the top score of the day (AGAIN) of 35pts

R/up was Jeff Chapman with 33pts, and in 3rd place Steve Bird with 32pts.

Four 2s on Friday, Colin Crail, Mike Pigott, Peter Willson and Richard Yates.

So that’s it folks, the end of the Summer League.

Paddy Moran is king of the castle and wins Division 1 from Martin Franks by 1pt, with Mike Pigott in third place.

Michael John wins Division 2 by a country mile, Mervyn Roberts sneaks into the r/up spot and Mike Kendall in 3rd place.

Noted scores of the summer session were the 44pts scored in the first round by Michael John and scores of 38pts by Martin Franks, Arthur Nuttall and Dave Meir, some impressive scores there.

In total, 6 players out of 41 (who had completed at least 5 rounds) finished under par.

Bring on the Autumn session which starts on the 4th October, with amended divisions.

Hinson Cup – Wednesday 10th

Next Wednesday is the Hinson Cup, an annual competition open to all male seniors (55+) of Lymm Golf Club.

The competition is Stableford, off white tees. To enter the competition, sign up in the Pro’s shop, as we do when we play in the usual Midweek Competition.

Gordon Wood Trophy – Friday 12th July

We play for the Gordon Wood Trophy a week on Friday. This is an 18-hole annual competition, off yellow tees, for the senior section only. I believe that we are to sign up in the Pro’s shop to enter the competition. I will confirm before next week.

Mitre Cup – Tuesday 6th August

Mike Bennett has placed a sheet on the noticeboard for you to add your name if you are interested in being selected for this year’s Mitre Cup on Tuesday 6th August.

The Mitre Cup is an annual competition between the Ladies Section and the Senior Section, followed by a get-together afterwards, with refreshments and presentation of the cup and other prizes.

Happy Mondays Tee-Booking Schedule (on Sunday 7th July)

No tee-booking schedule for tomorrow

There is no tee-booking schedule for tomorrow because there is a Green Golf Events Day on Friday 19th July.

Stockton Heath Festival

Dave Craggs not only does a great job as secretary for the senior section, but he is the organiser of the Stockton Heath festival, which begins tomorrow, 4th July until Sunday 7th July.

Here is the website explaining the events.

https://www.stocktonheathfestival.co.uk/

In the festival’s art exhibition, there will be over a hundred artworks, including two by me, and two by Dave Craggs!

Newsletter Editor: Mark Pickles

Apparently, two of the most common anxiety dreams are:

1. Being submerged in water
2. Being naked in public.

Unfortunately for Phil Lomas, these dreams came true at the interclub friendly match at Leigh Golf Club!

Now; I was not present at Leigh Golf Club, and I have heard various conflicting versions of events. I have tried to make best sense of them. And so consider my version – after collating many witness reports – as gospel.

First, let us look at some images. Poor quality I’m afraid. They were passed on to Dave Meir from a Leigh member, and so Dave cannot provide higher resolution pictures.

Fortunately, we do not have images of Phil walking naked from the showers to his car! But unfortunately a lady golfer on the practice putting green saw Phil. We will come to that.

And so what happened?

Phil played a shot. On his follow through, his club hit his powered trolley. This set the trolley in motion towards a large pond. Phil was heard to cry out loud from the furthest extremes of the golf course. He ran (or at least walked quicker than normal) after his golf trolley and reached it just before it was about to tip into the pond.

As Phil grabbed the handles of the trolley, its momentum took him into the pond head first!

[ The report I received from Dave Meir, Phil’s playing partner, who was further up the fairway, is that after Phil’s scream he saw Phil ‘swan dive into the pond’ to save his equipment. However, we can consider this version of events apocryphal. ]

Dave Meir ran back to the pond, to see Phil ‘almost fully submerged and frothing bubbles’. Dave offered Phil a 5 iron, and managed to pull him to dry land.

Phil, whose famous moustache was green with the algae from the pond, proceeded to the clubhouse to shower. He then dashed to his car naked (almost naked, I believe he was wearing his wet Y-fronts).

