A Presentation and the first win of the season

Last season I won the English Golf medal and at our club the winner of that also is awarded the Jean Pennington Memorial Trophy, so tonight Bernard Pennington, an ex mayor of Salford came to the club to present me with the trophy along with a beautiful bouquet of flowers.

Earler in the day we held our second competition of the season, another Stableford. it was a little windy and a tad cold but I mostly played very well and came in with 33 points, which in the end proved good enough to win the competition on a card play off.

As is my wont, here is a breakdown of the round.

Hole 1, a reasonable tee shot finished to the left of the green,  a chip to 4 feet and one putt gave me a nice start with a par 3 for 3 points.

Hole 2, I hit the ground behind the ball which fortunately managed to just get through a big bush about 50 yds from the tee, a decent iron followed by a 3 wood left me about 70 yds, I hit what I though was a decent pitch but it got held up just short of the green I putted but left it too short and missed for a 7 and no points. Good work from the first undone immediately.

Hole 3, a good drive and 2nd, left me about 120 from the green, I hit a 6 iron a little left, pin high but in a bunker, out in one but just missed the putt, so a bogey 6 and 2 points.

Hole 4, tee shot a little short, chipped to 10 feet but the putt just missed, bogey 4 and 2 points.

Hole 5, a decent drive and 3 wood left 60 yds, I pitched well but a little short, 2 putts for a bogey 5 and 2 points.

Hole 6, A decent drive and 5 iron left 50yds to the green, I hit a lovely pitch to the heart of the green, just touched a 15 foot downhill putt but it missed the hole and ran 6 feet past, missed the return, so bogey 6 and 2 points.

Hole 7, a poor drive meant I had to lay up short of a dtich, I didn't hit hit too well and had a stand of trees between  me and the green, managed to get it to the fringe but woefully under hit my putt and missed my 2nd, so a double bogey 6 and 1 point.

Hole 8, a good drive and good 3 wood left me about 50yds fom the green, hit a good wedge but a little too long over the back, chipped back on and holed a 6 footer for a par 5 and 3 points.

Hole 9, hit a woeful 8 iron that was right and up a bank, chipped to just short of green, then chipped to 6 feet, missed the putt so a double bogey 5 and 1 point. Again the good work on the previous hole undone.

So front nine in 47 shots for 16 points.

Hole 10,  a good drive and decent 3 wood left me 40 yds, hit a good pitch to 6 feet but putt just stayed out, bogey 5 and 2 points.

Hole 11, iffy drive into trees, 2nd onto fairway and then a decent iron to just short of ditch, 80 yd pitch to the green and 2 putts for bogey 6 and 2 points.

Hole 12, good drive just short of the green, chipped to 10 feet but just missed putt, bogey 4 and 2 points.

Hole 13, a decent drive but to edge of the trees, decent 2nd fom restricted shot to 100 yds, good pitch to front of the green and 2 putts for a bogey 5, 2 shots here so 3 points.

Hole 14, woeful teeshot 45 degrees left into rough, failed to  clear rough, so  3rd shot to short of green, chipped on but missed 10 footer so a triple bogey  6 and no points.  Yet again the 3 pointer on the previous hole, immediately undone.

Hole 15 .Good drive and decent  3 wood left 120 yds to the green, hit a nice iron to the centre of the green, b irdie putt just missed so a par and 3 points.

Hole 16, reasonable drive and fair second to about 40 yds from the green, nice chip to 10 feet, but par putt rimmed the hole so bogey 5 and 2 points.

Hole 17, decent drive but slighty thined second meant the green was out of reach but 3 wood to 40 yds followed by a chip down and 2 putts for a bogey 6 and 2 points.

Hole 18, managed to hit the ground 6 inches befoe the ball and topped it into the ditch, penalty drop and a chip to the green, 2 putts for a double bogey 5 and 1 point.

 So 17 points on the back nine for a toal off 33.

