Harborne Golf Club
Your HGC Weekly Round Up!
Hi everyone
Here we are in June already and the countdown has begun for the Ladies County Week starting on the 22nd of this month. Preparations are well in hand and this week the ladies entrance has had a bit of a spruce up along with new gravel for the pathways. Even the weather of sunshine and showers has been doing its bit for Jim Gilchrist and the much needed new growth of grass is coming through quite nicely now so by the end of the month the course should be looking as lush as ever. There’s still time if anyone wants to volunteer for County Week, you just need to get in contact with Linda Jordan who is making every effort to keep the jobs as varied as possible. Any amount of time you can spare would be much welcomed and appreciated.
Right, let’s get down to business and we kick off with the Jackson Cup that took place last Saturday with a full field and James Jones proved he was on top form with 40 points. Jack South and Adam Humphreys came in behind him with 38.
On Sunday there was a large mixed friendly contingency that played away to Handsworth and from all accounts had a thoroughly nice afternoon even though the score of 7½ - 4½ didn’t fall their way. However, the Barnsley Chops enjoyed afterwards more than made up for any lack of score.
Monday was the 1st of June, not that you would have known it looking out of your window. With a yellow weather warning of wind and rain, the County League Ladies went out to play a strong team at Nuneaton and sadly lost their match 5 and 2.
On a happier note though, a little bird told me about another birthday this week so belated greetings go to June Herrington who is so called because she was born on the first of June. Isn’t that just so lovely and so easy as well for her husband, Geoff, to remember a present!
By Tuesday the rain had faded out but the wind was still prevalent for the Ladies Final Stableford competition which was enhanced by a large number of swifts on the 4th providing us with a great aerial display. Also gents, you missed out on some lovely home-made spicy samosas thereafter courtesy of one our Academy Ladies, Simi. They all went down rather well, many thanks Simi.
Back to the golf and the West Mids League Team played Penn GC at home on Tuesday afternoon and won, placing them at the top of the league jointly with two other clubs. Despite a slight difference in points, Scott Ryman, Team Captain, thinks his team has what it takes to get them through to the knockouts.
The Scratch Team were also out on Wednesday at Walmley but sadly lost 5-3. Jack South, Anthony Wilkes and Tom Kendall all won their matches with Tom on his debut winning 3 up, impressing Nick Clifford, Team Captain, enough to say ‘he can keep the shirt!!’.
Wednesday evening, the Ladies County 9 Hole League was at home to The Warwickshire for their first match of the season. Whilst enjoying glorious weather the Ladies had a great match and won 4-2 despite a little bit of drama mid-round. Megan Wood was playing with Debbie Naylor when she suffered a runaway trolley heading for the brook but all was made good by new member, Rob Kelley, and Ian Jones sprinting across from the fairway of the 8th to the ditch on the left side of the 2nd to rescue it. Megan said afterwards ‘whilst at the time it upset my equilibrium afterwards I could see the funny side saying I couldn't remember the last time (if ever!) when two chaps came to my rescue so speedily! A great little story, many thanks to Megan and Debbie for sharing it and also to Rob and Ian, the heroes!
Further success was achieved on Wednesday when Barry Crutchley and Malcolm Shepherd went to play in the Seniors Fourball Open at Sandwell Park. The winning card was 46 points and Barry and Malcolm came in with 40 which tied them into second place but sadly lost out on countback. However, for an impressive third spot, our guys received £90 prize money and definitely a mention in the roundup. Fantastic stuff!
The Nearest the Pin competition on Thursday has been extended until next Wednesday so if you’re passing by the Pro Shop why not drop in and for £2 you can have a shot at the 15th at Kingsbarns which is 166 yards. Plus it will give young Lewis some company whilst Stuart’s away with his golfing posse in Benidorm.
Adam Humphries stamped his mark on the Thursday 9 hole Stableford this week with his second win so far and Adrian Allen came in second, both players had 20 points.
If you thought Club Night was a little quieter this week, you’re right as the B Team played away to Enville on the tougher course, The Lodge and as always they follow the match with an evening dinner. Golf wise, they drew 3-3, something which Team Captain, John Rollason, says was ‘an excellent result’ as ‘he can’t remember ever winning or drawing’ with them before. The result came down to Don Carter on the last hole when he sank a putt for a birdie (obviously a man who can cope with pressure!).
A particular hi-light for some members of the team going to play at Enville, apart from the course, is they sell Enville Ale and despite the good match and friendly opponents, some of the team members (not mentioning any names, Mr Whitehouse) were a little saddened when they found the Enville Ale was off. Fortunately though, joy was to be found in an alternative so all was not lost after all.
