Gloomy Tuesday for Seniors

Despite the fact that it was a dark, damp, dismal, dreary day, 40 seniors turned up at the clubhouse eager to improve their eclectic score. It was not wet enough to completely dampen the spirit of this hardy bunch, ’though there were a few moans about the increased density of the moisture for the last of the groups to contend with as they completed their round.

In between the mizzly showers, the lighter clouds brought some relief, with the hope of a drier afternoon. Of sunshine there was none and this did seem to affect the scoring on the day.

No scores in the 40s this week and only three seniors with a two to their name. Jim Moffatt scored his on the sixth, while John Stevenson’s was on the 12th and Allen Watts’s on the 17th.

The wet grass clung on to the ball anywhere off the fairway, making it difficult to reach the greens in regulation. The back tee on the 16th came as a bit of a shock to some elderly gentlemen who approached it for the first time.

Despite this, 16 seniors managed to score 30 or more, while a group of six failed to reach 20 points. Early leaders in the clubhouse were David Henry and Jim Moffatt, both on 34 points. Limping in behind them on 33 was Allen Watts along with Jim Martin and Chris Sierwald.

However, none of these appeared on the roll of honour as they lost out on countback. Alan Jones surpassed Tony Ranoe on countback both with 34 points. A new winner laid claim to the top prize this week and gracefully received his bounty from Idwal. Completing a round of 38 points in difficult conditions was John Ball.

Ron Murphy had disappeared by the time the raffle was drawn, so he was not present to hear his name called out. Someone claimed it would help to cover the cost of his taxi.

October 20 was the delayed competition date for the Tommy Hutton Bowl. Against a strong field of competent pairs in this Chapman Foursomes event, Brian Diment and John Stevenson scored high on the final holes to win outright and add their names to the trophy.

Moneybags Mike

The 40 mph gusts of wind that were forecast duly arrived, but it didn’t deter a goodly number of hardy Rabbits as they turned out in force in an attempt to post a decent score in the Winter League best eight scores contest - and there wasn’t even a cup to play for, writes our links reporter, Warren Hacker. Not only did they have a ‘brisk’ wind to cope with, but this was supplemented by cold rain to numb the extremities!

One of the gathered throng is usually drawn in the later teeing-off groups, but this week he was drawn in the first group, something he’s not used to, so he was in something of a rush onto the first tee to play his shot. He enjoyed the early experience so much that he also played his second shot on the hole from the same area! He still managed to scramble a point towards his total mind.

The Rabbits captain was ‘parading’ so Steve the vice took charge of announcing the result of the day in time-honoured reverse order. Half-a-dozen managed to get a score in the 30s and 31 was a very popular figure, with four getting it - but a back nine score of 13 left Kieron in sixth, 14 gave Dave fifth in the only blob-free round of the day, 16 saw Steve C get fourth (he three-putted four greens - needs a greens lesson from Tom!), but a cracking back nine of 21 (twice in a fortnight now, with a blob on 18) catapulted secretary Peter into bronze place - someone even suggested he be known as ‘Back-Side Peter’ due to his tendency to score better on the second part of the course.

Getting his entry fee back for his runner-up spot was John after his decent score of 32, but the clear winner was new Rabbit Mike Williams, who notched an extremely impressive 38 points on only his sixth outing on the course to take the first prize, and his potential is clearly there for all to see. Not content with getting the main prize, Mike was one of three players to birdie a part hree to take an equal share of the twos pot - both Mike and Mark getting theirs on the 17th and Adrian slotting his on the sixth. Congrats chaps.

Four weeks into the Winter League, we now have three players with four outings and Mark is the new aggregate leader with 153 ahead of the Steves (W & C) on 148, but still no-one this season has bettered the average score of 38.6 managed by Grant last season.

On the Eclectic front, Steve the vice has moved to the front after increasing his score by three to 53, Chris stays on 51, Wyndham and Ian are still on 50, but are joined by Adrian who improved by a huge 10, with other big movers being Dave up three to 44, John up four to 46 and Kieron up 5 to 47.

The top dozen are shown in the table below. What changes will we see next week?

