Ladies First Team has First Class Start

The Ladies first team played their opening match of the season on Monday evening in damp and drizzly conditions. Captained by Maureen Jenkins, the team were at home playing Alnmouth (Foxton) with the team of Angela Rumney, Candy Paige-Brown, Gill Davidson, Pat Mattinson, Sue Jones, Pat Bainbridge and Natalie Dixon. The team had a good win 5 1/2 to 1 1/2. Well done to all concerned.

Old News but Good News

I was sitting in the garden on Saturday, sunning myself as I read the latest copy of English Club Golfer, the free paper that is available in the Clubhouse, when I spotted a familiar face in one of the photographs. It was one of our members,Ian Davidson, a Men's team player and last years Player of the Year. As I read the article, it transpires that Ian entered a 'Single Figure Golfer' (SFG) competition organised by the English Club Golfer and battled his way through the qualifying tour and regional finals and ended up playing at Woodhall Spa in a team representing SFG against a team of ex-Ryder Cup, Walker Cup and Solheim Cup golfers. Over two days, using a mix of foursomes, fourballs and singles structured to reflect the Ryder Cup matches Ian had the opportunity to play golf against some impressive international talent. Well done Ian, a great achievement and I'm sure a very memorable occasion.

Men's Team Kit

I finally got the team kit back from the embroidery company this week. The team colours this year are a black Ping polo shirt with the team sponsors on the sleeve (The Adelphi and IDC Formwork North East) and a grey Ping sweater. Again many thanks to the sponsors who helped to make the kit affordable; Tess Mann and Iain Cunningham. Well done guys.

There is no truth to the rumour that I chose the colour of the sweater to match my hair!!

Juniors continue to excel

The Parklands Juniors have again shown their prowess in the Northumberland Ladies County Junior Competition for the Barlow Bowl. The qualifying round was played at Tynemouth Golf Club on Thursday 16th April and the fab five .... Samantha Taylor, Amanda Pattison, Alyssa Balding, Joanna Rumney and Natalie Dixon all qualified for the last 8, the Matchplay phase of the competition. Well done to you all. The matches are shown in the attached photo. Click on it to enlarge.

Junior Success

The Spring meeting of the Northmberland Junior Golfing Association was held at Seahouses GC on Wednesday 15th April 2009 and as usual Parklands GC was well represented. The lads and girls went to the venue in a minibus provided by the club and on a cold and misty day, they performed very well. The two major winners were Daniel Deakin who won the best overall gross with a magnificent 68 and Alyssa Balding won the best girls gross with a super 76. Well done to you both and all the other Parklands participants.

Mixed Foursomes - Easter Monday

It's the format we all love to hate! Foursomes ...... alternate shots and no chance to recover from those embarassing shanks. mishits and 'out of bounds'. However, the format did not deter the 24 couples who turned out to celebrate this Easter Monday with a round of golf in some glorious sunshine and dry conditions. The competition was organised by Kath and Ken Morpeth who most ably manage all our mixed trophy competitions. The results of the competition were a win for Amanda Pattison and James Hall with a creditable score of 71, followed by Gill and Colin Davison with a 72. Audrey Barker and Neil Armstrong came 3rd with a 73. Well done to you all and thanks to everyone who played on the day for your support. Though the format is not well liked, it does give many players the opportunity to play shots from parts of the course they would never normally see. We partnered Audrey Ashforth and Colin Walden and when Colin drove out of bounds on the 7th and the 9th, Audrey got the chance to tee off from the white tees. However, she got her revenge on the 10th, having also hit out of bounds, and Colin was able to drive off from the Ladies tees. Not many chances of that in the normal course of a round.

Easter Sunday and I'm the starter

Happy Easter to all the blog readers. I hope that you got as many Easter eggs as you wanted or deserved. I had an early start to Easter Sunday with a 6.00 am reveille and a 6.45 arrival at the golf club because I was starter in the Men's Competition. The competition was for the Marie Curie shield and a medal competition for the Juniors. The task of starter was made relatively painless because the sun was shining, nobody had any moans or gripes, there were only two cancellations, a few late entries and nobody was late to the tee and everyone who was due to play turned up. However, after 4 hours of taking money and issuing cards, I watched the last group tee off at 11.05 and went home to read the Sunday papers in the garden. The competition attracted 94 players, a very encouraging sign. Results were a win for Alan Law with 41 points (after a count back). Alan's reward is the Marie Curie shield and a handicap cut from 11 to 10, second was Colin Walden also with 41 points (he now plays of 16) and third was Paul Shanks with 41 points (he now plays off 5). The Junior Medal was won by Dean Lambert, who was 4th overall, with 40 points. Well done to you all.

Men's Team win in Friendly against Gosforth

The Annual Friendly between Parklands and Gosforth GC Men's Team was played on the evening of Thursday 9th April at Parklands. Under the threat of rain, the 8 man team of Graeme Hewitt, Craig Wilson, Ian Davidson, Iain Cunningham, Ronnie Dixon, Paul Shanks, Luke Anderson and Darren Rustom turned out to represent their Club, all under the watchful eye of the Captain and Vice. The result was a win for Parklands 10-6. This was Luke and Darren's first team match for the Men's team and both acquitted themselves well with a narrow loss for Luke (playing a 2 hcp opponent) and a win for Darren. Welcome to the team and well done to you both. Other wins included Graeme, Craig, Iain, and Paul. Another encouraging performance for the start of the season.

County Foursomes - Saturday 4th April

The County event this year saw a team of Graeme Hewitt and Daniel Deakin representing Parklands Golf Club in the first round of the County Foursomes playing a pair from Arcot Hall. The event was held at Gosforth G.C. The Parklands pairing played exceptionally well in the morning and won 6-4 never having been behind in the match.
In the next round in the afternoon, Parklands played Bamburgh and having lost 2 holes early in the match, they never got them back, Parklands eventually losing 4-3. The golf was good, but the putts would not drop. It was a good performance from a good pairing. Well done to you both.

New Caterers at Parklands

If you have been in the Clubhouse in the last two weeks, I am sure you have noticed the changes in the catering facilities. We are pleased to welcome back Lynn Lambton and Cheryl Smith who have taken over the franchise for the foreseeable future. Lynn and Cheryl are well aware of the challenge and opportunities that the business will offer and I am sure we will receive the high levels of food quality and service that the members experienced in the past. A temporary menu has been in operation for the last two weeks, but the new permanent menu is coming soon. We wish them every success. (photo shows a willing? helper in the kitchen).

Men's Team win Friendly with Backworth

The Annual Friendly between Parklands and Backworth Men's Teams was played on Thursday 2nd April at Backworth. A warm bright day turned into a cold damp misty evening with fog so thick that when Graeme Hewitt reached the 9th all square he agreed a half with his opponent. However the mist kept lifting and eventually all the other team members completed there game. The team was Graeme Hewitt, Chris Bowman, Daniel Trotter, Craig Wilson, Ian Davidson, Iain Cunningham, Rickie Jamieson and Paul Shanks. It was a good evening in difficult conditions and all the team played well. The result was a win for Parklands 12-4 and Parklands retained the trophy. An encouraging start to the season and lets hope the winning ways continue. Well done to all and thanks to Brian King,who stood in for me while I was away in Spain playing golf!!