Close Call at Close House

The Men's team played their Hadrian League match away to Close House yesterday evening. This is Close House's first year back in the league following a gap of 5 years and many of our team had not previously played the course, which is a big disadvantage. In cloudy and windy conditions, the team of Graeme Hewitt, Daniel Trotter, Craig Wilson, Ian Davidson, Ronnie Dixon and Paul Shanks started on the 1st tee with the team's unbeaten league position very much in their hands. Some difficult holes and even more difficult greens had all the team members struggling to stay on level terms, and after 6 holes, 4 members were down. As they came to the end of the 14th, Graeme was all square, Ian was all square, Daniel had lost 6 and 5, Craig was 2 down,Ronnie was 2 down and Paul had won 5 and 4. Things were looking a bit grim and Brian King and myself were chewing our nails. However, some tenacity in the last few holes rescued the day and Graeme went on to win 2 and 1, and Ian won 1 up. So 3 wins and 6 league points and an honourable draw 6 - 6. The match was followed by a team meal in a private dining room in the mansion. Well done to the team ... during the month of May we have played 4 matches, with 2 wins and 2 draws. A great achievement by all concerned.

Mixed Open 2009

The Parklands Mixed Open event was played this Bank Holiday Monday in glorious sunny weather and with the course looking an absolute picture. 38 couples entered the event, the majority being Parklands members. With Danny Hall as the starter, the day started well and ended well with a presentation in the clubhouse at 4.30pm. The competition was very close with the five prizes decided over a single stableford point. The results were :-1st Geoff & Candy Brown (Parklands) 41pts (Back9); 2nd Ronnie & Natalie Dixon (Parklands) also with 41pts; 3rd Owen Fortune & Denise Swindlehurst (Parklands) 40pts (Back 9); 4th D & C Scott (Morpeth GC) 40pts (Back 9); 5th Ian Thompson & Mary Wright (Parklands) 40pts (Back 9).... no this was not a misprint I was part of the winning pair ......

Many thanks to all the members who made this event happen and not least to Maureen Jenkins for her work on the day and Kath Morpeth for all the work on the day and all the days and weeks leading up to the event. The competition is run for the benefit of the members and visitors and we do not plan to make a profit on the day. However we did hold a raffle and the proceeds of this and the small profit has put an extra £140 into the Maureen Braven bridge fund. Well done to all who played and bought raffle tickets.

No shoes for Tommy

Despite the requests not to leave shoes on the paved area at the front of the clubhouse, the occasional pair still appear and sometimes disappear when the staff move them to more appropriate places, like the litter bins or the skips. So when Tommy Watson went out to play last week, he left his everyday shoes in his golf shoe bag under the bench, and upon his return from the course, he thought the staff had moved them to teach him a lesson. However, in this case they really had be stolen, some toerag thinking they were getting a pair of golf shoes took them away only to find a pair of Tommy's everyday footwear. Tommy has requested a review of the security camera and hopefully we will catch the idiot with the foot fetish. Tommy had to go home in his bare feet (see photo)

Hadrian League Standing 21 May 09

Such an elevated position ... let's keep it that way team.

Curry Night Success

The curry night held in the club house this evening was a real success and was much appreciated by all the members and guests who attended. The event was a joint venture between the management and the caterers, Lynn and Cheryl. With around 50 people taking up the offer of a choice of 3 curries and a pint of beer or glass of wine for £5, the event was a successful social night and hopefully a venture worth repeating. We look forward to the next evening .... an Italian night ... pasta and pizza?

Stocksfield Success

The Men's team continued their superb start to the season with another win in the Hadrian League in a home fixture against Stocksfield. The evening had threatened rain, but thankfully the golfing gods decided we would stay dry. The team was Graeme Hewitt, Daniel Trotter, Craig Wilson, Ian Davidson, Ronnie Dixon and Paul Shanks. Three of the games were convincing wins for Daniel Trotter 4/3, Craig Wilson 4/3, Ian Davidson 3/2. The other three games went a little 'closer to the wire'. After a very tight game, Ronnie Dixon finished the game on the 18th winning 1 up. Graeme Hewitt's match was even tighter and Graeme went down the 18th 1 down, only to win the hole and secure a hard fought half. Paul Shanks also went down the 18th 1 down and had a putt to halve his match only to watch it turn agonisingly away from the hole in the last few inches and he lost 1 down. We dined on lasagna and chips at 10.00pm with a convincing 9 - 3 win under our belts. A great result again for the team.

