The GSGB August Meeting took place at Sand Moor and Pannal, two of Yorkshire's finest courses. 63 members enjoyed good weather throughout the event although the later starters had to put up with a heavy shower on the second day at Pannal. Sand Moor is a fine course and best described as a parkland layout, although a handful of holes have a heathland feel to them as you get closer to the reservoir. The course also boasts a particularly challenging and memorable quartet of par-3's.

Sand Moor members Giles and Christine Hinchcliffe were instrumental in the smooth running of the day as they respectively took on the roles of starter and card checker. Other Sand Moor members John Ryder and Delyse Wadkin played particularly well, leading their respective competitions at the half way point even after receiving the mandatory 2-stroke penalty when playing their home course. At Dinner we were joined by club Captain Nigel Stallworthy and his wife Michelle. Nigel accepted the £500 Society cheque from GSGB Chairman Robin Moser before speaking on the subject of Sand Moor's junior section. We were also joined by long standing GSGB member and Curtis Cup Captain Bridget Jackson who earlier in the year had been awarded Honorary Member of the R & A. The Chairman offered Bridget honorary life membership of the GSGB in recognition of her long lasting contribution to the game.

Day 2 began as a beautiful warm day at Pannal which is a wonderful moorland course ranked 5th best in Yorkshire. Although the good weather didn't last the course played superbly throughout the day with the quick greens giving problems to most players.

The King of Morocco Cup was won by John Ryder from Sand Moor with 72 points. John overcame his two stroke penalty to win by four shots over Nigel Dickson from Alwoodley who produced the outstanding performance of the day by scoring an excellent 40 points. The Society Salver was narrowly won by Pat Bennett from Reading with 65 points, the Runner-up being Delyse Wadkin from Sand Moor, also with 65 points. Pannal Captain Nick Rusling received the society donation to further junior gold at Pannal before presenting the trophies with Chairman Robin Moser.

Congratulations to all prize winners. A full list can be seen below.

Pictures from the prize giving can be found here

The next event will be at The Addington on September 25^th – 26^th.

Brian

Our run of good weather at recent events came to an unfortunate end as rain fell on both days. Heavy rain on Day 2 meant that the competition was brought to a halt after 15 holes for the men and 14 holes for the ladies which led to a small team of volunteers being formed to adjust the scores to reflect the shortened course. The hotel accommodation, staff, food and facilities were very good indeed and we look forward to returning in the future.

The Handicap Cups for the best two day aggregate scores were won by Giles Hinchcliffe (Sand Moor) with 66 points and Kathryn Archibald (Alnmouth) 57 points. David and Kathryn Archibald with 130 points, claimed the Enjoy Golf Together Trophy by having the best husband and wife aggregate score over the two days.  All prize winners are listed below.

As well as the usual prizes there were "nearest the pin" competitions each day and a “beat the pro” competition on the 8^th  hole, where 12 members managed to land nearer than the Pro.

Our next Meeting will take place at Sand Moor & Pannal on August 30th/31st.

The 2018 AGM will be held at The Belfry on July 26th/27th.

Photos of prize winners can be seen by clicking here.

RESULTS SHEET – MERE AGM MEETING  10 – 11 July 2017

June 12th – 13th   2017

The Founders Trophy for men was won by past Chairman and President Jim Hunter from Lee-on-the-Solent with 64 points. The ladies Founders Trophy was won by Clare Fulton from Woburn who scored 66 points. Alan Percival from Astbury and Stephanie Moorfoot from Bath were the aggregate runners-up. A full list of all prize winners can be seen below. The next event will be the AGM meeting at Mere in Cheshire on July 10th/11th.

Brian

Tenerife Tour Report February 2017

On February 22^nd 24 GSGB members arrived at the 5* La Caleta Resort & Spa looking forward to six rounds of golf in some warm and sunny weather, coupled with some luxury downtime. I don’t think that anyone was disappointed, on most fronts, but a couple of degrees warmer would have been nice.

The golf started with a gentle mixed 4BBB at the very scenic Golf Costa Adeje with its walls and drops betraying its past as a banana plantation. This was followed by the welcome drinks and dinner in the hotel.

Day 2 saw an early departure for Golf del Sur, a good 27 hole set up, slightly marred by being under the flight path for the Tenerife South Airport. This did not put off Margaret Pugh and Peter Batchelor who won the day.

A rest day followed with some exploring the island and others enjoying the excellent facilities of the hotel with its Spa and external heated and unheated seawater swimming pools. A short walk along the beach lay the old fishing village of La Caleta with numerous restaurants catering for most tastes, especially fish. These proved very popular most evenings as did the Jade Stone Italian restaurant just a couple of hundred yards from the hotel entrance.

The third course was the delightful parkland layout of Golf Las Americas where we played a “husbands and wives” stableford. In round 4 we returned to Golf Costa Adeje and played a Waltz. I am not sure that familiarity led to any better performance but we were all ready for another day at leisure by the end of the round.

Our previous experience at Golf del Sur led to a slight rethink by the organiser about the format for the days play. In the end we played the “traditional” Gentlemen v Ladies match as a Greensomes which proved to be a very enjoyable format. Sadly 2 courtesy shots proved insufficient for the Ladies.

Finally a second round at the very attractive Golf Las Americas, where we played a “yellow ball” tournament. Despite some creative thinking by certain members of the party there was only a single point between the winners and runners up.

The last day was a final opportunity for more golf, no takers – sorry Robert, a bit more sightseeing or lazing by the pool. A farewell drinks party by the pool was followed by an excellent meal in a private room and prize giving. Few people, least of all the organizer, could explain the how the overall scoring worked out but the Ladies competition was won by Sue Batchelor with Pat Hart (despite a very sore back) as runner up and the Mens was won by Peter Batchelor with Robert Gardner runner up. Somehow everyone won a prize which, as ever, were of the quality expected by GSGB members on tour !

Overall it was a very enjoyable tour with many old friends and a few new tourists in an excellent hotel. The golf courses were well prepared and sufficiently testing for most of us, but extremely busy with a multi-national clientele leading to 4.3/4 to 5 hour rounds.

Nonetheless everyone appeared to be enjoying themselves, to mix well together and contribute to a very happy tour.