First-4-Golf

The words “under the weather” seem to have separate meanings if analysed in a literary way. The Euphemism of “under the weather” suggests that of a person in less than perfect health, whilst the literary interpretation conjures mind pictures of a poor soul standing in the middle of a golf course or cricket field with a cartoon cloud hovering over his head and being rained upon from a great height.

The latter I can cope with, but the former caught up with me fine style this past week resulting in long hours gazing at a bedroom ceiling feeling sorry for myself.

Marginally better now, but still confined to the house, the marvels of IT came to the rescue and the basic material for this weeks effort was soon on my desk.

The Colin Hale Junior Open, played at Wrexham Golf Club last Thursday, has gained much from the sponsorship of this generous member of Wrexham Golf Club who gladly adds annual engraved inscriptions to our trophies as the need arises. Colin has been in business as a Jeweller and watch craftsman for over fifty years, taking over from his father T.W. Hale who started the business in Bank Street so many years ago. He provides the prizes at his own expense and much value is placed on the privilege of owning one.

Played through handicap categories in four divisions with the overall winner deemed the Champion golfer, that accolade went to fourteen year old Welsh Boys international Thomas Williams from the home club with an excellent 69 gross, one under par.
This won for Thomas the Colin Hale Trophy and the leading score in the first division.

The second division went to J W Davies of Mold Golf Club with a net 68 with the third group being won by M Davies of Wrexham with a net 61. Harry Jones, also of the Wrexham club took the fourth division with a 67 net.

At adult level the club played a Christmas event in the form of an Am Am with the two best scores from four to count. Winners were R Paul Williams, Chris Marsden, Kevin Matthias and Graham Williams with 91 Stableford points. Second came C Williams, S Evans, A Humphreys and A Edwards with the better of two 87 point cards, whilst in third place we had Jamie Durkin, Tim Jones, Chris Hughes and Matthew Norfolk who lost out on the back nine holes.

Clays golf club played their Senior medal through two handicap divisions last Thursday. Leading the first division came Stewart Poole with 44 points from second placed Andrew Mitchell on 42 and Noel Jones with 40.

The second division went the way of Bo Brown on 39 points followed by Neil Sanger with 38 and or press officerDerek Lyonin third place with his 38 point card.

Co – proprietor Wyn Williams organized Clays’ Past Captains event last Friday which featured a win for current Captain, Reg Peacock with 38 points. Ron Roberts was in second place with 37 points followed by Gareth Roberts in third with 35.

The Club monthly medal was played through three divisions with division one going to Richard Evans with net 65. He was followed by Bill Kelleher with another 65 with Karl Matthias third with 67.

Paul Jeffs took the second division with net 66 from second placed Jack Rycroft on 66 and David Mark Pritchard with 67.
The third group witnessed a win for Neil Gledhill with a net 68. He was followed by Nigel Young on 68 and Ron Matheson on net 70.

The shop Stableford went to Phil Jones with 41 points from second placed Howard Lloyd on 38 and Michael Evans on 37.

The Junior monthly medal was won by Jack Rycroft with a nice net 63 for a six strokes advantage over second placed Patrick McHugh on 69. Matthew Sandoz was in third place with net 71.

The Ladies Tinsel Trail was won byKim Harcombewith 32 points followed by Sheila Roscoe, 31, and Shirley Roberts with 26.

The Vale of Llangollen’s press secretary to the veterans’ section of the club is Phil Coleman who diligently phones me every Sunday at 6.00 p.m. His valued comments are always appreciated because he offers background information about Llangollen trophies that I may not be aware of.

Last week he spoke of the first Turkey Trot for the seniors and also the competition results for the Wallis Putter. The more astute of you will not recall those results appearing in last weeks issue, largely because I forgot just where I had placed the “post-it” notes with his results written on –senior moment I’m afraid, so we begin this week with Phil’s results after finding the offending notes just too late last week.

The Turkey Trot resulted in a win for Mike Edwards with 41 points from second placed Phil Jones on 36 and third placed J. Mike Davies with 35 whilst the Wallis putter went to John McKay with the better of two thirty eight point cards, the second placed offering being owned by Roy Ankers with Mike Delaney third with 37.
That was last week.

This week, the Veterans and the Ladies teamed up for their twelve holes event played as a Greensome Stableford.
Winners were Judy Griffiths and Stefan Koscinski with 27 points from Jean Sylvester and Brian Gresty on 26, only separated from the third placed card of Dee Whiting and Cyril Jones by scrutinizing down to the final three holes of play.

Clays have had a busy week judging by the three pages of results that rolled off my printer, and thanks again toDerek Lyon, past President of the club who serves this column so diligently.

Last Tuesday the seniors played a Canadian Greensome as a pairs Stableford event. Winners were Steve Beech and Noel Jones with 58.5, the .5 resulting in the sum of the handicaps being an odd number to subtract from the total.

Mike Hollins and Tom McGrady were second with 64.5 followed by Maelor Davies and Peter Almond on 63.5 with Ray Martin and Larry Birch fourth with a round 63.

