W.W.G.S.

 

WW 2022/16 - Houghton Finals Day, 5/10/22

For the 2022 Finals Day celebrations we visited the Wanderers second home of Houghton Golf Club. After a 10 mile detour via Herrington Burn due to a car accident closing Burdon Lane plus various other roadwork's and traffic jams I finally arrived at Houghton with 15 minutes to go before my tee time, a bit of a rush. Even Rico was at the course before me!

I must admit personally I wasn't happy with the course set, up mainly teeing off mats, we have played here later in the season and never had this before, there were also a few holes shortened, admittedly not by much so the course still offered a good challenge.

Typically for early October the weather was changeable to say the least, with a strong breeze keeping the temperature down and heavy rain towards the end of the round. Once the golf was over we gathered in the clubhouse to recover and dry off following the rain.

For the first time in 3 years thanks to the COVID pandemic we had a proper prizegiving ceremony with most of our usual prizes and trophies awarded including presenting the Claret Jug to our 2022 Champion Golfer, but more on that in the season report to be uploaded later.

Now for the round results, after card scrutiny the top 3 were confirmed as -

In 3rd place with 36pts was Dave Coates.

In 2nd place with 37pts was Alan Welsh.

The round winner with 38pts (43 including win bonus) was Dave Sanders.

 

WW 2022/15 - South Shields, 9/10/22

For the penultimate round of the 2022 season we revisited a regular course on the Wanderers schedule, South Shields. Usually we play here early in the season as it rarely gets waterlogged as a lot of coursed do early in the year. This was the first round I played since my operation and to be honest I found it tough going, even using a buggy, by the end of the round I was totally wrecked!

I went out as a 3ball with the two Aberdeen Shield Finalists and it was very enjoyable watching them slug it out over the 18 holes. As it was It went down to the final putt on the last hole to decide the winner with Alan beating Mark, 1 up, for more information see below. Now for the round results, after card scrutiny the top 3 were confirmed as -

In 3rd place with 40pts was John Ford.

In 2nd place with 41pts was Dave Watts.

The round winner with 43pts (48 including win bonus) was Andy Trewick.

Aberdeen Shield Final Result

Match	Player	Score		Score	Player
1	Alan Welsh (18hc)	1 up	Vs		Mark Wilson (22hc)

 

The winner and 2022 Aberdeen Shield winner is

Alan Welsh

 

WW 2022/14 - Stocksfield, 18/9/22

Once again I did not play Stocksfield as I was still recuperating from my recent gallbladder operation but this time I did come up to see everyone off. The course Pro was kind enough to let me take a buggy out so I could go out on to the course and follow our group. This turned out fortunate for Mark as one of the straps snapped on his trolley so I ended up acting as his caddy for the rest of the round. The upside of this was I got to witness two Titanic battles for the places in the Aberdeen Shield final (see below).

The course was in very good condition and the weather was fair and it kept dry though there was a chilly wind keeping the temperature down.

Now for the Results, following card scrutiny the top 3 were confirmed as-

1 - Anth Johnston - 42 points (47 with Win bonus).

2 - Paul Baker - 35 points.

3 - Alan Welsh - 33 points, on count back..

For the full round results click HERE

 

Aberdeen Shield

Round 14 also saw the completion of the Aberdeen Shield semi finals so we now have the two finalists.

Semi Final Result

Match	Player	Score		Score	Player
1	Derek Griffiths (23hc)		Vs	3&2	Alan Welsh (18hc)
2	Mark Wilson (22hc)	3&1	Vs		Eddie Harrison (15hc)

 

Final Draw

Match	Player	Score		Score	Player
1	Alan Welsh (18hc)		Vs		Mark Wilson (22hc)

Final to be played BEFORE round 16 at Houghton on Saturday 15/10/22

 

WW 2022/13 - Arcot Hall, 4/9/22

As once again I did not play due to still recuperating from my recent gallbladder operation I can't provide a report. From what I have heard the courese was in good condition and everyone appeared to enjoy the game.

