First-4-Golf

True to the vagaries of the British Summertime, three seasons out of four descended on Wrexham golf club in the space of forty eight hours last weekend to add to the problems of playing a course set out to the highest standards of presentation and degree of difficulty on the occasion of the Golf Union of Wales Youth Championships.

The first thirty six holes of the event suffered a consistent downpour of steady rain throughout the morning which eased somewhat at lunchtime only to continue during the afternoon. Bearing in mind that the event was off the championship tees with rather difficult pin positions, it came as no surprise to find that the competition scratch score for the morning round worked out at three over par.

Joint early leaders were Gareth Phillips of Creigiau and Daniel Byrne of Dartford with level par 70’s. Rhodri Fieldhouse of the home club handed in a 73 and Luke Jackson of Mold a 75 with James Moore of Padeswood and Buckley a 77.

Sam Dodds of Coventry also handed in a 72 as did Richard Bentham of St Pierre, Chepstow

The second round was subjected to casual water on several fairways including the eighteenth which deserves special mention because our two breeding Mallard ducks moved from the pond on the eleventh hole and took up residence in the largest puddle on the eighteenth fairway and remained in situ despite all the play going on around them. They were still there at close of play for the day.

A score of 68 from Dodds for 138 put him in the position of first day leader followed by Jack Brooks of Pleasington on 143, Richard Bentham on the same score and Rhodri Fieldhouse just one stroke adrift on 144.

The halfway cut reduced the numbers from sixty six to thirty eight for Sunday’s play which started at 7.30 a.m. to ensure an early finish with deference to those players and officials with far to travel after the event.

An early source of amusement to the players was the antics of our of our squirrels near the tenth tee who spent several minutes clambering over golf bags in search of biscuits or chocolate, quite impervious to the players who were putting clubs in and out of the bags at the time.

The high winds swept across the golf course from the north west into the players faces on the first tee, making it a true par five hole. However, the advantages on the down wind holes were soon to become all too obvious as the sixteenth green, a dog leg par four, had to have the green cleared before tee shots could be played as several players carried the green from the tee and were actually chipping back from behind the green itself.

Standing watching from a position behind the final green, one golfer actually took four walking strides from his tee shot to arrive on the putting surface on a hole measuring no less than four hundred and twelve yards, and several resorted to just chipping the ball on to the green from less than twenty yards.

Alastair Jones of Radyr who had enjoyed only an average first day on 145 suddenly grasped his opportunity with his long hitting and handed in a 71 morning score followed by 67 in the afternoon, remarkable scoring in view of the conditions. Ashley Chesters who had also played steady golf on Saturday for 146, returned a 75, 68 followed by Richard Bentham with 76,70.

Alastair Jones won the event with 283 for a six stroke lead over Chesters who was the best of four cards on 289. Bentham was in third place with Rod Fieldhouse putting together four steady rounds for ninth on 292. Luke Jackson returned 296  for eighteenth, and James Moore 305 for a tie on 34th.

The Captain of Wrexham, Keith Miller, welcomed the President of the Golf Union of Wales, Ted Lloyd of Rhuddlan golf club to the event, and presented the prizes to the winners. The President thanked the club and all the staff for their assistance at the conclusion of the presentation.

Back from holiday, Phil Coleman of the Vale of Llangollen reported on the Veterans’ section and the fact that they played a match against Denbigh, at Denbigh, and lost by a margin of eight and a half to two and a half.

The Monsanto Cup attracted no less than fifty two players and resulted in a medal win for Graham Bromilow with 94 – 25 – 69. Second came Peter Jones with 85 – 15 – 70 from third placed Mike Ashworth on 86 – 15 – 71.

The Len Wright Trophy was contested as an individual Stableford with forty seven players participating in the event. Winner with 40 points came Duncan Rennie, Vets’ vice Captain, followed by Cyril Jones on 38 and then Frank Owen with another similar score.

Wrexham golf club contested the Stevens Cups. ( How many of us remember the lovely Stevens café in the sixties and seventies?) Presented by Donny Stevens, who was the club President in the thirties, they remain the foremost trophy for the usual format of four ball betterball play.

Winners this year were Steve Mckevitt and D Humphreys with 44 points from Andrew Purdy and John Sellwood on 43. Third place wenrt to Simon Draco and Ian Thomas with the better of  seven 41 point cards.

The ladies played their Ormrod Bowl which on this occasion was won by Hazel Parry with 78 – 8 – 70, the gross score of 78 being the deciding factor in this event. Best net went to Kath Norman with a 68 from second placed Shirley Williams on 69

The Silver division of the WGU medal went to Shelagh Jones with net 75 from Bethan Hughes on 81 whilst the Broze prize was won by Wendy Hughes on 72 from Gayle Elson on 77.

Clays Seniors played an individual Stableford qualifier which resulted in a win for Fred Court on 44 points from second placed Gerry Jones on 41 and then Brian Mercer on the same numbers.

Clays beat Wrexham at Clays by a margin of seven games to three , and those not participating in the match organized a Stableford event which was won by Dave Talbot with 38 points from Vinny Simpson on 37 , Cliff Davies on another 37 and then Maelor Davies in fourth place with yet another 37 points.

The shop medal of last Saturday was played in two divisions with the first division going to David Parry with net 67 from Graham David Jones on 69. The second division was won by Richard Collier with a nice net 65 from Howard Lloyd with 71.

The following day Danny Williams won the Shop Stablkeford with 40 points from Purnendu Majumdar on 39 and then Andrew Hunt with 37.

What’s in your bag? No, not a courteous enquiry from the local Police force, but a question regarding the changes that have been made to the contents of our golf bags these last few years.

Watching the BMW sponsored championships from Wentworth last week it was interesting to note the variety of clubs that the modern tournament player now has at his disposal, and more importantly, the variety of shots that are now available due to the choice.

