Morecambe 2021 Match Report
The final round of the Parrots golf season took place at the usual venue of Morecambe GC last Friday, and with the prospect of one of the closest finishes in years, it didn’t disappoint! The weather played ball and stayed dry for the 20 afternoon combatants, with a modest breeze by the sea but more sheltered on the inland holes. The course was probably in the best nick we’ve played it at this time of the season, as the ground was generally dry and the greens had not yet been tined and so had a late summer roll about them.
After bacon barms (for most!), the 17 morning players produced modest scores. I myself found myself a spectator in a big money match for £10 a hole, £10 overall and £5 NTP’s with Kirk and Frank …… no don’t be silly, I said spectator, I wasn’t playing for those stakes! Despite the potential exposure of £80 plus, this contest resulted in only £5 changing hands in Franks favour!
Elsewhere, Ian Hodgin and Marky T played to their handicaps and Stuart went one better with 19pts, but there was a virgin winner on the block at lunch! Taking a win for the first time ever in the society was none other than Martin Pierce with a very nice 20pts, scoring on every hole and including two 4 point holes! Excellent play Martin and well done!! Martin’s day would get even better later!
As usual, it was nuclear hot vegetable soup and sandwiches at lunchtime, while the faithful were briefed on the proceedings for the afternoon. This included the bespoke scorecard that would be in use, lifting the Par of the course to 71, and no less than 8 spot prize holes on offer. And so it was onto the afternoon round.
The first group out was Kirk, Luke, Bill and Martin P. Excellent scores throughout for these four, but winning the group with 39pts was none other than, yes, Martin P again!! This score means that Martin would incur his first handicap reduction, another milestone. But it gets better still …. Martin also won NTP on the long Par 3 10th hole, giving him another prize to take home!
Second out were Alan Watson, Stuart, Marky T and Hodge. Again, mainly good scores here with Hodge matching Martin’s score from earlier with 39pts. But, there was history made again in this group as Stuart amassed an amazing 48pts for his 18 holes! Unbelievable! Stuart had four birdies in a round of 73 posting the highest Stableford score ever in the society’s history, and collecting prizes for LD on the 8th and NTP’s on the 3rd and 12th along the way. I don’t think I even need to tease you that this would prove to be the winning score for the day, and would lift his best five score for the season to 180pts and 9th place! Yes level 36pts was 9th place overall, hinting at more records tumbling in the Parrots this season. Well done Stuart, excellent stuff mate.
My group was next with Pete, Warren and Paul F. Nothing doing here for me and Pete, but what a ding dong battle was had between Paul and Warren, where Warren had 4 foot putts on both the 9th and 18th to win the double and singles each time, which he duly made! Those fine margins resulted in Paul on 40pts losing £4.50 whilst Warren on 41pts won £7.50 in the game, as well as taking the 2nd prize for the day’s score! That’s golf!!
So to the penultimate group of Kev, Trev, Dave and Dev (ok Derek, it nearly fitted!). More good scores here with Kev’s 36pts not good enough to win the group, although he did win the NTP prize on the 16th. Here the group was won by Trevor with a very nice 38pts.
Despite all these great scores, and the fact that four more people posted best five scores above 180pts (Warren, Paul F, Trevor and Stuart), none of these challengers quite made an impact on the top three at the start of play, meaning that the Parrots title was down to the last group, of Mike, Mel, Frank and Steve F.
With the lowest score of 30pts in this group, Steve sadly put himself out of the running for overall table prizes. Mike on the other hand recorded an eagle and three birdies in his round …. surely the foundation for a title winning round? However, too many 1 pointers elsewhere meant that Mike only matched his discard of 35 pts ….. so no improvement. At the halfway point, Mel and Frank had both scored 20 pts each, with Mel also claiming NTP in 3 on the 4th hole and NTP on the Par 3 5th. By the 18th tee, both would have already have overtaken Mike in the overall table with Mel holding a slender 1 point lead over Frank, which due to discards and handicap was in reality a three shot lead in that same table. Surely unassailable?
Having hit a bunker off the tee, Mel’s brave attempt to find the green put him in another bunker ….. disaster! Why, because Frank had only hit the 18th in two, four foot from the pin, claiming the last spot prize of NTP in 2. Over the green in three and a chip to 6 foot gave Mel a chance to be in for 5, but he missed!! All this meant that a birdie from Frank would tie Mel in the overall standings with a better discard, but as if the drama couldn’t get any greater, Franks putt was agonizingly inches short! Mel had hung on to win the Parrots title for 2021, with Frank taking 2nd place and Mike 3rd.
Congratulations to Stuart on a magnificent last day winning score, but of course also to Mel on being overall champion for the year. Another great finish to the Parrots season.
As you will see from the updated table, a record 9 players achieved a total of 180pts or more, and Mel’s winning score of 191pts is the highest ever in the Parrots GS history. The records keep coming. As well as Stuart’s record individual score (putting to bed how to split the prize for this between Mel, Mike Lovell and Steve F!) the season saw a record number of competitors (39) and a record number of players achieving five or more rounds (25). I can also add to that a record number of two shot handicap reductions, as the following handicap changes indicate :-
Mel Johnson 16 to 14 (includes 1 shot for being overall champion)
Stuart Weston 14 to 12
Trevor Middleton 22 to 20
Paul Fineman 23 to 21
Warren Murphy 19 to 17
Martin Pierce 28 to 26
Kirk Wood 17 to 16
Luke Palmer 25 to 24
Ian Hodgin 20 to 19
So that’s it, another Parrot's season is over. Thanks to everyone who came along and played. What will next season bring? Well there’s only one way to find out…… Come and play! Enjoy the rest of the season’s golf and we’ll see you next year!
Cheers Glenn
