Match Report 2015 Appleby Golf Club
Your genial society secretary likes to say (more than once, as ever!), “There are those golf societies that promise good weather on society days out, and there are those that deliver!”.
But yesterday at Appleby, he did indeed deliver once again, as the 17 players that arrived at the club (via varying circuitous routes to the course) were to find. The weather was set to be glorious all day with light winds, perfect!
Before play got under way for the morning round there was a hic-cup with the buggy order, which could have resulted in a game of musical chairs being needed to sort out which of the six people needing a buggy seat were going to get the four seats available, as their only looked to be two buggies working. However, the club did manage to provide a third serviceable buggy in the end, much to the relief of those concerned!
The morning nine holes consisted of seven from the main course supplemented by two from the nine hole Par 3 course, which resulted in the bizarre situation of the Stroke 1 hole being a 135 yard Par 3 across water! Cue another five pointer, courtesy of Warren Murphy on his first outing of the year, with a birdie at the same said hole!
However, scoring an unbeaten total of 20 points, the morning was won by the newly retired Mick Bamber plotting a comeback on the golfing scene (rumour has it Mick is more often seen at the driving range these days than he is at home!). Well done to Mick, also his first outing of the year with the Parrots.....
After a pleasant lunch and liquid refreshment on the sun-drenched patio, it was time for the afternoon round. With the excellent weather conditions, an inviting open aspect course layout and good greens that ran true, many people were anticipating high scoring for the afternoon and so this proved.
Altogether, 13 of the 17 scores were higher than 30 points, with a raft of nine players hitting either 31, 32 or 33 points........ what great handicapping!! But four scores stood out from the rest.
In the first group out was your (apparently!) ‘unpopular’ handicap secretary (still trying to digest his lunch after being one of the last in from the morning) with his nemesis from Portal, Pete Whiteside and Dave Bamber. Sadly Pete couldn’t produce the form he showed at Portal and struggled to 28 points.
Dave on the other hand, completed 9 straight two pointers on the front nine (first time I think I’ve seen that done!) on his way to a popular score for the day of 33 points. However, the early leader in the clubhouse, with a gross 76 for 36 points and no six on the card, was yours truly!
Once again this early lead was to be short-lived. The next group in contained the morning winner Mick Bamber, who having amassed 38 points, duly became the new clubhouse leader and with it the potential to join that select group of morning and afternoon winners. All that time at the driving range looked to be paying off!
However, Mick’s hopes were dashed with news that in the very next group again, big hitting Frank Healey had gone one point better with an excellent score of 39 points! Surely that couldn’t be beaten?!
But of course, myself, Mick and Frank all reckoned without the golfing phenomena that is the ‘Middleton Kid’. Again, from the very next group, Trevor, who had recorded just 10 points in the morning, converted that into 40 points in the afternoon, including an excellent 22 point back nine, to increase the leading score yet again.
With the final group unable to top that, Trevor was confirmed as the winner, making it his second win on the bounce after winning at Kirkby Lonsdale and not playing at Bentham. So congratulations to Trevor, and also Frank, who took second place for the second time this year.
All this good scoring meant many people improved their overall scores in the Championship, not least your ‘unpopular’ handicap secretary who now sits atop the table with a 7 point lead from Mike Barnes and Mark Rhodes making a late bid for glory! Despite his two big wins, Trevor still lurks in mid table having only played four rounds to date.
The good scoring also meant your ‘unpopular’ handicap secretary taking a scythe to handicaps with nine handicap reductions following Appleby and just one increase. These were :-
Trevor Middleton 19 to 17
Frank Healey 16 to 14
Mike Bamber 20 to 19
Glenn Wellard 8 to 7
Jim Clayton 8 to 7
Mark Rhodes 8 to 7
Dave Bamber 11 to 10
Warren Murphy 20 to 19
Tony Johnson 25 to 24
Bill Pye 21 to 22
Just three rounds to go now, with Rossendale being the next chance to make a push up the table on the 26th August. Can Mike keep his promise of good weather one more time? Find out in two weeks time.............