Captain's Charity - Alzheimer

Many thanks to all the members and visitors for their generosity on Sunday with the purchase of tickets in the raffle run in conjunction with the Men's Open Competition.

The raffle raised £160 for the Captains Charity which in 2009 will be used for a local Alzheimer charity.

The winners were 1st M D Cook - Fourball at Gosforth GC ; 2nd G Henderson - Polo Shirt ; 3rd C Wilson - 1lt Bells Whisky ; 4th W Sydney - 1lt Teachers Whisky. Thanks again everyone.

Men's Open Competition Result

I suppose that we measure the success of the an open competition by the number of players entering, the weather on the day and the comments from the visitors and members when they are sat in the clubhouse with a pint in their hands. Overall then, a successful day. The numbers were good, the weather was very kind after lots of rain on Friday, some on Saturday and threats by the forecasters, but it started dry and finished dry. The greens were in excellent condition and the comments regarding the course were universally positive.

Many thanks to all the visitors and members who played and the results were .... 1st Chris Wappat (Parklands) and Darren Rushtom (Parklands) 45pts winning £100 vouchers each; 2nd Terry Mann (Parklands) and S Turnbull (Tyneside) 43pts(back six) winning £80 vouchers each; 3rd Iain Cunningham (Parklands) and Russel Simpson (Parklands) 43pts(back nine) winning £60 vouchers each; 4th Jim Henderson (Parklands) and Les English (City) 43pts(back nine) winning £40 vouchers each and S Wilson and P Gibson (Bedlington) 42pts(back nine) winning £30 vouchers each. Well done to you all.

Exit from the Davison Cup

On a grey and windy Saturday morning, the men's team had an early exit from the Hadrian League Davison Cup. A difficult fixture of an away tie against Bedlingtonshire (for the second season running) brought the team of Graeme Hewitt, Chris Bowman, Ian Davison, Ronnie Dixon and Paul Shanks up against a Bedlingtonshire team in good form. Ian Davison played their Captain, Kevin Beaney and despite being only 3 over par, Ian lost 7 and 6. Chris Bowman played Matty Webb, just back from USA where he is on a golf scholarship and sports a driving average of 350yds. Chris lost 4 and 3. Graeme Hewitt played their number 1 - Kris Wylam and after a close tussle lost 2 and 1. Ronnie Dixon played Alan McBride and after been 5 down, Ronnie pulled back to 2 down before losing 4 and 3. The one winner for Parklands was Paul Shanks who had another impressive performance and impressed the Bedlingtonshire Vice-Captain with his range of shots. Paul beat Sam Oliver 7 and 6. The overall result was 4 - 1. As they say in the Premiership, we can now concentrate on the league.

Team's Tyneside Triumph

The Men's team played their second match of the 2009 Hadrian League season away to Tyneside Golf Club on a clear but cool night on Wednesday. The reception and hospitality by their Captain and Vice-Captain was both warm and welcoming but it was a prelude to the fighting and tenacious performance that the Parklands team would exhibit during their matches. All 6 matches came down the 18th hole and resulted in wins for Graeme Hewitt and Paul Shanks both finishing 2 up, a tremendous performance all round from the pair. Daniel Trotter (who had not played the course before) was dormie 2 only to have his opponent finish birdie, birdie including a putt of 30+ feet on the 18th. An unlucky half for Daniel but very well done. The other 3 matches (Ian Davidson, Ronnie Dixon and Ricky Jamieson) had seen the Parklands players several shots down on the front nine and all fought back to finish with a half and all feeling that they could have won their respective matches. Overall it was a tremendous result. We won two and halved 4 with no losses and secured an 8 - 4 win away from home. Needless to say I was very proud of the team and very impressed, sentiments equally impressed by the Vice-Captain Brian King.

The photographs show Graeme Hewitt teeing off on the 13th and Ronnie Dixon leaving the 18th in fading light.

Ladies First Team Result

The Ladies first team played their second match of the season at Ponteland GC yesterday afternoon and followed up last week's win with a second resounding victory winning 5 to 2.

Captained by Maureen Jenkins, the team was Angela Rumney, Candy Paige-Brown, Gill Davison, Pat Mattinson, Sue Jones, Pat Bainbridge and Natalie Dixon.

Well done ladies.

