David Craggs, Captain of the Day at Hale last Wednesday, was hoping to build on Captain Paddy’s success of the week before.
It has been reported to me that whilst Dave Cragg’s joke was certainly the longest on record, and it elicited a loud response, most of the sound came from groans rather than laughs!
Here is Dave’s report:
Return Away Match at Hale, Wednesday 7th June
Captain’s Report: David Craggs
The only cloud appearing on the day was the result.
The weather was a touch nippy for the first few holes but soon warmed up with a cloudless blue sky. The course was in excellent condition and the greens watered by hand were very fast. A few changes to the par 3’s since last year challenged both teams.
As always the glorious 12th hole (left) was the signature hole.
The game finished and we had a fine dining meal and an attempt at a joke by me which was probably rated the longest this season to date.
At home against Hale in May Lymm lost 4.5 :3.5 and we faired even worse playing away with Hale winning 6:2.
Our worthy two winning pairs were Paul Collins/ Mark Marsland and Paddy Moran/Duncan Clarke.
Must try and do better against our next opponents Davyhulme away game on Monday 10th July.
Match Report for 9th June: Round 6 of the Summer League
Date played: 9th June 2023 Game played: Round 6 – Summer Session Number of cards submitted: 33 – Division 1, 19 players. Division 2, 18 players. 2’s recorded: 0
Division 1: Winner: Paul Collins – 31 points 2nd: Paul Foster – 30 points 3rd: David Waggitt – 30 points
Division 2: Winner: George Clark – 36 points (on CPO of last six holes) 2nd: Eric Cox – 36 points 3rd: Alan Ranscombe – 32 points
Notes: Course very dry and running – played over 15 holes. Sunshine cool breeze at first but hotted up to 24 deg C at finish. Handicaps – All correct this week !
Disruptions to the Seniors’ (Friday) Summer League in June and July
Reporter: David Craggs
It is noted on the booking sheet for 30/6/23 that Green Golf Events Tour starts from 8.32 am (31 tee times) so it has been decided that round 9 of the Summer 5 from 10 game cannot be played. If anybody wants to play prior to 8.32 am you can book yourself in.
Friday 7/7/23 is Captains day so again no game can be played.
Friday 14/7/23 Rylands Golf day shot gun start at 10.56 am and course has to be cleared by 12.45pm. On this day we can all play the round 9 of the Summer 5 from 10 game but if the last teams to tee off have to leave the course before finishing hole 15 their scores will be rounded up to 15 holes?
Friday 21/7/23 play round 10 of the summer 5 from 10.
Handicaps
Bob Mycock and Paddy Moran of the handicap subcommittee will be meeting this afternoon to review handicaps. Therefore, please check your latest handicap before you next play in a seniors’ event. I will update the handicaps page on this website as soon as I receive the new list from Bob.
We live in strange times. Bob Mycock came to Lymm Golf Club on Monday specifically to practise!
Eric Harper’s Funeral
Eric Harper’s funeral will take place at 11:20 on Friday 16th June at Walton Lea Crematorium, Warrington.
Members of the senior section who knew Eric well will be attending the funeral.
Eric’s funeral coincides with our morning bookings for Round 7 of the summer league on Friday 16th June. However, the committee has decided that if anyone wants to attend Eric’s funeral, and yet wants to play in Round 7, they can play in the afternoon. Simply cross your name off the morning booking, and choose any time you want to play in the afternoon. The seniors’ competition box will remain on the table outside the pro’s shop until evening.
Match Report for 2 June: Round 5 of the Summer League
Date played: 2nd June 2023 Game played: Round 5 – Summer Session Number of cards submitted: 36 – Division, 23 players. Division 2, 13 players. 2’s recorded: Phil Blake; Mark Marsland; Mike Pigott x 2; Steve Barlow; Mark Pickles
Division 1: Winner: Phil Lomas – 39 points 2nd: Mark Marsland – 35 points 3rd: Mike Pigott – 33 points
Division 2: Winner: Colin Chisnall – 35 points 2nd: Ken Pearce – 33 points 3rd: Phil Blake – 32 points
Notes: Course dry and running – played over 15 holes. Sunshine cool breeze at first but warmer at finish 21 deg C.
Handicaps on cards all correct this week!
Handicaps
The handicap sub-committee will meet next week to review handicaps. I will update the Handicaps page of this website following the review.
There have recently been some complaints, comments and suggestions going around the senior section on the subject of handicaps.
The seniors’ handicapping is based on a system created by our secretary Rob Taylor in the early days of the senior section.
Although Bob Mycock now chairs the handicap sub-committee, Rob still takes an interest and advises. Following some recent contention, Rob has examined the cases, and assures us: “The system is sound and all decisions are definitely statistically based and can stand any scrutiny”.
Therefore, if you feel the handicapping systems is unfair, and is not promoting the interests and goals of the senior section, please approach Rob Taylor, who will gladly show you the spreadsheet that is being used, and why your senior handicap is what it is.
