Captain’s Update
From Tony Brunt, Men’s Captain: This month I thought it would be a good time to highlight the social fun our competitions can be, while at the same time supporting our chosen local charity — Shooting Star Children’s Hospice.
The Captain’s Cup was run over both days of the June 19th/20th weekend, it was Stableford format, with two options to post a single 18-hole winner… and indeed they came, they played, and she conquered!
While several people had great playing days, the greatest winner was Shooting Star, for which we collected £820. A terrific sum of money and on top of this we are looking at the potential to have this doubled through the charitable actions of certain big business organisations. Absolutely marvellous.
The weekend failed to live up to the predictions of doom and gloom and gave the players very friendly conditions in which to contend and shine. The course was in great condition and kindly setup by our lovely greenkeepers to accommodate all our playing levels.
Saturday saw some great competition, with David Woollatt recording a belting 42 points to top the first round leaderboard. Many thought this was unassailable due to the testing forecast for Sunday, but this was not the case! Calum Grubb’s 40 points was close but still held the overnight second place, whilst George Stanton was clearly on form with the best of the four 39 pointers to grab third place.
Meanwhile, on the practice putting green, we held the Charity parking space putting competition. Thanks to Alex and Dan for spending hours of their day to manage this!
As this was also run over two days, we decided to take the best two scores from each day. You need to understand that this was our first attempt at a clever take on putting a ball into a hole. Day 1 was from 30 yards, with five rings of differing points — it is hard to even see the hole from that far back! George Stanton (of 2nd place fame) and Tom Roberts had no issues with 65 points apiece, magic!
On Sunday, we greatly shortened the distance and still the scoring was the same, a scientific conundrum. Dave Green nudged in a 70-point blitz with Bruce French a conundrum-supporting 65. Well done the four of you, please share the parking rights fairly, no squabbles please!
Thank you to all 82 contributors for your generosity over the two days. I hope you enjoyed the subsidised benefits from the F&B team, kindly supporting our charitable efforts.
Sunday’s golf did not disappoint the crowds. David was primed and kindly agreed to return to the club for the rather handsome cup to be presented should his work on Saturday prevail, but he was not needed!
The top slot was taken by the magical talents of Jacqui Green, who exerted such control of the little white ball that she shot 43 points. Wow! Well done, Jacqui. The day’s second spot went to Greg Murdoch, whose game has been bubbling in recent competitions, with a fabulous 41 points. In third place, stunning all including himself, was Q (Pete Tristram), who is on a roll at the moment, excellent result old chum.
We usually throw in some nearest-the-pin interest for those that like that sort of accuracy test. We chose the 6th and the 17th both days. I would say both have a big blob of off-putting water in front, but don’t they all!
Regardless of the aqua, John Hennessy and Phil Rule were Saturday’s rockers, whilst Rob Pountney and Andrew Woolley were Sunday’s rollers. Direction and distance control, such talents we have in our club.
The final Captain’s Cup result is posted online, even though I’m sure you’ve worked out the top three for the overall Cup standings. Importantly, the cup winner was Jacqui whose name is now the first name to be engraved on the shiny silverware.
Just to underline the competitiveness of the weekend, the last of the 36-point scorers (guess who!) was placed 33rd! A tough school. Thank you to all those taking part, joining in the fun and staying to listen to the green-jacketed guy deliver his very interesting post-match dialogue.
Get involved
If you are new to the club and wondering how you can get involved in the weekly entertainment at Pyrford Lakes, its simple, sign up! Website or IG app, either works, just add money to your competition account and entering is a breeze. I can do it so it must be! Any issues, message me or the administration team and we’ll help. Rob is a guru on all things help, so track him down.
On top of this, Get Golfing is running an Order of Merit that will send best Cup performer to Le Touquet for a sponsored event. Another great reason to join us and compete! The next cup event is the Smart China Cup on Saturday, July 3rd, open to all that have three weekly club Stablefords (or medals) registered, hope to see you there.
Finally, the admin team is also aiming to run more fun competitions, four-ball scrambles and better-ball formats. We would particularly like to invite our many new members who have yet to get involved to join in these. It’s a great way to get a little competition, mix with other members and get full benefit from all your club offers. Watch out for Dan’s weekly updates. We’ll try to get a more fun-format-focused schedule introduced as we move into the autumn and winter. These are also a great, fun way to add to our charity. A little help makes a great difference.
