Bob Mycock’s enormous promise of a victory was fulfilled last Friday, as was (according to Bob at least) his promise to deliver a side-splittingly funny captain’s speech.
Interclub Match v Helsby, Home at Lymm, 12 May 2023
Captain’s Report: Bob Mycock
An early start for the Seniors Team, and carrying the additional burden of seeking our First Win of the Season (Honourably) of course.
However, on the Captain-of-the-Day’s orders, a “Stuffing was required to restore our self esteem” and nothing less.
We were helped by Glorious Weather, and the inclusion of Keith Melia (Business Manager) making his debut, who prepared the course to our liking as a Master Stroke. He also Won his Game alongside Dave Meir 4&3 and was rewarded with an exquisite introduction at the start of the speeches. “I’ve never been Introduced like that before”, Keith said afterwards; of course he hasn’t, it was a first!
The Helsby Team turned up ready to engage us on the Golf Course, but found that on the day we were formidable opponents and they trailed in 4-ish hours later, crushed, in the nicest possible way. At last we are victorious finishing with a 6 -2 Honourable Win.
Bob Mycock/Mark Marsland – Win Mike Pigott/Pete Broady – Half Steve Gosling/Phil Lomas – Won Colin Crail/John Higgins – Won Paul Collins/John Armstrong – Won John Hayes/Barry Smith – Lost Dave Meir/Keith Melia – Won Peter Willson/Rob Taylor – Half
Excellent contribution by all on the day, and who played in a friendly spirit with lots of banter.
An excellent meal of Gammon followed.
Conclusion to the day featured a (risqué) joke from the hosting Captain (Me) about mermaids’ mammaries, which brought the house down.
Hopefully someone explained the joke later to Rob Taylor, who left shaking his head disapprovingly. However I’ve been assured that my membership of the senior section is still valid…
Individual Stableford (Alongside Helsby Match)
Cards submitted: 23 Weather: Light breeze, cloudy but sunny spells. 16 deg. C.
Winner: Richard Yates – 34 points Joint Second: Jeff Chapman, Eric Cox, Steve Barlow, Mervyn Roberts, Ken Pearce, Colin Chisnall – 29 points
A bottle of wine goes to the winner, Richard Yates.
Happy Mondays, 15th May
Here are the results of the Monday’s competition:
Game: Team Stableford
1st – Michael John, Steve Barlow and Colin Chisnall – 28.7 points Joint 2nd – Steve Gosling, Paul Collins and Phil Perry – 27 points Joint 2nd – Pete Broady, Paul Foster and Grahame Brickell – 27 points 4th – Dave Waggitt, Eric Cox and Alan Booth – 26 points 5th – Charlie Hill and Phil Lomas – 25.5 points 6th – Mike Bennett, Colin Crail and Richard Yates – 24.7 points
Tatton League – Hosted at Heyrose, 16 May
Format: 4BBB, 85% handicap.
As the previous round, hosted at Lymm, conditions were tough yesterday at Heyrose, hence it was a low-scoring day. All the recent rain meant there was little run on the ball, and the rough was penal. A fairly stiff breeze added to the difficultly level.
Only one of the four Lymm teams – Mike Pigott and Martin Franks – came in above level twos, with 38 points. Martin had a particularly good back 9, which included 3 birdies. He also won a bottle of wine for one of the ‘nearest the pin’ prizes (as did our own Sam Leach).
We came a disappointing third on the day, which means we have slipped from first to second overall. Next round is at Antrobus in mid June, where we hope we can recover our leading position.
Here is a photo of yesterday’s leader board:
Tee Booking Schedule tomorrow (Thursday 18th May)
This is the tee booking schedule for play on Friday 2nd June, Round 5 of 10 of the summer league. If your name is in the left column, please book for your group.
Well, our unbroken series of ‘honourable draws’ continues, with yet another loss against Hale last Friday. However, we very nearly achieved an actual draw! Captain of the Day Peter Willson tells me that Hale clinched the victory with a chip-in on the last hole, meaning we lost 3.5 to 4.5.
Could a victory be around the corner? Bob Mycock promises so. He will be Captain of the Day this Friday, in the match against Helsby. He has already written his victory speech, and a side-splitting joke.
Inter-club Match v Hale, Home at Lymm, Friday 5 May
Captain’s Report: Peter Willson
The day started a bit overcast but the sun broke through by 08.45 with light winds and a fairly dry course. However in my match by the 12th hole the heavens opened and the course became flooded in several places included the driveway and the 18th green. In line with our perverse weather by the time the 13th green was reached the dark clouds had rolled away and blue skies returned.
Hale were hampered a little by one of the players oversleeping and turning up about an hour late – but he made lunch.