Unfortunately, Phil did not escape the notice of a lady golfer, who remarked (according to John Armstrong), “what on earth has this club turned into?”

My hope is that Phil had the wherewithal to say to the shocked lady golfer:

      “Sorry. I’m not a member of Leigh. I’m a visitor from ‘The’ Warrington!”

John Armstrong phoned Phil the day after, to make sure that he had not suffered any consequences of his fall into the pond. Thankfully, Phil is fine, and sees the funny side of things!

Interclub friendly away at Warrington – Friday 21 June

Reporter: Peter Broady (CoD)

A great day for golf, bright sunshine with a light breeze. We all met in the Appleton Lounge for either a bacon or sausage bap before playing our matches.

Big thank you to Grahame Brickell for stepping in last minute for Bob Mycock who picked up a bad cold the night before.

The course was in excellent condition, greens running true and fast. Great views form the 7th tee box looking over Warrington and the Pennines.

After the golf we all enjoyed gammon egg and chips in the lounge.
Overall a good day out, the match played in good friendly spirit with our local rivals at Warrington Golf Club.

Looking forward to the return match at Lymm so we can try and redeem ourselves from the result away from home.

Match results.

Peter Broady CoD./ Phil Perry. Won 4 + 3
Ian Whitehead/ Dave D Jones. Lost 1. Down
Paddy Moran/ Dave Meir. Lost 3 + 1
Barry McGuigan/ Steve Gosling Lost3 + 2
Paul Collins/ Grahame Brickell Lost 6 + 5
Mark Pickles / Duncan Clarke Lost 3 + 2
Mike Pigott / John Armstrong Match Halved
Andrew Cox / Keith Melia Lost 5 & 4

Match Result. Lymm. 1 1/2. Warrington 6 1/2.

Interclub friendly away at Leigh – Monday 24 June

Reporter: John Armstrong (CoD)

We had an excellent day’s golf at Leigh, which ended in an honourable draw of 5 -3 in Leighs favour. The course was in a lovely condition, nice fair ways and very fast greens.

The weather was blistering hot, which is perhaps just as well considering Phil Lomas’ thorough soaking in a pond!

Results

John Armstrong and Russ Jones, Won 2 and 1
Peter Willson and Art Laird Lost, 1 down
Phil Ormesher and Paul Collins, Lost 9 and 7
Phil Lomas and Dave Meir, Halved
Sammy Lee and Jeff Ashurst, Lost 8 and 6
Mervyn Roberts and John Woodward, Lost 3 and 2
John Higgins and John White, Won 2 and 1
Steve Gosling and John Hayes, Halved.

Next match Davyhulme away.

Bottle of Wine Competition Friday 21 June

Reporter: Peter Willson

No summer league game today, due to the away match at ‘The’ Warrington.

28 entries – fine day with slight breeze 

Winner: John White – 30 points
2nd: Phil Lomas – 29 points
3rd: Bob Ellison – 28 points – CPO from Colin Lees and Rob Taylor 

A note on tee booking

Please remember, before every Thursday evening, to see the weekly draw sheet to see if you have been nominated as a tee booker, or to see what time you should be booked in for.

Shortly after 8pm on Thursday evenings, make sure you have been booked in by the nominated tee booker. If you haven’t, book in yourself and the other three members. Grahame Brickell has received a few complaints from members who are not booked in. There is nothing that Grahame can do to rectify such problems, because he will be already booked in himself.

Tee booking schedule for tomorrow – Thursday 27 June

Note that tomorrow’s booking schedule is for the Gordon Wood Trophy, to be played on Friday 12th July.

The Gordon Wood Trophy is an 18-hole competition, off yellow tees, open to members of the senior section only.

Happy Mondays – 26 June

Reporter: Paul Foster

A hot summer’s day, with lashings of sun cream barely rubbed in, milk white legs on show and an assortment of silly hats…!! Eric Cox sensibly had his umbrella up for most of the day.