Now for the Results, after card scrutiny we had a bit of a dilemma as the winner was not Championship registered but his achievement deserves a mention -

The highest scorer on the day was Steve Grant with 39 points (following card scrutiny).

The Championship Registered top 3 were confirmed as-

1 - Les West - 38 points (43 with Win bonus) on count back.

2 - Bryan Mountford - 38 points (43 with Tie bonus).

3 - Rico Liverani - 36 points, on count back..

For the full round results click HERE

 

WW 2022/12 - Teesside, 21/8/22

As I did not play due to still recuperating from my recent gallbladder operation I can't provide a report. There was one incident to mention when Anth managed to launch his tee shot on the third hole onto the adjacent cricket pitch. The discussion was weather it was a four or a six!

All in all the comments from our players were positive.

Now for the important business, after card scrutiny, the top 3 were confirmed as-

1 - Rico Liverani - 42 points (47 with Win bonus).

2 - Gordon Grant - 38 points.

3 - Eddie Harrison - 37 points.

For the full round results click HERE

 

Aberdeen Shield

Round 12th also saw the completion of the Aberdeen Shield quarter finals so we now have the four semi finalists and here they are.

Semi Final Draw

Match	Player	Score		Score	Player
1	Derek Griffiths (23hc)		Vs		Alan Welsh (18hc)
2	Mark Wilson (22hc)		Vs		Eddie Harrison (15hc)

Semi final matches to be played BEFORE round 14 at Stocksfield on Sunday 18/9/22

The next gathering is a week on Sunday at Arcot Hall Golf Club, if I feel better I hope to see you all there.

 

WW 2022/11 - Washington, 7/8/22

In past visits to Washington the course has been prone to flooding and waterlogged conditions. However over the past few years a lot of money has obviously been spent on the course and the improvement has been spectacular. The £20 green fees were already great value, then you add in the complementary bucket of range balls and a couple of boxes of Srixon balls to give out as prizes (this will happen at the end of season bash in October) this has to be the best value for money round we will play this season.

Back to the golf, the course itself was in very good condition, The greens were tough but fair, the fairways were in great condition. As the twenty of us gathered in the clubhouse the weather outside was just about perfect, sunny & warm with just a light breeze making the perfect day for a game of golf. One of our group, John, almost carded a hole in one on the 170 yard 13th hole.

Right, now for the important business, after card scrutiny, the top 3 were confirmed as-

1 - Derek Griffiths - 41 points (46 with Win bonus).

2 - Gordon Grant - 38 points.

3 - Dave Sanders - 35 points (on countback).

 

WW 2022/10 - Morpeth, 24/7/22

This is our third Society visit to this pleasant parkland course. In previous years there have been some spectacular scores carded and I was hoping for the same this visit. As the seventeen of us gathered in the clubhouse the weather outside was quite pleasant, thankfully the hot spell that brought record breaking temperatures to the country had returned to a more usual 25 or so degrees. As we waited on the first tee, ready for the off there was a stiff breeze blowing into your face which would continue on the first three holes making things quite tough.

The course itself was in very good condition, the overnight rain had softened the greens and helped making it easier to stop the ball unlike our previous round at Garesfield which was playing more like a links course. The weather held good until with about three holes to go the heavens opened, even the buggy didn't provide much shelter from the horizontal downpour.

Right, now for the important business, after card scrutiny, the top 3 were confirmed as-

1 - Rico Liverani - 39 points (44 with Win bonus), on countback.

2 - Jim Rooks - 39 points (44 with Tie bonus), on countback.

3 - Derek Griffiths - 36 points.

For the full round results click HERE

 

As we are now passed the 10th round mark we will start to drop your lowest scores. As in previous seasons I will indicate what your target score is on your scorecard.