Two days later the seniors played a Texas Scramble which featured Irwin Elkin, Harold Hughes and Keith Jones in the lead with 60.6. Stewart Poole, Brian Jones and Andrew Mitchell were second with 62.7 and they in turn were followed byFred Court, Cliff Davies and Colin Brown on 63.3

The Ladies’ Tinsel Trail witnessed a win for Shirley Roberts on 36 Stableford points from Sheila Roscoe on 32 and Anne Richards with 29 whilst the seniors Stableford of last Saturday went to Peter Lynch and Ray Martin with 48 points from second placed Barry Evans and Noel Jones with 44. Third came Tony Owens and Nick Evans on 43 followed in fourth place by John Kelty and Eifion Jenkins with another 43 point card.

The Junior medal was won by Daniel Thomas Byrne with net 61 followed by Joe Edwards on 67 and then Bradley Edge with 68 whilst the Shop Stroke play for adult player splayed last Saturday featured a win for Noel Popplewell with net 64 from second placed Gareth Parry on 65 and Josh Green on 66.

The Ladies’ second Tinsel Trail was won by Shirley Roberts with 30 points followed by Anne Richards on 27.

The Pro’s shop hosted a Stableford past Sunday which went the way of Danny Williams on 41 points from second placed Mike D Jones on 39 and Allan Caples with 37 and finally from Clays, the results of the Junior Stableford showed a win for Luke Adam Williams on 51 points from second placed Rhys Jones on 47 and Joe Edwards in third place with 44.

Meanwhile at Wrexham we have had the recent midweek November medal in which no less than one hundred and nineteen players took part.

Winner with an excellent gross 72 was ten handicap D Glyn Williams with his net 62. second came Gary Murt on 77 – 14- 63 with Andrew Edwards third on 85 – 22 – 63. Clive Griffiths was in fourth place with 77 – 13 – 64 and Lee Tattum fifth on 73 – 9 – 64.

The Christmas Fayre Mixed Greensome Stableford was played last Sunday and was won by Dorne and Jonathan Tym with 46 points. Second came the club captain, John D Williams and his wife Mair on the better of two 41 point cards, the third placed card being handed in by Ray Bennett and Jacqui Williams. Fourth came Wyn Jones and his wife Shelagh with 39 points.

The ladies played their eighteen holes Christmas Individual Stableford this immediate past Tuesday with Ladies President Hazel Parry leading the field with 33 points on a card play off with Jane Mullett Prandle, also on 33. Pat Purdy scored 32 points for third place in a card play off with Sandie Reddington. There were no birdie twos recorded on the day.

It’s inevitable that outdoor sports are affected by prevailing weather conditions and probably none more so than golf where distance is a premium and accuracy a necessity.
In attempting the former, the latter usually suffers and the player, if not experienced, immediately assumes that the ball must be struck harder to counteract the wind.

For most right handed players, the wind from the left to right direction presents the most problems as approximately 70% operate with a strong fade, (to be kind) or a slice, (to be honest) and the sight of the ball careering over the boundary hedge is a familiar one indeed . The obvious answer is a visit to your club professional for whom there is no substitute, and hopefully takes the lesson on a day when the wind is up to its tricks.
The second choice is to read the teaching manuals which advise not to hit it harder, but to hit it better; therein lies the answer. The late great Sam Snead, when asked about playing in wind, merely said “I watch it for longer, and play only at about eighty per cent effort, and swing as smoothly as I can”. He was one of the best adverse weather players who ever played the game, so off you go!

This last week has been a week which condensed about three of the four seasons into seven days, only snow failing to make it into the overall picture. Despite all that the Vale of Llangollen veterans managed to play their final and twenty fourth match of the season, this time against Rhuddlan, at Rhuddlan.
The results was a win for the Flintshire club with a 9 ½ to 2 ½ victory, overturning the time when the event was played earlier in the season at Llangollen.
The veterans also played the F. C. Jones trophy in which fifty eight players contested the event. Winner with 74 – 6 – 68 was recent member Don Findlay followed by Cyril Jones on 86 – 18 – 68 and then Glyn E. Davies with 91 – 22 – 69.

Clays seniors introduced a novelty scoring system for their game last Tuesday, 11th October. Using the winners as an example, the three competitors returned 86 points in an event which the best two Stableford scores counted. The twist came when the winners, Reg Parry, Mike Carding and Tom McGrady had to swap handicaps for the match. Reg Played off Mike’s 14 handicap; Mike played off Tom’s 23, and Tom played off Reg Taylor’s handicap of 15 – all good fun I’m sure.
Second came Bill Parry, Mike Hollins and Ron Pierce with 82 points.

The following Friday saw the latest ladies and seniors’ mixed team event which was played in threes – one lady with two men, all scores counting off 7/8 handicap
The best individual ladies’ score was by Leslie Holland (35 points) with seniors’ captain Bob Brown being the best man on 38 points.
The runners up in the team event with a combined 97 points were Kim Harcombe, Eifion Jenkins and Keith Jones with the winners, Leslie Holland, Mike Hollins and Brian Jones returning an excellent 104 points.

The yellow ball event of last Thursday went to Bill Parry, Colin Brown, Ernie Williams and Bill Duncan with 178 points followed by Ray Jones, Ron Pearson, Neil Sanger and Richard Key with 172.

