Captain's Blog (2020) #15

Captain’s Blog No 15, (08.10.20)

Dear Members,

So, after 3 weeks of glorious September sunshine autumn has arrived! However, amongst the showers and either side of storm Alex, good golfing experiences continue.

Congratulations to recent winners.

For the Ladies,
Erica Cowley, The September Pendant
Erica and Lyne Hebden, The Greensome Trophy
Lesley Hadfield. EWGA September Medal

For the Men,
Simon Hetherington, The Professionals Trophy
Jon Briggs, The Greenkeepers Trophy
Jamie Randles, The September Medal

Sunday 27th September saw the final act of our truncated Peter Wright West Cheshire League season with us hosting Antrobus and Heyrose. Although we performed creditably on the day it was not enough to lift us from 3rd (last) place. As always, these matches were played in great spirit, a real camaraderie exists between all the players from the 3 clubs. It has been a real pleasure playing with VC Gordon and we formed quite an effective partnership, winning 2 of our 3 matches! A big thanks to Gordon for organising our team and to Alan Dunne for his work as league secretary.

Monday 28th September saw another real highlight. The Captain’s v Lady Captain’s team match (4 4BBB matches). There was a real sense of fun and excitement before, during and after. Thanks to all 16 players. All 4 matches were close, keenly contested affairs with the men just coming out on top! However, I must confess that Gordon and I were well beaten by an inspired Lady Captain and IPLC. Well done Karen and Pam. Hopefully the match will become a regular event on the calendar.

For the past 15 years the last week in September or the first week in October has seen a small group of us (5 couples, the Seagulls(?)) head to Portugal or Spain for a week’s golf. This year we went to Wales! The Llyn peninsular to be exact. Despite an appalling weather forecast and storm Alex we had a great time playing golf at Abergele (before it was illegal!), Nefyn twice and Porthmadog all without getting wet! Playing the Point at Nefyn in glorious Autumn sunshine and the sensational back nine at Porthmadog are memories that will help me through the winter.

Tuesday should have been the Seniors’ end of season lunch and presentation. Instead we ran a Covid safe trophy and prize award session as players finished on the 18th (under the covered area on the clubhouse terrace to shelter from the torrential rain!). The Trophy winners were.

Norman Adams, The Winter KO (belated award now trophy has been recovered)
Chris Chrimes, The Seniors Masters
Russell Jones & Chris Flood, The Tom Pollitt
Graham Jones, The Summer KO
Mike Taylor, The Stableford Trophy

This marked the end of another very full Seniors season. I understand there were 90 paid up seniors this summer who took part in a wide variety of competitions. The Seniors are such an important and vibrant part of the club. A huge thanks to Glyn Jones who does a fantastic job keeping the show on the road (and the seniors in some sort of order!). 

Most of you will be aware that the World Handicapping System is due to come into force in November. My understanding of this suggests that while it is undoubtably more complex and will inevitably cause much consternation initially it will ultimately be a better and fairer system. So please support Pete Goulden and the handicap committee as they lead us through the transition. It will certainly give us something to talk about over the winter!

Hoping for a few more sunny days before winter, stay safe.

Dave

Captain's Blog (2020) #14

Captain’s Blog No 14, (24.09.20)

Dear Members,

Wow! What a week.

Following on from the Charity Day and Adam’s epic 24hr golfathon, the 8 days starting on Monday Sept 14th turned out to be a golfing extravaganza played under clear blue skies with warm sunshine. It all started on the Monday with defeat in the final of Seniors Knock Out, after a very enjoyable, close match, Graham Jones getting the better of me on the 18th. Well done Graham!

Tuesday was a day off(?), grandparent duty which included 3hrs on the beach at West Kirby with Evie (and Isabelle). More tiring than golf but as always Evie was enchanting.

On Wednesday it was the President’s Salver. Congratulations to Tony Gascoigne who won with a Nett 67. My round could best be described as rubbish!