Due to an away inter club friendly on the same day, there were just 3 teams to compete for the gold coins.

Team stableford was the game of the day, and most unusually everyone played to the same rules…!!!

In first place were team Thomas, Copeland (winner again) and Bramall, with an impressive average score per person of 28pts per person. Including three 4 pointers and 7 blobs

Runner up were team ‘silly hat’ Fecitt, Rigby, Bird and Cox with a score of 27.25pts per person. Including just one 4 pointer and 5 blobs.

Alas, in 3rd place (last….!) and this week’s silly boys were team Broady, Foster, Crail and Les ‘keep your left arm straight’ Williams, all of whom were more interested in discussing England’s poor performances than concentrating on the golf…with a pathetic 24.75pts per person, including zero 4 pointers and 7 blobs.

But as usual a great day was had by all, with lots of merriment on the patio when it was revealed Pete ‘Boring’ Broady missed the fairway on the 14th. Pete hasn’t missed a fairway for nearly 2 years….

Happy Mondays tee booking schedule (Sunday 30 June)

Summer at last!

I think that our golf course is looking great with the arrival of summer. And there is no better place to enjoy a cold beer!

Here are Mr Captain (right) and members of the senior section, in the volunteer working party, making hay while the sun shines:

Welcome to new member, Alan Copeland

Hello Seniors 

I am Alan Copeland. I was brought up in Statham, and now live in Thelwall, I’m a recently retired self-employed bricklayer. 

I played golf at Antrobus Golf Club about 15 years ago, but took up running and fell walking to keep myself fit. What started as a weekly parkrun soon developed into marathons and completing all 214 Wainwrights. 

Now I am retired I have the time to take up golf again and I have received a warm welcome at Lymm and look forward to meeting and playing with you all. 

Newsletter Editor: Mark Pickles

Updated Calendar

Our Committee Secretary Dave Craggs has updated the calendar. I have uploaded the new spreadsheet on the Senior Section Calendar tab.

We have a lot of activities for senior golfers in the next month or two. Please take a look at the calendar. And please add your name to the seniors’ noticeboard for any upcoming activities.

Some dates to remember include:


Wednesday 10 July: Hinson Cup (open to all LGC seniors)

Friday 12 July: Gordon Wood Trophy (open to senior section only)

Friday 2 August: Senior Section Fun game (format to be decided)

Tuesday 6 August: Mitre Cup (Senior section versus ladies section match)

Friday 16 August: Peter Herrity Charity £5 entry (open to senior section only)

Friday 23 August: Chairman’s BBQ, starting at 12:00 (see below)

I will send reminders and further details of each of these events a week or two before them. For the Mitre Cup, look out for the list that will go on the noticeboard soon.

Also coming up are the Padeswood & Buckley event on 4th July, organised by John Hayes. And the Hawkstone Park trip on 23/24 July, organised by Les Williams.

Chairman’s BBQ

This year we are having a BBQ on 23 August, after the Friday match, beginning at about 12:00

Please do attend if you can, to make it a good social get together for our section. Food will be provided from our section funds (burger and salad), and Mike Bennett, our outgoing chairman, will provide some bottles of wine.

Mike will put a list on the noticeboard. Add your name to the list if you intend to join us, to enable us to plan the catering.

Round 7 of Summer League, Friday 14 July

Reporter: Peter Willson

A dry breezy day after the early heavy shower passed by. 

40 Entrants – 18 in Div. 1 and 22 in Div. 2 

Some players had curtailed rounds because of the Shot Gun Charity day competition. Their scores will be pro-rated to 15 holes  

Division 1 

Winner: John White – 34 points; 2nd Paul Collins – 32 points; 3rd Steve Gosling – 31 points

Division 2 

Winner: Alan Copeland – 34 points; Les Fecitt – 33 points ; 3rd – Jeff Ashurst and Mike Kendal 30 points 

2’s – only 2 this week – Phil Lomas and Mervyn Roberts both on the 13th.