The Shop Strokeplay played last Saturday went to Josh Green with 63 – 0 – 63 followed by Terrance Anthony Bull with 81 = 14 – 67 and then Neil Gledhill on 89 – 21 – 68.
The Junior Stableford played last Sunday resulted in a win for Jordan Pearson with 37 points from second placed Joe Edwards on 37 and then Stephen Davies with yet another 37 point card in third place.
Running on the same day, but with different starting times, was the Shop Stableford which witnessed a win for Nigel Davies on 42 points from second placed Kenny Hughes on 38 and Tim Broster with 38.

Wrexham hosted a four man Texas Scramble earlier in the month which resulted in a win for Andy Moth, Andrew Bostock, Mike Palmer and Kevin Bostock with net 53.8. Second came the quartet of Stuart Fisher, Adrian Maddocks, Steve McKevitt and Jamie Durkin with 54.1.
On 54.4 came Chris Hughes, Tim Jones, Rod Fieldhouse and Rhys Millington whilst in fourth place came C Davies, H E Davies, R Huxley and D Duffield with 54.9

Last Saturday was the occasion of the Christmas Fayre Better Ball Stableford which featured a win for Andy Wynne and A Jones with 46 points. Second came M Williams and C Sharley with the best of three 45 point cards, third place being claimed by D Humphries and P Thomas, and fourth by M Lowe and R Alexander.

The Junior Stableford of last Sunday went the way of Lewis Mackenzie with 37 points, a score replicated by harry Jones and one better than third placed Daniel Lloyd who was equaled by fourth placed brother Jamie Lloyd. Morgan Davies came fifth with 35, the same score as leading junior girl Becky Darlington in sixth place.

This coming Sunday is the match between a team selected by the Captain, John D Williams, and that of the Vice captain, Colin Graham which is traditionally followed by a meal in the clubhouse.

As the mini heat wave of two weeks ago reverts to seasonal normality with cooler days and high winds, golf continues as best as possible amongst the detritus left by leaves and broken branches that are occupying the time of at least one green keeper per club.

Wrexham played their annual match between the Past Captains of the club and a team selected by the current Captain, Mr. John D. Williams.
Traditionally played of the yellow boxes and from preferred lies, discretion was allowed to each match to decide whether to take advantage of the preferred lies option as the club only embark on them formally on a date agreed between the Course chairman and the Head green keeper. This date, though imminent, was only decided at a meeting last Monday evening and has yet to be disclosed to the general membership.

High winds no doubt favoured the younger element of the Captain’s team but in turn was balanced out to a certain degree by the experience of the generally more mature past captains.
With two matches still out on the course, the result was evenly balanced at 3½ each, but a late surge by the final player s for the Captain’s side resulted in an overall result of 5½ to 3½ in favour of the Captain.

The Wednesday medal attracted a full field only restricted in numbers by the fading daylight at this time of year. With dusk cloaking the course at about 6.45 p.m., the latest sensible starting time was about a quarter to three and as a result prizes were awarded to the top eight places instead of the customary ten.
Winner of the straight through result was John Michael Davies with 79 – 13 – 66 from second placed Mike Greenly who returned 84 – 17 – 67, a score replicated by third placed Brian Leach whose net 67 was the result of 93 strokes off a handicap of 26.

Richard Derosa was in fourth place with 86 – 18 – 68 followed by Terry Hughes, 87 – 19 – 68; Martin Lloyd Roberts, 90 – 22- 68; Gilbert Hunt, 81 – 20 – 69 and Steve Elson with 89 – 20 – 69.

The Vale of Llangollen veterans played their Fred Wright trophy in which fifty seven players took to the course. Winner was Gordon Jones with 91 – 23- 68 from Colin Wright on 88 – 20 – 68 and third placed John A. Pritchard with 90 – 20 – 70.
The second leg of a two match fixture with Mile End golf club resulted in a neat half at five matches each when played at the Vale of Llangollen, but the previous result at Mile End brought the overall 2011 result over the two legs to a win for Mile End by 14 to 6.

A home match against Eaton also produced a five match draw also.

Clays played their October medal for senior golfers on Tuesday 4th October with M K Jones winning the first division with 39 Stableford points. Though administered as a medal, the event as you can see favoured the Stableford scoring system.
Dennis Murphy came second with 38 followed by Bill Kelleher on another 38 point card.
The second division went the way of John Kelty on 36 points followed by Geoff Morris on 36 and Barry K. Evans with 34.

The Seniors Texas Scramble featured a win for the three ball comprising Ray Martin, Reg Taylor and Dave Riley with 64.2. second were Brian Jones, Brian Felgate and Bill Hughes on 64.4.
Last Saturday the Shop hosted a Bogey event which was won by M. K. Jones with a score of four up on Bogey. Paul Venn was runner up with 3 up and Andy Matthews was third with the same score.

The Shop Stableford of last Sunday witnessed a win for Danny Williams with 40 points followed by Noel Popplewell on 37 and Justin Bull with 37.

Golf Union of Wales have this week circulated the information regarding voting procedures for candidates for the two vacancies for Flintshire and Denbighshire which have occurred due to the completion of periods of co-options by two existing members. There is a vacancy for one gentleman and one lady, and candidates must have the support of their county Unions to permit their names to go forwards to the ballot.

