Permanent Distance Markers

For the observant amongst us, you may have noticed that we have new permanent distance markers on both the white and the yellow tee boxes. These consist of a square steel plate, painted the appropriate colour with a welded steel spike. The 36 markers were made courtesy of Brian Rutherford. The plates were put in position by Kevin Hall and Kenny Shepherd. You may wonder what advantages these steel plates have over the old concrete ones and the answer is simple. When they become covered over with soil and grass, they can be detected and uncovered. It's easy to find a steel plate, but very difficult to find a concrete disc as we have found over the last few months as we have failed to find many of the original markers. Thanks guys.

A busy weekend

Well that was a busy weekend for the golf club, the bar staff and the caterers. It was the Northumberland Plate weekend with all the glamour, buzz and disruption it brings to the golf club. It's the principal race meeting of the year for Northern Racing and therefore the biggest source of revenue and Saturday is the day the golf club has to play second fiddle ... we lose the car park, suffer access and egress problems, a busy and noisy clubhouse .... but all for the best possible reasons ... so that the Company can make some revenue and hopefully be financially sound during these testing times for the leisure industry. But our golfing life must go on ... and the Ladies Section held their Bronze Championship quarter and semi finals on Saturday. Congratulations to Amanda Pattison and Yvonne Welch who will now contest the final on Club Championship day on Sunday, 12th July.

Sunday was a busy day, with the Men's Section holding their Invitation Day. It was a warm but misty start to the day and under the watchful eye of the organiser, Graham Bell, 72 pairs of members and visitors enjoyed a well organised day of golf with a meal on their return to the clubhouse. The result was very close and the winning pairing of D Flynn and D Tallon finished with 46 points and were rewarded with £87 of vouchers each. Well done to all concerned. The results are on the website.

I ran a raffle on the day for the Captain's Charity, Alzheimer, and we raised £183 ... so many thanks for all those who bought tickets and thanks to Graham Bell who donated a trolley as one of the raffle prizes.

The Bitter Pill of Defeat

The Men's Hadrian League match this week was played at home on a Monday against Hexham, who are vying to win the league this season. The unusual Monday timing is because this week is the Northumberland County Championship Week. We were faced with a very strong Hexham team with handicaps ranging from +2 to 2 .... and despite the apparent difference in playing abilities the team performed well with some tenacious performances to scramble points. Graeme Hewitt had a very close battle but lost on the 18th, Daniel Trotter lost 6/5, Craig Wilson lost 3/1, Chris Bowman returned to the team and secured a very good half, Ian Davidson had a great 4/3 win and Paul Shanks also fought back to secure a good half. So three matches were decided on the 18th and 4 points secured. A loss of 8 - 4, but some good performances against strong opposition. Well done guys.

Ladies First Team Win Again

The Ladies 1st team secured another impressive win in their last league match of the season on Tuesday afternoon. The match was a home fixture against Wallsend ladies and the result was 5 1/2 to 1 1/2. The league fixtures are now complete for 2009 for the Parklands team and they finished their 6 matches with an impressive 26 1/2 points with 4 wins, 1 draw and 1 loss. The ladies must now wait for the other teams to play their remaining fixtures to see if they will secure promotion to Division 2 for the 2010 season. Fingers crossed.

Senior Open win for Parklands Pair

A little bird tells me that the pairing of Colin Davison and Dave Pringle had a successful debut at their seniors open event at Ravensworth GC today, with a win. 43 stableford points in this betterball event was enough to ensure that they both went away clutching £55 worth of vouchers apiece. Well done guys. The photo shows one of the pairing teeing up on the 18th.

Honours Even at Wallsend

The men's team match last night was an away fixture at Wallsend GC (Centurion Park). Craig Wilson was playing no2 and he teed off first in the most horrendous rain storm .... luckily it stopped ten minutes later and the skies cleared for a pleasant, if windy evening. The results were a mixed bag. Craig had a super win 6/5 and Graeme Hewitt had his first loss of the season 3/2. Ian Davidson had a very close match losing on the 18th whereas Paul Shanks also lost on the 18th having pulled back from being 5 down at one point in the match. Ronnie Dixon staged a fighting comeback on the back 9 to win 3/2 so it all rested with the last match. Ricky Jamieson had been 5 up early in his match, but didn't win a hole after the 7th. He was hauled back to all square by the 18th and all rested on the last green and the last putt. At this stage, Ronnie was acting as his caddy and offered some calming words and they must have worked because Rickie holed the putt and won his match. So the result on the night was a 6-6 draw. Well done to all concerned and thanks again to the Vice-Captain, Brian for his continuing support. The photograph shows Ricky Jamieson and his opponent getting their heads together on the 14th green.