The meal was a very good curry, chips and rice followed by that traditional Indian dessert – apple crumble and custard – thoroughly enjoyed by all I spoke to.
Despite hopes and desires the overall result was a loss for Lymm but the losing margin is reducing and surely we will work our way toward a first team victory for Lymm over the next weeks.
Result – Lymm 3.5 : Hale 4.5
Michael John / Phil Ormesher – Won 2 up Barry Smith / Stuart Baird – Won 2 up Peter Willson (CoD) / Paul Lennie – Lost 1 down Phil Perry / Alan Ranscombe – Lost 5&4 Colin Hughes / Art Laird – Lost 3&2 Tommy Lawless / John White – Halved on the 18th (outrageous chip-in by Hale) Phil Lomas / Dave Meir – Lost 4&3 Trevor Williamson / Steve Barlow – Won 3&2
Individual Stableford (alongside Hale match)
Only 16 cards submitted. It seems that some walked in after the 9th, due to very heavy rain, which partly flooded course for a while.
Winner: John Armstrong – 35 points 2nd: Paul Foster – 31 points 3rd=: Joe Preistner, Mike Pigott and John Hayes – 30 points
Bottle of wine goes to John Armstrong.
Tee Booking Schedule tomorrow (Thursday 11th May)
This is the tee booking schedule for play on Friday 26th May. Due to a home match against High Legh, there will be no league match, and therefore a prize of a bottle of wine. If your name is in the left column, please book for your group.
Here is the team for the match against High Legh, between 08:32 and 09:12:
Paddy Moran Jeff Ashurst Colin Crail Grahame Brickell Stuart Baird Paul Lennie Mark Pickles John Higgins Andy Timms Mervyn Roberts Andrew Cox Richard Yates Steve Gosling Dave Craggs John Armstrong Steve Barlow
Welcome to two more new members
Firstly, we welcome Keith Melia, our business manager, to the senior section. I’m sure that you all know Keith, and some of us have had the opportunity to play with him in the Saturday competitions, and look forward to his participation with our section.
Secondly, welcome to Mike Kendal.
I asked Mike if he would like to introduction himself, and he has kindly sent this photo and this short introduction:
“I’ve run a marketing agency for the past 30 years which, happily, I’ve had wrestled out of my grasp by an acquiring party which has given me the opportunity to retire. From Blackburn originally, I’ve lived around the Hale area for around 30 years having moved out to Agden, Lymm 4 years ago when I moved from Ringway GC to Lymm GC. Observing a handicap of 19.2, I’m looking forward to having a bit more time to spend on my game whilst having the chance to meet a few more members.”
Our best wishes for Eric Harper
I was informed today that Eric Harper is in hospital with a serious illness. I’m sure I speak for everyone in the senior section in conveying our best wishes and our hopes for a good outcome.
My wife has recently taken up golf. This involves her asking many questions about golf terms, rules and etiquette that most us take for granted. I have come to realise what a huge and strange glossary of terms we have!
All golfing terms have their own history of course. Just a few examples: ‘Fairway’ was a nautical term for a navigable channel. ‘Stymie’ is from the Dutch ‘stuit mij’ meaning ‘it stops me’. ‘Par’ was borrowed from the stock exchange, where a stock was considered above or below its normal or ‘par’ figure. ‘Stableford’ comes from Frank Stableford, who first used the scoring system he conceived at a competition at Wallesey Golf Club in 1932. ‘Bogey’ apparently dates to 1890 at Great Yarmouth, where a Major Charles Wellman exclaimed that someone was playing ‘like a bogeyman’… More recently, the term‘Honourable Draw’ was invented by seniors at Lymm Golf Club as a euphemism for ‘we lost again’!
Our unbroken series of Honourable Draws has continued in the past week, with an Honourable Draw at home against Heyrose, and an Honourable Draw away at Sale. However, I think we are making some progress that gives us reason for hope!
Inter-club match versus Heyrose, home at Lymm – 28 May 2023
Captain’s Report: Grahame Brickell
Having just returned from 3 days golf in sunny Spain with 3 of our good golfers I was hopeful of a Captain’s performance, but unfortunately the chilly, dull, and dampish conditions on Friday morning didn’t feature in my plan and hence my partner Jeff Ashurst and I were 1 down after 1! Didn’t fair much better on the rest of the front 9 and after one of our opponents nailed a 15 footer on the 9th for a 2, we walked to the 10th 4 down! And it basically stayed that way coming to 15, and with my missed par putt so a half there ended the match!… sorry team.
