Mixed golf

After an unexpected victory at Llangollan on Friday in the Linksnet competition, I had a fairly average round at Carden Park on Monday. There was a period on the front nine where I just lost my swing and it is a tough enough course at the best of times, so I ended up in mid-table so no prizes on that occassion.

Sandwiched between those two golfing commitments were two dinners at Wallasey golf club. On Saturday I hosted the Captains Prize final weekend which consisted of 9 finals being played with all age groups and genders of the Club taking part.  The Club is producing some very rood Junior girls at the moment and one of them won the Junior knock-out cup in a match which went to the first extra hole. A few other finals went the distance and my Captains prize finished on the 15th green with a record equalling forth title for Dave Gibson.

I have now worked out that I do hold a unique record myself. There have been 4 captains in the history of the Club who have served more than one term.Mr R W 'Pendulum'  Brown was the first captain in 1891 and was again captain in 1982. Mr J Cameron served two years during the First World War and C W Hesketh served between 1939 and 1945.

During the war years the Captains Prize was suspended, and it was not played for when Mr Brown was captain, so I have become the first captain to award two Captains Prize's at the Club.

50 or so people then sat down for a dinner and we were joined by 20 or 30 other club members for the subsequent presentations.

On the following day, Sunday, the Club held it's annual Matrimonial and Mixed competitions. Both titles were fought for very competitively with Mr and Mrs Palmer retaining the Matrimonial after some spectacular golf. Again there was a large turn-out for dinner which allowed me to use a few golf stories I had been saving up.

I make that about 15 speeches delivered so far so will probably exceed 20 for the year given the dinner season is now up and running. Gentlemen, that reminds me.....

 

Cirque de Soliel

The dinner and event season seems to be getting back to normal as this picture of the Liverpool captains at West Lancs Golf Club will testify to.

Fourteen of us sat down to a meal accompanied by the ex-Captains of the Club and 50 or so members. We were treated to first rate dining, a few glasses of wine and the necessary speeches. There is always a nugget in there somewhere, and I have managed to recycle several of the stories I have heard up to now.

A couple of them I used yesterday when we held our Finals Day at Wallasey. There were 9 finals which took place and they encompassed the whole range of the golf club. The finalists in the Junior knock-out were 10 and 11, and Esme Gordon triumphed to add her name to a growing list of young lady players there are at the Club. The other finals embraced the Ladies, Men and Senior Men and all were fought for hard but fairly.

The competitors then sat down to a pre-presentation dinner, with the event concluding with winners photographs on the 18th green. Luckily there were no golf balls being fired in which that was going on.

So good luck to the winners and here's to the Winter competitions which will kick-off in October. 

when you're in a hole.....

....stop digging!! If, however, everybody did that then Sir Anthony Bamford,  owner of JCB, would not have made millions out of his collection of diggers. Subsequently he would then not have been able to invest huge sums in building his championship golf course near the JCB head office in Staffordshire.

Last week I was able to attend with this motley crew and see first hand just how good it is. The small diggers are used as tee markers, but the difficulty of the course is summed up by the fact that there are two holes over 600 yards long, from the yellow tees, definitely too hard for me. This picture is of the 17th hole island green. 218 yards down hill, no bail out area and lots of sand.

It was a great day and fascinating to see the future of Championship golf course design, and we were looked after like royalty, so a big thank you to those who made it possible. You know who you are.

Mark Selby, the snooker player was there when we were, as was Philip Serrell, the antique roadshow specialist. I had met Philip at Turnberry once and was convinced he drank in my local pub, before he put me right as to where I know him from!! I suspect neither 'celebrity' realised they were in the presence of golfing superstar Dr Frank Stableford,  aka big John the lookalike. Fore! 

Dancing on the ceiling

After a hectic few weeks of golf things have started to settle back into a normal routine so the last few weeks have given me the chance to do some social events. 

One of the Senior gentlemen at the club has recently moved into an old pub in the centre of Willaston village, The house is called the Old red Lion and it dates from way back. We had a very enjoyable soiree and spent much time admiring the garden. Goodness they have done some work. I did search high and low for the bar without much success though!!

The next day our oldest grandson came to see whether he fancied joining the junior section of the golf club. It was good to have time with him, we had a bit of brunch  and his dad went home with all the paperwork necessary to get him on the list. Let's see how it progresses.

Last week the ex-Captains finally got to have a lunch together. This is the first time for at least 18 months that they have been able to do that. It was a very sociable event and one which will now be scheduled for October and January. It is always good to get the opinions of the senior club members and while they had a few gripes mostly the feedback on progress was positive.

Golf did then rear its head as I was invited to the Marston's corporate golf day. Marston's has become the club brewer of choice. I have been struggling though to get a decent amber ale on draught and thought it might be a good way of talking first hand with the rep to help achieve this. Sadly it seems the majority of members prefer the pale, lager-like ales which are locally brewed. I think this is all in poor taste but I seem to be fighting a lone battle. Consequently I am suggesting they get bottles of some decent beers and I will try those. It is a sad indictment of modern drinking habits that if I did not play golf there I would certainly not use it as a pub.

Limited beer choice was also in evidence when we went to Haydock Park races on Thursday. I must admit I did not expect a great real ale selection and my expectations were certainly met. The bar staff were all young people and were like rabbits in the headlights as they had never done a busy race day before and were the only staff the course could get as the hospitality sector struggles to find good quality staff.

None of this stopped us from having an excellent day celebrating a significant birthday with one of SWMBO's mates. One of her other chums who we lost track of after an ill-fated holiday in Turkey some years ago also appeared on Facebook with a new partner, so that may be an opportunity for the olive branch to be tendered. We shall see.

Then to last night when SWMBO and I attended a Motown concert at the Liverpool Grand Central Hall. The band and music were both entertaining but the venue was just amazing and is certainly a hidden gem about five minutes walk from Lime Street station. The organ is the oldest in the North West of  England and the range of events they run is very diverse with a boxing evening scheduled for tonight for example. We will certainly be looking to go again.