Match Report Rossendale Golf Club 2016
The 9th round of the Parrots Golf Society for 2016 was held at Rossendale, which for some players that play in both the Parrots and the Thornton Golf Society will be the first of two trips to the same course in 10 days. 15 players made the trip, and yet again the weather was fine with light winds and it being very humid at times. How does Mike do it, surely he’s going to come a cropper one day?!
Scoring was generally good in the morning, it was a close contest, and not without the obligatory controversy, since as Mike was leading after 9 holes, it was decided that we would play an extra hole and thus ensure that he missed out on a morning win. No, it didn’t happen like that really, it just sounds like it did if you talked to Mike afterwards!
In fact, we had forgotten that the 9th hole at Rossendale finishes well away from the clubhouse and the 10th brings you a little closer, so half way round it was decided that the morning would be played over 10 rather than 9 holes. Nevertheless, Mike still felt cheated.
So his 19 pts (yes you guessed it, with a no score at the 10th) together with Pete Whiteside’s and Frank Healey’s were not quite good enough in the end, as Stuart Weston pipped everyone else with a very steady 20 pts to take the win. Mike wasn’t the only one to suffer 10th hole tragedy. In my own 4-ball, I stood on the 10th tee leading my 4-ball and ended up last!!
So congratulations to Stuart for taking the morning win.
In fact 20 pts was Stuart’s score of the day, as he got the same score in the afternoon too. Unfortunately this was for 18 holes of course. Why does that seem to happen so often? In fact Stuart’s card revealed one of the longest consecutive blob streaks I think I’ve ever seen at seven from the 6th to the 12th holes inclusive. I was mad enough with myself for blobbing three on the trot in the afternoon, I shudder to think what Stuart was going through. Bad luck mate!
It was another ‘al fresco’ lunch on the very nice balcony terrace at the clubhouse, with yet more pressure to manipulate the groupings for the afternoon (no, not Frank this time, it was Trevor getting in on the act!).
In the afternoon, it was hot! This made for a tiring 18 holes for those walking when they would usually buggy, but for the nationwide shortage of golf buggies at British golf courses (I think we all know who we’re talking about!). So you might think that tiredness would take it’s toll on their afternoon scoring? But no, step forward Phil Matthews! Phil battled to a very good 33 pts in the afternoon, just 1 pt behind eventual second place. Well done Phil.
Interestingly though, Phil was somewhat piqued as he tried to tee off the last Par 3, the 13th, by the background chatter from our lead group who were in the same teeing area about to play the 16th. The result, a poor tee shot, and no score at the hole. Mmmm, was some skulduggery at play?
Why so you may ask? Well, because that lead group contained Mike Barnes and Geoff Moyle, who both ended up with 34 pts and tied for that very same second place! However, Mike did get his comeuppance once again by losing yet another card playoff meaning that the second place prize money went to Geoff.
But today’s winner was streets ahead. Congratulations to Frank Healey with a magnificent round of 39 pts (not that I saw any of it, other than his last couple of putts on the last green with everyone else!). A great score and a clear 5 pts ahead of the rest of the field. Well done to Frank, his first win on tour since the opening day of the 2014 season at Heysham. And lucrative too, judging by the amount of money he was collecting from various people around the table at the end as a result of hefty side bets!!
Handicap changes from Rossendale are as follows :-
Frank Healey 14 to 12
Mike Barnes 12 to 11
Geoff Moyle 26 to 24
Tony Johnson 19 to 20
Paul Greenaway 23 to 24
Stuart Weston 13 to 14
So what does that mean to the overall leaderboard. Well, that great score from Frank was his fifth, so it has propelled him up the table, only to 10th place at present, but with a 20 pt discard there’s more to come from the chirpy scouser.
No ground has been made on the top two, with John Cottam not able to improve, but remaining one point clear of Kev Gerrard. Third place is very tight at the moment, with 4 players within one point of each other. In the best position here is Marky T with a discard of 26 pts.
The next outing for the Parrots is a welcome return to Nelson on 3rd August, last played in the Parrots Society in 2012. Sadly, I will be away on holiday for this traditionally high scoring course, where scores of 44 pts and 41pts (by three people on the same day actually!) have been posted, so Mike will entertain you with a match report after this round of the society is completed. Have fun!
Glenn