However, at the last committee meeting (last Friday), our chairman Mike Bennett said we will review the handicapping system at the end of this season, and we will try to ensure the membership is in general agreement.
The simplest-sounding solution is ‘WHS’, but, for whatever reason, many senior members have not maintained their WHS, and others self-identify with a curiously low-to-medium WHS handicap that does not correspond to the cards submitted in the winter and summer leagues over the past 12 months.
Tee Booking Schedule tomorrow (Thursday 8th June)
This is the tee booking schedule for play on Friday 23rd June, Round 8 of 10 of the summer league. If your name is in the left column, please book for your group.
Paddy Moran (CoD) more than delivered on his promises with a record-breaking honourable draw at home against High Legh last Friday: 7 wins for Lymm.
I was a proud member of the team, although Paddy gave me a mild bollocking for not being present at his pre-match speech to the team (I was on the practice ground, attempting to recover form with my irons!). I did however hear reports from fellow team members that Paddy’s early-morning speech was truly inspirational, and was somewhat akin to Shakespeare’s redaction of Henry V’s Saint-Crispin’s-day speech at Agincourt:
“Old men forget: yet all shall be forgot, But he’ll remember with advantages What feats he did that day: then shall our names, Familiar in his mouth as household words…
“And senior golfers of Lymm now a-bed Shall think themselves accursed they were not here, And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks That played with us against High Legh upon Captain Patrick’s day.”
In all seriousness, it was a very enjoyable and very competitive day. John Armstrong did his best to match our handicaps with opposition handicaps as closely as possible. All but one of the matches were very close. And so perhaps it was indeed the influence and the competitive spirit of of our PE-teacher-in-residence that gave us the necessary edge. None of us wanted to report back to ‘Sir’ that we’d lost our match!
Here is Paddy’s report, including all the names of those who fought with us on that unforgettable day:
Interclub Match versus High Legh, Home at Lymm, 26 May 2023
Captain’s Report: Paddy Moran
The sun shone. The course was in great nick as Andrew our Chair of Green was playing the High Legh Course Manager and had no option but to pull out all the stops! Karen and her staff as usual provided an excellent meal. Visitors were very impressed both by the course and the catering. John Armstrong provided me with a fine body of men, and after a rousing pre-match speech – reminiscent of when I Captained Lymm Rugby Club – we set out to do battle.
A very impressive 7-1 Honourable Win (just a little dig at Bob) makes me the most successful CoD.
Mick Pigott / Paddy Moran won 2/1 Stuart Baird / Steve Barlow won 1up Jeff Ashurst / Steve Gosling won 1up Andy Timms / John Armstrong won 3/1 John Higgins / Richard Yates lost 3/2 Paul Lennie / Grahame Brickell won 5/1 Mark Pickles / Mervyn Roberts won 2up Andrew Cox / Peter Willson won 3/2
Excellent, men. Well done!
My post-match joke was better than Bob’s of course. But an ex-friend of mine, Peter 2ll’s, intimated that Bob got a slightly louder response. I have booked Peter an appointment with Amplifon.
Watkins 2: Well done Colin Hughes and Michael John!
The senior section’s bogey golfers are giving the younger guys a run for their money in the Saturday comps off the white tees.
Colin Hughes came in with the best net score of the day, winning the Watkins Round 2 competition (medal), with 91 net 67.
Michael John came fourth, putting him in the prize money for the third consecutive week, with 88 net 69.
And just as impressive on Saturday was Peter Broady, who came 10th. I know that Peter is not yet quite fighting fit from his recent knee op. It is great to see him beginning to return to where he was a year ago.
Individual Stableford, 26th May, alongside High Legh Match
Only a superb 37 points over 15 holes by David Meir (12) last Friday denied Peter Broady (15) a bottle of plonk in the Friday individual Stableford:
Cards submitted: 24.
Weather: Light breeze, some cloud but lots of sun late morning. Eventually 18 deg. C.
Winner: David Meir, 37 points Second: Peter Broady, 33 points Third: Paul Wright, 32 points
Bottle of wine goes to Dave.
Tee Booking Schedule tomorrow (Thursday 2nd June)
This is the tee booking schedule for play on Friday 16th June, Round 7 of 10 of the summer league. If your name is in the left column, please book for your group.
The funeral of Eric Harper
I have just been informed that the funeral of Eric will take place on Friday 16th June. Details to follow next week.
Well done Michael John, on winning the Gents’ Spring Meeting on Saturday 20th May by a clear 3 shots!
Michael reports that his golf has come on “leaps and bounds” since he’s stopped “competing in the seniors”. The Spring Meeting was indeed a fruitful meeting of the recent logarithmic growth of Michael’s WHS handicap and a subsequent run of good form.
Michael’s first place follows on from Michael’s 3rd place in last week’s Saturday competition (the Watkins Cup round 1). He is the current leader of LGC’s Order of Merit.