The most important move in club design since the nineties has without doubt been the advent of the hybrid, or rescue club. With many sets if irons now running from a four iron to a range of wedges, sometimes as many as four in number, the old long irons such as a one iron or even a two and three have been replaced by the hybrid which now features in many golf bags of ordinary club players. The usual mix of four woods, nine irons and a putter so commonly assembled in the seventies and eighties has now changed significantly with the introduction of the hybrid.

Designed along the lines of a shallow metal club, it comes in a variety of lofts to emulate distances from a six iron down to a seven wood, but has the distinct advantage of being hugely user friendly with its comforting bulk and yet streamlined profile. It has the ability to pluck a ball off a short tee peg as well as to nestle behind the ball in short to medium rough, and each stroke has a high chance of a favourable result.

The shot that intrigues me though is the stroke from just off the edge of the green when the distance to the flag is just too much for a putter and maybe the lie too tight for a successful chip. Out comes the hybrid, and a stroke similar to a putter shot usually has the desired effect.

When the fringe rough is more lush and clingy, the “bladed wedge” shot seems to find favour with professional players as was demonstrated by Ernie Els last weekend when playing in the above mentioned event. Hovering the edge of the sand wedge just at the half way point of the ball, he effectively struck the ball in the middle and created enough top spin to roll it to the side of the hole. Hours of practice!

Wrexham enjoyed the camaraderie of an Irish Foursomes last Thursday when the teams of four took over the back nine holes with each player carrying just one club. The composition of the club selection followed broad guidelines starting with either a three or five wood, then a five or six iron, followed by a pitching club and a putter.

The “joy” of the game is that each club throughout the match must be used in strict order which is okay if the opening hole is a par four and played in par. A well played par three could see the ball being holed out with the wedge and the putter being used to drive off on the next tee.

Winners were Angela Miller, Jackie Williams, Steve McKevitt and Dave Phillips with an unknown score and lots of laughs. Try it some time and use a quarter of the combined handicaps for scoring purposes; all very good fun!

On a more serious note, the club DGU handicap league team played the Vale of Llangollen last Sunday and lost by a margin of five and a half to two and a half.

Clays golf club maintain a high level of competitive golf throughout the week with last week being no exception. With many seniors “out on tour” with various Open events at neighbouring clubs, the remaining players enjoyed a Stableford pairs event which was won by Den Murphy and Ray Jones with 71 points from Ernie Williams and Dave Talbot on 63.

Two days later a larger field played a yellow ball event in threes which resulted in a win for Harold Hughes and Bill Parry with Bob Brown who handed in 133 points. Second on 132 came Richard Key, Bob Jarvis and Enoch Smith in a closely fought finish.

At DGU handicap league level, Clays managed to beat Moss valley at home by four and a half to three and a half.

The junior summer Stableford league featured a win for Louis Gray with 44 points from second place Tom Gledhill on 40 and Lee James on a similar score.

The May Friday medal was won by Mike Davies with 86 – 18 – 68 from second placed Colin Brand on 86 – 17 – 69 and then Kevin Lee Roberts on 77 – 7 – 70.

Jordan Williams continued his good form from last week by winning the Karen Griffiths Memorial trophy with 43 points from Karl Matthias on 40, Paul R Williams on 38 and County captain, Tony Harcombe, on another 38 point card.

Josh Green returned an excellent 41 points off a scratch handicap to win the Shop Sunday Stableford from second placed Pauline Peacock on 39 and Jordan Pearson on 38.

As mentioned in last week’s issue, the Welsh Youth Championships take place at Wrexham on Saturday and Sunday of this weekend with Friday being set aside as an afternoon practice session for competitors new to the golf course.

The Welsh Open Youths championships take place at Wrexham golf club next weekend with practice rounds on Friday 28^th May and the seventy two holes event occupying the following two days with thirty six holes of play scheduled for each day.

The standard of entry has been exceptional in that the complete list of starters commences with Johannes Deidericks of Hosel off plus three as the earliest starter on the first tee with the first twenty four players, or eight three balls, all having a handicap in the plus figures.

The next six starting times are taken up with players off scratch with a further eight starting times off one handicap.

Local interest is directed at Rhodri Fieldhouse of Wrexham off plus one, with Luke Jackson of Mold, now playing out of Worksop off the same handicap. Callum Roberts of Mold is off one handicap as well as Adam Tuft of Mold and Gareth Ephriam of Old Padeswood. The event hosts the top sixty six players who entered for the competition.

Nearer home in domestic terms, the Denbighshire Golfing Union played their handicap championships at Denbigh Golf Club last Sunday through two handicap groups, the stronger field contesting the six to sixteen range with the following group representing the seventeen to twenty eight category.

Played at Denbigh golf club, the County Secretary David Ethelston of Llangollen would like to express his appreciation to Brian Dallimore, Denbigh member and Secretary to the DGU Past Captains who started the competitors off the first tee all day, and to the officials of Denbigh golf club who assisted during the course of the event.

Winner of the six to sixteen competition was Jack Williams of Chirk with 76 – 11 – 65 from second placed Alan McAig of Denbigh with 78 – 12 – 68 and third placed Dave Riley of Clays who returned with 76 – 8 – 68. The fourth place was also the winner of the best gross in the person of Brynli Thomas of Denbigh who opted for the gross prize rather than the prize for fourth place which was accepted by Gareth Roberts of Clays.

Brynli scored 74 – 6 – 68 and Gareth returned 83 – 14 – 69.

Winner of the seventeen to twenty eight category was Dave Griffiths of Denbigh with 40 Stableford points from Steve Bowker of the same club with 37. Third came N. McDonald of Clays with another 37 but a less good performance on the back nine holes of play.