Further to last week’s report, may I thank everyone who attended the funeral of Malcolm Edwards last Monday morning in their various capacities either as friends or members of the golfing fraternity who collectively made such an impression on his closest family? His wife Jacquie, son Roy, and daughter Tina would like me to express their appreciation of the loyalty shown at this sad time.

In the meantime the Wrexham club was busy with seasonal golf of the social variety now that the finals have been resolved for another year. Starting with a rather belated result, the final of the R C Roberts Scratch competition for junior members witnessed a win for Lewis Jones with a thirty six holes total of 144 with Sam Higgins runner up on 151.
The Hilda Roberts net competition which runs concurrently with the scratch was won by Chris Tym on net 134 followed by Lewis Jones on 136.
The October Junior medal for both Boys and Girls was played last Sunday, and in the first instance was won by Thomas Williams with an excellent score of 68 – 4 – 64 against a par of 70. His handicap now has dropped to three.
Lewis was in second place with 71 – 4 – 67 and Jack Waters was third with 77 – 10 – 67.

The girls’ event was won by Lucy Jones who was also the winner of the second division of the overall competition. She handed in 87 – 20 – 67 and was followed by Rhian Barton with 104 – 26 – 78 and then Ellie Waters who returned 131 – 36 – 95 for third place.

The Mens’ medal was played last Saturday but as a straight through event and not separated into handicap divisions. The leading ten net scores all receive awards for their skill and at least the results take on a fairer view.
Mike Palmer , who featured as winner of the Hospital Cup two weeks ago on Finals’ day, led the event with 71 – 10 – 61 to win by five strokes from second placed Phil Thomas with 73 – 7 – 66 and six from Peter Wynn who handed in 80 – 13 – 67. Colin E. Jones was fourth on 78 – 11 – 67 with Mike Hamer fifth on 74 – 6 – 68. Sixth place went to Alan Harris with 79 – 11 – 68 with J M Davies seventh on 82 – 13- 69, a score exactly replicated by Richard Bayliss who scored 82 – 19 – 69. John Webster was in ninth position with his card reading 88-19 – 69 and finally in the awards race came Richard Williams with 87 – 18 – 69.

The ladies played their qualifying medal a week last Tuesday witnessing a win for Cynthia Davies with 88 – 20 – 68 with Sue Lightwood runner up with 85 – 15 – 70.
Last week the event was a qualifying Stableford with Jo Davies taking the honours with 36 points from Mary Bainbridge on 33.

The Vale of Llangollen veterans enjoyed playing their G V Roberts Cup in which no less that fifty five players took part. The winner was John Leighton with 41 points from second placed Reg Jerman on 40, and then John H Clarke on the same score but ranked on back nine holes numbers.

Clays enjoyed a very busy week, faithfully recorded by Derek Lyon their press officer whose notes are always appreciated.
An individual Stableford played last Tuesday resulted in a win for Larry Birch with 40 points from second placed Dave Talbot on 39, Tony Jackson with 38 and Mike Turner on 36.
The ladies monthly medal went to Anne Richards with 90 – 16 – 74 from second placed Diane dare on 100 – 25 – 75 and then Sheila Roscoe with 111 – 31 – 80.
The Seniors’ individual Stableford of last Thursday was won by Reg Taylor with 42 points from second placed Mike Turner on 41, and Peter Frazer with 40.

The club October medal was played last Saturday and featured a first division win for Andy Matthews with 71 – 9 – 62. He was in turn followed by Mike Warburton on 73 – 9 – 64 and then Graham David Jones with 76 – 10 – 66.
The second division saw Jordan Pearson return 76 – 12 – 64 to win by one stroke from Bill Kelleher with 77 – 12 – 65. Robert A. Brown was third with 81 – 16 – 65. David Jones led division three with 91 – 27 – 64 from second placed Ian Stent on 83 – 18 65 and then Gary Ryan with 88 – 21 – 67.

The junior monthly medal went to Victoria Raffle with a tight score of 84 – 25 – 59. Ryan Burnett handed in the second placed card with 94 – 34 – 60 with Matthew Bate in third place with 91 – 29 – 62.
The Shop Stableford played on 2nd October featured M K Jones in the winners enclosure with 41 points. Bill Kelleher was second with 38 points and Anthony McAllister third with another 38 point card.

The local golfing community, and wider afield into the Denbighshire Golfing Union, North Wales golf and the Golf Union of Wales will be shocked and saddened to hear of the death of R. Malcolm Edwards of Wrexham Golf Club, one of the most competent and popular golfing characters to have played the game over the last fifty years.

Originally a member of Llangollen golf club when it was a nine holes golf course, Malcolm joined Wrexham in 1967 / 68, about the same time as myself, and quickly established himself as a serious low handicap player. We both started playing for the Denbighshire scratch team in 1974 and amassed well over sixty matches each for the Denbighshire team against the other North Wales counties. Our affinity was such that we were almost constantly drawn with each other to play in the morning foursomes and, as long as I did as I was told, we accumulated a very fair share of wins playing in this format.