Aberdeen Shield

The 10th round also sees the end of the League phase of the Aberdeen Shield competition. Here are the knockout phase quarter final fixtures.

Quarter Final

Match	Player	Score		Score	Player
1	Jim Rooks (8hc)		Vs		Alan Welsh (17hc)
2	Gordon Grant (22hc)		Vs		Eddie Harrison (15hc)
3	Rico Liverani (17hc)		Vs		Derek Griffiths (28hc)
4	Mark Wilson (21hc)		Vs		Dave Sanders (13hc)

Quarter final matches to be played BEFORE round 12 at Teesside (21/8/22)

 

WW 2022/9 - Garesfield, 10/7/22

Over the years we have played Garesfield in heavy rain and high winds but never have we played it in conditions more akin to Portugal than the North East. The thermometer in my car indicated the ambient temperature reached 25 degrees, phew what a scorcher! The course was in the best condition I have see it though the dry conditions made it very difficult to stop a ball on the greens. Even though Garesfield is at least 20 miles from the coast we ended up playing the approach shots more like playing on a links course.

A healthy 19 players donned the factor 50 sunscreen and took to the course and by the time the match was over there were quite a few very tired golfers who gathered in the clubhouse to replenish their fluid levels. Thankfully I had booked a buggy otherwise I wouldn't have been able to play due to a calf strain.

Right, now for the important business, after card scrutiny, the top 3 were confirmed as-

1 - Anth Johnston - 37 points (42 with Win bonus), on countback.

2 - Mark Wilson - 37 points (42 with Tie bonus), on countback.

3 - Paul Baker - 34 points, also on countback.

 

WW 2022/8 - Beamish Park, 26/6/22

Beamish is a regular on the Wanderers calendarand even though we play here regularly it doesn't get any easier! As we gathered in the clubhouse before the game the majority of the conversation was about how we resolved the issues caused by the club officials giving us conflicting information before the match at Woodham (see below). Anyway back to the Beamish match, the course was in very good condition. The greens were very fast but true and it was nice to play a course where there was sand in the bunkers!

 

Right, now for the important business, after card scrutiny, the top 3 were confirmed as-

1 - Andy Trewick - 37 points (42 with Win bonus)

2 - Gordon Grant - 36 points.

3 - Dave Coates - 35 points.

 

WW 2022/7 - Woodham, 18/6/22

Due to being in isolation thanks to failing a Covid test I can't produce a normal match report, but given the problems we had I'm glad I missed it. Here is the email thread to show how we made our decision to rule the scores on hole 17 null & void -

Initial message from Chairman Jim -
The 17th was allegedly out of play however not everyone was aware and the first two groups played the hole as it was not deemed out of use.
The problem we have is 8 People played 17 and 7 didn't play as they were advised it was Out of use
Options
Take scores from 17 holes for all players 1-16 +18th
Issue all players with 2 points from the 17th
Suggest we put it to a vote as there is no correct solution to the problem
Let me know your thoughts and we can discuss with the rest of the committee later in the week