Another Success for Sam

The junior girls continue their amazing season with a win for Samantha Taylor in the Northumberland Junior Golf Association's Girls Matchplay Championship.

Sam played Nicola Haynes of Gosforth Park Ladies in the final winning 2/1. Well done Sam, a great start to the season.

Rules Night - Ignorance is Bliss

Thursday night this week brought the long advertised Rules Evening to the Club. It was surprising that the 2 dozen golfers turning up to listen to the presentation were mostly the members with a good working knowledge of the rules and the missing 400 members .... well, time will tell! The presentation was made by the Open Championship referee Desmond Duffy, a former Bamburgh Castle club champion and a member of the R&A Championship Committee. Using a mixture of video and verbal presentations he entertained his audience for about 45 minutes before entering into a lively question and answer session. A successful night where all present came away with a better understanding of the Rules of Golf. Our thanks were extended to Desmond for his professional presentation and giving up his time to come and share his knowledge and experience. Our thanks also go to Brian King for arranging the session.

Men's Team - The Start of the Season

Last night saw the first match of the season for the Parklands Men's team, playing at home to Bedlingtonshire, a team which we have already played before the season commenced, having drawn them in the Mail on Sunday competition and who we are due to play in the Davison Cup in 10 days time. But this was the league and we wanted to get off to a good start, recognising that they are potentially one of the stronger teams in the league. The Parklands team was Graeme Hewitt, Ricky Jamieson (see later), Daniel Trotter, Ian Davidson, Ronnie Dixon and Iain Cunningham with Paul Shanks in reserve. We started in threatening conditions with cloudy damp skies and strong winds. The first five matches were away by 5.45pm but we then had a delay waiting for a missing Parklands player who failed to show. At 6.00pm I asked Ricky to step into the vacant slot and he ended up playing Kevin Beaney, their number 2 and a scratch golfer. Ricky was soon 4 down, but fought his way back to 1 down before losing 3/2. Kevin, who is the Bedlingtonshire Captain this year was full of praise for his tenacious performance. Well done Ricky. In the other matches our fortunes were up and down. Ronnie Dixon got to a position of 3 up which he held until the end, winning 3/2. Daniel Trotter was 3 up, but had a few scary moments before winning on the 18th. Graeme Hewitt, playing at number 1 against Kris Wylam had a super win going 2 up on the 18th. In the other two matches Ian Davidson lost 4/3 and Iain Cunningham a close fought battle before losing 2/1. The overall result was a 6 - 6 draw and a great start to the season. Well done to you all.

Mixed Greensomes - Bank Holiday Monday

The first round of the mixed greensomes competition was held on the Bank Holiday Monday, 4th May, under gloomy skies and a testing westerly wind. 26 couples braved the afternoon with a display of golfing skills which was variable. The photograph shows Maureen Jenkins, Lady Captain, driving off on the first tee ... good weight transfer Maureen. The winners of this first round were Wayne McCulloch and Teresa Boyle with 43 points, followed closely by George and Sandra Kirkland with 42 points and third, Owen Fortune and Helen Whitely with 40 points. Well done to the winners and all who turned up and played under not very spring like weather. Many thanks to Kath and Ken Morpeth for organising the day.

County Championship - Ladies 2009

The ladies County Championship was held at Ponteland Golf Club over the weekend of Friday/Saturday/Sunday 1-3 May 2009. Parklands was represented by 3 players, Alyssa Balding, Samantha Taylor and the County Captain Angela Rumney. All three played well on the Friday in the 2 qualifying rounds finishing 7th, 12th and 9th respectively and all going through to the last 16 and the Saturday matchplay first round. Unfortunately Alyssa was drawn against Sam meaning one had to lose in the first round. Alyssa won 2/1 with Angela also winning by the same score. On the afternoon Angela lost to the eventual champion but Alyssa won 6/5 to go into the semi finals on the Sunday, where she lost 2/1 to Nikki Hunter (all complaints to the Parklands shop please). It was another great performance by all three and as a result they were awarded prizes as follows : Alyssa Balding, the Marian Marshall Goblet for the losing semi-finalist : Samantha Taylor, the Connie Burton Trophy for the best net score over 36 holes 147 : Angela Rumney won a prize for her gross score of 83 in a qualifying round : Alyssa Balding won the Richmond trophy for the best gross score over 36 holes for competitors under 21 years. Brilliant ladies ... absolutely brilliant.