Against a par of 69, the competition scratch score for both competitions emerged at 68 with away players in the second event having 70 as their own CSS.

Clays golf club in the meantime hosted several events starting with the Seniors’ Texas Scramble which was won by Bill Parry, Noel Jones and Tom Mara with 63.3 from second placed team of Peter Almond, Eifion Jones and Harold Hughes on 67.2 followed by Bob Shotton, John Hughes and Vinny Simpson on 68.

The club DGU team drew at Moss Valley and beat Old Colwyn at home by six matches to two

The Adult/Junior foursomes featured a win for John Evans and Thomas Matthews on net 70 followed by Colin Bryan and Scott Anderson with 71 and then Rob Edge and Bradley Edge with 72 for third place.

The Ladies’ Stableford witnessed a win for Anne Richards with 30 points from second placed Janet Johnson on 24 and then, in third place, Rosalind Carman with 21.

Played as a pairs betterball off ¾ handicap, the Seniors’ Gemini event was won by Tony Jackson and Don Wraight with a net 65 followed by Keith Jones and Bill Kelleher with 67 and then Mike Carding and Vinny Simpson with 69.

Clays senior team lost to Eastham Lodge by six matches to four in an event played on 14^th May.

The Golf Union of Wales Welsh Handicap Team Regional qualifier was played at Padeswood and Buckley golf club last Saturday with Ted Lloyd, President of the GUW in charge of the event. Clay’s team comprising Mike Platt, Martin Jones, Mike McHugh and Craig Williams won the event with a total of 106 points utilizing the scores from the best three cards out of the four. So good was the scoring that any permutation of the three best scores of four would have qualified them for the final at Celtic Manor on 22^nd August. Padeswood and Buckley finished second with 104 with Wrexham just missing out with third place on 101.

Clays Ladies enjoyed a win over their Rhuddlan counterparts by a margin of three and two.

The Shop Saturday Stableford was won by Jordan Williams with 42 points from Matthew Williams on 40 and Paul Williams Jones with 39. The Junior Summer Stableford league was won by Louis Gray with 44 points from second placed Tom Gledhill on 40 and then James Lee on another 40 point card.

The windswept links of Prestatyn golf club were the scene last Saturday of the opening two rounds of the 2010 Clwyd Open Championships to be followed on Sunday with the concluding thirty six holes around Wrexham golf club for this prestigious Golf Union of Wales Merit Award standard event.

For those of you familiar with Prestatyn, the prevailing cold wind was firmly down the par five eighteenth hole towards the clubhouse and , as a consequence, in the players faces when playing the “railway holes” from the far corner to the seventeenth tee. This is by far the more difficult direction for low scoring as was evident from the return of the early cards.

The standard of players in this year’s event was higher than ever with the original cut off point for handicaps at 2.8, but late withdrawals meant that reserves from slightly weaker handicaps managed to get a game in a field of seventy two competitors

The Jubilee Trophy is played for on the first day at Prestatyn and this was won by Geraint Jones from Royal St David’s Harlech by dint of an exceptional second round of a four under par 68. His total of 141 was two better than fifteen year old Rhys Pugh of the Vale of Glamorgan who won the overall event as a thirteen year old in 2007.

Just a week shy of his sixteenth birthday, he intends to take two months off to concentrate on his GCSE exams which take place in June. His second place score was equaled by Luke Thomas, also of the Vale of Glamorgan, who ended up third as a result of his back eighteen holes score.

Sunday at Wrexham was still cold but a bright Spring day with less wind, appreciated by the players and officials alike. Geraint Jones rather fell away during the morning, having some difficulty with the fast greens and tighter fairways, but Rhys Pugh experienced no such problems.

Following his 72, 71 at Prestatyn for a one under par score; he added a 67 gross for his morning round to go into the afternoon round with a comfortable lead.

His afternoon play extracted all the superlatives possible when he handed in a 65 gross to win the Egerton Vase, the Wrexham trophy, on 132, four strokes better than Tim Dyke’s two winning scores of a few years ago.

The Vase was presented by Keith Miller, captain of Wrexham Golf Club whilst John Williams, the championship secretary presented the Jubilee Trophy on behalf of Prestatyn.

Rhys won the Clwyd Championships by no less than sixteen strokes from his nearest rival with a seventy two holes total of 275, nine under par for the competition.

Luke Jackson late of Mold golf club but now playing out of Worksop, and last years winner, was second in the Egerton Vase with 67, 71 for 138 followed by Rhodri Fieldhouse on 69, 70 for 139 and third place.

The Clwyd championship second place went to Luke with his total of 291.

At the presentation soon after the close of play, Rhys produced his slip of paper with the aide memoire for his acceptance speech, the same speech which he delivered by winning the Peter McEvoy scratch trophy a fortnight before, and for the Fairhaven Trophy just a week earlier. He now leads the Golf Union Wales Order of Merit by a very healthy margin.

As event coordinator, Jim Johnson is indebted to Championship secretary John V. Williams of Prestatyn golf club, his son David who acted as card scrutineer and reader, to Ifor Jenkins the Principal referee and his assistants Maurice Berg and Ginny James, to Wrexham manager Richard West who acted as tenth tee starter at Wrexham and to the Prestatyn members who did likewise at their golf club and finally, without whom the event would have become a long drawn out affair, our statistician and computer operator Bruce Carlyle of Ruthin who produced the winning order and complete results just four minutes after the handing in of the final score card at Wrexham.

We also appreciated the presence of Ted Lloyd, President of Golf Union of Wales, who attended both clubs on both days, and was present for the concluding ceremony.

