Wet wet wet

My golfing group, the Visionaries, were fortunate enough to be invited to play Hillside near Southport on Friday. Hillside is a wonderful links course with high dunes and clever bunkering which test even the best of golfers, so we were all excited to be playing there. The hospitality was excellent, and the course was laid out as a hard task for us. All that would have been fine had it not been for the fact that it absolutely chucked it down for five hours or so leaving everybody soaked to the skin.

After a change of clothes and a few liveners in the bar though, all was forgotten and the camaraderie which is developing amongst us continued at a pace. So after getting home and drying out the kit, thoughts changed to The Mockbeggar Trophy which was hosted at Leasowe on the Wirral yesterday.

Mockbeggar is an old sailing term used to describe a 'lone house' and Leasowe golf course sits between the former Mockbeggar Hall and the sand bar known as Mockbeggar Wharf which is off shore in the Mersey estuary .Mockbeggar Hall is now part of the Leasowe Castle hotel. 

The competition involved teams of four golfers, one being the serving captain, another being a Junior  golfer and the other two players being one each from the division 1 and 2 categories dictated by handicap. We were doing pretty well until, yes you guessed it, the heavens opened with six holes to play, and the wheels came off. Some teams ran for cover but in true Wallasey style and in deference to our hosts, we pressed on, finished and probably ended up mid-table.

The Leasowe hospitality was great and it was sad for them that the weather was unkind. Well done to Gathurst golf club near Wigan, who won. The event has been running for 30 years now broken only by Covid restrictions last year, so long may it continue. Now time to dry the kit out again for another crack at Wallasey this afternoon!

Angels and Deamons

Eagles and Visionaries does not have the same feel to it, but that was effectively how the Liverpool Society of Golf Club Captains have started their 2021 season as far as my year group is concerned. The Eagles are the 2019 year group and they and the Visionaries share a Captain of Captains. He very kindly donated a trophy which we are able to compete for annually if so desired. There were a large number of us who were able to enjoy the company, competitiveness and challenge of group golf. The host club, no names, no pack drill, coped very well as they staggered food and drink arrangements to ensure Covid restrictions were maintained.

I am pleased to report that the Visionaries were victorious which was in no part due to my performance and I think myself and my partner Terry, were the Eagles best players!!

The Wallasey Captaincy activities kick off this week  with the first of the pre-Scratch team challenges against Bromborough. Myself and the IP|C will need to be on our metal to win this fiercely contested friendly match. The Senior major took place yesterday but my round was curtailed by the rain which started to fall as I was conveniently close to the Clubhouse. Molly kindly dried off a few seats for us so we could shelter under the umbrella's. That will now be a thing of the past as we can enjoy being indoors from next Monday. 42 points won the title which was very fine performance in the circumstances.

A lot has changed at the Club as has been documented in earlier blog entries, but also on Monday we have scheduled a day long board meeting to try to position the Club going forward into 2022 and beyond. We have some major capital projects to consider and raising funds to pay for such work will be at the forefront of those discussions.

I then have golf days at Royal Liverpool and Hillside to look forward to as well as the second Scratch match and the Mockbeggar trophy at Leasowe, but more about that and the board meeting next time.

I am now off for my second inoculation, again at Chester race course, after which I might book a staycation somewhere. If you don't like needles, look away now!