Chris Boughton's Golf Column: Broken leg cannot deter new captain
Thetford Golf Club’s new captain, Rob Mill, was on one leg as he drove into office in front of a big crowd last week.
Scotsman Rob had been elected at the club’s annual meeting after he had broken his ankle last month. He was preceded to the tee by a piper in full regalia and when he drove into office, his right leg was in plaster with a protective boot. He was relieved to hit the ball beyond the ladies’ tee as he had to balance on one leg to hit the tee shot.
Seniors’ captain Jim Neal responded by wearing a pair of trousers with the Cross of St George emblazoned on them and he started his year of office by hitting a respectable drive, as did ladies’ captain Sue Pitcher.
There was a big crowd because the official drive-ins followed the Every-One-a-Winner competition which had attracted a maximum turn-out of 32 teams of four.
It was a shotgun start for the Texas Scramble event with Richard Alger, Jon Olpin, Bryan Muggeridge and Paul Hensby winning with 63-4.4=58.6. Their card included nine birdies and nine pars.
Runners-up were Brian Martin, Peter Martin, Terry Young and David Bick with 66-6.5=59.5 and third place went to Steve Steeds, Mike Ford, Tim Norman and Robert Kingsley with 65-5.5=59.5.
The nearest the pin prizes went to Barbara Bailey at the 1st, Roy Nicholls at the 3rd, Paul Pearce at the 11th and Rob Taylor at the 16th.
On Sunday it was the third round of the Winter League. This is a six-round event held over the winter with the best four scores counting for the overall prize.
It was a Foursomes round this time and the winners were Bryan Muggeridge & Jon Olpin with 36pts. They finished two ahead of Mark Alford & Simon Moore and Tony Brooks & Ross Sanford.
Overall, Brooks/Sanford lead the way with 112pts followed by John Ward & Peter Croker and Neil Elers & Ashley Forbes with 107.
Bury St Edmunds Golf Club
The annual Ladies 10-hole Christmas competition at Bury St Edmunds GC marked the start of Ali Bass’ captain’s year.
Always a popular event in the ladies golfing calendar, 60 players took part in this waltz team format and 69 arrived for lunch.
Lady captain Ali said: “It is such a fun event, and it’s lovely to see so many ladies participating and enjoying a Christmas lunch together. There was lots of chat and laughter in the room.”
The winners were Hannah Clark, Melanie Lesser and Sandy Glynn with 40 points. Melanie Lesser in the winning team commented that ‘the Christmas lunch always seems like the start of Christmas at the club’.
Runners-up were Lynne Wright, Sue King and Dawn Byrom, with 37 points on count-back from Viv Whittaker, Viv Kemp & Judith Atkinson.
The ladies also raised an impressive £140 for the Captain’s Charity, West Suffolk Sight, with a raffle.
The Suffolk Golf Club
It was a rain-free sunny day for last week’s Wednesday Stableford competition held at The Suffolk GC, but it was bitterly cold in the stiff breeze.
The weather, however, didn’t bother Steve Moye as he accumulated a splendid 41 points from his 13-handicap (12 next time out) to win the day.
This was the 7th round of the latest 13-round Midweek Order of Merit series at the club and Moye has only played in tw,o but he won them both and sits in 5th place with 20 points.
Roy Buckle came second on the day with 39 points and Russell Green took third spot on count-back from Craig Smart. Both scored 38 points.
Ivan Snelling still leads with 44 points followed by Martin Levens with 31.
After three of the six rounds of the Winter League at The Suffolk, Mark Thomas and Rhys Nightingale lead the way with 125 points after finishing in 3rd place in the latest round last Sunday. Paul Dufosee and Simon Hodson are close on their heels in 2nd place after also finishing 2nd on Sunday.
Gary Whyatt & Darrren Tate finished 1st on Sunday with 44 points. Iain Stark aced the 7th hole. His wedge shot landed straight in the hole on the fly.
Suffolk Winter Alliance
The latest Suffolk Winter Alliance meeting was at Ufford Park in typical mid-winter conditions.
After a frosty start, 72 players including one Professional enjoyed a course that was playing quite long with very little roll on the ball.
The Professional prize was won by Simon Dainty of Stoke-by-Nayland with a score of 79.
The Four Ball Better Ball Stableford for the John Whiting Trophy was won by the Stoke-by-Nayland pairing of Roger Gardiner and Ian Collett with 40 points.
The Professional Order of Merit is led by Sam Foran with 9 points and the Order of Merit Sweep is jointly headed by Sam and Ben Forgan. Both have 210 points.
The next Alliance meeting is on Sunday, January 5, at Bungay and Waveney.
This will be a Pro/Am, Am/Am competition with the best two scores from four to count.