Meanwhile at the Vale of Llangollen, the Veterans’ Mixed Open took place last week in an event which attracted one hundred and eighty four players from over sixteen clubs. Winners from Penmaenmawr were Mr. and Mrs. Stanley with 44 points followed by Mr. and Mrs. Steven Koscinski of the home club with 43. On 41 points came Mrs. Holroyd of Davyhulme and Tony James of Warrington with fourth place going to Mr. and Mrs. Forshaw of Padeswood and Buckley on 40. There were nine birdie twos in the course of the day.

Wrexham Ladies played their medal and Golf Foundation Pin last Tuesday which resulted in a silver division win for Shirley Williams on 88 – 18 – 70 followed by Beverly Lloyd Jones on 89 – 18 – 71 and Janet Pritchard with 92 – 20 – 72.

Gayle Elson took the Bronze division and the Golf Foundation Pin with her score of 90 – 24 – 66 followed by Anne Bale on 105 – 36 – 69 and then Ladies’ Captain Ann Davies with 96 – 25 – 71.

The men played their May Wednesday medal through four handicap divisions with Charles Blackburn taking the honours in the first division with 68 – 6 – 62 from second placed Richard Prandle on 73 – 7 – 66 and then Mark Williams with 76 – 7 – 69.

The second division went the way of Brian Neale with 75 – 11- 64 followed by Chris Wade on 75 – 10 – 65 and then Jeremy Williams on 78 – 12 – 66.

Handel Williams played well to win the third division with 79 – 14- 65 from second place Gerwyn Francis on 79 – 13 – 66 and third placed Phil Nicholls on 84 – 17 – 67.

A score of 87 – 21 – 66 secured the fourth division top spot for Frank Maddocks who was followed by Richard Derosa on 86 – 20 – 66 and then Richard Rawlings on 91 – 25 – 66.

When Jack Nicklaus first emerged on the golfing scene as an overweight teenager with a blond crew cut in the fifties, he was greeted as the replacement to Arnold Palmer who was ten years older but fought for years to gain any sort of popularity in a nation of golfers who adored Palmer and his “go for it” attitude.

Nicklaus was coached by a gentleman called Jack Grout whose philosophy was very simple,” hit is as far as you can, find it, and hit it again”. Only then did he impart the reduction in power and add the finesse that was so critical to the modern game.

Indeed, so devoted was Nicklaus to Jack Grout that he went every year until his mentor passed away for early season lessons when Grout merely went over the basics of set up and swing technique to start another successful season for the great man.

When Nicklaus was first observed playing by the legendary Bobby Jones, who witnessed him hitting one irons as high as most players could hit a six iron, Jones remarked

“He plays a game with which I am not familiar”.

Much was written on Tuesday in the national press about the victory at Quail Hollow in Charlotte, North Carolina when Rory McIlroy won the event by scoring seventeen birdies and an eagle over his closing thirty six holes of play. Talk was of a successor to Tiger Woods who, it must be said, is not enjoying the best of form at this time having missed the cut by a healthy margin.

I must say that I still find it somewhat difficult to come to terms with distances achieved by the top players in today’s game. On a par five of five hundred and seventy yards, Mickelson drove the ball over three hundred and thirty yards and hit the green with an easy nine iron, and McIlroy closed down the final hole with a five iron of two hundred and ten yards into the centre of the green, albeit leaving a put of some thirty five feet which he holed with some nonchalance for his final birdie of the day.

He broke the course record by some two strokes for a sixty two and, testimony to his achievement, great players such as Mickelson and Jim Furyk queued to congratulate him and shake his hand. Watch this space!

Nearer home, the Denbighshire Golfing Union Seniors team has been selected for their first match of the season against Dyfed to be played at Borth and Ynyslas Golf Club on 28^th May. The ten man team will be captained by John Hughes of Ruthin Pwllglas and will comprise David Jones, Mike Lowe, and Ray Bennett of Wrexham, Clive Wright and Neil Purdie of the Vale of Llangollen, Eric Howells and John Kenny  of Denbigh, John Lewis of Pwllglas and  George Smith of Chirk. The match will defer to age and will be eighteen holes of four ball betterball rather than the usual thirty six holes of foursomes in the morning and then singles after lunch.

The Vale of Llangollen Veterans played against Henllys in the first leg of a two way fixture and lost by a margin of 5 ½ to 4 ½

The Frank Ellis memorial trophy attracted forty eight players in an event played as an individual Stableford. Winner was Colin Johns with 40 points from second placed John Ormrod with 39 and then Cyril Jones on 38.

Wrexham host the Clwyd championships this coming Sunday with play over thirty six holes taking place at Prestatyn on the Saturday. Playing from two tees in each club, courses will be closed for the duration on the respective days.

Clays golf club seniors lost their match against Denbigh on the 29^th April by a five match deficit, playing their Seniors Kitty competition the same day at the home club Winner was Roy Jones with 40 points from Peter Fey on 39, Tony Harcombe on 38 and Fred Court on 37.

The Ladies’ Challenge Bowl event was won by Denise Bromley with net 71 from Anne Richards with 72, India Friswell on 82 and then Kim Harcombe with 83.

The Seniors April Stableford was won by Dennis Murphy with 38 points followed by Ray Martin on 38 and then Roy Jones with 37. The Monday Texas Scramble went the way of Malcolm Edwards, Jimmy Lee and Louis Grey with net 56 from second placed Steve Parry, Ron Roberts, Ray Martin and Mike Lowe with 57.

The club May medal was played through three handicap divisions , the first division  being won by Josh Green with 65 – 0 – 65 from second placed Danny Williams on net 66 with David Wright third with net 66 also. Gareth Roberts won the second division with a 68 followed by Steve L. Williams with 69 and then Bill Kelleher on 69 as well. Michael Sullivan took the honours in division three with net 67 from Rob Condren on 68 and Jim Fenn with 69.

The Ladies medal was won by Hazel Bell with net 75 from Pauline Peacock on 80.