Tee-booking schedule for tomorrow (Thursday 20 June)

Happy Monday’s Competition – Monday 17th June 

Reporter: Peter Willson

A dry day with only 1 sharp shower – getting warmer (well a little bit ) 

Game: Yellow Ball 

3 teams of 3 players 

Winners:
Alan Copeland, Phil Perry and Dave Waggitt – and amazing score to 130 points – 10 points over “par”

2nd: Pete Broady, Paul Collins and Peter Willson (the 3 P’s) – 108 points

3rd: Steve Bird, John Booth and Phil Lomas.

Newsletter Editor: Mark Pickles

 

I thoroughly enjoyed our annual trip to play in the Llangollen Seniors Open (4BBB) last Thursday. The course was in great condition, and the surrounding scenery was terrific on our bright and clear day.

Peter Broady and Ron Thornton were the overall winners of the open (each winning a £70 voucher for the pro’s shop), and, naturally, they were the winners of the little secondary competition we had amongst LGC seniors. I was honoured to have marked Peter and Ron’s card.

Peter played the most boring golf imaginable: he hit every drive down the middle of the fairway. The rest of us were enjoying the great variety of trees, and wild flowers in the rough, and an occasional flirt with the River Dee: we watched a guy fly fishing just over the course boundary by the 16th green. But ‘Pedro’ Broady saw none of this. On every hole, he took the short cut: a straight line from tee to green! Ron also played well, and on holes where he had extra shot over Peter, invariably made good use of it.

Thank you Grahame Brickell for organising the day out, including block-booking the tee times for us.

Vale of LLangollen senior golf open, Thursday 6 June

Reporter: Grahame Brickell (LGC Seniors away-day organiser)

20 of were booked in for this years event .. unfortunately one was unable to make it at the last minute … Hope you are feeling better Les W, I’ll put you down for next year. 

It was a great day for golf, bright and dry and as the majority of us fuelled up on bacon or sausage barms and coffee before heading out. The mood in the club room was joyful. Many had a quick putt on the adjacent putting green. Messrs  Moran & Mycock, no doubt looking after their figures, skipped the breakfast and arrived just in time to tee off!

[ Editor’s note: When has Bob ever not arrived just in time to tee off! ]

We were led off by Messrs Broady & Thornton and it was a sound start for PB with a birdie 4 on the par 5 dog leg right… 4 points in the bag and with a solid 21 on both front & back nines posted a leading & overall competition winning score of 42 points – Mr Handicap sec please note! 

Along with Messrs Willson & J White posted a very respectable 39 points to take 6^th place. 

Our own Mr Treasurer (Steve G)  offered a sleeve of balls for our own nearest the pin comp – won by Captain elect – Andy Timms. 

Some participated in large platters of curry rice / chips and nan ..and other fine fare after playing to fuel them for the journey home.

Overall a great day out that I’m pretty certain we all enjoyed and will all look forward to next year. If any senior fancies joining us, just message me. The actual date for next year will come out in November. 

Summer League Round 6

Reporter: Paul Foster

Another pleasant summer’s day, and another great day for golf, but once again we failed to make the most of it, with only 1 out of 38 scoring under par.

I must apologise to my playing partners, Stuart White and Rob Taylor for my truly abysmal performance, asking them to look for my ball on every hole…!!! (and not finding many)

Once again there was a card handed in, but no score entered into Ig, and 2 scores entered into Ig, but no cards handed in !!I Also a few handicaps marked wrong on the cards.

Onto the results…

Winner of the first division was Grahame Brickell with 30pts, including a fantastic finish of 17pts on the last 5 holes. R/up was Martin Franks also with 30pts, and in 3rd placed Paddy Moran again with 30pts.

In the second division, the winner was Alan Copeland with the top score of the day, a sensational 38pts, r/up was Phil Ormesher with 30pts, and in 3rd place Stuart Baird with 29pts.

Paddy Moran now leads the way in division 1 from Martin Franks and Mike Pigott.

