Captains Day @ Dukinfield Report, Thursay June 28th 2018

Once again Captain Pete had arranged a dry day. A very dry day sun stroke and the nearby moors fire were our chief concerns. Along with the weather Pete had arranged an England game to be on in the evening and for those who did not like football there was a bouncy castle.

 Results of morning team event

Mention 21pts	Pete Derbyshire	Bill Harris	Matt Biddle
Mention 22pts	Francis Sinnott	Paul Sinnott	Ian Hopkins
2nd Place 25 pts	Ian Ringwood	Carl-C-Prince	Dave Baynes
Winners 24 pts	Alan Saville	Brian Murray	Rob-G-Davy
2's AM	Carl-C-Prince	Steve Payne

 

 PM Individual event

Nearest the Pins	2. Bill Harris	4. Kieran Dunn	7.Keith McEwan	16 Nobody
Longest Drive	Keith McEwan	2's....	Bill Harris

 

Top 5 finishers

	Points	Handicap	Revised
5. Pauil Sinnott	29	No change
4. Bill Harris	31	No change
3. Ian Ringwood	33	28	27
2. Martin Claffy	33	21.8	19.8
1. Ian Hopkins	34	25.5	22.5

 

Keeping the ball on the fairway was the order of the day. The ball had huge amounts of run on it and anything not straight was either a lost ball or a recovery shot from 2 fairways away. It is hard to believe Martin and Ian did so well as they are 2 of the most curvaceous strikers of the ball in the society. To be fair to Martin he did hit some straight shots in the afternoon. In the morning he had found a garden and had to fill out a ball leaving the course form. He asked for a few forms for the afternoon but I do not recall him having to fill another out. I can only assume Ian was using his new wonder irons off the tee or he was bouncing shots back of the safety netting which prevailed around the course.   Ian Ringwood will be chuffed about finishing 3^rd and having a handicap reduction.  I just wonder if he can remember the last time it happened. Not so chuffed was John Coburn who managed to run his trolley through the contents of a dog’s colon. It clung to the full 360’s of his wheel. Thankfully he managed to spin it off on some grass before the sun baked it in place for eternity. The rollover 2’s prize was captured by Bill Harris. A few other bounty hunters turned out but you’ve got to get out early to beat Bill. The dining was chaotic at best with fifty other people in the room to watch the match. A few more staff would not have gone a miss. The lad serving us was hard pushed. I would like to know who pushed him when he was serving me with my sticky toffee pudding. It landed in my lap, it was sticky and hot. We went up to the boardroom for the presentation. It was so hot people began to get dizzy. John Martin spilt his wine and we all went home laughing. Many thanks to Pete for his pints and presents.

 

 

 

Portland cup at Northenden

With the kids off school the run into Northenden was a breeze. It was going to be another scorching day out with the Portland. There was a buzz in the air. Ernie Rowlands was turning out. He did not disappoint putting on a brilliant Buzz Hawkins tribute act to keep us merrily chortling. Kev Bolton was his warm up act doing his Old Steptoe routine. Hydration was the only problem. The pro shop had run out of water and with no sand in the bunkers setting up a desert still was out of the question. The rest of the course was in fine fettle. This was reflected in some of the scoring which followed.  

Below is a table of how the morning team event panned out.

Mention 27pts	Kev Bolton	Dave Baynes	Pete Derbyshire
Mention 28pts	Phil Lancaster	Alan Saville	G-H-O-S-T
2nd place 29 pts	Ernie Rowlands	Bob Chadwick	Bill Harris
Winners 30pts	Ian Ringwood	Joe Boyd	Stephen Payne

 

The pro’s tip for playing the course was to keep the ball on the fairway. With so much run on the ball only the straightest hitters were going to do this. But it wasn’t the end of the world if you went into the trees. The course was tidy and you only lost a stroke not a ball. Meaning some big scores came in. The average for the day was 27. Two points more than the usual average. Bill Harris coming 4 clear of the field was following the Pro’s tip. He played 75 strokes to complete his round just 3 over par. I cannot remember a Portland round being that low. There were no 2’s morning or afternoon. The 2’s pot will be rolled over for Captains day. Pete has already promised us good weather. The rest of the season is going to interesting. Can anybody catch Bill? A few surprisingly had their handicaps replenished after not performing to their usual standards. Very interesting indeed.   

Nearest the pins

Nearest the Pins	4.Dave McGovern	8. Ian Ringwood	12 Nobody	15. Phil Lancaster
Longest Drive	Martin Claffy			No 2's******

 

Top 6 finishers

	Points	Handicap	Revised
6. Kev Bolton	33
5. Phil Lancaster	33
4. Brian Murray	34	26.4	25.4
3. Kieran Dunn	36	28	26
2. Dave McGovern	36	13.9	12.4
1. Bill Harris	40	8.4	7

 

 

 

 

 

  

Spring Plate. Fairfield Golf and Sailing Club

Reading the full title of the club and seeing the surrounding reservoirs filled my heart with trepidation. I had just spent the previous day drying out all my golf kit. Whilst putting out on the 18^th at Pike I saw my trolley sailing across the fairway. My brolly was acting like a spinnaker and there was no catching it. On hitting the water like a lifeboat launch the trolley began to sink but the brolly flip out and sailed to the far side of the pond. A desperate clutch saved the trolley from sinking into a surprisingly deep pond. Fairfield has been completely revamped from what was a compact course into something longer and challenging with a few unique holes.

Results of morning team event

Mention 25 pts	Ian Hopkins	Howard Dickson	Ian Ringwood
2nd place 26 pts	Terry Tobin	Chris Murphy	Phil Lancaster
Winners 26 pts	Geoff Haynes	Brian Murray	Dave Baynes

 

PM Individual Event

Nearest the pins	4. Andy Minshull	7. Geoff Haynes	10. John Coburn	12. Phil Lancaster
	16. Bill Harris	"2" Joe Boyd
Longest Drive	Howard Dickson

Top 5 Finishers

	Points	Handicap	Revised
5. Joe Boyd	20
4. Terry Tobin	30
3. Bill Harris	30	8.6	8.4
2. Howard Dickson	31	12.9	11.9
1. Dave Baynes	34	17.8	16.3

 

The challenge of the course is reflected in the low winning scores. Dave out in front by three shots of a class chasing field has probably put in his best Portland round so far. Our presentation was delayed by the host club’s own presentation. It did give us an insight into how Stuart Allcock was doing he was mentioned in 2^nd place in a pairs competition. In the end we had to hold our presentation in the manner of ‘Dads Army’ with Captain Derbyshire asking us to gather round. Pete pointed out he had a 100% dry weather record. Although he didn’t have the best of rounds he was happy to play on a course frequented by Pep. I spotted Dave McGovern earlier hiding all Kev Bolton’s Man U head covers so as not to offend Pep had he turned up. We all hope Pete maintains his 100% weather record Kev nearly did last year but that was for raining. On a macabre note Bill told me a tale about a pub across from the course. The landlord had murder his wife after 3 o’clock closing and just opened up as usual at the night. I pointed it out to Kev on the way home it was a Boddies house.