Response from Competition Secretary (Ian) -

After reading Jim's email, along with the messages on WhatsApp and after talking to John & Mark it looks like we were given duff information by the club officials.
It looks like the sequence of events were -
When I contacted the course on the morning (Website, Facebook page & Course Conditions phone number) there was no mention of any abnormalities with the course.
Before going out in the last group Mark saw from the clubhouse that the path up towards the 17th hole was "taped" off so he asked the Lady Professional if the hole was open and she said it was closed for repairs.
Two of our groups had already gone out so he passed this information on to the third group expecting them to pass this message on to the two groups ahead but it looks like this didn't happen.
When the first two groups reached the 17th hole, there was some confusion as the tee markers were down and the flag was in place even though the hole was taped off and quite obviously under major repairs. As the message that the hole was not in play had not been passed forward they played it and marked the scores down.
When the third third group reached the hole they saw the group ahead had played the hole so they did the same.
The final group, including Mark who had asked the Pro if the hole was open, missed out the 17th and carried on to play the 18th.
On returning to the clubhouse after the round there was a discussion as to whether the 17th hole scores should count given that at least three players missed the hole due to conflicting information from the club officials.
Mark has phoned the club today (Sunday) to try and get some clarification regarding whether the hole was in play or not. The Gents Pro told him the hole is in play Saturday & Sunday but closed the rest of the week when groundworks are underway. Apparently the Lady Pro had not been updated with this arrangement and gave Mark the wrong information in the first place, though apparently she contradicted herself when asked again after our round.
To me this whole shambles is down to the club and their officials not passing the correct information on to our players. There is no easy answer or solution to this situation. In my view if the hole was closed and out of play as we were initially informed then the decision would have been simple no scores would have counted on the 17th as the hole was not in play. But following Mark's call to the club today it would appear it's not that straightforward.
The only precedent in our history I can see was at Bellingham in 2009 when there was a sudden downpour during the round making the course unplayable. On that occasion the decision was made to award points on a pro rata basis. When I get the cards off John I will see how that affects things.
The only other option I can see would be to calculate the average score of those who played the 17th hole and apply that to ALL players, not just those who missed the hole. I know this may disadvantage some who played the hole but in my eyes this is the only fair way to resolve this situation.
If we give everyone two points this could have a major affect on the Championship at the end of the season, it could also mean the "winner" will possibly get a larger handicap cut for the next round. They will also get the 5 point win bonus, once again possibly skewing the Championship.

2nd Response from Competition Secretary (Ian) -

I have now received and checked the cards, sorry for the delay there was a problem with my score log program and I had to repair that first.
From what I can tell of the 15 who played -

Less than half (7) recorded a score on the 17th hole (Gordon, Eddie, Anth, Dave S, Andy T, Les & Steve) More than half (8) did not record a score (Mike, Andy D, John, Rico, Bryan, Jim, Alan & Mark).
The average score carded on the 17th hole by the 7 players was 4.14 strokes (4 when rounded down).
Here are the top 3 on the day for each option -

OPTION 1 - All players get the average score for hole17 (4 strokes).

1) Andy T. 39 points (17pts on back 9 holes). 2) Alan W. 39 points (16pts on back 9 holes).
3) Mark W. 38 points.

OPTION 2 - All players get two points.
1) Andy T. 39 points (17pts on back 9 holes). 2) Alan W. 39 points (16pts on back 9 holes).
3) Gordon G. 37 points (21pts on back 9 holes). 4) Mark W. 37 points. (16pts on back 9 holes).

OPTION 3 - Those who played 17 get their score, the others get 2 points.
1) Alan W. 39 points.
2) Gordon G. 38 points 3) Steve G. 37 points .

OPTION 4 - All players get no score for the 17th hole
1) Andy T. 37 points (15pts on back 9 holes). 2) Alan W. 37 points (14pts on back 9 holes).
3) Gordon G. 35 points (19pts on back 9 holes). 4) Mark W. 35 points. (14pts on back 9 holes).

Whatever we do we need to make a decision ASAP as the next round is this coming Sunday at Beamish and I need to be able to confirm the handicaps. As you can see in all but one of the above options Andy Trewick would win the round and Alan Welsh would tie therefore they would both get the 5 point bonus and the relevant handicap cut.

When the above options were put to the vote by the Committee the result was -

4x votes for hole 17 to be null & void

2x votes to apply the average score for the hole for ALL 15 players.

1x vote for giving 2pts to those who didn't play hole 17.

I hope this has cleared things up a little and I know this is not really satisfactory but no matter what we did someone would be disadvantaged.

 

Anyway, now for the important business, after card scrutiny and application of the above decision the top 3 were confirmed as-

1 - Andy Trewick (on countback) - 37 points (42 with Win bonus)

2 - Alan Welsh - 37 points (42 with Win bonus)

3 - Gordon Grant - 35 points (on countback).

