Match Report Whitefield Golf Club 2016
For the 11th round of the Parrots Golf Society for 2016 it was a return trip to Whitefield, which hosted its inaugural visit from the Parrots last year and proved to be a very tough scoring course. Last year the average score across all the players in the afternoon was only 26. Could this be bettered by the twelve competitors who played this year?
One thing in 2016’s favour was the weather. Whereas last year the weather was showery and windy, this year, there were only light winds and the day was largely sunny and warm.
It certainly seemed to help in the morning with some decent scores posted for the 9 holes played, topped by a pair of 20 pointers by Tony Johnson and John Cottam who shared the morning prize.
During yet another al fresco lunch (how does Michael do it?!) a new member to the society was introduced to the group in the form of Peter Hoole. Now, setting new members handicaps are always a bit of a nightmare for any handicap secretary, but Peter’s handicap was more difficult than most. A former Fleetwood GC low single figure handicapper in years gone by, Peter was on the golf comeback trail having not played at all for a few years and even then not regularly. But despite pressure from that ultra competitive Wiganer, Jim Clayton, who had seen Peter go round Fleetwood in 37 pts the day before playing off 12 (despite having beaten him by 4 shots!), it was decided Peter should retain his 12 as a starting handicap.
I should also mention that I myself spent much of the lunchtime break, dispelling the slanderous impressions that had been given in the last report from Nelson of mine and my (long suffering!) wife’s walking intentions in Lincolnshire, us being fully aware of that county being severely attitudinally challenged!
The first group out in the afternoon were myself, Jim, Peter and Bill. Sadly, despite being able to turn on the style at Fleetwood the previous day, Peter, myself and Jim slumped to just 22, 23 and 25 pts respectively in the afternoon. However, at least reaching the score of 30 points was Bill Pye who included a superb Par 3 on the 180 yard 11th hole as part of a seven point start to the first two holes of the back nine. A respectable leading score in the clubhouse for the rest to beat we thought.
So we waited for the next group to come in........... and we waited........... and we waited! Resisting the urge to send out a search party following the buggy problems of last year, the next group of Mike, TJ, Pete Whiteside and Phil, finally made it in nearly a full half hour later. Despite the obvious care taken over their shots (or overenthusiastic ball hunting, I’m not sure which!), this groups scores were little better with the best a 29 pointer from Phil Matthews. Bill remained in the lead.
So, it was down to the last group of Trevor, John Cottam, Paul and John Patterson, who, for some reason(!), once again lived up to his alter ego of the angry Irishman!? But scoring in this group was much the same as the first two, and the best that could be mustered was another 29 by John Patt.
So with the lowest winning score since Penwortham in 2013, Bill Pye had prevailed with his score of 30 points and was duly crowned the afternoon winner. Well done to Bill, a winner on 30 pts, but pushed into second place at Bentham earlier in the season with 41 pts!! That’s golf!
The card playoff for second was won by Phil with a joint best back nine of 16 pts over JP’s 14 pts.
Incidentally the average of all the players scores this year? The exact same 26 pts as last year, despite the considerably better weather. Clearly, the long Par 3’s and the even longer Par 4’s present as tough a test for good scoring as the end of season venue Morecambe.
Handicap changes from Whitefield were not as numerous as the low scoring might have suggested and are as follows :-
Bill Pye 24 to 22
Phil Matthews 19 to 18
Tony Johnson 20 to 21
Peter Hoole 12 to 13
John Cottam 18 to 19
So no change again to the overall leaderboard. John’s one point lead survives again, with not many players making an improvement to their best five scores.
The next outing for the Parrots will be Preston on the 31st August, which also happens to be my wedding anniversary, so I may or may not see you there, depending on whether my (long suffering!) wife wants a day out somewhere that day!
Glenn
