NEWS ARCHIVES





News for 2005

7th November 2005
The minutes from the 2005 AGM are now available online by clicking here.

7th October 2005
For October, the weather was nice. Not cold, and in fact a trifle too muggy at times. As befits the final round of the year, we had the largest turn out for 2005, with 20 people coming along to Bird Hills.

Not a lot of news recording happened, but a few headlines were:
  • The 9th had a temporary green in front of the pond, protected at the back by a security fence. Micky Eagle decided the best way to approach the pin was to bounce his ball of the fence at the back and back towards the hole.
  • Steve Dyett, otherwise now known as Farmer Dyett, took a detour into one of the neighbouring fields to look for a wayward ball. He returned with 6 balls, none of them his though - as usual.


    • Quickly over to the winners. The Nearest the Pin was bagged by Ken Mercure with a great shot. Nearest the Pin in 2 shots was bagged by Richard Barnes, who has a habit of winning this prize. Before the day began there was a lot of discussion about who needed to end where in the competition to enable them to win the Order of Merit. The current leader, Chris Turvill, was not playing, so Mark Turvill, Bryan Carter and Frazer Webb were the only ones with a possibility of beating Chris. It turned out that for any of them to win the Order, they had to win the competition. So what of these contenders, Mark Turvill was the first to come home, but unfortunately for Mark he did not have a good day and ended up out of the points in 16th place. Frazer Webb was next to come home, with a good (for him) round of 4 under handicap. Normally this would have had him high up int he ranking, but today this only enabled him to grasp 8th position - not enough. So all was riding on where Bryan finished. Bryan came in with a 6 under handicap score, which was good. As news spread it looked like Bryan had a chance, eventually there ended up being 3 other people on 6 under. As we were about to work out the best of the 6 unders, Simon Park came home with a blistering 8 under handicap to put the matter to rest. So well done Simon, bad luck Bryan.

    Full results can be found by clicking here.



    The FINAL Merit stats and handicaps have been updated.

    Thanks to all involved for another good season, see you again next year in March for the first event of 2006.

    12th September 2005
    Weather was warm and muggy as 16 of us gathered at Wildwood. At least this time there wasn't going to be any danger of the course becoming flooded :-)

    There was a lot of news from around the course:
  • Paul Donlevy brought a brand new club with him - very revolutionary and should set the Golf World alight with hilarity ...... The "Tree" Iron. It worked well on a number of occasions - the first being on the 5th when he sliced his tee shot heading towards very big trouble, the ball hit the very top most branch (a single bare one!) and bounced back into the middle of the fairway. Paul then went on to try the club again on a short par 3 when he hooked his tee-shot left, and it went out of bounds, but his Tree Iron worked wonders as the ball hit a tree and bounced back into bounds and just short of the green! Paul has now patented the new club!
  • Nigel Warren won the award of "Numpty shot of the day" when he decided to try and drive the corner on one of the micky-mouse Par 5's on the C course. Stupid sod! :-)
  • Paul Donlevy again - this time back on the 1st green. Paul started his round off with a little putting difficulty. Upon reaching the 1st green, Paul putted from right to left all the way across the green, 2nd putt then went back all the way and off the other side again, then took 2 more to get in the hole.
  • Ian Turvill won the "most balls lost on one hole" prize by managing to loose 3 balls on a single hole. Tee shot into water, drop, 3rd shot back into the same water, drop, 5th shot over the water, 6th shot (approach to green) into second set of water, give up!
  • Frazer Webb won the "quickest to give up on a hole" award on the 3rd hole, by slicing his first tee shot Out of Bounds, reloaded and then promptly sliced 2nd tee shot out of bounds - then gave up and walked hole.
  • The 15th hole saw a mixed fortune for one group. Whilst Chris Turvill chipped in from off the green for a birdie, his playing companions, Ken Mercure and Simon Jones, where in the same bunker digging their way to Australia.
  • Although the guests had a lot to do to keep up with the calamities of the members, one first time guest tried his best to emulate them. Tony Browne on the 1st tee, hooked his tee-shot left missing the water, unfortunately it hit the old club house building next to the tee and promptly bounced backwards into the water he'd just managed to miss!
  • And finally Mark Harris, our captain, who had not managed to generate any news on the course, decided to make up for it in the showers by buggering over and landing flat on his back to the great hilarity of everybody else!


    • And finally to the winners. Well done to Simon Park who easily won the event with 35 points. Second was Nigel Warren with 31 points. The "hole" prize winners were Michael Prevost (Nearest the Pin) and Colin Turvill (Nearest the Pin in 2 shots). Top guest was Mark Taylor in 7th place.