Overall, it was a better team performance compared with the away matches played so far, but then we were at home! With some after match cries of ‘handicap fowls’ it ended being a win for the apparent Mexican’s from Heyrose by 4.5 to our 3.5
Grahame Brickell (CoD)/Jeff Ashurst Lost 4&3 Andrew Cox/Mike Bennett Halved Alan Ranscombe/John White Lost 2 Down Trevor Williams/Phil Ormesher Won 1 Up Mark Pickles/Peter Willson Won 2&1 John Hayes/Rob Taylor Lost 2 Down Colin Hughes/Art Laird Lost 5&4 Phil Perry/Ken Narraway Won 2 Up
The individual steak pies were greatly enjoyed by all!
Grahame Brickell
Interclub-match away at Sale – 2 May 2023
Captain’s Report: Mark Pickles
This was Lymm’s first ever inter-club senior friendly with Sale, and I think we all found it very enjoyable. Sale Golf Club made us feel very welcome, and I hope that my brief ‘thank you’ speech successfully conveyed our appreciation. (I decided it was better not to tell a joke this time, because no-one laughed at the joke I told when I was captain-for-the-day at Northenden last year!)
Sale’s captain of the day had decided to match the handicaps in all matches as closely as possible. I think that this worked really well, and everyone enjoyed the competitive spirit of the day. My match partnering Steve Barlow went down to the wire, with the last putt on the 18th. And Steve Gosling tells me that his match partnering John Armstrong was similar. Well done to Bob Mycock and John Hayes, and to Andrew Cox and Richard Yates on winning away from home on an unfamiliar course.
All the matches were fairly close, and they all went to at least the 16th hole. I think this was good, considering that some of the team had never played at Sale before yesterday.
Result: Lymm lost 6 to 2 Mark Pickles (CoD)/Steve Barlow Lost 1 Down Bob Mycock/John Hayes Won 2&1 Grahame Brickell/Rob Taylor Lost 2 Down Andrew Cox/Richard Yates Won 4&2 Paddy Moran/Mike Bennett Lost 3&1 Steve Gosling/John Armstrong Lost 1 Down Paul Lennie/Jeff Ashurst Lost 2 Down Pete Broady/Phil Lomas Lost 3&2
Individual Stableford, 28 May (alongside Heyrose match)
Cards submitted: 35 Weather: Chilly breeze, cloudy but sunny spells later in the morning – 11 deg. C.
Winner: Stuart Baird – 35 points
Second place: Paul Collins – 34 points
Third= place: Eric Cox and Pete Broady – 33 points (CPO over last 6 holes)
Bottle of wine goes to the winner, Stuart.
Tee Booking Schedule tomorrow (Thursday 4th May)
This is the tee booking schedule for play on Friday 19th May. Due to a home match against Bramhall, there will be no league match, and therefore a prize of a bottle of wine. If your name is in the left column, please book for your group.
If your name is not on the booking schedule, you are probably in the provision team list for the Bramhall match. Here is the provisional team (15 names so far):
S Gosling CoD M Marsland J Higgins B Smith J Hayes P Broady B Mycock J White P Collins M Pickles P Willson D Craggs M Piggott P Lomas G Brickell
The WhatsApp Group for Inter-club friendlies
John Armstrong reports that there is too much ‘chat’ activity in the group. Please keep your inputs to essential information for John to arrange the matches. This makes it easier – for those of us who need to ‘mute’ notifications – to search for the information we need when we need it.
You do not need to tell us all when you have paid your fees to Steve Gosling. Steve can see who has and has not paid into the bank account.
Steve reminds us to pay as soon as possible, and to please include your surname in the payment reference. (I think that money from some bank accounts automatically show the name of the payer to Steve, but other accounts do not.)
The senior section activities have certainly started to ramp up since the main golfing season started earlier this month. If you’re playing in the seniors’ singles knockout, and you haven’t got a bye in the preliminary round, please try to organise your match as soon as possible, because the first round needs to be played before 9th June, which means you only have about 6 weeks to organise two matches.
Whilst is it great that we have two new clubs for the inter-friendly matches (Sale and Bramhall), it means John Armstrong is particularly busy organising the events, contacting our own members and communicating with the other golf clubs.
Our Treasurer Steve Gosling also has his work cut out, chasing up payments for home and away matches. Please pay your match fees as soon as you know you have been selected for a team.
To help communicate with our own members, John Armstrong has created a WhatApps Group:
WhatsApp Group: Lymm Seniors Matches
We appreciate that not everyone is familiar with WhatsApp, but if you have a ‘Smart’ phone, it is easy to download and use. Please do join the group. John has started to add names to the group to communicate with everyone who wants to play in the inter-friendlies.
I know that many of our senior section use WhatsApp, and would be willing to help novices to get started.
Here is a screenshot of Lymm Seniors Matches group from my own phone. Please not that you can ‘mute’ notifications (to stop your phone pinging incessantly), and just look at the group chat once a day, or more regularly if you’ve got a match coming up.