Rain reduces field for Burleigh Leach

A reduced field of 45 players took to the course for the annual Burleigh Leach competition on Saturday.

The previous day’s horrendous forecast from the Met Office had taken its toll, with many early cancellations from the ‘fair weather golfers’.

But, as it turned out, perhaps they were a little too quick to scratch from the event, as conditions on the day weren’t nearly as bad as originally envisaged and enabled those who were brave enough to turn out, to produce some impressive scoring (over the 17-hole course).

Leading scores and prize winners were as follows:

1. Piers Bradbury 41 pts (trophy plus £34); 2. Cameron Jnr Davies 37, on countback (£30), 3 Graham Waring 37 (£25), 4. Robert Willcox 36, on countback (£20); 5 Nicholas Corbett 36, on countback (£15); 6. Neil Moffatt 36 (£10); 7. Mark Edwards 35, on countback (£5).

Twos: Cameron Jnr Davies, Huw Roberts, Piers Bradbury, Mark Edwards, Neil Moffatt, Gareth Davies, 2, Jeremy Peters, Robert Willcox, Timothy Davies, Paul Dennehy (each two worth £4).

Bag draw: Roger Schooling, Jerry Whitehouse, Rob Willcox, Gavin Field-Thomas (£11.50 each).

Thank you Tom

Sixteen Chickens took a trip out of their Tenby clubhouse coop in their search for fame and fortune last Friday on a bright, sunny morning, although there was a bit of a west-north-westerly breeze which didn’t seem to help on any hole.

Up with the lark were a couple of the youngsters (they bring the average age down to less than 70!) hoping to play the 11th before the sun got in their eyes and it was the early birds who appear to have had the best of the weather, although the par for the day was a lowly 22 from 15 holes.

Last week’s fame-finder Charlie McFee had his moment in the press, but struggled somewhat this week off his newly-reduced handicap and he was one of three not to manage a point a hole, although the booby winner this week, Alan Yates, was suffering from ‘Decorator’s Elbow’, an ailment that afflicts golfers who have been painting a few days before. Alan does, however, get his money back plus a handicap inflated by two as a pain-reliever.

A prize awaits any Chicken to get their second shot into the hole on the two par 3s and despite the tee on the sixth being back, a couple of Trotters shared the pot there - 5p from every Chicken on the day goes to the pot - so 40p each went to Richard Davies and Bart Youll - well slotted chaps.

In fourth place this week was Peter ‘Pedro’ Ellis, who receives his entry fee back following his 24 points and doesn’t get a cut - could have been better, but for a couple of early blobs - and his cack-handed companion Richard Davies upped his winnings to a round pound by getting 60p for his third place following a score of 25 - which also could have been improved if he’d been luckier with his putts. Richard also gets a handicap cut by one to 13.

Mr. Davies was called upon to use his unbiased opinion to separate the top two - level on 31 points - and he agreed with the Chicken Arranger that David Lamb’s score of 18/13 would leave him in runner-up spot on the back six, but David is 90p richer and his Trotter handicap would be reduced by three to 24 next time.

Chicken of the Day, therefore, was Steve Cole with a score of 17/14 and he won £1.20 - that’s four free weeks! - and his Chicken handicap next time out is reduced by five to nine, so he rejoins the ranks of the ‘single figure Trotter handicappers’!

We’ve had four weeks trotting so far and five young cockerels have appeared in every contest to date, so after the next outing we’ll have an idea of the early leaders in the Booker Prize - awarded for the best five scores through the season. Hopefully one of the Trotting stalwarts will have got over his propensity for hiding in the garage loft of his new house to join us in a few weeks!

The headline for today could have been focused on the handicap cuts - ‘Cole scuttled, Lamb chopped’ - but it is actually in deference to the astonishing ability of Tom Hilling, the assistant pro at Tenby Golf Club, in working wonders with his coaching and teaching techniques in the last fortnight or so, by not only helping our winner claim his first prize, but also the runner-up position in the monthly medal the week before - it was what Steve was heard to say on the course whenever he remembered to do what Tom told him! Worth every penny! Book a lesson now.