Daily Mail Foursomes

As reported in an earlier edition, two of our ladies, Sharon Kaye and Lynne Rees, qualified for the finals in the Daily Mail Foursomes. No mean feat considering that over 3,000 golf clubs from all over the UK took part in this competition! Sharon is an administrator at Ashdale Nursing and Residential Home in Pembroke, while Lynne runs her own restaurant, Davina's in Queen Street, Pembroke Dock.

On Saturday, October 15, they left South Pembs., together with lots of good wishes, cards and presents, travelling by car, driven by Lynne's husband Keith, to the Dalmahoy Marriott Hotel and Country Club, near Edinburgh, Scotland. A long and arduous journey, but hopefully well worth it to gain this fantastic experience!

On Sunday, the competitors were allowed a practice round. Lynne and Sharon were drawn to play this with two ladies from Royal St. Davids GC, the only other Welsh club to qualify. The weather was blustery, but pleasant, and they thoroughly enjoyed the round on a beautiful course.

The intended format on the Monday was, in the morning a knockout matchplay competition for all 16 teams, with the successful eight teams in the quarter-finals that afternoon. The next day, the semi-finals in the morning and the final two teams in the afternoon.

Unfortunately, the weather had other ideas!

The draw was made early on a very wet and windy Monday morning, with our girls, Lynne (30 handicap) and Sharon (off 22), drawn to play Julia Gaunt (nee Hill, with a handicap of three and a former ladies professional, Solheim Cup and England player!) and Lynn Gray (off 12) from Drayton Park GC. How unlucky can you get!

But this didn't deter our girls and after six holes they were just two down. By this time the weather had become so bad that the organisers deemed the course unplayable for the rest of the day and called in all competitors. They were hoping for a better day on Tuesday. Unfortunately there was now no time to play the intended format and a Stableford competition was held for all teams that day, with the two best scores to play a matchplay final in the afternoon to decide the winners.

A shame, as all competitors would have had a more equal chance to progress under matchplay conditions, but of course this situation could not have been foreseen and decided on differently.

The weather, with rain, high winds and almost freezing conditions, was horrendous to play in, so it was no surprise that the scores reflected that, with the best overall only reaching 32 points (best men's score 29!)

The final was played out between Three Rivers GCC (Angie Paton and Kay Dalton) and South Pembs' opponents from Drayton Park GC, Julia Gaunt and Lynn Gray, with Three Rivers being the overall winners. Congratulations to them both.

The Daily Mail presented all competitors with a magnum of Champagne, a £25 voucher and a commemorative silver jewellery box, as a keepsake of their achievements.

In the end, Lynne and Sharon finished a very respectable 14th place (based on Stableford points), which was a brilliant result when you think how far they have come, beating some very tough and established opponents!

Speaking to them after their return, it sounds like they had the time of their life and an experience they won't forget for a very long time. There comment was "Bring it on for next year!"

Well done girls, South Pembs. GC is very proud of what you have achieved and at the same time you have put our beautiful Pembrokeshire on the golfing map!

Bogeys and Bisques

On Wednesday, October 19, the Bogies and Bisques competition was held. This is a bogey competition and the bisques are the handicap related shots a player gets and they can decide how many and on which holes they want to take them to attain a plus score (+). It's a fun game that gets the ladies' brains working overtime, judging by the reactions we got!

Winner was Carole Blackwell, just beating Sue Harries on the back six, with both scoring +6. A close third was Rachel Thompson, one of our new ladies, with a creditable +4. Well done ladies.

Presentation Dinner

On Friday, October 21, the annual presentation dinner was held at the clubhouse, where some 30 ladies attended for a very enjoyable evening of wining and dining, chatter and, of course, the most important part... the prize-giving.

We were due to sit down at 7.30 pm, but before this happened, and after Sharon and Lynne received a standing ovation following their return from their Scottish trip, we all listened to Radio Pembrokeshire to hear the interview Lynne gave with Bill Carne, their sports correspondent, about their experiences from that occasion.

It was a good start to the evening, and it got better, with a lovely three-course meal provided by Janet, our wonderful Ccaterer.

Some 20 cups were played for this year, two of which were donated by Renee Rogers, and it was lovely to see her at the dinner to present them herself.

Cup winners presented were:

Carole Blackwell - Cancer Salver and Winter Eclectic.

Sara Davies - Autumn Eclectic.

Sue Harries - Divisional Cup (30-36).

Pam Milliner - Badger Bowl (foursomes).

Mary Mountney - Christian Aid Cup, Joan John Cup, Divisional Cup (20-29), Birdie Bowl (joint winner) and Badger Bowl (foursomes).

Ria Phillips - Charity Cup and Mrs. Wrench's Ashtray.

Lynne Rees - Spring Cup and Grandma Cup.

Ann Williams - Scratch Cup, Summer Eclectic and Flitch Bowl (foursomes with husband Mike).

Ros Williams - Past Captain Salver, Cissie James Cup and Birdie Bowl (joint winner).

After all cups were presented, Scratch Cup winner, Ann Williams, gave a vote of thanks on behalf of all ladies to the greens staff for all their efforts and Ria Phillips, the lady captain/handicap secretary, for all her hard work in organising and presenting the prizes.

In response, Ria congratulated the prize winners and thanked all ladies for attending the evening and also passed on her compliments to Janet, her waiting staff and the bar staff for looking after them so well that evening and throughout the year.

The evening was rounded off with a few more drinks in the bar and a lot of laughter and reminiscing about another successful golfing year.

Stableford

On the last Wednesday in October we played a Stableford competition, normally held over 18 holes. Having had the most terrible downpours for a few days and no sign of easing up, the lady captain decided that 13 holes was going to be enough to tackle, with the prospect of more rain to come later on that morning (the 14th was out of play due to some work being in operation).

As it turned out, it was a beautiful morning, with even some sunshine, and the ladies who went out were very pleased they did! I'm sure there won't be many more days like that for the next four months!

The winner was Carole Blackwell with 22 points and second was Ros Williams with 19.

I must mention Carole Chichester, whose golf has improved a lot lately and she came third with 17 points. Well done to you all.

As is the norm every year, from November onwards, we will only be playing 14 holes on our Wednesday Ladies Day until the end of February, to take into account the cold and wet winters we always encounter - not a thing golfers look forward to, but at least it beats cleaning and ironing, doesn't it ladies!?

Don't forget, the ladies' AGM is on Tuesday, November 8, at 7 pm!

SUE LEVERTON