In the second division, Michael John still leads, with Bob Ellison and Richard Yates in 2nd and 3rd place

No 2s recorded on the day.

Happy Mondays – 10th June ‘24

Reporter: Peter Willson

A bright yet breezy morning but still chilly – 15 deg C with the wind and slow going after heavy overnight rain 

Game : Team Stableford

6 teams – 22 players in total 

Winners:  Mike Bennett, Colin Crail, Les Williams and Richard Yates – 26 points per player 

2nd: Charlie Hill, Phil Lomas and Phil Perry – 25.3 points per player 

3rd: Steve Bird, Alan Thomas and Dave Waggitt – 25 points per player  

Tee-booking schedule for tomorrow, Thursday 13 June

Tee Booking Schedule on Sunday for Happy Mondays

Volunteers for raking bunkers

Volunteers are still required for raking bunkers on Fridays, while we are temporarily short of green staff. Please contact Andrew Cox if you would like to help out by raking the bunkers on one or two holes after you have played on Friday. This will free the green staff to do their principal Friday tasks.

Volunteers Required!

Andrew Cox would like volunteers in the section section to help raking bunkers on Friday, after we have played golf.

As you probably know, we are temporarily understaffed by greenstaff. Over the next few weeks this will problem will be made worse, as each member of the greenstaff takes a week’s holiday, in rotation.

Andrew has asked how we can help, the greenstaff suggest that we can rake the bunkers on Friday afternoons, which is a task that is done every Friday in preparation for the Saturday competition. Andrew suggests that those of us who would like to volunteer are nominated bunkers on two or three holes. Please contact Andrew if you think you can help.

Summer League, Round 5, Friday 31 May

Reporter: Paul Foster

A beautiful early summer’s day, a great day for golf, but we didn’t seem to make the most of it, with only 5 out of 39 scoring under par. Note there were a cards handed in that had not had their scores entered via Ig, and some scores entered via Ig but didn’t hand their cards in!!

Thanks and congratulations go to Mike Pigott on his 70th birthday for providing a celebratory shot of Whisky (or was it Whiskey) to all seniors on the day. I can’t believe he’s 70…Mike must have had a very easy paper round..or perhaps non at all..!

Onto the results…

Winner of the first division was Paddy Moran with 33pts, followed by Mike ‘70’ Pigott with 32pts a cpo over 3rd placed John Higgins. (who blobbed the 15th after looking at his score for the first time in the round on the 15th tee)

In the second division, the winner was Ron Thornton with the top score of the day of 34pts, r/up was newcomer Alan Copeland with 31pts, and in 3rd place Michael John with 30pts.

Mike Pigott now leads the way in division 1 with Martin Franks and Paul Collins tucked in behind. These three wise men are 15 pts ahead of the field.

In the second division, Michael John still has a sizable lead going into the second half of the summer comp, Michael stays at 22 under par, playing for a distant second place are Bob Ellison and Richard Yates.

Four 2s recorded today, Alan Burton, John Higgins, Martin Lowe & Peter White.

Interclub Friendly – Hale V Lymm

Reporter: Andy Timms (CoD)

On a day that started with clouds and the odd shower, but ended in bright sunshine, the seniors chosen to represent Lymm at Hale acquitted themselves admirably (well, most of them did)!!

The course itself was in excellent condition, particularly the greens which were fast and true, and as ever we received a first-rate meal following the golf as we’ve all come to expect from this venue. Even the captain’s joke raised a laugh, so all told a good day out and another win for our Seniors team.