, whilst the junior medal went the way of Grant Jones with net 66 followed by Scott Anderson on 66 and James Lee on 67.

Finally this week we have the results of the Shop Sunday Stableford which recognized a win for Neil Lloyd Richards with 39 points from Matthew Nicholas on 36 and Gary Greenhaugh on a duplicated score of 36.

With the Clwyd Championships but eight days away from today’s date, the annual Welsh Merit Award competition has attracted a very strong field for the seventy two holes event which plays over the Prestatyn links on Saturday 8^th May and then concludes at Wrexham for the deciding thirty six holes the following day.

The closing date for entries was last Monday and the organizers placed the initial cut off point for handicaps at 2.8 strokes with sixteen reserves now available up to five handicap.

This year the event will start from two tees at each club, so compressing the time on the golf course by some one and a half hours, a particular consideration for players who have to travel to South Wales following the presentation on the Sunday

The field has been extended from sixty six players to seventy two because of the aforementioned manner of play so all we want now is a kind spell of weather.

The starting times for the Welsh Youth Championships to be held in Wrexham on the 29^th and 30^th May have now been released by Mrs. Liz Edwards, the Championship Secretary to the Golf Union of Wales. The times are probably only of interest to the actual players, but of the sixty six competitors, no less than forty two are scratch or better with the remaining twenty four off one handicap. The strongest player is Johannes Diederichs off 3.5 in a field which includes Rhodri Fieldhouse of Wrexham off +1; Luke Jackson of Mold, also +1; Adam Tuft of Mold and Gareth Ephraim of Old Padeswood, both off a handicap of 1. Again there is an extensive list of reserves awaiting the call to play.

The Vale of Llangollen Veterans’ played their match against Eaton as an away fixture and lost by eight games to four.
The annual match between the Ladies and the Veterans was based on a draw for partners format with a Stableford scoring system in place. Winners were Rowena Sylvester and Howard Hewitt with 43 points from Linda Williams and County Secretary, David Ethelston, in second place with 41. Nancy Durkin and Spencer Povah were third with another 41 point card followed by fourth placed Margaret Jeffreys and Dennis (S) Jones on 39.

Wrexham hosted the qualifying round for the Hospitals’ Cup in which the players compete to become one of the four leading men, or one of the four leading ladies, to go forwards to the match play rounds with the final being played on Finals’ Day in September. Prior to play, and after the handicap differential is worked out, the ladies are granted one courtesy stroke to be added to their handicap before play commences.

The leading ladies were Kath Norman, net 70; Janet Sharley 71; Shirley Williams, 72 and Jacqueline Williams on 72 also. The men will be represented by Tony Phillips, net 67; Chris Marsden, 68; Oliver Hughes, 68 and Nicholas Jones on the same numbers.

The Competition Scratch Score for the men ran out at 72, two over the par for the course. What with little rain over the past month, and the course very dry and fast, there were many scores several strokes over the expected return, even for experienced players.

The ladies also played their Cancer Relief and Simmons Bowl in an event which witnessed a win for Dorothy Davies on 37 Stableford points followed by Jo Davies, 36; Janet Lloyd 36; Jacqueline Williams, 35 and Janet Brunyee, also on 35. Forty one ladies contested the event.

The Crowther Cup was also the focus of attention and was played in two handicap divisions. Winning the Silver division was Hazel Parry with net 73 followed by Shirley Williams 75; Marlene Willetts 77 and Carole Jones also on 77.

The Bronze division went to Angela Miller with net 67 from Ladies’ Vice Captain, Janet Brunyee on 70, Mary Bainbridge on 73 and Greta Jones with 75.

Clays Golf Club supplied members with an excellent choice of competitions this last week with Derek Lyon, our press correspondent from Clays reporting from Torquay where he is on holiday. The GUW Handicap qualifier was played in two divisions and resulted in a first division win for Iwan Bonds with net 65. Second came Clive Davies with 67 followed by Karl Matthias on 68. The second division went to Michael Scott Carnell with a 64 who was in turn followed by Andrew Jones with 67 and Colin Brand on the same numbers. The Shop Sunday Stableford went to Rhys Millington with 37 points off a handicap of two. Steven Evans came in second with 36 and the Gareth Parry on e stroke in arrears for third place.

A combined medal for both ladies and gentlemen was played last Friday with Diane Dare being the overall winner with 65 from Kevin Lee Roberts in second place on 68 followed by Michael Platt on 69. Last Saturday the shop organized their Stableford competition which was won by Danny Williams with an excellent 41 points. Phil Dunning came into second place with 39 with Steve Williams third with 38.

The junior summer Stableford league featured a win for James lee with 40 points from Patrick McHugh on 38 and then Thomas Matthews on 39.

The Ladies Challenge Bowl was also played last Sunday through two handicap divisions. Denise Bromley took division one with net 71 from Anne Richards on 72 and India Friswell on 82. Kim Harcombe was in fourth place with 83. The second division featured a win for Pauline Peacock on 73 with Janet Johnson in second place with 80 and then Rosalind Carman third with 82.

Michael Platt featured in the Sunday Stroke play event by winning with net 67 from Phil Dunning on 70 and Colin Bryan on 71.

Wrexham golf club’s young ladies have again been making an impression on the national scene when, following their successes at the Scottish girls’ Open Championships at Strathmore near Blairgowrie, fifteen year old Chloe Williams and Jessica Jones traveled to Tenby ten days ago for the prestigious Tenby Scratch 36 holes event organized by the Golf Union of Wales.

The trip to Scotland witnessed a team effort from Chloe and Jessica with Georgia Thomas of Tenby golf club as the third member of the squad. Against a par of 72, Chloe came in 4^th position with rounds of 73 and 70 with Jessica lying in 44^th place and Georgia coming in a little further down the field.

