2023

Kibworth G.C. Marston Shield

Whether you had a good round or a bad round you can’t deny Kibworth’s greens were fantastic. Everyone of them ran true and at a good pace. The rough on the other hand was as tough as tough gets. I know they’d had a lot of rain in the week building up to our visit and maybe it’s normally cut shorter than we experienced but it was hard to find a ball that was just off the fairway. Once in it, it was hard to get any distance out of it. Especially if your wife had borrowed your hybrid club and left it in her locker back at Drayton just ask Pete!

With no real breakfast, just a bacon roll to enjoy before we tee’d off there was no need to turn up our usual one hour before hand in fact two members decided as Lee was with us they would take up his mantle and arrive late so late in fact that the draw had already been done.

At the start of the day with members filling out their scorecards the amount of moans when they realised the competition was Bogey. That tells a story of how well loved Bogey is. The result tell another story of how tough the course was to play Bogey on with quiet a few finishing on -13. Finishing in 3^rd place was myself on -4, new handicap noted 2^nd place went to our Captain Ash who was leader in the clubhouse on -2 until our winner came in with -1 in the last group. Well played Ada and finishing with one of the nearest the pins and a 2 a good day all round. With Keith getting the other nearest the pin.

A recommendation from another society and for the money we paid, despite the bacon roll I think it was worth the nightmare trip around Leicester’s ring road to get there. Luckily Trev had come the back way and suggest we all go that way home. Good shout Trev a much better trip home.

Hollywood G.C. Glynn Hughes Trophy

A disappointing turn out of just 13 members for the Glynn Hughes Trophy and the return to Hollywood G.C. We last played Hollywood 7 years ago and my report then stated what fabulous condition it was in and how wonderful it looked. I admit last time we played it was August and we’ve had a wet few weeks but I still can’t see the course making it back to that standard.

Hollywood has some very small greens and with some being very spongey and others still recovering from being hollow tined I for one found putting difficult, I can hear the other two members of my three-ball asking what was the problem with the tee’s then. No that was just me I’m afraid.

Our last four-ball struggled with the pace a little and decided to call it a day after 16 holes which was unfortunate for Scissorhands Ford as he put in a good score off his new handicap and in fact beat a few of us that played the full 18.

Our captain Ash put up two nearest the pin prizes, one for the 175 yards 10^th and the other for 120 yards 12th. With none of the 13 hitting the longer 10^th. It was left to Ash himself to claim the prize on 12 and take home his own “top quality bottle of red”.

Hollywood has some short par 4’s where you feel some good scoring was achievable, well by someone that could get off the tee maybe. I played with Ada Philips who finished 3^rd on 32 points but left so many shots out there most were on those soft or bobbly greens. I think he would have given the two who finished equal on 36 points a closer battle had those putts dropped. Well done to Bob Clarke who just missed out on count back to the event winner Andy Morton.

Market Drayton Presidents Trophy

The second fixture of the season took us back to Market Drayton where almost 12 months to the day we stood in our new shirts in glorious sun shine. This year it was slightly different with rain forecast and rain had already put an end to any buggies being allowed which in turn meant 3 members didn’t fancy the walk and with one injured we were down to 16.

Market Drayton is described as positioned down a peaceful lane one mile outside the Shropshire town. Established in 1906 it is a beautiful course with elevations that afford spectacular views of the surrounding countryside. Market Drayton manages to produce a little something for everybody within its 18 holes parkland layout. For peaceful lane see dirt track, depending on which way your satnav takes you. Some of the “elevations” are a tough climb and I take my hat off to some of our older members who made the walk and managed to put in some good scores.

Market Drayton has some really nice holes, holes that you need to think about where to put the ball not just smash it off the tee and hope. With the rain holding off it was a day of coat on coat off depending on how well sheltered you were from the at times bitterly cold wind.

The first individual competition of the season is always bogey and we always have the same comments “I hate bogey” “Do we have to play bogey” etc. We would never hear those comments from the society bogey champion Steve Smith who yet again led the way with a cracking score of level to win beating Steve Jackson who finished -3 and in third place Pete Arnold on -4.

With two nearest the pins Baz Bolton took one which was a great shot onto one of two temporary greens and Paul Burke took the other which was a great effort as he only completed nine holes and had to retire with a sore knee.

Well done to everyone who made it on the day it was great to start the season with a dry round lets hope all our other fixture stay dry.

Texas Scramble

2023 gets underway as always with the Texas Scramble. Following the success of last years scramble being held at Drayton Park it was repeated this year, all be it with a few less guests. Teeing off on a cold afternoon it was great to get back together with society members that we haven’t seen for a couple of months. Scramble is always a nice way to start the season, breaking us in gently. This years result was a close run thing with all five teams finishing within 3 shots of each other. The winning team this year was Roy Smith, Andy Grice, Captain Ash Giovani and Keith Ford. Well played guys a tight competition as it should be.

REMEMBER A COMPETITION CARD WILL NOT COUNT FOR THE NEXT EVENT.

The usual course websites can be viewed simply click on the links within the calendar and there should be all the information you need. The times you see for each event will be the first tee time. Don’t forget to get there at least an hour before this time if you want your breakfast.

Texas Scramble

REMEMBER A COMPETITION CARD WILL NOT COUNT FOR THE NEXT EVENT.