Scratch team lose opener to Brampton Pk 4-2 

The SWGC scratch came up against a much improved Brampton Pk team and lost their opener in the CAGU Div 1 scratch league 4-2. 

Brampton Pk opened up with their in form pairing of Loveday and Reeson. The Brampton pairing opened up with two birdies and an eagle at the 6th which meant the Walden pairing found it difficult to recover. They eventually lost 4 down. 

Ian Macdonald and Spencer Burlingham took on Davies and Milborn. The game was punctuated by a number of errors by both sides. Brampton took a 2 up lead, but a birdie by Walden restricted the lead to 1 up going into the 17th. Both teams reached the hole in two, but Brampton won the putting contest to a par and won 2 up. 

Richard Southall and Callum Brookes took on Earl and Entwhistle and destroyed the opposition with 2 birdies and 2 bogeys to win 8 up. 

This was an impressive result for the new pairing for Walden and they should be formidable for the coming season. In all it was a "wake up" call for the team in that a number of teams are out to dislodge the boys from their top position.


Michael Noakes Trophy

On an April day that wasn't too springlike, and with a cold strong wind to contend with, 50 senior players competed in the Michael Noakes Trophy on Friday, 29 April. 

This is an annual event sponsored by Simon Noakes in memory of his father. This year Simon chose to once again make this a team competition with three players in each, under stableford conditions with one score counting on the first six holes, two on the second six and all three scores counting on the final six. 

The winning team with 77 points was Roger Alexander, Barry Kingsley and Peter Dexter. 

Simon very kindly donated all the prizes, therefore it was proposed and accepted that any money raised during the day will go to our charity for this year Support4Sight, this will be over £240! 

A big thank you to Simon and every one who played. 

As always this fabulous day was concluded with a little banter, a lovely meal from Debbie and her team and of course the prize giving. 


Ladies Mail on Sunday Classic

Click here to find out more about how the ladies got on in round 4 of the Mail on Sunday Classic away at East Herts.


 

This past Tuesday Aaron took part in the Titleist and FootJoy Professional Championship at Gog Magog. 

Despite the blustery conditions on the Waldelbury Course, he had a great two under par score in a round which included four birdies. 

With only fifteen qualifying spaces available from around eighty players, he had a nervous wait watching the leaderboard. 

He eventually finished fourth and will now compete in the national final at the Oxfordshire in July. 

Please join me in wishing Aaron good luck for the finals.


 

The Slade Tour

Last week, in far different weather conditions than this week, saw the annual Slade tour, this year's trip was for a bit of northern culture up to Scunthorpe.

Day one was Lincoln Golf Club at Torksey. The course was presented beautifully, but the greens were deceptive in the fact that they were rock hard and nearly impossible to land a ball on. 

The weather started off okay, but mid front 9 a thunderstorm hit combined with hail. The Claxon took some time in being sounded, by which time although you could hear the storm, it seemed to be heading down the Trent and away from us. 

My partner Mike Price took some persuading to go back on the course, having not quite lived up to his hype of one of the tour favourites on the front 9, but eventually we got under way just to catch a passing hailstorm on the 14th and 15th. 

The rounds were eventually completed with most scores ranging from 30-37 points with the exception of Wis and Robert. They managed to get 45 points and destroy the competition after one day!

After some light refreshments and an early night, or at least that's how I remember it, we tackled Forest Pines. The greens were more receptive than Lincoln, mainly due to the constant rain in the middle part of the round, and even though they were showing signs of spring greens treatment, they putted quite well. My ex-partner from day one decided to make an appearance on day two, and the form he had told me about from his Scottish trip reappeared. This combined with a very solid performance from Graham Smith led them to 42 points and winners of the day.

Day three was an early start, much to the delight of the party after a solid evening of wining and dining, we had an hour and half drive to make an 11am tee time on the coast at Skegness. The course this time was Seacroft, one of the best Links courses in England. Unfortunately there were a few casualties with only 20 out of 22 starting the round, and only 18 of those finishing it. Thankfully the wind had turned up blowing consistently in the mid 20's with gusts in the mid 30's, wouldn't have wanted to play it in benign conditions.

The front 9 was nearly impossible, 15 points I believe led halfway round, the back 9 wasn't much easier either, particularly when the hail storm hit. George Reynolds and I managed 33 points, put were pipped at the post by Wis and Dave Batt on a better back 9. 

Wis was a deserved winner on tour playing well over all three days with Robert finishing second. 

Well done to Gerald for organising the trip and good luck to Nick next year.