Malcolm was always a far better stroke player than a match player despite representing North Wales as recently as 2007 in Seniors golf, and playing for Wales in the Seniors’ Home internationals in the nineties. Totally unflappable, he was a model of an effective if untutored swing, but his tee shots with their characteristic soft draw were a joy to behold and, coupled with a razor sharp short game, he was a very difficult man to beat.

In 2008 he was awarded a long service Merit award by the Denbighshire Golfing Union and never has it been more justifiably earned. He played in our Saturday morning fourball for over thirty five years and if the usual “over the shoulder” throw up of the balls meant that you were drawn with Malcolm, the half a crown was as good as safe.

Wrexham golf club has lost a wonderful golfer and a true friend.

Malcolm’s funeral is at Wrexham Crematorium next Monday at 10.30 a.m.

Still with the Wrexham club, last Sunday was the occasion of the club Finals day when all of the match play knock out events were decided on the one day with but a couple of events played on the previous day when finalists were playing in more that two finals.

Giving every match the credit it deserves, it was inevitable that both the mens’ and ladies’ finals were the featured events of the day.

The mens final was between Alyn Torrence and Rod Fieldhouse, both players off a plus one handicap. Alyn was the DGU scratch champion in 2010 and Alyn was the 2011 champion. Alyn won the scratch cup at the club and Rod was the runner up but this was a rare occasion for them to meet in thirty six holes of match play.

The morning round saw Rod go into lunch with a two holes advantage, but the final reckoning saw Alyn win the championship but the same amount. The club captain, John D. Williams, who refereed the final, commented at the evening presentation at the wonderful standard of golf exhibited by both players.

The ladies’ final was between Jo Nicolson, nine times winner of the event, and sixteen year old Welsh international golfer Chloe Williams, daughter of club professional Paul Williams. At lunch Chloe was three upon Jo and increased the score to seven up before losing the twenty seventh hole to go back to six, but never the less emerged the winner at the end of an excellent match refereed by Lady Captain, Janet Brunyee.

The other matches to be decided are recorded as follows with the winners name first.
Dr Geoffrey Williams Cup; Brian Bell and Paul Thomas.
Hospital Cup; Mike Palmer and Andrea Vaughan Smith.
Whitley Salvers; Mike Norton and Helen Milner against Barry and Wendy Roberts.
Ladies McAlpine; Hazel parry and Gayle Elson.
Gresford Cup; Charlie Blackburn and Ken Bayley.
Dougie Williams; Cup; Dave Muir and Mike Verburg.
F D Williams Salver; Matt Waters and Jamie Lloyd.
Junior Mc Alpine trophy; Thomas Williams and Sam Higgins.
Shelley Tankards; Andy Wynne and David S. Jones against Glyn Williams and Tony Darlington.
Lambert Salver; Angela Miller and Andrea Vaughan Smith.
Derby Cups; Barry and Wendy Roberts against Mike Norton and Helen Milner.
Daily Mail Foursomes; Andy Moth and Mike Palmer against Keith Miller and Dave Phillips.
Millennium Trophy; Dorne Tym and Gayle Elson against Anne Roberts and Marlene Willetts.

Chirk golf club professional Chris Hodges held his Chris Hodges Open Championship in aid of Cancer research at the club on 17^th September. The event realized over £1200 for charity through a raffle and charity auction. Chris thanks the sponsors and prize donors for their support.

Winners were Dale Williams and Josh Williams with 47 points from Ian Evans and Darren Ellis, also on 47, with Haydn Jones and Paul Jones in third place with 46.

Mike James and Mike McCarthy were in fourth spot with 45, a score replicated by Roland Jones and Mike Hayner who were fifth. In all one hundred and fifty four players contested the event.

Clays golf club reports the results of last Thursday’s Stableford event which was won by Peter Fey, Cliff Davies and Tom McGrady with 79 points, obviously recording the best two scores from three. Second came Andrew Mitchell, Peter Almond and Reg Taylor with 78 with Joe White, Bill Duncan and Larry Birch third with 75.

On the same day the Clays seniors travelled to Chirk for their match and lost by the narrow margin of 4½ to 3½.

Last Saturday was the occasion of the Invitation Day which was played off 3/4 handicap as a Stableford event. The winners were Mike Carnell and John Sellwood on 44 points followed by Lady Vice captain Ann Lee and Malcolm J. Edwards with 43 and the Shaun Benson and Steve Custaldo on 42.

The shop Stableford played last Sunday featured a win for Jordan Pearson on 41 points from second placed Michael McHugh on 39 and then Justin Bull on another 39.

The Vale of Llangollen played their Veterans’ Cup in which sixty players competed. Winner was Peter Williams with 82 – 17 – 65 from Brian Wright on 84 – 17 – 67 and then John McKay with 82 – 13 – 69.

Without a doubt, Senior sections of golf clubs are the ones that gain most value for money for their subscription due to the time available to them to actually play the game, regardless of the time spent socializing in the clubhouse which is an added bonus.

The next level of participation is the weekly visit to host clubs to play in their seniors’ Open competitions. The files in the club corridors actually bulge with A4 sheets of advertisements sent out by clubs to publicise their events, and the response is nothing short of phenomenal.