    Full results can be found by clicking here.

    The Merit stats and handicaps have been updated.

    Hope to see you all on 7th October at Bird Hills.

    9th August 2005
    17 players for the all day event! Not the best turn out we've had - where have all our players gone?

    The weather was hot and sunny throughout the whole day, and the course played superbly.

    The morning stint was a team event of Texas Scramble, with the afternoon the Individual Stableford competition, The Captain's Cup. Unlike last year, the weather held out and we did not get flooded off the course.

    The Texas Scramble event saw the teams given a calculated handicap based on the individuals handicaps. This was done to try and eliminate the advantage the fourball teams had over the threeballs.

    All 5 teams ended up under par, as is normal for Texas Scramble, but the winning team was Chris Turvill, Chris Fellas and Frazer Webb.


    The afternoon kicked off with a little trouble sorting the groups out, but once under way was interesting. For 17 players, there seemed to be little news from the course. The highlights being:
  • Nigel Warren hitting a buggy with his tee shot on the 16th.
  • Nigel then promptly went on and had an equally interesting 17th, as his drive hit a concrete tee marker and shot off right into very thick rough!
  • Also on the 17th, this time on the green, Chris Fellas fluffing a bunker shot, which drove the ball out of the green straight at Frazer Webb. Luckily Frazer was bending down marking his ball on the green at the time, so the ball went straight over his head .... just!
  • Michael Prevost's Nearest the Pin winner was within 3 foot of the hole .... he missed the birdie!


    • And now the winners for the afternoon. Again keeping up this years awesome points scoring trend, the winner scored over 40 points. So with 41 points it was announced that Chris Turvill had won the cup. Well done Chris. The remainder of the field was mixed, a clear second was Frazer Webb with 38 points, and then a gaggle of people just over handicap. Many people seemed to find the afternoon difficult and struggled in the twenties. The "hole" prizes went as follows - Michael Prevost took the Nearest the Pin on the 3rd hole of the Wood course, and Mark Turvill took the Nearest the Pin in 2 shots on the 6th hole on the Lake course.

    The Merit stats and handicaps have been updated.

    Hope to see you all on 12th September at Wildwood. If you wish to play Wildwood get in touch with the committee and let them know asap, as there are some special circumstances surrounding the arrangements of this event which they will be able to tell you about.

    22nd July 2005
    Disappointing day! Only 12 players! We've got to do better than this if we want to get good deals for the society!

    The weather was a little bit cooler this month - cool enough so the Captain could actually finish all 18 this time - or at least 17 anyway as he duffed the 18th and walked up it without playing!

    For just 12 people there was a lot happening on the course - today's news headlines are:
  • Following on from Steve Dyett last month, Nigel Warren took over the mantle of ball loser and managed to loose more balls than points gained on the 1st 6 holes - he recovered slightly to get 28 points
  • Michael Prevost directing his group round a 90 degree dog-leg left ........ it was a straight hole!
  • No it wasn't the "Road Hole" bunker at St Andrews, but Nigel Warren still took two to get out of one of the bunkers because his ball rolled back in after he only managed to get it just over the lip first time.
  • Chris Turvill's 1st tee shot was awesome .... apparently it went backwards .... or as someone put it "it went zero yards forward!"
  • The Nearest the Pin in 2 shots was hotly contested. Steve Dyett in the first group out started the ball rolling by putting it within about 10 feet. It stayed like this til the last group, who all got inside his mark. Firstly Chris Turvill got inside, followed immediately by Michael Prevost, but Ian Turvill beat them all .... but it was only confirmed after a measure using the flag!
  • After that Ian Turvill then promptly missed the 4 foot birdie putt on the Nearest the Pin in 2 hole!
  • The 17th was a tricky hole ... par 3 with bunkers and a road in front ... but only one person missed the green, the fairway, and everything on the course ... that was Nigel Warren. He pitched his tee shot on the road ... the ball was last seen heading towards Newbury race course!
  • Unfortunately there were many scenes of violence towards inanimate objects ... namely golf clubs. 3 reports of flying clubs were received - Michael Prevost, John Waghorn and the Captain, Mark Harris ... Mark apparently was able to throw his club further than he'd hit the ball!
  • Paul Warren had a quiet and uneventful round, unfortunately this did not continue in the changing rooms were he was having a heated exchange with one of the club members ..... not until later did we find out it was the Club Captain!
  • And finally our first ever "Champagne Moment": Chris Turvill walking down the fairway with his phone stuck to his ear .... tripping over ..... and landing on the floor with his phone still glued to his ear! You had to be there :-)


    • And now the winners. Apart from a blip last month, all the winners this year have amassed 40 or more points - so it was no surprise to see Bryan Carter top the leader board with exactly 40 points - well done Bryan. Commiserations to Mark Turvill who was just pipped to the post after scoring 39 - not bad for someone who had his handicap slashed a couple of months ago! The "hole" prizes went as follows - Steve Dyett took the Nearest the Pin with an excellent shot to what was a very interesting par 3, and the aforementioned Ian Turvill took the Nearest the Pin in 2 shots.