For the 2nd week on the trot, my performance on the par 3s let me down.. I scored 14 points on the par 5s, 10 on the pair 4s and 9 on the par 3s. The thing is last season I played the par 3s well but I  kept messing up my teeshots today (and last week). I also had about half a dozen 2 inch or less tap ins where my first putt just missed, on another day most would have dropped. But being positive, I mostly played well and my first cut of the season can't be far away.

The season starts

Yesterday was the first competition of the new season, more on that later. As a pre-season warmer I have recently played both Formby and Royal Liverpool (Hoylake). Althoguh both are links courses, they are very different. Formby is set within dunes with gorse and pine trees to provide decoration. The holes were,to me, very long, and in all honesty I found it a struggle.

 

Royal Liverpool in contrast is very open with little vegetation, considerably shorter but no less a challenge, with lots of stragically placed bunkers, several of which I found. The course was very dry and  is the venue for the 2014 Open, so it was great to play it. The clubhouse is very traditional and the club's history is proudly displayed.

 

I enjoyed playing Royal Liverpool very much, despite not scoring very well.

 

Back home, I played for the club in the 2nd round of the Mail on Sunday knockout at Hindley Hall GC. I played steadily and won my game 4 & 3, sadly the others in our team were not as successful and we lost the match 3-2.

 

The winter league came to an end, I beat the Lady Captain in the semi finals to reach the final, and this proved to be a very close match with only one hole seperating us right up to the last hole. fortunately I won the last to win the match 2 up.

 

Wednesday this week was the AGM of the ladies section, and I became a member of the committee, there were 3 places available and only 3 candidates, so we were all elected. There were also a few presentations and I received the England Golf medal, a rosebowl for having the most shots off my handicap last year and  I won the prize for the most birdies in the bronze division. I also won a trophy which will be presented by the donor next week.

 

So onto my first round in what is Ellesmere's Centenary Season, a Stableford competition. I set off in the hope for an early handicap reduction, which looked on the cards after the first 8 holes, but sadly I couldnt keep up the good start and finished the round with a rather disappointing 29 points for 5th place. Although fine it was very windy and quite cold but I dont use that as an excuse.

 

For those interested in such things, this is how the round went.

 

Hole 1, Not a good start, I topped a 5 iron which only went about 50 yds, but a good pitch found the green and 2 putts gave me a bogey 4 and 2 points.

Hole 2, I hit a decent decent drive into wind and took out my 3 wood, a club I really couldn't use last year, but one which I have practiced a lot during the winter, sadly I made air shot, completely missing the ball, undeterred I tried again and this time hit it to about 70 yds from the green a pitch  and 2 putts for a double bogey 6 and 1 point.

Hole 3, I hit good driveand then a 5 iron to 130yds from the green another 5 iron was just short of the green, my pitch was a bit short but I holed a 15ft putt for a par 5 and 3 points.

Hole 4, another topped iron off the tee, I pitched just of the green but chipped to  2 feet and holed the putt for a bogey 4 and 2 points.

Hole 5, We are still playing this from a forward tee which means I can drive the ditch that crosses the fairway at about 150 yds, however the drive was  into wind today and I found the ditch, so had to takr a penalty drop, I hit a nice 8 iron to 10 feet and just missed the par putt, so a bogey 5 and 2 points.

Hole 6 I hit a easonable drive and a good 5 iron to 90yds, my pitch went a bit right to fringe, a poor chip and 2 putts gave my a bogey 6 and 2 points

Hole 7 Another decent drive left a  3 wood to the green but I hit it quite wide right, but a chip on 2 putts gave another bogey and 2 points.

Hole 8 A good drive then a good 3wood left around 30yds, I chipped to 2 feet and holed the putt for a birdie 4 and 4 points.

Hole 9, the shortest on the course, and I topped  my tee shot again, straight into ditch,a penalty drop and then topped into ditch again, another drop and a pitch to a foot, sadly a triple bogey and no points

 

So dispite an air shot and 3 penalty drops I finished the first 9 with 18 points

Hole 10, a wayward drive to the right, a recovery left me  150 yds to the green, I hit a 5iron to the leftof the green but a poor chip and 3 putts gave me another triple and no points.