Match results – 
Andy Timms & Jeff Ashurst – Won 4&2
Grahame Brickell & Pete Broady – Lost 4&3
John Woodward & Steve Gosling – Lost 3&2
John White & Dave Craggs – Won 6&5
Stuart Baird & Paul Collins – Won 2&1
Phil Perry & Ron Thornton – Lost 3&2
Jeff Chapman & Paul Lennie – Won 4&3
Steve Bramhall & Steve Barlow – Won 2&1

Overall score – Lymm – 5, Hale 3

Happy Mondays – Waltz

Reporter: Paul Foster

Yet another day of mass confusion, deliberation, disputes, debate, conflict and challenges, all for the sum of seventeen English Stirling one pound gold coins. This week’s fun game, the Waltz we had two teams of 2, three teams of 3 and one team of 4. Steve ‘mathematician’ Gosling construed some method of turning all the teams into 3 balls. (that’s why Steve is the treasurer and we’re not).

Weather was fair, with a smattering of rain early doors. Sanctuary was taken with lots of discussions back in the clubhouse, over lashings of hot coffee and a teacake.

Leading the way with a fine score of 8 under par were team El Bandito, consisting of Steve ‘chipped in twice’ Barlow and big Ken Pearce. Their third person’s score selected at random being Steve Gosling.

(Can I just point out if Steve Barlow had chosen Mark Pickles or Steve Bramall instead of Steve Gosling as their ‘ghost’, they would have finished in 4th place….just saying….)

The honourable runners up, a set of fine upstanding young men, who played the wrong format, before correction in the clubhouse were team Top Banana Collins, Foster and Bird. In third were newcomers Alan Copeland, Ray Rigby with Peter Willson. Also rans were team Bramall, Pickles & Gosling. Team Narraway, Cox, Bocquet and Broady, wooden spoonists were team Booth and Lomas who picked Mr Pickles as their third persons score. (if they had chosen Steve Gosling instead, they would still have won the wooden spoon)

A very enjoyable mornings golf had by all.

Tee-booking schedule for tomorrow (Thursday 6 June)

Happy Mondays Tee Booking (on Sunday 9 June)

Welcome to a new member of the senior section:

Ray Rigby

Hello senior golfers! 
I’m Ray Rigby and have been a member for over 3 years now but soon after joining I was taken seriously ill and couldn’t play for 7 months. I’m now fully recovered and try to play 3 times a week. I’ve been an avid golfer since my early twenties and have been a member of local clubs including Birchwood, High Legh, The Mere, Frodsham and Widnes. Hopefully my nomadic period is over and I am now very happy here at Lymm. I can honestly say out of all of my previous clubs Lymm is by far the friendliest and I know more people here than  all of the others combined!

I look forward to meeting you all over the next year!

Newsletter Editor: Mark Pickles

[ I know that a few people have recently joined the senior section. If you are new to the senior section, please send me a photo of yourself and a short write up, to introduce yourself. ]

A long newsletter this week, I’m afraid. Lots to get through, with some cricket news at the end for anyone who is interested. I think that Paul Foster and Steve Barlow might be!

***

Our good form, nay unprecedented form, in the interclub friendly senior matches continues, including an impressive 7–1 home win against High Legh last Friday. Captain-of-the-day Paddy Moran never lets us down! But, hey, he’s a professional sports coach, and so professional-level team inspiration is the least we can expect from him!

And the joke telling seems to be improving too. Paddy, whose son is a professional comedian, can obviously raise a few laughs. Even I managed to get a laugh yesterday (Tuesday) as CoD at Sale Golf Club!

The quality of Lymm’s senior golf is definitely improving, including in the Tatton League. Although our senior section is no longer involved in administration of the Tatton League, we do have members in pool for Tatton League captain Bob Mycock and vice captain Mike Pigott to select from.

The Tatton League has six clubs in it: Lymm, Antrobus, Styal, Heyrose, Birchwood and High Legh. The scoring is the aggregate of 4BBB Stableford points over the season, with four pairs from each club playing in each match. After two matches we are lying 3rd, just 1 point behind Birchwood and 4 points behind Antrobus. However, Antrobus and Birchwood have hosted the first two matches, whereas Lymm has yet to play our home-club advantage.

Interclub friendly, Lymm V High Legh, Friday 24 May

Match Reporter: Paddy Moran (CoD)

A pleasant morning with very good weather for golf saw the men meeting in the clubhouse raring to do battle.