    The Merit stats and handicaps have been updated.

    Hope to see you all on 9th August at Sandford Springs. Don't forget this is the all-day event and we need to get as many people as possible - so contact everyone you know at work and elsewhere to try and get them to come along as well. We really need to know committed numbers by 29th July, so not much time. And don't forget, when you confirm, let us know if you want a buggy (cost is £15 per person, in cash on the day).

    22nd June 2005
    Bloody hell! Mid 30 degrees heat and no wind! Bit too hot for some to be playing golf - especially the captain who walked off the course from the 15th!

    A turnout of 16 people did not produce much news from the course - highlights being:
  • Steve Dyett played magnificently on the first 7 holes - by the time he'd reached the 8th tee he had lost nearly twice as many balls as he had ponits - 7 balls versus 4 points!
  • To make up for his excellent ball loosing skills Steve Dyett thrashed the field on the Nearest the Pin in 2 shots hole. Tee shot was a medium lenghth iron, dead straight. Second shot was an easy pitching wedge to within 1.5 inches of the hole! He imparted right hand side on the ball as well!
  • Mark Turvill was not having a particularly good day and coming down the 18th he was seen to throw his club further than he'd managed to hit his ball out of the rough.
  • Michael Prevost's run of bad luck continued. On the 13th, neat 4 iron off the tee, dead straight. As it pitched it was seen to veer violently 90 degrees to the right and into the water.
  • Jim Samuel thrashing all in the longest drive with an estimated 310 yards!
  • An over heated John Waghorn was heard to say that this is a "fucking simple game" ....... as he chipped his ball into the water!


    • And now the winners. For the first time this year, the winner didn't manage 40 points, but it was still a good haul of 37 points for Ian Turvill. Well done Ian. Commiserations to Paul Warren who was beaten on countback. The "hole" prizes went as follows - the aforementioned Jim Samuel took the longest drive, Nigel Warren took the Nearest the Pin, and the aforementioned Steve Dyett took the Nearest the Pin in 2 shots.

    The Merit stats and handicaps have been updated.

    Hope to see you all on 22nd July at Newbury and Crookham. And don't forget the all-day August event follows soon after that on 9th August, so there won't be much time to make your mind up in between. I've been led to believe that buggies will be mandatory for all on the August event.

    31st May 2005
    The weather was warm and sunny and the course was pretty good.

    Another turn out with 15 people saw quite a lot of news from around the course, some of the highlights are:
  • Frazer Webb's approach to the 1st green was topped from about 100 yards away, through the rough, through a bunker, up the hill, over the green and rested at the back of the green. Down in 2 for a par.
  • Ken Mecure inventing a new type of shot - the scuff and run - which won him the Nearest the Pin in 2 shots.
  • Micky Eagle's woodland friends were helping him again. 12th hole, tee shot - nice strike, but was heading at least two fairways to far to the right, hit the highest and last branch of a huge tree on the right of the fairway and bounced back 50 yard as to land perfectly centre on the correct fairway!
  • Micky Eagle on the 4th hole. Tee shot into the bushes left, 2nd shot into the trees on the right, 3rd shot scuffed into the bunker short of the green, 4th shot in the hole!!!
  • Jim Samuel on the 9th, 30 foot putt from off the green.
  • Ian Turvill wasn't having a good day - apparently his tee shots were left, right, not straight, even backwards on one occasion!
  • Ian Turvill continuing his bad day had a awkward stance on one shot, cocked the shot up and hit his brother Colin's bag - good job though as the ball would have been through the back of the green otherwise.
  • A frustarted Frazer Webb hitting his bag with his club, knocking it over, and in the process knocking Micky Eagle's bag over as well!


    • And now for the winners. For the third month running we've had a 40 point winner, but this month was a record, with Mark Turvill having an exceptional round of 10 over to score a massive 48 points. Not surprisingly Mark has received a hefty cut in handicap. The two "hole" prizes were grabbed by the same person - you've read about how he managed one of them above - Ken Mecure. Well done to Mark and to Ken.

    The Merit stats and handicaps have been updated.