On Thursday it was the Seniors Away Day at Maesdu Golf Club, Llandudno, a new venue for me. A lovely course in a very scenic location played in wonderful conditions, breezy but warm and sunny. Excellently organised by Steve Wynne and the winner on the day, in a very tight competition, was Derek Evans.

Friday evening saw the latest instalment of nine and dine, well supported and as always very well organised by Norma. I had the great pleasure of playing with Pat Froude and Chris Davies and I think we surprised ourselves (and the rest of field) by coming 2nd. Thank you, Ladies.

Saturday was invitation day. It turned out to be a cracker. I was delighted to have the opportunity to act as starter and so welcome and announce (using the competition committee’s new portable PA system) all the members and their guests. The course was in excellent condition (thanks Andy and team), conditions were again wonderful (if a bit windy), we had a full field and even though the round took over 5hrs (!) it was an enjoyable day.

The winners of the handicap condition were John Kenny and John Dempsey (Hcp 1, Turton Golf Club) beating my playing partners Steve Wynne and Chris Whally (Hartford Captain) on a card playoff. The winners of the non-handicap competition were Steve Pugh and Chris Bowe.

I want to thank the Ladies who played behind us for their patience and good humour, (its just as well the weather was so good!).

Sunday and Monday saw my 2 Captain’s Away Days, much delayed and re-organised. 41 members took part in one or other of the days at Henlle Park and Eaton Golf Club. Two great venues both in superb condition (in both cases the Greens were memorable!) played in Mediterranean conditions. There were lots of winners with Chris Jones emerging as the overall champion. Thanks to everyone who attended for making these 2 days special. (P.S nobody beat the Captain on the 17th at Eaton!).

After those 8 days what I really needed yesterday was a rest, but nobody told Evie!

Today (Wednesday 23rd) the sunshine finally gave way to more typically British weather and I got soaked playing in the midweek stableford but never mind!

On a more sobering note the Pandemic continues and in line with the Government’s latest announcement the club is introducing some additional precautions. I’m sure everyone will cooperate and work with the staff to keep us all safe.

Until the next time, stay safe. 
Dave

Captain's Blog (2020) #13

Captain’s Blog No 13, (13.09.20)

Wow! What a weekend, the Captain’s Charity day and Adam’s 24hr Golfathon (successfully completed at 8.00am this morning). Blessed with a fantastic day weather wise and wonderful support from the members, combined with the Adam’s amazing feat of playing golf continuously for 24hrs and my first (and possibly last) experience of playing night time golf it has been a truly memorable couple of days.

There are so many people to thank. Adam for a truly epic performance and those who supported him during the 24hrs. A particular thanks to Mike Heaher for a long night shift. Isabelle and Gordon for all their help on the day, Rachel and the staff at the club for help with the organisation and delivery. And a special thanks to everyone who donated, the members of PHGC are such a generous group. At this point the total raised stands at about £1,500 with donations to the just giving page, direct to PHGC Captain’s Account and pledges to support Adam still coming in. There are currently outstanding sponsorship pledges with a value of £265, the shop has a list, please drop your donations in there.

For the record the prize winners were;

Nearest the pin 3, Al Jennions

Nearest the pin 7, Karen Jones

Nearest the pin 9, John Palin

Longest drive 15, Sam Struthers

Hit the Green 16, Martin Major

Longest Drive 17, Pam Stonehouse

Nearest the pin Nett2, 18, Iain Couturier (17 people beat the Captain)

Mixed pairs 1st Prize, Sharon and Michael Shorthouse (37pts)

Ladies 1st Prize, Liz McClure and Helen Campbell (40pts)

Ladies 2nd Prize, Anne Cross and Sue Hulme (38pts)

Men’s 1st Prize, Ethan O’Hagen and Samuel Tours (47pts)

Men’s 2nd Prize, Martin Major and Paul Smith (44pts)

Men’s 3rd Prize, Pete Reynolds and Graham Miles (43pts)

Men’s 4th Prize Jeff Farrar and Tony Crute (42pts)

Prizes that weren’t received on Saturday can be collected from the shop.