 

WW 2022/6 - Durham City, 3/6/22

The entrance road to Durham City Golf Course isn't exactly inspiring given you drive through an industrial estate to access the course but once there the course is beautiful. Set on the meandering River Browney that runs alongside and comes into play on most of the front nine holes. Our visit coincided with the Queen's Platinum Jubilee celebrations and the weather for our visit didn't disappoint with glorious sunshine for most of the match. Even though there had been a lot of heavy rain overnight the course was in excellent condition, the only slight downside was the cost, at £35 it was by far the most expensive round this season (excluding the Hollins Hall trip, though that included bed, breakfast & evening meal).

Right, now for the important business, after card scrutiny, the top 3 were confirmed as-

1 - Andy Trewick - 37 points (42 with Win bonus)

2 - Gordon Grant - 36 points (on countback)

3 - Andy Dodd - 36 points.

 

2022 Borders Championship (Weekend Away).

After a two year hiatus due to the COVID19 pandemic our annual Weekend Away trip returned. This event also coincided with the 100th different course we have played as a society since it was founded back in 2002. It's a testament to the popularity of our society that there are three of the original four members still playing with the group and we now have 24 full members, 21 of which played this weekend, along with 3 guest players.

For this trip we decided to go for a special venue and after consulting the members for suggestions we decided upon Hollins Hall near Leeds. Thanks go to Mark Wilson for doing the original investigation and bookings. As it turned out Hollins Hall was the perfect location for our trip with a beautiful course and some excellent weather.

Right, now for the main reason for our visit, the battle for the Borders Championship and to decide the custodian of "The Claw" for this season. Following score card checks results were confirmed as -

Borders Championship Final Top 3.

In 3rd with a total of 61 points (30 & 31) was Paul Marshall.

In 2nd also with a total of 61 points (26 & 35) was Alan Welsh.

The winner and Borders Champion for 2022, with a total score of 65 points (29 & 36) was Dave Sanders.

Congratulations to Dave on taking our first Society "Major" of the 2022 season.

WW 2022/5 - Hollins Hall 2, 15/5/22

Sunday dawned overcast and much cooler than Saturday as we gathered on the tee ready for round 2 following a hearty breakfast. I had decided that to save any arguments the groups would go off in reverse Championship order and so we did. As the morning went on the weather gradually improved and by the time we finished we were once again baithed in glorious sunshine. It soon became apparent that familiarity with the course did improve the scores for most of us as the groups came in.

There was talk of one of our group (Dave Coates) performing trick shots on Sunday involving their buggy but I don't have the full details, I am sure someone can let me know more.

Here are Sundays results -

Round 5 & Borders Championship round 2, top 3 -

1 - Dave Sanders - 36 points (41 with Win bonus)

2 - Alan Welsh - 35 points

3 - Bryan Mountford - 34 points

 

WW 2022/4 - Hollins Hall 1, 14/5/22

After a 90+ mile drive down from the North East we all gathered, sitting in the glorious sunshine on the patio outside the clubhouse, ready for the afternoon ahead. With 24 playing it was always going to be a bit of a logistical challenge and everything appeared to be going OK until, with 20 minutes to go before the first tee time (which I was one of) I was still waiting for the sandwich that was ordered 45 minutes beforehand! When it finally arrived the order was wrong so they quickly provided me with a take away to eat out on the course. Not the best way to start the visit.

Once we were up and running the course provided us with some stunning views and a real test of anyone's game. Some of the holes were beautiful and there could have been two or three candidates for "signature" holes. As the round went on it looked obvious that there were not going to be many high points scores and that's the way it turned out.

Here are Saturday's results -

Round 4 & Borders Championship round 1, top 3 -

1) Mike Bennett, on countback with 32 points (37 with Win bonus).

2) Andy Dodd also with 32 points (37 with Tie bonus).

3) Paul Marshall with 30 points.