When you join the group, please only use it for relevant communications. If you want to send jokes that you have found on social media, please keep those to the ‘Sultans of Swing’ group, which, I have to admit, I permanently ‘muted’ long ago!
Match Report for 21 April: Round 4 of the Summer League
Reporter: Peter Willson
Date played: 21st April 2023 Game played: Round 4 – Summer Session Number of cards submitted: 39 – Division 1 – 23 players and Division 2 – 16 players 2’s recorded: Dave Waggitt
Division 1: Winner: Phil Perry – 34 points 2nd: Paul Collins – 32 points (CPO over last 6 holes from Mike Pigott) 3rd: Mike Pigott – 32 points
Division 2: Winner: Colin Chisnall – 34 points 2nd: Joe Priestner – 33 points 3rd: Sammy Lee – 31 points (CPO over last 6 holes from Andrew Ransom)
Notes Course drying out – played over 15 holes. Cold wind – light showers around 12 noon Handicaps – All correct this week!
Scandal Note! Phil Perry had an interesting hole on the 12th: 1st shot in the pond, 4th shot into the field OOB 7th shot front edge of green at least 50 feet away 8th shot into the hole for 1 point !
Moral: don’t give up or just get lucky!
Tee Booking Schedule tomorrow (Thursday 27th April)
This is the tee booking schedule for play on Friday 12th May. Due to a match against Helsby GC, there will be no league match, and therefore a prize of a bottle of wine. If your name is in the left column, please book for your group.
Happy Mondays 24th April
Reporter: Peter Willson
16 reasonably Happy golfers set out from the 1st. At least it wasn’t raining and the ground is drying out, but it was nippy at first.
The greens are improving and getting measurably faster. 6 teams: 2 x 2 balls and 4 x 3 balls – played Team Stableford although there was some confusion over the format at first. A re-think needed I feel.
The winners – Steve Barlow, Steve Gosling and John White – 94 points or 31.3 per player 2nd – Mike Bennett and Richard Yates – 59 points or 29.5 per player 3rd – Pete Broady, Ken Narraway and Peter Willson – 81 points or 27.0 per player
Welcome new member !
A warm welcome to Steve Bramhall, who joined us this week. I asked Steve if he would like to introduce himself, and he has kindly provided the following:
“When I retired in 2017 from over 50 years of full-time work in the construction industry, I undertook to play more golf and to improve. After three more years of part-time work, I undertook to play more golf and to improve. In the process of moving to Grappenhall Heys, I have recently joined Lymm Golf Club and I intend to play more golf and to improve! We’ll see! Wendy, my wife of 46 years and our 3 children and 5 grandchildren, in Jersey, California and Thelwall Village, all tell me that they have heard this before!”
Lots of news to get through this week! Our 2022 Championship took place, as did the first round of the Tatton League, hosted at Lymm. We have played two inter-club friendlies since the last newsletter. The promise of better weather is attracting players back to ‘Happy Mondays’. And we have good news to report on Mike Pigott’s progress in the Cheshire Super Seniors (over 65s) scratch team.
Thank you to Rob Taylor for his help in reporting, and to the inter-club friendly captains for their reports. Also, thanks to Tatton League captain Bob Mycock, with support from Les Williams and Rob Taylor, for superb organisation in hosting the Tatton League and welcoming all the visitors from our neighbouring clubs.
Championship 2022 – Played Friday 14th April 2023
Reporter: Rob Taylor
No, not a misprint – it is the 2022 competition.
Cast your minds back. This final was scheduled to be played in the September of last year but had to be postponed because of the drought and the fall out from the failed storage tank in the irrigation system .
So, on a Friday in April ( some 8 months later) , 22 of our finest players were invited to compete for the coveted “Green Jersey” . The winner to be be named the Senior Champion of 2022.
Now April . . . weather wise?
Well, ever so perversely, it actually rained.
A light drizzle when the first group tee’d off at 08.00 but it got steadily harder – you know, the right-through- to- your- underwear harder. And it kept on raining until well after the last group staggered in from the 15th hole some 3 ½ hours later.
17 players made it to the start line ( the missing 5 had produced notes from their mothers along the lines of “Johnny gets a chest if he plays out in the damp”) but only 13 made it to the finish. One of the later groups decided to call it quits at hole 12 – cards were soaked and mostly illegible anyway so probably a wise decision.
And the results?
Only 2 players managed par or better. The runner up was Mark Pickles with a creditable 30 points, just pipped at the post by the new 2022 Senior’s Champion, with 31 points . . . . .
Paul Lennie, presented with the ‘Green Jersey’ by our chairman Mike Bennett. And a photo of the scoreboard for those who may be interested.