On Georgia’s home course on the lovely South Wales coast. Chloe again managed fourth place with rounds of +5 and +1 against the par. Regrettably, Jessica retired unwell before completing the requisite number of holes.

This past weekend the girls traveled to Aberdovey and to Borth for the Mid Wales Girls’ championships, again over 36 holes of play with eighteen at each venue.

This time, Chloe was not to be outdone and following a round of 77 at Aberdovey against a par of 74 and a competition scratch score of 75, she moved to Borth for the concluding eighteen holes.

Now Borth is not the easiest of courses as I have experienced the Welsh Inter Counties there both as a player and a spectator, and following a poor start on the difficult opening holes, Chloe took a couple of birdies out of the golf course and finished with an 81.

That was good enough for her to win the event by a single stroke from Emily Boyman of Pwllheli with Jessica Evans of Newport in third place.

All in all, an excellent start to her very busy season, well done.

The club Past Captains played their Past Captains’ Day last Sunday with a slightly reduced field of twenty players contesting the eighteen holes from the forward yellow tees. With a strong breeze facing the play down the first hole in meant an equally stiff wind in to the long par fours which required a good clout with a metal wood to even finish close to some of the greens in two strokes.

Played as a Stableford competition the third place in whole number terms was a dead heat between Oscar Jones, Cyril Belton and the Club Captain playing as a guest, Mr. Keith Miller.

On back nine holes reckoning, Oscar was the first to go with a sixteen point nine holes against eighteen from Cyril and Keith. Down to the back six and both had thirteen points so the back three came into account on which Cyril had five points and the Captain had seven – third place to the Captain. Second came Bill Taylor with 39 points with the eventual winner being the 2008 captain Nigel Pritchard with 40 points.

Tradition has it that we invite members of the club who had been captains of their previous golf clubs and they were seven in number on this occasion with us all sitting down to a meal in the evening.

A couple of belated results from our ladies were for a match played as long ago as the 6^th of April, namely the GUW medal and Lifeboat competition. Winner of the silver division was Jean Jones with 92 – 16 – 76 from Rita Parry Tunnah on 94 – 17 – 77.

The bronze division was won by Andrea Vaughan Smith with 98 – 27 – 71 followed by Ladies Vice Captain, Janet Brunyee, on exactly the same score and handicap, but a slightly less good back nine holes. Andrea won the lifeboat competition with her net 71 from a total entry of 34 ladies with Gayle Elson scooping the birdie twos to the value of £17.00.

The Vale of Llangollen Veterans’ section played their first match of a two way tie against Caldy for the Caldy Shield in a game played on the valley course. Utilising home course advantage the Llangollen Vets won this first leg by 8 ½ matches to 1 ½ and will be playing Eaton early this very week with results in next week’s issue.

Clays golf club Seniors’ section played Eastham Lodge at home on 13^th of the month with Clays winning by six matches to four. County Captain Tony Harcombe eagled the par four eighteenth hole with five golfers having birdie twos on their travels. The Seniors’ kitty competiton was won by Bill Duncan with 37 points from Ray Martin on 36, Tony Jackson , 34, Den Murphy, 33 and Brian Mercer also on 33. The Seniors’ Pairs betterball Stableford was played off full handicaps a couple of days later with victory going to Baz Jones and Den Murphy on 45 points. Second came Mike Griffiths and George James with 44, third were Tony Harcombe and Roy Jones on 44, with Andrew Mitchell and Brian Downes in fourth pace with another 44 point offering, again separated on the back nion e holes.

The ladies won the first round of the Daily Mail foursomes in the shape of Anne Lee and Jo Beddowes but the ladies’ team lost thir first match against Rhuddlan in the North Wales Charity Shield. Kim Harcombe won the Captain’s drive in with 34 points and Jane Bell took the April Stableford with 34 points.

Twenty eight interested players have submitted their names for consideration for the DGU league teams for the coming season, most of whom enjoyed the warm up session on March 28^th. Eleven pairs played a Stableford competition which was won by Denny Wiklliams and Steve Hart with Alan Garton and PhilDavies as runners up. The first match was aginst  Old Colwyn on Sunday 4^th April which was won by Old Colwyn by six games to two although four of the eight matches went as far as the final green, of which Clays managed only the single win. The next match is against Moss Valley next Sunday.

The Seniors played their following match against Henlle last Sunday and won by the single point whist the Ladies Stableford was won by Jane Bell with 34 points from Denise Bromley with 33 and then Diane Dare on 32.

I successfully negotiated the trip to the Sophia Gardens in Cardiff last Friday for the AGM of the Golf Union of Wales. Despite a rather poor turnout the meeting proved extremely interesting, especially the report from Welsh veteran John Jermaine who is the Chairman of the Ryder Cup committee and a life long member of the Radyr club.

The official Charity for the Ryder cup year is Tenovus which has enjoyed excellent support for the last three years from GUW.

Chief Executive Richard Dixon, and GUW Chairman, Louise Fleet, are both running the London Marathon next Sunday with all their sponsored support going to this good cause.

Peter Alliss always makes me laugh. His commentary on the Masters at Augusta was a master class in understatement and reminiscences drawn for over sixty years associated with the professional game. Son of a famous golfer, Percy Alliss, he was born in Berlin and served a professional at many British clubs before retiring and entering what probably has become the highlight of his illustrious career, that of broadcasting and public speaking. His after dinner speeches are legendary for their composition and wit and never fail to leave his audience hungry for more.

K. J. Choi was strongly fancied on Sunday, the final day of the event, but on one rare occasion found himself in deep trouble and seemed to take ages over his club selection. Realising that he would probably need a ruling from the attendant referee, Alliss queried whether he needed a ruling or a saw, further adding that perhaps a half open umbrella might just be the solution to his problem. Never a good putter by his own admission, his car registration plate reads PUT 3!