Many senior golfers over the age of fifty five think nothing of playing in as many as fifteen open events during the season, travelling to adjacent counties for favoured events with Cheshire and Shropshire being added to North Wales counties for added choice.

Last Thursday it was the turn of Wrexham to act as hosts, and the club attracted a full field of players from all of the above areas with the Chester clubs of Curzon Park, Upton, Vicars Cross and Eyton being supported by the Shropshire players from Oswestry, Shrewsbury, Mile End, Market Drayton and Henlle along with regulars from Montgomeryshire and Meirioneth as well.

Good weather but a blustery wind was the order of the day with rain threatening, but not arriving, even late into the afternoon.

Winners on the day, and utilizing local knowledge, were home club players Paul Marubbi and G Padfield with 47 Stableford points off three quarters of handicap allowance. Again from Wrexham, the runner up were Dave McClintock and Derek Collis on the better of two 46 point cards, the third placed offering being the one handed in by Peter Brand and Alan Prandle.

David Jones and Oscar Jones came in fourth with 43, a score replicated by visitors.

T Steele and L Leake who had a less good back nine holes. The best visitors, with the exception of the above prize winners, were D Marchant and J Rigby with 44 points.

Still at Wrexham, the ladies played their Daily Mail Foursomes qualifier which witnessed a win for Janet Brand and Mary Bainbridge with 32 points from second placed Hazel Parry and Sandie Reddington on 29. A supplementary fourball competition played on the same day resulted in a win for Janet Lloyd and Jean Jones in a card play off with Pauline Archer and Tessa Hughes.

This coming Sunday is the occasion of the playing of all the match play Finals culminating in the establishment of both a ladies’ and mens’ champions, and every combination of singles and fourball events making up the full programme of summer knockout competitions which conclude this day.

Clays golf club played their Finals last weekend on a course which was presented in tip top condition. Paul Fell played superbly well in the final of the scratch cup on Saturday to defeat Josh Green, and then beat David Parry on the Sunday in the Challenge Cup to complete a fine weekend of golf.

Noel Popplewell beat Bill Kelleher in the J.C.B. trophy and Neil Lloyd Richards finally overcame a strong challenge from junior golfer jack Rycroft to win on the nineteenth hole of their match.

In the seniors’ championship Dave Lambert defeated Colin Brown, and at the opposite end of the age divide, Bradley Edge beat Jamie Lee to win the junior match play event.

The ladies’ Aber Rose Bowl was won by Pauline Peacock who beat ladies’ vice captain, Anne Lee, whilst in the better ball competitions, Jane Bell and Lady Captain Diane Dare beat Kim Harcombe and Sheila Roscoe in the ladies event with Mike Jones and Rob Brown eventually overcame father and son duo of Wyn and Steve Williams on the nineteenth hole in the gentlemens’ competition.

Ray Martin and Nigel Moore triumphed once again in the Seniors’ Pairs event beating Tony Jackson and Don Wraight, whilst the Gem Trophy final recognised a win for Jack Rycroft and Josh Green over Paul Williams and Martin Jones.

The mixed foursomes were won by mother and son combination of Anne and Jamie Lee who defeated Jane Bell and Dave Riley.

Prior to the Saturday finals, a shotgun start was applied to a Stableford competition for non finalists which was won by Jonathan Falcus with 39 points beating Steve L Williams on 38 and Ron Roberts with 37.

Last Tuesday was the day of the Seniors Stableford which was played in very blustery conditions for the duration of the event. Winner was Bill Duncan with 33 points on count back from Den Murphy on 33 and then Fred Court with 31.

Last Thursday the Seniors Texas scramble was won by Fred Court, Irwin Elkin, Bob Jervis and Mike Carding on 54.3. Harold Hughes, Nick Evans, Peter Fey and Joe White were second with 59.9 followed by Brian Downes, Neil Sanger, Frank Harrington and Reg Taylor on 60.1

Four years ago a thirteen year old member of the Vale of Glamorgan golf club travelled up to North Wales to play in the Clwyd Championships at Wrexham and Prestatyn golf clubs. Regular readers of this column will know that the event is over seventy two holes of thirty six each day at each of the two clubs, played off the championship tees, with pin position set out to test the majority of category one players to the limit.

He won by ten strokes from some of the best in the principality and elsewhere and won again for good measure in 2010.

Last Sunday, now seventeen, Rhys Pugh wrote himself a chapter in the history of the Walker cup by being the youngest player in both sides competing in the event, and won three points out of three with supreme confidence and suitable modesty. When interviewed by Hazel Irvine for the B.B.C coverage of the event from Royal Aberdeen, Rhys was almost embarrassed at his own success as he replied to her questions.

The first day foursomes did not include Rhys, but he played in the afternoon singles, the Sunday morning foursomes and the final afternoon singles winning all three encounters with steady golf and mastery of extreme conditions that belied his tender years.

Welsh golf is in good hands!

Nearer home, Clays golf club played their Shop Sunday Stableford event on 4^th September which resulted in a win for club captain Reg Peacock with 41 points from second placed David Riley on 40 and then Josh Green on 37.

The Junior September medal went to George Preston with 94 – 36 – 58 followed in turn by James Lee, 74 – 9 – 65 and Matthew Bate on 99 – 33 – 66.