Many thanks to all that stayed for the presentation.
Tee Booking Schedule tomorrow (Thursday 20th April)
This is the tee booking schedule for play on Friday 5th May. Due to a match against Hale GC, there will be no league match, and therefore a prize of a bottle of wine. If your name is in the left column, please book for your group. Please note that if your name is not included below, you are most likely on the provisional list for the team match against Hale GC.
Match report for 14th April
Individual Stableford, for those who did not play in the championship. The difficult weather conditions were as the reported in the championship of course.
13 cards submitted.
Winner: Steve Gosling: 30 points. Runners up: Peter Willson and Eric Cox: 29 points.
A nice bottle of Rioja went to the winner Steve.
Inter-club Match away at High Legh – 13th April
Captain’s report: John Hayes
Lymm Senior’s Team headed towards the match at High Legh full of optimism and intending to come back with the bacon. Unfortunately something didn’t quite work and the result was an honourable draw heavily in favour of the opposition. However the captain took full responsibility and has suggested that he be rested from captaincy for the remainder of the season!
J Hayes (C) / A Timms: Lost 3 and 1 M Pickles / M Lowe: Won 1 up R Taylor / P Ormesher: Lost 2 and 1 B Mycock / P Moran: Lost 2 and 1 K Narraway / J White: Lost 3 and 2 S Lee / T Williamson: Lost 3 and 2 S Barlow / A Laird: Won 3 and 2 P Perry / P Lennie: Lost 1 up
The overall result was therefore a win for High Legh by 6 to 2.
The course had suffered heavy overnight rain [as had Lymm GC, where the bottom half of the course had to be closed] and there were several areas of standing water. The saving grace was that it didn’t rain whilst we were playing despite being forecast by the media, which meant that we were able to enjoy the game. The greens were fast and true which took some getting used to for some of us. Given that the games were all quite closely fought the overall result could have gone the other way. We were provided with an excellent meal to end the day and we look forward to entertaining High Legh at Lymm later in the year.
Inter-club Match away at Leigh – 18th April
Captain’s Report: Duncan Clarke
Duncan Clarke/Grahame Brickell: Halved Mike Bennett/Steve Gosling: Won 6&4 John Armstrong/Steve Barlow: Lost 4&3 Richard Yates/Peter Willson: Lost – 2&1 Peter Broady/Paul Collins: Lost 4&2 Colin Crail/Stuart Baird: Lost 4&3 John Higgins/Alan Ranscombe: Lost 3&2 Sammy Lee/Mervyn Roberts: Won think 2&1
Wonderfully sunny day and a real hint of spring – very enjoyable. All left with a smile on our faces although in some cases it might have been wind!
Tatton League, Round 1 of 6 – 18th April
Reporter: Rob Taylor
Today saw the opening round of the 2023 Tatton League competition being played here at our Lymm home course.
And the course looked its spring-time best in the brilliant, but oh, so deceiving, sunshine. The benign green fairways with a backdrop of fluffy white clouds belied the voracious shot-devouring beast that it became.
A gentle breeze soon turned into a “beast from the East”. Playing off the white tees, most of which were right back on the plates (perhaps Captain Bob had arranged it?), and with little run on the ball on the lower fairways, it was tough! Paddy Moran reported that his playing partners from High Legh described the course-difficulty level as ‘brutal’. At LGC, we prefer to call it ‘character building’. 😉
Alas – here are the all-important scores:
Styal: 124 High Legh: 131 Antrobus: 133 Birchwood: 135 Heyrose: 142 ( defending champions – 2 years running) Lymm:145
A great start to our campaign for this season. The good news doesn’t stop there though:
Best pair score of the day – 39 Points. Mark Pickles and Andy Timms. A bottle of wine apiece for their fine efforts. And you want more?
Longest drive – 15th hole. The band wagon rolled on – Mark Pickles collecting his second bottle of the day.
The only accolade not scooped by our team was the nearest the pin on the 9th which went to Ray Hodgkinson from Antrobus.
So – after round 1. We have our nose in front. We have a pool of talented players. We have an immensely experienced manager guiding the team – Bob Mycock!
What could possibly go wrong!
Heyrose on 16th May – the next challenge is already on the tee.
Eleven happy-ish golfers set out from the 1st happy mainly because it wasn’t raining – bit of drizzle around the 6th.
Game: Team Stableford Winners – Phil Lomas, Dave Waggitt and Steve Barlow – 83 points or +7 / 27.7 per player
2nd – Colin Chisnall, Alan Thomas, Charlie Heath and Jim Russell – 103 points or -17 or 25.8 per player
3rd – Ken Narraway, Les Fecitt (how many trees did he hit and bounce out of today?), Charlie Hill and Pete Willson – 97 points or -23 points or 24.3 points per player.