Thursday’s Club Night had a jackpot of £150 which next week is on the way up again as Peter Savage was not in the room (hopefully he wasn’t playing for the B Team?) and the raffle of £281 was won by Lawrence Roberts, our snooker table guru.
The menu for next week is
STARTERS
Soup of the Day
Prawn Cocktail
Breaded Mushrooms with Garlic Dip
MAINS
Steak & Ale Pie with Chips & Peas
Gammon Steak, Egg, Pineapple & Chips
Fillet of Salmon, Parsley Sauce with New Potatoes & Veg
DESSERTS
A selection of ‘taste bud tickling’ desserts to choose from
£8.50 for two courses, £11 for three. Please book your table before Wednesday please.
Whilst we’re thinking food, a date for the diary if you’re interested is the 28 June for the next Sunday Carvery Lunch. £9.95 for two courses and £11.95 for three and the dress code is smart casual.
Saturday’s medal competition turned out to be an expensive afternoon for a certain Mr Rory Maclaren as he enjoyed the kudos of having just got his first ever hole-in-one on the 14th and a gold leaf entry. Rory was out playing with Nick and Jeremy Clifford when he struck his lucky shot but the golfing gods must have been looking down on him as he’d already scored a 2 on the 6th and the 9th! The news came through from Nick along with the following offer – Jeremy (having witnessed Nick’s a couple of weeks ago) is now willing to charge himself out as a lucky omen, Div 1 players £10, Div 2 players £20 and Div 3, £30! Please contact Jeremy direct for bookings.
Congratulations must also go to John Rattlidge and Keith Turton, winner and runner up on Saturday who shot a 61 and 66 respectively and I’m sure everyone will be pleased to note that John has now finally begun to see his handicap come down. Hurray!!
Finally today, HGC has hosted the Gary Tozer Trophy Open, sadly with only ten teams, but we had the best weather and the course was great. Visitors from Kenilworth Golf Club came in first with 87 points. Second place was a team from The Warwickshire with 83 points followed then by three teams tying with 82 and I’m very proud to say that on countback and representing HGC, Nick and Ginny Clifford, John and I came in third. Mr George Whitehouse stood in for Mr Captain, in his absence, to do the presentation and was referred to as Mr Stand-in by the winners not knowing quite how to acknowledge him, which made us all giggle. In essence it’s been a lovely day and thank you to everyone who contributed to it.
After all that, congratulations to all our winners this week, it really does warm the cockles to hear about your successes.
On to next week and everything kicks off on Monday with the Seniors Open which has a good response so the course will be pretty busy until just after 2pm so please check the timings first if you want to go out.
I’m hoping the diary’s right on this one but I think the Scratch Team are playing Fulford Heath at home on Tuesday afternoon.
Then on Wednesday the Seniors are at home to Churchill and Blakedown first thing. The B Team are away to Hagley in the afternoon and the West Mids League are away to Stourbridge.
Thursday morning the County League ladies are at home to The Warwickshire whilst in the afternoon the Seniors have their Club Championship followed by an A Team match at home to Stourbridge.
Saturday is the Brook Holroyd Putter competition. It’s a foursomes stroke play with 50% combined handicap and there’s plenty of times still available which maybe because members are holding out until the Sunday when we have the Mens AM AM which is much busier. There are still some times available meaning the course will be pretty busy until just after 3pm.
Good luck to all our teams this week and if you have any humorous stories, we’d love to hear about them, just email me jennie.rattlidge@gmail.com.
With talk of Rory’s hole-in-one earlier, the Clifford’s recent hole-in-ones were also noted in the Aberdovey Extracts recently and forwarded to me this week by Issy Bartrum via some friends of hers;
‘Congratulations to Peter Clifford who hit a hole-in-one on the 9th hole at Aberdovey on Saturday 23 May.
That in itself is a fine achievement but what makes it even more remarkable is that Peter’s son, Nick, was playing golf at the same time at his home club in Harborne and also shot a hole-in-one in his round – what are the chances?’
A lovely ditty on a fantastic achievement and a bit of free advertising for the Club as well, thanks guys. Noting the name, Aberdovey Extracts, got me thinking perhaps we should have a better name for our round up so any suggestions you feel might fit the bill, please let me know.
Last but not least, on behalf of the Club I would like to say congratulations to Nick Brooker, our current Club Champion, who has recently had a daughter, Olivia Molly.
Well, the forecast looks great with sun all week so happy golfing everyone!
Best wishes
Jennie x
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