Photo bombed

The last golfing commitments have flown by but happily in more pleasant weather. I entertained a friend from Ireland who has been very good to the family over the years, and he loved the Wallasey experience. Unfortunately I lost 2 & 1 but the craic as they say was excellent.

Next day was a trip to Caldy to play before the scratch match. That was another narrow defeat on the 18th green, and the trend continued as I lost my Summer pairs match with partner Pete, also on the 18th green.

I then started to do a bit of globe trotting, playing at Llangollen in Wales and another defeat,  before playing at Sandiway with three very low handicap players. Wallasey managed to get a half out of our match but lost 6-2 overall. Tommy Fleetwood, the tour pro followed us round and gave us a master class in how to play the 18th!!

In between all the golf though, I had a chance to put my best kit on and present some prizes, and no, the prize was not a table!!

  ....and with technology getting the better of me, there are odd sized images showing the presentation of the 2020 Captains prize to Ian Jenkinson who also won in 2014, and Neil Self winning the Frank Stableford Senior Open, a 36 hole England golf competition. Ian then went off to play in the England Senior Amateur Championships as did many of the Wallasey attendee's

My latest set of  jaunts ended with a very enjoyable Salver Day at Lee Park golf club, a Jewish club to the South of Liverpool , and an invitation day to Heswall on the Wirral. I think we ended up mid-table in both, in no small part to my poor putting.

So next week is looking a bit quieter, although I am sure there will be some new drama's to keep everybody riveted to their seats until next time. 

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!

Royalty

After many a false start it now feels like my tenure as Wallasey golf club captain has started. Yesterday my 2020/21 year group were delighted to be invited by our 2013 past captains to the links of Royal Liverpool, Hoylake, Golf Club for our first Salver day. Each year group holds a Salver day and your club captain for that year invites you to attend. Some club captains reach a stage where they can no longer play golf, so on that occasion you miss out but yesterday there were 25 of the 27 clubs represented.

The day started with a very competitive round of golf for said salver, and the winners were Grange Park with 42 points, a very good score considering the wind conditions. The Wallasey effort contained the same two numbers, but in a different order!! 

Attention then turned to the main event of the day, the dinner in the first floor dining room. Although I  have dined at Hoylake before, this was the first visit to the dining room. The Liverpool captain was also very kind in showing my 2013 captain the library and a couple of other rooms tucked away upstairs making the whole experience very enjoyable for everybody.

We are fortunate to be playing at Hillside in a couple of days, and then in the Mockbegger trophy on Sunday so at last I will be able to record my thoughts and achievements in the blog, as I committed to do well over a year ago.

While I had a great time, yesterday was also tinged with sadness when we received the news that long standing member, Roy Bulmer, had sadly lost his fight with cancer and passed away. Roy was in his 90's and until recently had still managed the occasional nine holes around Wallasey.  Roy was one of a number of members who took care of me in my early days as a member, a gesture I have never forgotten. He was also a very competent amateur golfer. He was a seafaring man who would always take his clubs with him so to take advantage of any opportunity to play. One of his greatest achievements was to finish second in the Tasmanian PGA tournament in the day.

He also became the archivist for the golf club and I hope he was able to see the way the club is now using much of his collection of relics to the benefit of the clubhouse and social media sites.

I wrote to him only last week in an effort to update him on club news, I do hope he had an opportunity to read the letter and understand he was in all our thoughts. Rest in peace Roy.

Going going gone

One thing I have missed out on during lockdown more than others is a rummage around a good old fashioned auction house. I have had to travel further than normal since the closure of the Wirral Auctions site in Birkenhead, and I still do wonder where all the eclectic 'treasure' which Neil used to sell, has gone. The Hoylake rooms have always been poor quality, but the other major sites seem to be Knutsford and Macclesfield way.

I have, therefore, been much more selective at what I look at and bid for, as you can never be quite sure what you are getting unless you have seen and felt the goods during the preview days.