Mike Pigott at Cheshire ‘Super Seniors’ (over-65s)
Mike was selected to play in the Cheshire over-65 squad get-together at Stockport GC. Five evenly-handicapped fourballs were picked. A scratch best three from fours counted for the teams.
Mike’s team had the best score. And Mike had the best individual scratch score!
Mike tells me he now has a fair chance of being selected for matches against Lancashire, Cumbria, Northumberland, Yorkshire, Shropshire and Hereford later in the season.
Well done, Mike! All-in-all a good week for Lymm GC Seniors: some wins and two ‘honourable draws’ in our away inter-club friendlies! 😉
No Friday-league match report this week as we skipped a week for the Easter holidays.
Tee booking schedule for tomorrow (Thursday 13th April)
This is the tee booking schedule for play on Friday 28th April. Due to the Heyrose match, there will be no league match, and therefore a prize of a bottle of wine. If your name is in the left column, please book for your group.
Inter-Club Matches
Leigh, Away, 18 April:
John Armstrong has drawn the team for the away inter-friendly at Leigh Golf Club on 18 April.
Duncan Clarke Mike Bennet Graham Brickell Alan Ranscombe John Armstrong Richard Yates Peter Broady Peter Willson Steve Gosling Paul Collins Dave Meir Ken Pearce John Higgins Colin Crail Stuart Baird Steve Barlow
Reserves: Sammy Lee Ken Narroway John Hayes John White Art Laird
Heyrose, Home, 28 April
And here is the team for the home match against Heyrose on 28 April:
Jeff Ashurst Mervyn Roberts Mike Piggott Ken Narraway Bob Mycock Paddy Moran Mark Pickles Phil Perry Colin Hughes John Hayes John White Art Laird Trevor Williamson Rob Taylor Phil Ormisher Andrew Cox
Reserves: Peter Broady Steve Barlow Duncan Clarke John Armstrong Grahame Brickell
John will supply full details for the inter-club matches, including start times and pairings, when he has confirmed them with the other clubs.
Ron Thornton cannot stop winning, and is first in Div 2 league for the third time in a row. I think that, at the next handicap-committee meeting, Ron could be heading for the biggest senior handicap reduction in recorded history! Alan Ranscombe has also posted two successive runner-up scores behind Ron. Well played guys!
Match Report for Summer League: 3 of 10 – Friday 31st March
48 cards posted (26 Div 1 and 22 Div 2).
Standing water in places and muddy – played over 10 holes starting from the10th. Cool, stiff breeze, 11 deg C. Light rain for early starters.
2s recorded: Ron Thornton, Colin Crail, Bob Mycock
Yet another senior moment on Monday! Six teams entered the competition, 3 teams played off the correct format, 3 teams played off the wrong format. All scores should have been added together then divided by the number of players in the team, as email instructions.
And so all agreed that the game should be void. I have the cards and money for those who left early.
Tee booking schedule for tomorrow (Thursday 6th April)
This is the tee booking schedule for play on Friday 21st April. If your name is in the left column, please book for your group.
Inter-club friendly match at Warrington
We played the first senior inter-club match of the season today, away at Warrington. Peter Broady was captain of the day, and announced that the recurrent ‘honourable draw’ did not, unfortunately, go Lymm’s way this year!
Result: Lymm lost 2.5 to 5.5.
Peter Broady and John Hayes: lost 4 & 3 Steve Gosling and Peter Willson: won 1 up Mike Bennett and Mark Pickles: lost 4 & 2 Ken Pearce and John Higgins: lost 6 & 5 Paul Collins and David Meir: won 2 & 1 Mike Pigott and Andrew Cox: lost 4 & 3 Paddy Moran and Colin Crail: lost 1 down Andy Timms and Stuart Baird: halved
High Legh friendly match (Away)
John Armstrong has now announced the team for the away match against High Legh on 13th April. John Hayes will be captain for the day. Tee off 09:06.
Here is the team:
Start on 1st Tee
Start on 17th Tee
1. John Hayes and Martin Lowe
5. Ken Narraway and John White
2. Mark Pickles and Ron Thornton
Start on 16th Tee 6. Sammy Lee and Trevor Williamson
Start on 18th Tee 3. Rob Taylor and Phil Ormesher
Start on 15th Tee 7. Steve Barlow and Art Baird
4. Bob Mycock and Paddy Moran
8. Phil Perry and Paul Lennie
John Armstrong has emailed full details to all team members, including timings and payment.
Congratulations to Dave Craggs!
Dave sends us this photo from Australia of the marriage of his daughter, Lorna, to Jarrod, an Aussie. The proud parents, Stella and Dave, will themselves soon be celebrating 50 years of marriage!