Well, Mickelson did the trick in fine style with a convincing win by three strokes, and by playing attacking golf at a time when others were “being patient” as the saying goes. His second shot from behind a pine tree on thirteen will be the stuff of legend as he ripped it over two hundred yards off the pine needles to within five feet of the flag – not really being patient . Two solid pars on sixteen and seventeen and a birdie on eighteen sealed off an excellent 67 for a five under final round and his third green jacket.

Almost by way of apology do we turn to our local courses and the fine weather that has invaded us for the past fortnight? The fairways are lush, the greens fast and courses are at their Spring best.

Wrexham were busy with a Bank Holiday mixed event which attracted forty players and resulted in a win for Gayle Elson and Jon Tym worth 41 points. Second came Della Evans playing with Keith Miller, the club captain, on the better of two 37 point cards, the other offering going to third placed Monica Jones and Cliff Reddington. Ladies Captain Ann Davies partnered Dave Chadwick for 36 points and fourth place.

April’s monthly medal coincided with the Captain’s driving in ceremony at 1.00 p.m. With a crowd of well wishers on the club verandah the Captain, Keith Miller, accompanied by the Vice Captain, John Dwyfor Williams and the new President Jim Johnson, all succeeded in hitting the ball forwards avoiding the pond and the first fairway with the exception of the Captain who struck a fine ball on to the stripes down the middle and, as tradition has it, assured himself of a good year in office.

Winner of division 1 was Phil Guest with an excellent 67 – 2 – 65 from Ian Davies on 71 – 5 – 66 followed by Steve Taylor who returned 76 – 6 – 70. The second division went to Mike Palmer with a fine 73 – 11 – 62 for the lowest net score of the day. Following him came Chris Wade with 76 – 12 – 64 and then Jim Davies on 77- 11 – 66. Division three witnessed a win for Andrew Harper with 81 – 14 – 67 beating Paul Hollinshead,

82 – 13 – 69 into second place and Paul Marubbi, 86 – 16 – 70 into third. Mike O’Keefe handed in 90 – 20 – 70 to win the fourth handicap group from second placed Bryn Edwards on 89 – 19 – 70 and Cliff Hughes with 98 – 28 – 70 for third.

The Vale of Llangollen played their Veterans’ Shield last week in which fifty three players entered the event. Played as an eighteen holes Stableford the winner was Colin Burman with 37 points from Ray Jarvis on 36 and David A. Wright in third place with another 36 point card.

This immediate past Tuesday they played visitors from Shrewsbury in the first match this week, the other being against Caldy on Thursday. The Shrewsbury game ended in favour of the home side by a margin of 8 ½  to 1 ½ .

Clays golf club hosted a seniors’ kitty competition in which fifty three seniors took part, coincidentally the same number as played in the Llangollen veterans’ event. The weather was brilliant and served Joe White very well as he won with 39 points from second placed Maelor Davies, 38, Tony Evans, 36, and then Mike Carding on 34.

The Golf Union of Wales team qualifier saw Mike Jones hand in 41 points from Michael Eaton on 39, Graham Davidson-Clarke on 39, and Colin Brand on the same numbers, all ranked on their back nine holes score.

The Sunday shop Stableford played last Sunday witnessed a win for Danny Williams on 41 points from Michael Platt on 37 and then Lewis Morgan on another 37.

Richard Collier won the Saturday winter league with net 61 from Josh Green on 62 and David Wright who handed in an identical score. The Sunday Winter league went to Kevin Williams with net 51 from second placed Paul William Jones on 51 and then Michael Platt on 52.

This coming Friday, the 16^th April, is the occasion of the Annual General Meeting of the Golf Union of Wales in the Sophia Gardens complex of the Sports Council for Wales a report on which I will add to next weeks column.

An initiative by the Golf Union of Wales introducing a “Golf awareness Week” has been directed at golfers who play the game but are not members of a recognized golf club, and towards people who may have fancied a try at the sport but have found the opportunity has not presented itself in a customer friendly manner. Well, all that is about to change.

Wrexham golf club, along with others in the area, is hosting a Welsh Free Golf Week during which they will be offering “taster lessons” for both ladies and gentlemen. Due to pressure on the course and facilities, the lessons will be at the user friendly time of 6.30 to 7.30 on Tuesday, April 13th and Thursday April 15th. Bookings can be made immediately on 01978 351476, the professional’s shop, where names will be recorded and all completed forms will be entered into a prize winning draw for Ryder Cup Wales practice day tickets.
Speaking with Dillwyn Griffiths of Caernarfon who is the Golf Development Wales officer for North Wales, he expressed his excitement at the number of people who are availing themselves of this opportunity and thoroughly enjoying the experience, so please feel free to join in this experience and enjoy the game as we all do.

Chairman of the Golf Union of Wales, Louise Fleet, has been aware from some time of the number of players who perhaps belong to societies, or play in their own groups as nomadic golfers without a club, traveling from course to course throughout the duration of the summer without a club to call their own. The problem arises with handicaps as players must be a member of an affiliated club to hold a national handicap and play in either club, county or national events. Social golf is excellent but nothing compares with the taste of competition, even in this most civilized of games.

Talking of competitions, the Vale of Llangollen played the first round of their “home and away” fixture against Oswestry golf club for the Eifion Davies Memorial trophy. Eifion was a member of both clubs and a stalwart of the Llangollen Golf Club as it was then known.
He was a county player in the 60’s when the inter county events were very much an “ad hoc” arrangement with little formality, but along with Pat Riley of Llangollen, Oscar Wyn Jones and Graham “Flicker” Williams of Wrexham and Edwin Jones of Ruthin Pwllglas they gave far more than the got in these very enjoyable tussles.

