Match Report Whitefield Golf Club 2017
For the 12th round of the Parrots Golf Society for 2017 it was a 2nd return trip to Whitefield, which has already gained a reputation as being one of the toughest courses on the Parrots rota. The average score by all competitors in both the previous years afternoon rounds was just 26 pts with the winning score last year being just 30 pts!
The weather this year was almost a repeat of last with light winds and although the sky’s were mainly overcast throughout the day, conditions were very pleasant for playing golf. In fact yet again this season, it seemed that the society had managed to play on what looked like the best day of the week. How does he do it?!
Such was the reputation of Whitefields difficulty with it’s monster Par 3’s and some very long Par 4’s to boot, one wily member who had played the course before made a £5 wager with an unsuspecting newbie to the course (Simon) that nobody would beat 36 pts today. Like taking candy from a baby he thought!
The odds on this happening must have been shortened further by the fact that only 9 players had turned up for the morning round, partly owing to the fact that a certain rival golf society had had their 3 day weekend away the previous weekend. However, since two of those that did turn up were Phil and Tony, the rest of us didn’t really bother trying too hard for the nine holes in the morning and these two morning specialists duly took first and second places, with Tony taking the honours over his old mate Phil once again by 20 pts to 18.
The field was boosted to 13 players over lunch due to the arrival of four more players. 27 holes of golf in a day is not enough for Jim Clayton, so he played 18 holes in a comp at Fleetwood before tearing up the M61 to make it for the afternoon round. Also joining were John Pat, Stuart Weston and Dave Owens, who has only played a couple of times with the Parrots in the past, most notably coming second at the only time the society took on Darwin in 2010. Winners of the lunchtime lottery to make into the only 4-ball of the afternoon were Phil, Tony, Mel and Pete Hoole.
1st out in the afternoon were Trevor, Simon and recent father for the first time, Martin Pierce. Best score from this group was Simon with 27 pts, who must have begun to realise the folly of his wager as the group managed an average of less than 10 pts each on the back nine.
2nd out were three players who arrived at lunchtime and all thrown together, JP, Jim and Stuart. Modest scores but good nonetheless for Whitefield, all beating that poor average of 26 pts. Jp managed 27 pts, Stuart with 28 pts, but the 36 hole man Jim Clayton was best in this group with 31 pts including a very good 19 pt opening 9 holes including a birdie on the first.
My group was third out with my playing partners Mike and Dave Owens. But I’ll skip over this group for a minute and take you to the last group out, the aforementioned four-ball. Individually, all modest but close scores, again three of them beating last years average. Pete scored 25 pts, Phil had 27 pts, Tony had 28 pts, but Mel took the singles honours here with 29 pts. Still 31 pts was leading the way.
Back to my group. Now, I have a bit of a winning streak going in the Parrots this year. No, I don’t mean me winning, but 5 out of the last 6 times I’ve played, the winner has played in my group in the afternoon. My playing partners were probably unaware of this setting off, and yet the streak continued again today. I was ‘out with the washing’ with 24 pts, as my so called mate Mike likes to say (what does that mean anyway?), so not in contention! But my two playing partners were on fire for the front nine with Mike scoring a very good 18 pts but being beaten by Dave with 19 pts. Surely the back nine will take it’s toll? Well it did on Dave, who came back in 13 pts but this was still enough to claim second place for the second time in only three attempts, with a total score of 32 pts.
But what of Michael? 17 holes gone and Mike was sustaining his front nine form. Good driving and good putting (yes, you didn’t expect to hear those words used in reference to Mr Barnes did you?!) had secured him 34 pts with one hole to go.
So onto the last (a shot hole), a low drive that clipped the top of the large bank in front of the tee that, although still made good distance, left him out of reach of the green. A raking 3 wood though took him to just short of the green. Could he get down in two from there? Yes he could! A four for three points, give Mike a total of 37 pts and a famous win.
But wait, what about the wager? Who was it that was so willing to take Simon’s money by saying that no-one would beat 36 pts? Yes it was your former bookmaker himself, Mike Barnes, who lost himself £5 by winning the day! Isn’t the finger of fate fickle at times.
Congratulations to Mike on his second win of the year, a win also that has propelled him up to 2nd in the table.
Handicap changes from Whitefield were few but are as follows :-
Mike Barnes 13 to 11
Glenn Wellard 6 to 7
Trevor Middleton 20 to 21
The leaderboard is already updated and confirms Mike’s move into second place with Franky’s lead having been cut to just 6 pts.
The penultimate outing of the season will be at Chorley (make sure you go to the right Chorley course!) on the 13th September. See you then.
Glenn