So I have taken my financial life in my hands again today and speculated a bit over some art prints and posters to see whether after a bit of restoration they can be sold on to accumulate some funds for more investment. Antique bargaining for me is very similar to my golf equipment process. For example, when I purchased my Q follow golf trolley SWMBO indicated to me that it would be sensible to sell one of my other 'golf toys' before I laid out for this new one. That way we are fairly golf neutral, and that's the way I  try to be with auction items.

So the main purpose today was to buy enough stock to sell most on via E-bay and recoup funds to pay for the good ones to be restored. Whether or not that will happen remains to be seen, although the collection of Harold Riley prints I had hoped would be part of the process had a reserve of £40-£60 and went for almost £1000. I couldn't see much profit in that sadly.

Anyway, I am expecting viewing days to be reinstated shortly albeit with a booked visiting slot, which will get me out of the house to do something other than play golf! 

Happy Days....

 

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!

Lock down or lock up

 So the pubs have re-opened albeit outside only, so I have started to eat and drink at the golf club on the terrace which is all very pleasant. We have a new front of house manager and a new chef and some of the existing staff have moved into new roles. They all look smart in their new uniforms.

The menu is quite a bit different but with some old favourites still retained. It is for a trial period at the moment and may well be adjusted when the clubhouse fully opens in May. In the meantime, it is good to have somewhere safe to visit and meet people, enjoy the banter and get some exercise.

The safety aspect was brought home to roost last night, as SWMBO (aka FLOW) and I went to the local pub for a decent pint of Tribute and an excuse to get out. Unfortunately a group of young lads had a bit too much to drink and started to be disrespectful of the older generation who were trying to get back into the 'pub for a pint' mode.

There was a minor scuffle and the landlady come over to escort them off the premises. Six or seven older regulars gave her back-up and all had been sorted out by the time the police arrived.

Drink was at the heart of it and because it was table service and we were asked to order via the app, the staff could not see how drunk they were getting. For some reason they also had 2 pint glasses available which meant it was easy to drink more quicker. Hopefully it was first night nerves and things should quieten down going forward.

There was also a bit of a reality check this week as it was number one son's 42nd birthday, spent in his new home over the Swiss border in France as he links up with a new beau. Does make me feel a bit old though!!!

Third time lucky?

It felt like a new dawn yesterday as I once more joined my chums on the links of Wallasey golf Club. All the winter work had been completed in isolation which meant more could be completed and the quality was first rate. It is unfortunate that the golf did not live up to the quality of the practise I had put in behind closed doors, but a three club wind may well have had something to do with that.

It was good to enjoy the banter, the weather and the surroundings for four hours or so, and I had a chance to use my new remote control trolley. That went very well apart from Marvin, his adopted name, going it alone down the second fairway when I had left the controller on the bag. Luckily it did not happen on the first hole or he would have ended up in our new boating lake!!

The political environment has taken on a calmer position too. We can almost step back and watch the EU shooting themselves in the foot over the AstraZenica virus. One which they first did not trust, then they changed their minds and now they are claiming a best efforts contract actually means best efforts as long as we are first. It has not made them look very smart where major deals are concerned.

We also now have the delights of watching a Scottish parliamentary election process which has turned from dull and predictable overnight to intriguing and enthralling over night. The two poisson grande of the Scottish political landscape, Salmon and Sturgeon will fight it out all over again on the stump. The Sturgeon is an endangered species so one should be careful as this could be the last one left in Scotland and may soon disappear for good.

Finally I am loving the new Suez crisis. It is amazing what huge impact such a minor incident can have, as clearly nobody did a risk assessment for just this eventuality. Luckily all the merchandise I have ordered for the golf crew is not dependent on ship transport to arrive but when there was mention of a potential toilet roll shortage I cannot begin to imagine what the Birkenhead Tesco was like!!

So more of the same on the golf course tomorrow with predicted winds much lighter and onward towards the next milestone in May. Most of the captaincy events are getting shifted to the middle of June and onwards so I need to get the miles in my legs to cope with that additional workload as well as the alcoholic shock to accompany it.  Fore!