Padeswood and Buckley Golf Club Senior Open Tuesday 4th July
John Hayes approached me today to say there is still one place left for the trip to Padeswood and Buckley. The format is 4 ball better ball and tee times are 10:30 onwards. The cost for the event is £18 per head. Please contact John Hayes if you are interested – first come first served!
Send me your news
If you have anything to report that might interest the senior section, don’t forget that you can use the ‘Report News’ page on this website. However, the feature does not accept graphics or attachments. If you would like a picture included in your news, please email it to me. If you do email, it would help if you could write ‘Newsletter’ as the email subject, to help me filter things when I put the newsletter together.
There are some differences this year. The Committee has decided in favour of our senior-section handicap rather than WHS handicap for the knockout.
Use your Senior’s handicap, 100%, as it stands on the day you play any match.
Please ensure that you play your matches before the dates for each round. If you cannot manage to complete in time, contact Rob Taylor.
The format is match play, 18 holes. If 18 holes are unavailable, play over as many as are open. Agree between yourselves before commencing any shortened round.
Match Report for Summer League: 2 of 10 – Friday 24th March
49 cards posted (28 Div 1 and 21 Div 2).
Alister Cook – scored 35 points, and he would have been 2nd in Division 2 but Alister is still on WHS handicap.
Cool in stiff breeze – 13 deg. C. Heavy showers
2s recorded: Ron Thornton
Division 1
Division 2
1st: Mike Bennett 34 points
1st: Ron Thornton 39 points
2nd: Mike Pigott 33 points
2nd: Alan Ranscombe 33 points (on CPO)
3rd: Alan Thomas 32 points
3rd: Richard Yates 33 points
Peter Willson reports that all handicaps were correct on the cards! Thank you, all.
Alister Cook – scored 35 points in Division 2 but is still on WHS handicap.
I have updated the leader boards.
Tee Booking for tomorrow (Thursday 30 March)
This is the tee booking schedule for 14th April, which is the date of the 2022 Senior Championship, postponed from last year. The Championship slots run fron 08:24 to 09:04
If your name is in the left column, please book for your group.
Trips
Graham Brickell has had a poor response to the Portal trip. Please contact him this week if you would like to be included.
John Hayes is organising the Padeswood and Buckley Golf Club Senior Open Tuesday 4th July. There is a group of 20 seniors booked in for this competition, 19 takers so far, therefore a vacancy for one more player. The format is 4 ball better ball and tee times are 10:30 onwards. The cost for the event is £18 per head. Please contact John Hayes if you are interested – first come first served!
Senior Section Rules Updated
Rob Taylor has updated the Strategy, Rules and Guidelines. I have updated the page on this website.
Happy Monday Report
The format was Team Stableford.
In 5th place was the team of Steve Gosling, Bob Mycock, Charlie Heath with +9
4th place was Peter Broady,Graham Utton, Les Fecitt with + 6
3rd place was John Boyle, Ron Thornton, Charlie Hill with +5
2nd place was Steve Barlow Sammy Lee and Peter Wilson with +4
And the winners were Richard Yates, Les Williams David Waggitt , Mike Bennett with – 4
And finally
Apologies if I’ve missed anything this week. I’m in Israel, on a working holiday doing research for my upcoming book on philosophical theology. Of course, Golf is the meaning of life, but there are a few other things to go at! I will catch up with everyone when I return next Monday. I believe that the chaos caused by left-wing anarchists in Israel has been reported in UK news. Hopefully they won’t shut down the airport again! Thanks to those who have sent messages asking if I’m OK. Coincidentally, on Monday I was with my good friend Yishai Fleisher (who took this selfie), a well-known broadcaster, writer and theologian in Israel, and special advisor to the Minister of National Security. I couldn’t be in safer hands!
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.
As we look forward to the main golfing season, we are going to graduate to summer conditions by ceasing to use mats in the rough. Use mats on the fairway until April, but do not use mats in the rough.
The summer season will be as full and varied as always, if not more so (with extra away venues). Here are a few reminders for those who want to participate, and enjoy to the full, the impressive range of events organised by the Committee:
Remember to add your name to the list, on the Seniors’ noticeboard, before the end of March for the Singles Knockout: the Mike Smith Trophy
Remember to contact Grahame Brickell if you wish to book your place on the two-day-one-night trip to Portal, Tarpoley. Grahame requires your £35 deposit before the end of March.
Remember to add your name to the list of players who are available to be drawn (by John Armstrong) for the inter-club friendly matches.
Remember always to check your handicap on the Senior’s noticeboard before filling out your card on Fridays. (Peter Willson tells me he’s still getting a few incorrect handicaps, which means he has to spend time recalculating the correct Stableford score of the offenders.)