Hole 11, A decent drive and a nice 5 iron to just before the broad ditch left me an 80yds pitch, I found the middle of the green but a poor first putt meant I three putted again for a bogey 6 and 2 points.

 

Hole 12, I took a 3 wood for safety off the tee but topped it, I pu my 2nd into trees and pitched to the fringe of the green, 2 putts for a double bogey 5 and 1 point.

Hole 13, I drove high and left into trees, a poor recovery then a reasonable 3rd, left me 130yds to the green,I hit a nice  nice 5i but found a bun ker at the front of the green, I just got out but 3 putted again for a quad bogey 8 and no points, annoying as I got 2 shots on this hole and failed to make the most if them.

Hole 14, A iron off the tee was better than previous but left me a chip over a bunker, sadly it off back of the green and another 3 putts gave me bogey 5 and 1 point.

Hole 15 A nice drive followed by a decent  3 wood, left me about 140yds to the green, a good 5 iron found the middle of the green and 2 putts gave me a par and 3 points.

Hole 16, A drive to the right finished near a tree and gave me a restrict swing, I hit the ball to about  80 yds from the green was followed by an awful pitch, which left me a chip over a bunker, I hit the green but yet another 3 putts for a triple bogey 7 and no points.

Hole 17 A good drive and  decenty iron left me about 170 to the green, I hit a great 3 wood to the middle and 2 putts gave me a par and 3 points

Hole 18, I finally hit a decent iron off the tee on a par 3, however although pin high I found a bunker and failed to get with the first shot, I got out with the 2nd and then 2 puuts for a double bogey 5 and 1 point.

 

So only 11 points on the back 9 for a total of 29 for the round.

 

Despite the poor back 9, there were a lot of positives, after the airshot, I hit my 3 wood very well, I parred the 3 for the first time in a competition, birdied the 8th for the first time in a comp too, and on the 17th, the longest hole on the course I found the grren in 3 shots for the first time in a competition as well. In fact I played the 6 pars 5s very well and was only one over par for these, which gave me 17 of my points. The downside was my performance on the par 3s which I usually play well, these 6 holes only gave me 7 points. As for the par 4s, well I played the ok on the front nine but failed to score on any of them on the back nine. In my defence I would say that 5 of these were into a stiff wind, unlike the par 5s which were mostly downwind.

 

The good news was that scoring was generally not good and so it was reductions only and my handicap remained at 19.4.

 

 

 

 

New season approachs

Also it is just a year since I started playing again. I that year I have managed to play 28 different courses. One of the most recent was The West Lancashire Golf Club.

West Lancs, is one  of the oldest courses in England and is a typical links course with very punitive rough, I didnt score too badly but 4 poor teeshots into the rough meant 4 holes I didnt score any points on.

So as the title suggests it is now just over  2 weeks to the AGM and then the first competition of the new season the day after.  Before then I still have quite a bit of competitive golf to play. I have managed to win my group in our winter league, so on Tuesday I play the Lady Captain in the semi finals, with the final the following week if I win. There is also the 2nd round of the Mail on Sunday Club Knockout, for which we were drawn away at Hindley Hall, a course I haven't played so the team are going there on thursday to play the course prior to the match next sunday. The following weekend I am playing in a Golf Monthly Forum 2 day meet where we will play Formby one day and then Royal Liverpool (Hoylake) the day after. Hoylake will be the first Open venue I have played so I am obviously looking forward to that. It couldnt be further from the 9 hole public course I played
 just 12 months ago.

I am really looking forward to the new season and am hoping for a decent handicap reduction over the season, although I still worry about consistancy. Last thursday I played 27 holes and had 4 birdies, great going, but the day after I played at Chorlton-cum-Hardy GC and played very poorly, in fact I didnt score less than 5 on a hole until the 17th!

I have another lesson booked before the season starts and hopefully that will set me in good stead.