After a quick huddle, beating of chests, chanting of the battle cry and a stern reminder that Steve Gosling told us after his recent win to keep the run going out we went to demolish the opposition 7 to 1.

The secret of success is to have a good partner and I certainly had a man in form in Paul Collins. Well played mate! John Armstrong picked the pairs very well as we had some very good scores recorded.

Pity Bob Mycock, who cried off as CoD. The reason I believe was that he didn’t have a good joke to tell. No problem, I stepped up and brought the house down!

Another excellent meal by Karen and staff and two jokes by the High Legh Captain rounded off a pleasant successful day.

Scores: Lymm 7, High Legh 1:

Paul Collins and Paddy Moran: Won 4 & 3
Ron Thornton and Steve Bramhall: Won 3 & 2
John Woodward and Andy Timms: Lost 5 & 4
Barry McGuigan and Paul Lennie: Won 2 & 1
Grahame Brickell and Jeff Chapman: Won, 1 up.
Duncan Clarke and Phil Perry: Won 5 & 4
Ian Whitehead and Colin Hughes: Won 4 & 3
Peter Broady and Barrie Simpson: Won 7 & 6

Bottle of Wine competitions

Reporter: Paul Foster

Bottle of Wine Friday Comp 17/5/24

Bottle of the finest wine goes to this weeks winner Arthur Nuttall with 35pts, R/up was Bob Ellison with 32pts and 3rd was Barrie Simpson with 30pts. There were 15 runners.

Bottle of Wine Friday Comp 24/5/24

Bottle of the finest wine goes to this weeks winner Steve Gosling (who got the only 2, but no balls for you Steve) with 31pts, on a card play from new member Alan Copeland also with 31pts and 3rd was Stuart White with 28pts. There were 14 runners. 

Interclub friendly, Sale V Lymm, Tuesday 28 May

Match Reporter: Mark Pickles (CoD)

The weather forecast was not at all promising. However, despite some short, sharp showers in the first hour or so, we played mainly in dry and pleasant conditions. The course was in great condition, considering the recent very wet weather. The long holes were playing their full length, with very little run on the ball.

John Armstrong selected another strong team, with some astute pairings. He put me with Barry Smith, which made great sense, because Barry and I are the current holders of the Andy Ward Pairs Trophy. However my mate ‘Baz’ didn’t have a good day. Having badly cut his finger the day before, it affected his grip. He lost confidence and, as the ball failed to get into the air, he developed an ever-worsening reverse pivot that eventually became a pirouette! Nevertheless, I thoroughly enjoyed the match, despite our losing 3 & 2. And our playing partners from Sale were great company.

The pork-loin meal after the golf was superb: generous portions and well-presented, followed by a choice of desserts.

I thanked Sale for their hospitality, and told a joke (that will be familiar to Mike Pigott) about Wales, and sheep, bouncing some of the humour off our half-Welshman Bob Mycock, and adapting the joke for our upcoming senior outing to Llangollen next week.

The ‘honourable draw’ was an actual draw of Sale 4, Lymm 4:

Andy Timms and Barry McGuigan: Won 6 & 5
Ian Whitehead and Steve Gosling: Won 4 & 2
Mark Pickles and Barry Smith: Lost 3 & 2
Mervyn Roberts and John Armstrong: Won 6 & 5
John Woodward and Ron Thornton: Lost 2 & 1
John White and John Higgins: Won 2 & 1
John Hayes and Phil Lomas: Lost 8 & 6
Peter Willson and Bob Mycock: Lost 2 & 1

Booking into the Friday competitions: Reminder

Reporter: David Craggs

There seems to be some confusion over booking on IG or the website for a Friday. We are trying to encourage all Senior members to enter Friday competitions to update their WHS handicaps. The procedure is detailed in newsletter 1 of May 2024 below if you are reading this newsletter.

