Impressive performance from
Jon Downs as he wins
twice on Tour to win the
Stableford Tour Championship

This was the Society’s first visit to Anglesey playing at Henllys Golf Club, Holyhead Golf Club and Bull Bay Golf Club. All three were quality courses and enjoyable to play. The weather was again kind to us and we can count ourselves very lucky considering the summer we have endured this year.
The weekend was dominated by Jon Downs who started the weekend playing off an handicap of 20 and by Sunday evening he was down to 15. He went on to win two of the Society Days, at Henllys Golf Club on the Friday and at Bull Bay Golf Club on the Sunday. Two very good results that clinched the Tour Stableford Championship and the Strokeplay Championship for Jon. The Strokeplay Trophy was presented to Phil Smith for finishing Runner-up in the overall Strokeplay Competition. The last time a member won twice on Tour was back in 2005 when Peter Simms won twice in Scotland.

We began our Tour at  Henllys Golf Club a maturing parkland course that has been open for 10 years. We all arrived nice and early on the Friday morning and all tucked into a delicious breakfast whilst sitting outside the clubhouse on a lovely balcony overlooking the 18th green. The sun beating down and giving the impression we could have been anywhere in the Mediterranean. It was Jon Downs who got off to a flier scoring 42 Stableford points from 85 strokes. Jon said that he was hitting the ball well and had played a little more golf this year which had clearly helped him to put together such a good round. Later in the evening, our Captain Andrew Abell, docked him 3 shots for the privilege of winning so handsomely.  Jon went on to win the Longest Drive Award on the 18th hole with the Nearest the Pin award going to Karl Furniss. The winning Team on the Friday was Andrew Abell, Jon Downs, Russ Howard and John Smith.

The Strokeplay winner at Henllys was Phil Smith who went round in 81 strokes and came in second with 37 points.

A quick drink in the clubhouse and then it was off to Bull Bay to check into the Trecastell Hotel. The Hotel looked the business from the outside but sadly was in need of a great deal of TLC on the inside. Perhaps the worst Hotel we have used as a Society. Food was very good but the bar was poorly stocked and the rooms shabby. It was only when we left that we were told that the Management Team were coming out of the Hotel on the following Monday and we were their last party.

On Saturday we had a 40 minutes car drive along the coastal road to Holyhead Golf Club, a Heathland course. Although the course is not particularly long by modern standards, the course turned out to be a good test for all our members, with narrow undulating fairways and rough comprising of gorse, heather and bracken. On top of that the wind was gusting which made the golf that much more difficult. Many balls were lost and plenty of clubs thrown into the bracken.
The day belonged to John Smith with 33 Stableford Points from 94 strokes just a point in front of Jon Downs who had another good game with 32 points from 89 strokes. Well played John it was tough out there and you thoroughly deserved your first win of the season. Longest Drive went to Brian Copestick and the Nearest the Pin went to Andrew Abell. Phil Smith again had the fewest strokes on the day coming in with 28 points from 87 strokes.

Winning Team at Holyhead was Joe Matthews, Kevin Abell, Stan Malpass and Phil Smith who all enjoyed a bottle of wine with their meal in the evening.

Holyhead Golf Club will always hold some fond memories for us all. It would be so remiss of me not to mention “Bell Gate” with the banter continuing in the Holyhead clubhouse that resulted in Stan dinging the bell on the wall in the bar for the benefit of both Les Smith and Kevin Sherwin. (the saga continues). Poor old Stan, what he didn’t realise was that the bell signified a “Hole in One” being achieved and members flocked in from all quarters of the clubhouse for their customary tipple! Finally, BMW car keys....well, enough said. Saturday Dinner went well with our Fine Master Peter Meadowcroft providing us with excellent entertainment whilst taking money off us all. The “Buggy Boys” were hit the hardest. A total of £55.81p was collected. Stan organised a  raffle  for a bottle of whisky which raised some £130 for a charity in memory of Karl’s father and in appreciation of the Society Day that Karl organises at Alsager Golf Club. Well done to Peter and Stan for raising this money.

Saturday evening was spent in the confines of the Hotel. All of us pretty much too tired to consider a full crack at the OlymPIGS. Some played a game or two but most preferred to watch the “Potters” on the box and witness the debut of Charlie Adam. All credit to Andrew for the planning he undertook to think about the Group Draws and the games to be played on the Saturday night. A difficult task to undertake but as Andrew and myself discussed during our late night drink on the Saturday night - we live and learn. In future we intend to make our lives far easier when we are on Tour, but that ‘s all for another time.

On Sunday we checked out of the Hotel and made the long journey up the road to Bull Bay Golf Club - about 200 yards and 1 minute by car. The weather good, a little windy and damp to start off with but  it quickly warmed up. We had the 60 yard Challenge on the first hole that turned out to be 100 yards and was won by Phil Smith. It looked as though Steve Rushton was going to win it  with a nice shot to about  ten feet but Phil came inside him in one of the last groups going out.

The general feeling was that Bull Bay was their favourite course over the weekend. The course had many natural features with rocky outcrops, valleys and plenty of areas with gorse. Fairways were tight but the greens were excellent. The best score of the day again came from Jon Downs with 33 Stableford Points from 90 strokes. This was closely followed by Peter Simms who came home with 31 points from 95 strokes. Jon also had the lowest strokes on the day as well. Because of the PIG Rule that no-one can take home two trophies from the weekend, it meant that Peter Simms took home the Sunday Trophy. The Longest Drive went to Steve Ruddell and the Nearest the Pin Award went to Kevin Sherwin.

The Captains Cup was won by Jon Downs, Steve Ruddell, Peter Hughes and Karl Furniss. All winning a bottle of wine each.

Well done to Brian for sorting out the cards each day. Joe and Stan for gathering all the prizes that we shared out at the end of the tour and to all of you that contributed prizes.

Everyone appeared to enjoy themselves during the weekend, just a shame about the standard of accommodation.

Looking forward to next year.