How enjoyable the win by Oswestry by eight matches to four was remains to be seen, but as Phil Coleman, the Veterans’ Press Officer remarked, “we have a mountain to climb when the away leg is played in July.”

Pat Riley also enjoyed an outing partnering his wife Carole in the qualifier for the Bader Cup which now enables them to proceed to the area finals at Birchwood Golf club in Warrington. They led the Stableford event with 38 points from Andrew and Barbara Wright on 37 and John and Cath Firth on 36 for third place.
As with most finals, the Baker final is to be held in Portugal should they win at Birchwood.

Wrexham Ladies Captain Anne Davies hosted her “drive in” event a week last Tuesday which featured a win for the quartet comprising Wendy Roberts, Janet Pritchard, Carolann Jones and Mary Hunter with 49 points. The second placed group were Shirley Williams, Carole Jones, Anne Bale and Janet Edwards with 43 on a card scrutiny. The back nine competition was won by Eve Jenks with 17 points from Margaret Ellis on 15.

The Ladies Welsh Dragon Brooch was contested last Tuesday with the overall victor being Jane Mullett Prandle with an excellent net 65. Divided into separate divisions, Jane won the Silver division followed by Hazel Parry with net 74. The Bronze group went to Sandy Reddington with 70 followed by June Roberts with 73.
The Junior March medal was played at the end of the month with Tom Williams winning the first division with net 68. Sam Higgins came in second with 74. Robert Keenan took the honours in the second division with his score of net 61 followed by James Adamson on 73. Thomas now reduces to nine handicap and Roberts from 38 down to 32.

Clays have had a busy few days with the Senior April medal being won by Maelor Davies on net 71 from Ray Martin , 79, and then Don Wraight with 79 also. The second division went to Cliff Davies on 72 from Joe White, 74, and then Peter Frazer with 76.
The April medal for the club featured a first division win for Steve Parry with 70 from Frank Rodenhurst, 72, and Phil Davies on 73. Rob Brown took the second division with 68 followed by Bob Shotton, 68 and then Michael Carnell on a 70.
The third handicap group was won by Steve Evans with a first class 66 from runner up Ernest Williams, 70 and Ian Barwood, 72.
The shop Stableford played last Sunday went to Paul Fell with 33 points from Gareth Whitely, 32, and Terrance Bull with 30.
In the Junior April medal, Tom Gledhill was the overall winner with net 62 from Paul McCaffrey, 66 and Scott Anderson, 68 whilst the Ladies’ April medal resulted in a won for Kim Harcombe on 74 followed by Sheila Roscoe with 85.

Just over thirty one years ago, the then secretary of Wrexham golf club, Major Peter Hume, made an inspired choice of assistant secretary when he interviewed and appointed Pam Oldfield to the position. With her background in banking, and attention to detail regarding the club day to day accounts, she rapidly became an indispensable part of the club team.
Last week after assisting thirty one captains and seven secretaries, she retired from the club Office. At the annual general meeting she was presented with a cheque from the golf club, a fresh water pearl pendant from the Past Captains, a Life Honorary Social membership and the applause of all the members who appreciated her efforts over such a long period of time.
We all hope that she enjoys along and happy retirement.

It was distressing to hear of the vandalism that occurred at our neighbour club, Clays last week when opportunists broke the retaining chain to several stored buggies and drove them along the back lanes into the fringes of Wrexham town. The damage was considerable but it is the sheer mindless act of stupidity that annoys all golfers and reasonable persons alike.
The results of the past fortnight starting with the seniors Kitty competition which attracted forty three players to the event. John Hughes won the day with 37 Stableford points from Bill Hughes on 36, Keith Jones with 35, Stewart Poole on 34 and the club president Roger Hudson in fifth place with 34. Den Murphy was in sixth place with 33.
The seniors played an individual Stableford a little earlier in the week which featured Den Murphy in the lead with 38 points from Bob Shotton on 37 and Andrew Mitchell third with 35.
The seniors played an away match at Hawarden last Wednesday, and even though the bad weather rather spoilt the day, it held off adequately for Hawarden to take home course advantage and win by 8½ to 3½.

The seniors have enjoyed a vigorous winter league this season and last Sunday was no exception. Winner this week was Michael McHugh with an excellent 43 points to win by eight points from Wyn Williams with Paul Fell third on another 35 but ranked on countback.
The senior March Stableford went to John Hughes with 37 points from second placed Bill Hughes on 35 and M K Jones on the same numbers.
The club Saturday Winter league was played as a non qualifier and resulted in a win for Paul William Jones with 39 points from second placed Andy Evans on 37. Howard Lloyd was in third place with another 37 point card.
The final offering from Derek this week was for the Shop Stableford played last Sunday. Winner was Stuart Rogers with 37 points from Colin Brand on 32 and then Mike Davies with 31.

Wrexham golf club meanwhile were playing the last of their Sunday morning winter league game on a draw for partners basis but arranged with the proviso that none of the leading players are allowed to be paired together. On a sunny morning with a brisk breeze the three leading pairs this week were only separated by a countback as all achieved a very creditable 43 points.
Winners this week were Alan Harris and Phil Tunnah followed by Dave Chadwick and Brian Moffett and then Paul Hogan and Andy Wynne.

In the individual rankings Paul Hogan achieved the almost impossible task of gaining 55 points out of a possible 60 over the ten weeks that the event has run. He led from week two and was rarely challenged winning buy six points from Oli Hughes and Phil Tunnah in that order, both with 49 points.
Jumping from eighth place to fourth came Brian Moffett on 47 with Richard Rawlings in fifth place with the same numbers.
The event had been run and results published by Alan Harris and I am grateful to him for his up to date recording of the event.