Two other recent highlights involved mixed events. The always keenly contested mixed challenge was won by the in house team of Linda Heaher and Richard Barnes and the inaugural Members Council Trophy was won by Pam Stonehouse with a great score of 42pts. Thanks to Ian Jackson for organising the event and donating the trophy. I’m sure this will be a really popular event for years to come.

I wasn’t able to participate in the Mixed Challenge as we had an interclub match at Heyrose. In my absence Gareth partnered Isabelle (1 of 3 mother and son partnerships), as they came a very creditable 2nd I may it find it difficult to get back into the family team! Unfortunately, the team match didn’t go too well, currently we lie 3rd (of 3) in the league. We do however still have the home leg on Sept 27th to try to rectify the situation!

As the shadow of the pandemic and re-imposition of further restrictions hang over us, everybody at the club is working to maintain a safe environment. So, please follow all procedures put in place and maintain appropriate social distancing on the course and in the club house, with luck we will be able to continue golf and limited social interaction at the club and complete a very full summer season.

For me this memorable weekend has reminded me that any golf club is defined by the nature of the membership. The last 2 days have provided further evidence of what a special club Pryors Hayes is and has reinforced what a privilege it is to be Captain. A huge thank you to you all. 

Stay safe
Dave

Captain's Blog (2020) #12

Captain’s Blog No 12, (28.08.20)

Dear Members,

The last couple of weeks have been rather soggy! The course has been hit by a series of deluges which have inevitably resulted in some closures and cancellation of events. The most disappointing cancellation was the Seniors Open scheduled for August 18th. Mike Atkinson had worked really hard preparing for it and there was a record entry, but unfortunately torrential rain overnight left the course underwater, very frustrating!

However, amongst the monsoon the Ladies Section has provided a couple of real highlights putting on 2 wonderful events. Firstly, the Ladies Open on August 20th. This was a real triumph, the event was beautifully presented, the organisation was fantastic, the course was in remarkably good condition after the storm earlier in the week and a record entry enjoyed an excellent day. It was a real credit to and a fine advert for PHGC. Congratulations to Pam Stonehouse and her small army of helpers!

Secondly, the Lady Captain’s Charity day. This was another fantastically well organised and great fun event. The ‘Alternative Olympics’ theme was enthusiastically embraced by the competitors with some very imaginative costumes. There were prizes or Olympic related quiz questions for each hole to keep everybody involved and despite a poor weather forecast some of us got round without getting wet. Well done Karen for organising a day to remember.

As we move into September, we still have many important events to fit in, so I just hope that we get a reasonable month weather-wise to allow us to close out this quite different golf season.

The Captain’s Charity Day is scheduled for Saturday September 12th. This will be 4BBB event which is open to all club members. There are prizes for men’s, ladies, and mixed pairs, nearest the pins, captain’s challenge (on the 18th) etc, so plenty of opportunities to win something. Entries are pouring in (!) but there are still plenty of tee times available, so if you can, please sign up on BRS (if you don’t have a partner, don’t worry we will find someone suitable). As an added incentive, free lunch (burger, roll and salad) will be provided for all competitors! Surely too good an offer to miss!

As with previous Charity events this year, there is no entry fee, but competitors will be asked to make a donation to my charity (Prostate Cancer UK) via.
www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/david-hughes-183
or by BACS to-
PHGC Captain’s Account, 20-51-08, 53148041

Additionally, on 12/13th Sept, Adam Gaze is undertaking a 24hr golfathon to raise funds for my charity. This is an incredible effort by Adam. Please support him either by sponsoring him or by signing up to accompany Adam for 9holes of night-time golf, apparently, it is great fun. Sponsorship can be pledged and entry for the night-time golf can be secured either by contacting me or via the pro-shop.

I hope to see many of you on September 12th.
Until then, keep safe, keep dry and enjoy your golf!

Dave