President's Day Results

With some glorious weather (for the teams out before noon) and a very good turn out of both members and guests, our Club President, Danny Hall had nothing but admiration for all concerned with making the day a success. The course was in lovely condition and the greens were running true. And with a prize table holding close to a thousand pounds worth of prizes for the 6 teams who ended with the best scores, it was rewards par excellence.

The winning team of Paul Shanks, Mick Elder, Maureen Jenkins and Ryan Simpson collected a driver each with the second team receiving golf bags, third rescue clubs, fourth trollies, fifth golf shirts, down to the 6th prize of a visor and golf glove each. For the full results go to the website http://www.parklandsgolfclub.com/

County Team Championship success

It's been a tremendous day for the Parklands team of 3 in the 1st Division of the Northumberland County Championships at played at Blyth. Parklands were promoted to the 1st Division last year and we were faced with the task of retaining our 1st Division status, a little bit like the task facing Stoke, Hull or Portsmouth in the Premiership against the big teams of Man U Chelsea and Liverpool. This is a scratch competition and the big teams of the City of Newcastle and Prudhoe turn out teams with plus handicaps and scratch. The Parklands team was Graeme Hewitt hcp3, Ian Davidson hcp5 and Ronnie Dixon hcp6. On a bright and sunny morning the team produced 1st round totals of 76, 73 and 76 respectively. They followed this up in the afternoon (after only a 30min turn round for lunch) with 78, 78 and 77. The overall team total of 458 was only 26 shots over par and there were 5 teams with higher totals. 4 teams are relegated so Parklands stayed in the 1st Division .... a truly magnificent team performance. To put icing on the cake at the trophy presentation, we were surprised and delighted when the Parklands trio won the best overall nett prizes. A true team performance and an achievement not to be underestimated. My thanks also go to Brian King for his support throughout the day and to John Bainbridge for his support to Graeme Hewitt as caddy.

Team Magic against Matfen

The Men's team turned in a magical home performance against Matfen Hall last night in the Hadrian League with an 8 - 4 win. Matfen are a strong team and are ahead of us in the league standings. However, this did not deter the Parklands team who turned in a splendid fighting performance. It was a cool evening, with rain threatening most of the match and the threat turned to wet in the last hour. The match was poised with wins for Craig Wilson 2/1, Paul Shanks 3/2 and Ricky Jamieson 3/2 and losses for Daniel Trotter and Ian Davidson. The result hung on the last match with Graeme Hewitt going down the 18th (see photo). Graeme won 1 up and secured the team win. Well done guys! A great team performance and my thanks to Brian King, all the caddies and the members who were there in support.

Second Round of the Men's Club Championship Qualifiers

Today was round 2 of the Men's Club Championship Qualifiers to determine who will enter the knockout stages. There were a number of other issues and trophies at stake including the Junior Club Championship, the Hannam Salver (best gross over 2 rounds), the Wallace Salver (best seniors gross over 2 rounds) plus individual medals. The results and qualifiers will be on the web within the next couple of days. In the meanwhile, the photo is of a mystery player who turned up for the competition claiming to be a member and even a past Captain. (We seek him here, we seek him there, Those Frenchies seek him everywhere. Is he in heaven?—Is he in hell? That demmed, elusive Pimpernel.) .... better known as Paul Fairley. Nice to see you back at the Club.

Race Night

For anyone planning to use their free race tickets that came as one of the benefits of the golf membership package this year .... it's too late! .... the race night was on Saturday. On a cold but dry evening a few dozen Parklands members and their guests braved the cold easterly winds to use their free Premier Enclosure tickets to watch (and wager) on the half a dozen races on the card. With the first two winners coming in at odds of 10 -1, the bookies were rubbing their hands. Me too ... but that's because mine were freezing.