Amazing Alwoodley Putting Championship
Will Shucksmith and Howard Kew had a joint win in the AGC Putting Championship on Saturday. The pair were a couple of the first entrants, and scored 8 putts over the tricky five hole course. It was by scoring single putts on the 3rd and 4th holes that got them the win, edging out the other would-be winners on countback. Howard kept his cool on the last hole to make a regulation two putt, but Will made it far trickier on himself, bombing his first putt past so he needed to make a six footer. But of course it went in - it's Will! Well done to the pair of you.
Now we get on to John Hartley. The 2015 champ arrived on the putting green and surveyed the leaderboard before he began his attempt to regain his title. It was like watching Tiger in his pomp as John stalked each line perfectly and slotted in three single putts in his first four holes to leave him needing a two putt on the very tricky downhill last to be the only man to card a seven. The first putt was short. Four feet of sliding right to left remained for the win. John stood over it, made a great stroke, it was in… BUT NO! It slid past the left edge at the very last second and alas, it wasn't to be! The reactions below say it all…
Victor Levison (below) and Steve Ellis also carded scores of eight to fill out the top five places. You can see Victor holing a nervy four footer on the last, below. That right edge came to the rescue!
I should also add - The 2014 Champ Lar Brophy was spotted in Sainsbury's supermarket on Friday evening and commented he thought it should be further postponed until he was back from his trip to Portrush. There's always 2017 Lar!!
Thanks to all that entered, we raised £85 for the Lady Capt's charity St Gemma's Hospice.
Paul Stevens Romps in
Paul Stevens was out on his own in the yellow tee medal on Saturday. Paul had a couple of lessons with me at the start of the year as well as 2015 and I've really seen his swing progress.
He also purchased a new AGC polo on Saturday which is scientifically proven to take four shots off a round. Well done on the nett 66 Paul, that's quite something and had him a full four shots clear of the second placed man.
And that man was Iqbal Khan. Iqbal played solid golf all the way up until the 13th tee, where he then went from solid to super-human. A nett three under for the final six proved too much for the budding would-be second placers, giving Iqbal a nett 70 and almost reducing his handicap from 15 to 14.
And we couldn't possibly go a week without mentioning Chris Gilman, could we? The Order of Merit leader again produced the goods. A nett 71 got his handicap cut once again, leaving him now playing off 9.
There's not a lot left to say about Chris' game this year, it's come on leaps and bounds and the consistency is quite amazing! It's reminiscent of the great Steve Ellis era of 2014.
Please click here for the full results
David Knaggs to the Rescue - Midweek Stableford
The Government should send David Knaggs in for all future rescue missions after he pulled his Midweek Stableford round around last week! With a mere six points after five holes, David was way down towards the very bottom of the standings. But, he regrouped and started to get things going. Three pars in the last four holes on the front nine started to rescue the round, having him out in 16 points. From there the trademark Knaggsy-turbo-boost kicked in, and a quite stunning level gross on the pressure-filled final four holes proved to be the difference. Well done David, who's been working with Assistant Jack recently and I'm sure this is the start of even greater things to come.
AIZ man Neil Crawford also shot 37 points. The five handicapper was out in 19 points and back in 18 points. It's always a great sign when you score no blobs, clearly the play was solid from Neil and he can count himself very unlucky not to win this one.
Third place went to another 37 pointer, Martin Jobbings. Martin carded seven three pointers and a four pointer! That's quite fantastic and shows if he manages to tighten up on few of the blob holes there could be something quite amazing in the locker.
Please click here to see the top 10 standings
Order of Merit Update
It's a BOOM boy top three atop the order of merit standings. The BOOM boys are the 7.15am crowd on a Saturday morning and are always a dominant force in each weekly event. I think it's the chilled Champagne post-round that acts as an inner ice-bath and gives them great recovery rates, resulting in them being the epitome of consistency…
Please click here for the current standings
Frozen Fingers Final
Well what a performance from Debbie Howarth! She produced a quite stunning front nine of two over gross to be five up over Morag Ross at the halfway stage of their frozen fingers final. I'm sure Morag would agree there's really nothing she could do against that type of amazing play from the 12 handicapped Debbie! From there, Debbie continued to play solidly, and even a hardened fighter like Morag couldn't turn the arrears around, eventually losing 5&4. Perhaps it's all fair - Morag pipped Debbie by one shot in the Fenton Trophy last week, so it's 1-1 to these AGC titans!
Bronze Division Scratch Final
Joe Somers faced off against Sally Johnson in the final of the bronze division scratch Knockout. Both players arrived on the tee early. Sally put in the kind of display that she has become renowned for, grinding out relentless par after par. Jo Somers commented that she played pretty solidly but she was just unable to capitalize on the odd error Sally made, which ultimately led to a 5&4 defeat.
Unlucky Jo, but well played Sally - what a performance!
Competition No Returns
Just a quick reminder to people playing in competitions… If you have picked up on a hole and as a result scored an 'NR', please when entering your scores into the computer can you enter your other 17 holes of scores. If you just click 'NR' for every hole, it effects the standard scratch. Many thanks!
AIZ How to… Play the Long Bunker Shot
This week Joe took to the bunker on the first hole that's 50-60 yards away from the centre of the green. This long bunker shot is usually a shot people really struggle with, but the self-proclaimed 'Bunker-Guru' has a very simple way of playing it.
1 - Put the lob wedge and sand wedge away. Forget the idea of trying to clip it off the surface, it's a shot with a very low margin for error and can cause big numbers on the card.
2 - Grab an 8 or 9 iron and set up like you would for a greenside bunker shot.
3 - Play it in exactly the same way as that greenside bunker shot! Enter the sand 1 inch behind the ball and punt it forward. You'll be amazed how easy this is. The benefits? If you catch too much sand, it'll have less backspin so will run on to near the desired length… catch too little sand and the ball will have more backspin so although it'll fly further than you intended, it will stop quickly."
Hole More Putts with AimPoint
After the success of the AGC Aimpoint day earlier in the year, we're going to run another on Saturday 1st October. Debbie Howarth attended the last time around and had this to say about it:
'At the end of May, Brian Ridley ran an Aimpoint clinic at Alwoodley for 7 good lady golfers (handicaps ranging from 7-16). We were surprised at how quickly we mastered reading the slope and pace pf the green with Brian's efficient method. Making an informed put must be a good way of reducing scores! Half of us followed the 2 hour clinic with a putter fitting. Surely this is the best for you to select the most important club in your bag?!'
- Debbie Howarth.
There will be two sessions on the day 10.00am to 12.00pm then 2.00pm to 4.00pm and the cost is £100 per person. If you would like to be included then please click here.
Chipping Championship
It's time for the AGC Chipping Championship! 2014 winner Powell Rose gave everybody a chance last year by not entering, but we expect the 2014 champ to be back and fighting for his title once again. The man who took advantage in 2015 was Steve Ellis, who will be looking to retain his title with another solid performance this time around!
As ever, all proceeds will go to the lady capt's charity - St.Gemma's Hospice.
You can see the info regarding the competition below.:
Saturday 24th September 11:00am-3:00pm
- Each player plays four chipshots each from different positions.
- The distance from the hole to each ball is measured.
- The lowest total distance wins a dozen Titleist Pro V1 balls.
- Players may have multiple attemps.
- £1 entry.