Chris Boughton's Golf Column: Captains’ drive-in draws big crowd
Bury St Edmunds Golf Club held their new captains’ Drive-in last Sunday on an overcast but thankfully dry late autumn day – 130 members watched the captains (Stewart Chapman & Ali Bass) hit their Drive-in tee shots down the first fairway (155yds & 136yds) before they all made their way to their allotted tees for teams of 5, Shotgun start, Texas Scramble.
The leading scores in the competition were impressive with the winners, Jack Deal, Dan Smailes, Clare Sykes, Graham Sykes & Gary Ward carding a nett 54.8 off their 4.2 combined handicap.
Runners-up were Mike Brooks, Sarah Poole, Phil Castle, Graham Judge and Mike Willams with nett 56.2 off 7.8.
The new vice-captains are Dr Guy Lesser and Carmel Plant.
The new seniors’ captain will be Tim Beard with Peter Mallinson the vice-captain. Danny Howes takes over as junior captain.
The Bury St Edmunds Golf Club seniors’ section raised £250 when they held their annual British Legion Poppy Appeal Stableford competition recently. The prize winners were: Men – 1st Phil Tulett, 2nd Paul Nightingale, 3rd Graham Judge.
Ladies – 1st Clare Charlwood, 2nd Dawn Byrom, 3rd Anne-Marie Regnery.
The Suffolk Golf Club
After just four rounds of the 12-match Midweek Order of Merit series, Ivan Snelling has opened a handy 12-point lead at the top of league table. In the latest competition last Wednesday, Snelling took top spot with a fine score of 40 Stableford points.
The 9-handicapper played characteristically steady golf, scoring 13 pars and 5 bogies to lead by one point over runner-up Martin Levens.
Ron Hazell came third on count-back and is now second in the league on 19pts. James Edgar lies third on 16.
After two rounds of the Suffolk GC’s Winter League, Rhys Nightingale and Mark Thomas lead the way with 83 points. Last Sunday they finished in 3rd place with 42 points to add to their score of 41pts in the first round.
Andrea & Mick Leigh added 38 points to their impressive winning first round score of 44 to lie one point back in second place.
The winners on Sunday were Alf Sandford & Val O’Neil with a stunning 45 points, two better than runners-up Paul Dufosee & Simon Hodson.
Thetford Golf Club
Thetford Golf Club’s build-up to the festive season continued with the men’s Turkey Trot on Saturday.
There were 78 entrants and the top three players in each of the three divisions received some pre-Christmas cheer with vouchers for local butchers J Jones.
Ian Ramsay has been in a good run of form lately and his round of gross 73 won Division One with 40pts. He began with seven pars before dropping shots at the next three holes.
Birdies at the 13th, 16th and 17th saw him back to level par before he had a five at the last for his 73.
Jason Huggins, who plays off three, also had a gross 73 for second place with 38pts. An eagle two at the fifth was the highlight of his round which also included birdies at the 2nd and 10th. Paul Pearce (6) was third with 37pts.
Carl Williams won Division Two with 41pts with Graham Sloan and Glenn Beardsall also in the prizes, and the top three in Division Three were Ian Harvey, Paul Parsons and James Tebbit.
On a bright, but chilly, Sunday morning, 44 Thetford Golf Club members teed off for the annual Captains’ Carvery competition.
After the 13-hole mixed Greensomes competition 50 diners enjoyed a beef and pork carvery carved by club captain Mike Horley and ladies’ captain Mary Neal.
The winners with 28 points were the partnership of Tom Price and Barbara Bailey. Second on count-back with 26 points were Mark Heffer and Lorelle Turner from Maurice Anderson and Judith Heffer. Ian Ramsey and Rosemary Bloom came 4th with 25.
Thetford’s annual meeting will be held in the clubhouse on Wednesday, December 4, starting at 7pm.