And well done to Mike Pigott, who also had a good day on Saturday. Mike has usurped our own Steve Gosling from the top of the Hole-in-One list, a position that Steve had held since last August:
Mike’s Hole-in-One was a perfectly executed shot: one bounce and in:
Interclub Match versus Bramhall, Home at Lymm, 19 May 2023
Captain’s Report: Steve Gosling
The morning did not start well as we had rain for the first 7 holes before it brightened up and clothes dried off.
During those first few holes if you were in the rough ( as I frequently was) you got soaked from the long grass.
Results were an improvement on recent matches (Bob’s captaincy excluded) but we continued our run of honourable draws, i.e. we lost again
Steve Gosling / Mark Marsland – Loss John White/ David Craggs – Loss Bob Mycock / Pete Broady – Loss Mark Pickles / Ken Narraway – Loss Peter Willison / John Higgins – Win Mike Pigott/ Grahame Brickell – Half Paul Collins / John Haynes – Win Barry Smith / Phil Lomas – Win
Learnings from the day…… Must play from the 10th tee , we appear to win matches from there All jokes are old ones ….if you have been around as long as some of our members!
Comedy Rankings?
Steve Gosling’s joke – as Captain of the Day – met with a few laughs, a few groans, and a chorus of, “the old ones are the best, Steve!”
However, Steve is by no means the worst stand-up comedian in the senior section. Currently, that title goes to Mark Pickles, yours truly, whose joke at Northenden last year met with almost no laughs, although, to be fair, Dave Craggs’ phone went off just before I was about to deliver the punchline!
I admire anyone who knows he is not a natural-born comedian, but stands up and gives it a go in any case!
Today, by far the funniest after-match speaker in the senior section is Bob Mycock, or at least that’s what Bob Mycock tells me. (I wasn’t there for his last Captain-of-the-Day speech and ‘mermaid’ joke, but he assures me that it ‘brought the house down’.)
However, this coming Friday, at a home match against High Legh, our Captain of the Day will be Paddy Moran. I know Paddy very well, and although we’ve had a lot of good laughs over the last two years, I’ve never pictured him as a stand-up comedian. Nevertheless, Paddy tells me that he is “much funnier than Mycock, and without any of the smut”.
I’m looking forward to the match this Friday (I’m in the team), not least for Paddy’s speech. Did you know that Paddy’s son – who started out as a teacher of French and Spanish – changed career and is now a professional stand-up comedian?!!!
Individual Stableford, 19th May, alongside Bramhall Match
14 cards submitted. Light breeze, rain for the first 6 holes then cloudy but sunny spells. Temperature rose to 18 deg. C.
Winner: Andrew Cox – 30 points Second:Rob Taylor- 29 points =Third:Eric Cox and Joe Priestner – 28 points
Andrew receives a bottle of wine.
Interclub Match versus Ringway at Ringway – Wednesday 17th March
Captain’s Report: Trevor Williamson
A glorious day at Ringway today. We all agreed that the score didn’t matter – win, lose, or draw, the opportunity to play on such a good course, in great condition, on such a fine day, was all that mattered. Good job, because we lost 6 1/2 to 1 1/2!!
Congratulations go to Peter Wilson/Richard Yates, David Meir/Steve Gosling, Andy Timms/John White, who managed to halve their matches. The other pairings fared less well.
Andrew Cox/Trevor Williamson, Steve Barlow/Jeff Ashurst, Mike Bennett/Grahame Brickell, Paul Lennie/Barry Smith, Sammy Lee/ Melvyn Roberts, all promise to do better next time,
Home advantage, where local knowledge, especially on the greens, was the deciding factor.
We hope to demonstrate this in the return leg at Lymm, in June. Turning round a 5 match deficit will be a bit of a challenge, but like the miracle at Jericho, those involved today share a belief it is possible, if selected!
Tee Booking Schedule tomorrow (Thursday 25th May)
This is the tee booking schedule for play on Friday 9th June, Round 6 of 10 of the summer league. If your name is in the left column, please book for your group.
Happy Mondays – 22 May
Reporter: Steve Gosling
An assortments of shorts and white legs arrived early on Monday, 6 teams went out for a Team Stableford in the sunshine.
Scooping the cash this week was Phil (four point) Perry and Steve Gosling A respectable 30.5 average
Second place with an average of 28 were Bob Mycock, Charlie Heath and Phil Lomas
Third with 27.3 , Eric Cox, Pete Broady and Paul Foster
Consensus going forward was to use Senior Handicap and not WHS for the Monday comp, as it’s over 15 holes and WHS for many is outdated with very few 18 hole cards being submitted.
Eric Harper
I was informed today that Eric Harper passed away yesterday. This is indeed sad news for our senior section, and perhaps someone in our section who knew Eric well will send condolences on behalf of us all to his loved ones. I will report further next week, as appropriate.
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.
Lymm Golf Club Senior Section 