You can book in now for games to be played 31/5/24 and 7/6/24 and book in 12am on 4/6/24 for the game on 14/6/24. NB booking for competition closes the night before the competition is played so you cannot enter on the day of the competition. It is best to enter 24 hours before the competition day or earlier.

Tee-Booking Schedule for tomorrow (Thursday 30 May)

Happy Mondays Tee-Booking Schedule for Sunday 2 June

Seniors’ Open, Astbury Golf Club, 4 June 2024

Reporter: Arthur Nuttall

John Armstrong and I (amongst others from Lymm GC) are playing in the Seniors Open at Astbury Golf Club (near Congleton, East Cheshire) on Tuesday, 4th June.

The Secretary of the club has called me to advise that the couple that we were due to play with John and I have had to withdraw. There is therefore a space for 2 players at our tee time of  09:40.

The cost is £25 per player.

If no one can be found, they have assured us that they will provide a marker for our game. However, it would be great if we were joined by another pair from Lymm GC!

You can apply online here. At the time of writing, the 09:40 slot is still available.

It’s not golf!

I know there are a few cricket fans in our section, including Middlesex CCC supporter and LGC Vice Captain Andy Timms, who might be interested in our senior-section’s interactions with professional cricketers in the past few days!

First up was this pair of senior short-arses: Steve Barlow and Paul Foster who bumped into Jimmy Anderson at Mere Golf Club the week before last:

However, I believe that I top-trumped Steve and Paul by meeting up with Max Holden at Middlesex CCC in the members’ pavilion at Lord’s (hence I had to wear a jacket and tie) shortly after his innings. Max, a top-order batsman for Middlesex CCC, has faced Jimmy Anderson on several occasions, and all the top England pace bowlers in fact, including Stuart Broad, Ben Stokes, Jofra Archer, Mark Wood, and Ollie Robinson.

Following Max’s impressive innings of 61, batting at No. 3 in a four-day County Championship match against Sussex, he came to see me and my brother-in-law (Max’s dad) on the pavilion. Max had faced Sussex’s formidable bowling attacking, including England’s test bowler Ollie Robinson, and the West Indies test bowler Jayden Seales. It was nerve-racking to watch as Robinson and Seales were swinging the new ball around, following the early dismissal of the opening batsman by Ollie Robinson.

Max plays for Middlesex in all formats of the game. Last year he scored 121-not-out for Middlesex at Lord’s in the T20, which is the highest ever T20 score at Lord’s by anyone of any team. He plays franchise cricket out of season, including for Dubai Capitals last winter in the International League T20. In July this year he will be staying in Manchester, playing his second season for Manchester Originals in the ‘The Hundred’ tournament under the captaincy of Jos Buttler.

I always feel somewhat dwarfed standing next to my nephew (my sister’s son), not least because I remember picking him up as a toddler, and messing about at football, cricket, tennis and golf with Max when he was a boy. He was always sports mad, and started his sporting excellence in football in fact, for Ipswich Town FC academy. He’s now a dedicated Arsenal supporter.

I have an ambition to be commissioned to paint a portrait to hang in Lord’s, perhaps even in the Long Room! I did enjoy spending time in the Long Room (where we are not allowed to take photographs), and looking at the portrait paintings.

Max gave me a grand tour of the members’ pavilion.

I even got into the home team dressing room, where I was introduced to the Middlesex head coach. I was in awe of the history of this place.

I was a very keen cricketer in my youth (I didn’t properly take up golf until my 30s). I made it into Leeds District Colts as a seam bowler. Here I am at Headingley – the hallowed turf of Yorkshire CCC – in 1976, age 15. (Top row, third from right.)

New members of the Senior Section

As I wrote in the newsletter a few weeks ago, we have some new members in our growing senior section.

To help us to put faces to names, it would be great, if you are a new member, to send me a brief bio and a photograph. I believe that our latest recruit is Ray Rigby. Ray is an established member at Lymm Golf Club, whom some of us know very well. He’s a great guy, always cheery, and we’re delighted to have him join us.

Newsletter Editor: Mark Pickles