The Seniors’ September medal was played through two handicap divisions with the lower division going to Ray Martin on 80 – 9 – 71 with Dave Lambert following close in arrears with 84 – 13 – 71, the players being ranked only on the manner in which they scored on the back nine holes of play. Don Wraight was in third place with 82 – 10 – 72.

The second, higher division featured a win for Mike Hollings on 88 – 22 – 66 with Neil Sanger in second place with 88 – 21 – 67 and Brian Mercer third with 91 – 23 – 68.

Past captain Mike Copperwheat involved himself in an Eclectic competition which this year, to date, has Andrew Mitchell leading with 65 – 7 – 58 followed by David Lambert on 65 – 7 – 58 and Bill Kelleher with 68 – 7 – 61.

Last Saturday the Clays Captains’ Charity Day took place at the club in the form of a pairs event with a separate par three competition where both scores counted. Winners of the par three competition were Lawrence Highton and Rob Brown with 14 points.

The overall winners of the main event were Bill Kelleher and Keith Jones with 45 points, a single point ahead of runners up Ricky Comber and Stu Woolrich on 44.

Nearest the pin on the fifth hole was Jack Rycroft.

An auction of promises was held during the prize presentation which raised over £1000 which brought the total amount for the day for the nominated charities (Family Friends, Home Start and Cancer Research) to more than £4200. Captains Reg Peacock and Diane Dare thanked all the players, sponsors, players and auction bidders for their contributions in making this an enjoyable day which had been so beneficial to their charities.

In the meantime, Wrexham hosted their September medal which featured an overall win for past captain Fred Whitehead with 87 – 21 – 66. He was hotly pursued by Llew Vaughan Humphreys on 82 – 15 – 67, a score replicated by Robert P Williams with exactly the same numbers but ranked on the back nine holes scores.

Matthew Roberts secured fourth place with 77 – 9 – 68 with Alyn Torrence in fifth position with 68 – 0 – 68 and a handicap on now +0.6.

Junior Captains day witnessed a best gross for India Friswell with a 73 whist the boy’s prize winner was Rob Keenan on net 64 from Sam Postle as runner up on 65.

Six handicap Jessica Jones took the girls prize with net 70 from Ellie Waters on 76.

The forthcoming Inter County championships takes place at Borth and Ynyslas next Sunday with five of the six selected Denbighshire players coming from the ranks of the Wrexham elite.

Kevin Matthias, Alyn Torrence, Rod Fieldhouse, Ashley Griffiths and Jamie Durkin will be joined by Josh Lloyd of the Abergele club for a practice round on Saturday 17^th and then two medal rounds on Sunday. We wish them well.

Finally this week the Ladies medal final resulted in a win for Jean Jones with net 73 from runner up Mary Bainbridge on net 75.

The Ladies’ Stableford final went to Kath Norman with 36 points followed by Bea Evans on 31.

Wednesday this week, Padeswood and Buckley golf club host the final of the national Centenary Foursomes for ladies with competitors from all over Wales contesting the event. Hopefully the weather will have calmed down a little to produce pleasant playing conditions.

Last Thursday was the occasion of the 2011 D.G.U. President’s day competition which was played at Clays golf club by permission of co-proprietors Wyn Williams and David Larvin.

The course was in truly excellent condition and each of the affiliated clubs in the Denbighshire Golfing Union sent along four representatives to compete in the competition for the President’s Trophy.  The event was inaugurated by Gwyn Lewis of Ruthin Pwllglas during his tenure as County president for the 1997 -98 period and the concept is quite simple in that each club sends their captain, vice captain, president and secretary to compete in Am-Am scoring, i.e. the two best net scores per hole. If any of the formal officers of the club are unavailable then a senior member of the organization deputises instead.

With a day of weather that had not been of such quality for a fortnight, the competition started just before lunch time and finished at about 6.p.m. with all teams in the clubhouse. As well as the club teams, the Denbighshire past Captains field a team as does a select group representing county officials and a guest team selected by the president who this period of two years is Wyn Mostyn of the Plassey golf club.

The evening meal provided a backdrop for the presentation, and a draw was also held in favour of the president’s charity, the Wrexham Maelor Hospital League of Friends.

Birdie twos were obtained by Ruthin Pwllglas golf club and theCountyCaptain’s team with the DGU team actually securing two shares as a result of their efforts.

The best score on the par three holes went to Clays golf club with a score of 28 points and the longest drive to Stuart Parkinson, the president’s son in law and guest for the day.

As is the custom at Clays, the nearest the pin competition occurs on the short fifth hole and Thursday was no exception with County Captain, Terry Dodd of Chirk placing his ball a mere 21 inches from the flagstick.

Winners of the Presidents Trophy for affiliated clubs was won by the Wrexham team of Captain, John D. Williams; Vice captain, Colin Graham; Senior Past Captain, Oscar Wyn Jones and club Secretary Manager Richard West with a total of 88 points.

Second came Ruthin Pwllglas with 84 and in third place theCountyCaptain’s team with 83.

The card scrutineer for the event was Clay’s captain Reg Peacock and the draw realized the sum of £330 for the Hospital League of Friends.