Remember to bookmark lgcseniors.com on your personal computer or your phone, or better, use the ‘follow’ feature on this website (for automatic emails for new content). I am going to stop sending out mass emails in April.
On the Inter-Club Matches page, I have created a list, supplied by John Armstrong, of all the members who are available to play in the Inter-Club Matches. Throughout the season, John will try to give everyone who wants to play an equal number of home and away matches. See the Senior Section Calendar page for the planned matches.
Senior’s Calendar
Rob Taylor has updated the calendar spreadsheet, which I have placed on the Senior Section Calendar page.
Winter League:
Congratulations to Paddy and Phil !
The 10th of the 10 matches had to be abandoned due to snow and ice last Friday, meaning that Paddy Moran and Phil Perry could not be challenged at the top of their respective divisions.
Winter League Final Results: Division 1 1st: Paddy Moran – 167 points 2nd: Michael John – 166 points 3rd= Martin Franks and Grahame Brickell – 165 points
Division 2 1st: Phil Perry – 159 points 2nd: Alan Thomas – 156 points 3rd= Richard Yates – 155 points
See the Leaderboards page for more details, where I have now listed all who played at least 5 games in the Winter League.
Well done all who made the prizes, in a very competitive season with some good-quality golf. A special mention to Colin Hughes, who although aggregating 159 points to match Phil Perry in Div 2, did not – according to the powers that be – have his senior handicap bedded in until part way through the winter league.
Summer League Begins
This Friday (17th March) we go straight into the summer league.
For the summer league, do not play off mats in the rough. We are obliged to continue to play off mats on the fairways, until April, but, we are now playing out of the rough without mats. You can clean and drop the ball within six inches, until 1st April, following which you must play the ball as it lies in the rough.
To help with tee booking for the summer season, David Craggs (and his tee-booking deputy Grahame Brickell) requests that I publish the booking schedule every week.
Here is the booking schedule for tomorrow (Thursday 16th) to reserve tees on 31 March:
Please note that we have a Handicap Committee meeting tomorrow (Thursday). And so before you go out on on Friday, consult the Senior noticeboard before you write your handicap on your card.
Slow Play?
David Craggs has taken seriously the appeals to the senior section to speed up play. He has become an athlete, no less!
Pictured are three generations of Craggs taking part in the High Legh 10K run on Sunday 12 March.
David competed with his son Andrew and grandson Daniel. Thankfully the weather was good on Sunday!
Daniel, age 15, got round in 42 mins. Andrew, age 49, 52 mins, and Grandad Craggs, age 75, a very respectable 72 mins.
Well done, David! 10k runs are like golf: it’s a great achievement to beat your age!
David tells me he’s looking forward to next year’s race, but there is another way to speed up your golf, David: hit the ball straighter 😉
Senior Open Competition at Vale of Llangollen Golf Club
In January we advertised the Senior Open (4BBB) at Llangollen, for which Ron Thornton had agreed to organise a senior-section outing by block booking some tee times. Ron has not received sufficient interest to do this. However, Grahame Brickell tells me there are still tee times available early afternoon. If anyone would like to play in this open event on Thursday 1st June, contact Grahame, who will try to arrange for our members to play together.
Cost is £55 per pair.
And Finally
Here is an article sent in by our loquacious Secretary, talking balls.
How many Balls for a Two? How Many?
Reporter: Rob Taylor
Oh deary me!
The new committee met back in November and cogitated on the prize given for a “two” scored on a Friday game.
The cheap balls ( all we could afford way back then) were a bit of a damp squib now.
We toyed with expensive balls ( Yay! We hear you all shout) but, no – too expensive and generally of little help to most of our players.
What we needed was a collector’s item – a ball that would stand out from the crowd. A unique offering, something others would notice and comment on.
The idea was nurtured, costed, decided on and a stock purchased. The Senior’s rather unique “Two’s Ball” is ready in the cupboard for the coming season.
Now, a-lackaday : a foul rumour spread like wildfire through the ranks.
Only 2 balls per “Two” scored; These items are too expensive to fritter away.
Well, not truly a rumour. Our benighted Treasurer stamped his mighty foot and we all cowed and agreed – two it would be ( spoilsport) .
But then: Well again. The abacus has clacked, the runes have been tossed and – thankfully – the number of two’s scored have been below expectation.
The mighty Treasurer ( the keeper of the purse) spoke again – VERY LOUDLY – and he has said ( and we quote verbatim):
“ They shall have three balls!”
So there you have it – you shall receive 3 balls ( a whole sleeve) for every two scored both for this session ( Winter), the summer session to come and even into the Autumn Session.
Hooray ! – except for some of us who have not managed a two in 6 years.
Lymm Golf Club Senior Section 