    The next few months events have been confirmed as:
  • 22nd June - Traditions, Pyrford
  • 22nd July - Newbury and Crookham
  • 9th August - Sandford Springs - 36 hole all day event


    • The next event is at Traditions on 22nd June - hopefully see you there.

    21st April 2005
    The weather was warm and sunny and the course played well. Apart from a narrow scare with a new guest, Jim Samuel just managing to arrive in time after car problems, all went smoothly.

    Another turn out with 15 people saw quite a lot of news from around the course, some of the highlights from the newsdesk are:
  • Nigel Warren missed a 1 foot putt (again - see last month!) - in fact it was worse than that as he took two more shots after missing that putt!
  • Richard Barnes on the 17th, driving through the bunker, up the hill, across the green and down the bank behind!
  • Nigel Warren - again! This time he was off the green at the back, promptly decided he preferred the front of the green so stuffed his putt all the way across and off the front. He was at the back of the green in two shots, he ended up with a 6!
  • John Waghorn who is in training for the next highland games. On the 18th his club flew gracefully through the air about 30 yards.
  • Bryan Carter will soon be enjoying a warm duck salad for evening meal after stuffing a shot into the bunker due to a duck squawking as he took his shot!
  • You thought Nigel Warren's putting was bad, Len Rutherford managed to have a 6-putt on one of the holes.
  • And finally, just to show it's not all the members who can't putt; our guest, Jim Samuel joined the fun. As mentioned a bit further down, Jim won the Nearest the Pin hole, unfortunately that last 12 foot took him 3 more shots!


    • And now for the winners. Amazingly, for the second month running their was huge point hauls from a number of people, including Bryan Carter and Frazer Webb, who each scored enough points to have won most of the tournaments last year. But again it was not enough to win, as Micky Eagle won the well named Bandits Bowl with a truly bandit round of 43 points .... bye, bye handicap! Well done Micky.

    As mentioned already, the Nearest the Pin was won by guest, Jim Samuel. The Nearest the Pin in 2 shots was won very easily by a beautiful shot from Richard Barnes which ended up just 2 feet away from the pin.

    The Merit stats and handicaps have been updated.

    The next few months events have been confirmed as:
  • 22nd June - Traditions, Pyrford
  • 22nd July - Newbury and Crookham
  • 9th August - Sandford Springs - 36 hole all day event


    • The next event is at Richings Park on 31st May - hopefully see you there.

    30th March 2005
    A grand turnout for the first event of the season, and it's obvious that everyone has been practising like mad for this opener - see the haul of points by everyone for proof. The points scored by any of the top 10 would have been enough to win more than half the competitions last year! Fantastic - let's hope everyone continues to play as well (although I doubt it with the fairly large handicap cuts some have been dished out with!).

    The weather stayed fine, but the course was heavy and the legs knew it! Not withstanding that, the course played fair and relatively easy start to the season.

    The start of the new season saw a new player to the fold, playing as a guest for the first time was Doros Nicolaou, off 26 handicap. Doros played well and played spot on handicap. He was heard to say in the 19th that he had not 3-putted on any hole all day - as I was playing with him I can verify that matter. As Doros was the only guest playing, he received the top guest prize simply for turning up :-)

    Some events seen around the course today:
  • Nigel Warren missing a 1 foot put!
  • Richard Barnes hooking his first into trees on the 16th. It promptly flopped out onto the fairway. With his second he managed to come to rest on the bridge; he still managed to get down 1 over par.
  • Frazer Webb putting out of a bunker on the 5th. Well it was as solid as rock and the easiest way to get the ball within three feet of the hole!


    • But enough of gossip, who won what?

    As players finished, firstly Frazer Webb was pleased thinking that no one would beat 41 points, but he then found Paul Warren sitting on a bench drinking a beer gleefully pondering over a 42 point round. However, Paul was soon to be heard muttering and cursing because the last group in brought with it two 43 point scores. Richard Barnes and Colin Turvill had both had excellent rounds and could only be parted on countback. Unfortunately for Colin, Richard had played better over the last 6 holes than himself. So Richard walked away with the spoils of war! Congratulations Richard. The "hole" competitions saw Micky Eagle taking the Nearest the Pin and Mark Turvill taking Nearest Pin in 2 shots.


    The Merit stats and handicaps have been updated.

    The next event is at Dummer on 21st April - hopefully see you there.

    6th March 2005
    The starting handicaps for the 2005 season are now published on this web site here. These handicaps include the annual pre-season adjustment. The final Order of Merit from 2004 has also been added.

    You should have also received the info on the first event of the season on 30th March, and also the info re the presentation dinner on 8th April.