The day previously the Wrexham golf club had hosted their midweek September medal with prizes moving away from the conventional four handicap divisions in favour of awards to the top ten net scores, regardless of divisional allegiance. The idea is simple in its concept – the prizes now go to the ten best scores regardless of handicap rather than the first three places in each division whatever they returned on their scorecards.

As a consequence, this match winner was David Furmston with 82 – 19 – 63 followed by D Glyn Williams on 75 – 11 – 64; Ian Davies with 71 – 6 – 65; Keith Baines, 77 – 11 – 66; Paul Hollingshead, 77 – 10 – 67; Wayne Jones with 80 – 13 – 67; Ryan Thomas, 85 – 18 – 67; Dewi Sides, 72 – 5 – 67; Michael Jones, 88 – 21 – 67 and Gareth O Jones with the tenth score of 80 – 12 – 68.

The par for the course remained at 70 with the competition standard scratch working out at 69.

Last Sunday the Wrexham ladies played their Golf Union of Wales medal through two divisions with the Silver division going the way of Shelagh Jones with 91 – 19 – 72 followed by runner up Pam Valentine on 78 – 5 – 73.

The Bronze division was won by Kath Norman with her score of 89 – 23 – 66 and she was followed by Mary White on an undisclosed score.

Last Tuesday a larger field played the GUW medal in conjunction with the Breakthrough Cancer Brooch. Winner of the brooch and the Silver division was Jackie Williams with 90 – 20 – 70 from Janet Brand on 86 – 14 – 72.

The Bronze division was won by Jo Davies on 92 – 22 – 70 from runner up Maureen Cox with 107 – 33 – 74.

The County Junior Championships takes pride of place this week as Wrexham Golf Club hosted the event for this calendar year. The DGU secretary, David Ethelston, noted that the golf course was in first class condition and that the boys had taken full advantage of this fact by posting a range of low scores. The older boys were edged out of the two top spots by younger competitors with Jamie Lloyd of the home club taking both the championship and the Under 16 cup. Defending champion Thomas Williams was runner up and also winner of the Under 14 cup. He might just have won had he not submitted a wrong score card following confusion over playing a provisional ball. In what is principally a scratch competition, Chris Tym recorded the day’s best score in the handicap category with a net 64.

The club captain John D. Williams acted as starter for the event and junior committee members Andrew Lloyd and Mair Williams assisted. Club Manager Richard West was on hand to assist Mr. Ethelston, and club professional Paul Williams kept the scoreboard up to date as the day progressed. Also in attendance were County Captain Terry Dodd of Chirk Golf Club, Team manager Janis Langdon of Abergele and Life Vice President Gwyn Lewis of Ruthin Pwllglas.

The detailed results record that Jamie Lloyd returned 73 – 4 – 69 to win the event with Thomas Williams, 75 – 4 – 71 winning the under 14’s and being runner up in the Under 16 and 18 categories. Daniel Lloyd of Wrexham, 76 – 8 – 68 was runner up in the under 14’s and third in the under 16 group with Chris Tym holding fourth in the under 16’s and returning the best net score of the day with his 76 – 12 – 64. Lewis Jones of Wrexham was third in the under 18’s with 75 – 5 – 70 whist Jack Cade of Clays Golf Club became runner up and best net in the under 18 group with 91 – 24 – 67.

The County Secretary would like it to go on record that all competitors had registered for the event with a clear half hour to spare and that all had displayed impeccable standards of etiquette and behaviour. Well done.

Clays Golf Club played a Seniors’ Kitty competition yellow ball which was won by the threesome comprising Mike Turner, Peter Almond and Geoff Morris with 147 points from runners up Gerry Wooster, Eifion Jenkins and Ken Lawrence on 142. The Individual Stableford of last Thursday was won by Brian Mercer with 40 points from second placed Peter Almond on 35 and Barry Dare with 31.

In their match with Old Padeswood, the Seniors won by a margin of 7½ to 2½.

The summer quarterly medal competition which included medal winners from the months of June, July and August were invited to take part. Winners of the club, seniors, juniors and ladies were all competing with tee times allocated based on a random draw.

Bob Brown the Seniors’ Captain acted as starter and the winners were presented with their awards by Club Captain Reg Peacock at the conclusion of play.

Conditions were not easy with gusty winds and frequent showers but some excellent scores were returned. Overall winner was Richard Collier with a net 69 from Tom Gledhill who handed in a net 70. scores of 71 were owned by Ernie Williams, Mike Warburton, John Scott and Ian Barwood.

Ann Lee won the ladies’ Welsh Dragon Brooch with 82 – 12 – 70 from second placed Rosalind Carman with 104 – 29 – 75 and then Diane dare who returned with 100 – 25 – 75.

The Club Saturday medal went to Patrick McHugh with 74 – 8 – 66 followed by Noel Popplewell on 73 – 7 – 66 and Iwan Bonds with 76 – 9 – 67, whilst the Tom and Kathleen Jones Trophy was won by John Michael Humphreys with 40 Stableford points from Noel Popplewell on 38 and David Lang with another 38 point card.

This week, Clays host the County President’s Day on Thursday when County President Wyn Mostyn of the Plassey Golf Club entertains four members of the administration of each of the clubs in the Denbighshire Golfing Union.