Captain’s Journal – July

Hello everyone, what a month July was.

No sooner as I had landed from a family holiday, it was straight back into the “swing” of things!
Tuesday Board meeting, Wednesday Al Beaumont and I played Leigh Gawley and Rees Brown in a quarter-final match, and what a match it was! It had everything, par-4’s driven, birdies everywhere, great up and downs. It went all the way to the 18th hole, this was primarily down to Al Beaumont for us as he played exceptionally well, unfortunately for us, Leigh and Rees were also playing really well. In fact, as a better ball me and Al were -8 through 18 and Leigh & Rees were -9 which gave them the win on 18, great match, great company and I think they will be hard to beat. Good luck!

On Thursday, Christine Gregory and I played against Sue Howell and Lindsay Ward, this one unfortunately for us wasn’t as close and we were done and dusted by the 13th, however, great company again and I wish you both well in the next rounds!

On to the Pro-Am on Friday, 5 July, I always look forward to this day and this year was no different. Myself, Stret, Dave Snr and my brother teed up on a lovely sunny day. I said to Stret just before we teed off that I wanted a 69 off him, he didn’t disappoint coming in with a 69 and an early clubhouse lead. In fact, we all played well as a team and came in with a score of 130 which was in a tie for sixth place. Unfortunately, a 69 wasn’t good enough for Stret and Danny Dennison came in with a 67 to take the win.

Captains Weekend

It was finally here…the weekend that I had been waiting for and took a long time to plan! And what a weekend it was, over 160 players played in the Saturday Medal and over 80 players played in the Texas Scramble, which got some wonderful feedback!

I just want to say thank you to everyone who supported the weekend by either playing, working behind the scenes, donating money, cooking, serving beers, attending the evening event, cutting grass, tending to greens or just buying me a beer it honestly made the whole weekend worthwhile. Special thank you to Stretton, Yvonne, my brother (Steve), Dad (Dave Snr) and Al Beaumont (Geordie Al) - without your support the day would have been so much harder.

We managed to raise over £3000 for the weekend which is an unbelievable amount of money and this will go toward to the Captains Project fund at the end of the year. The Captain’s Prize was drawn and unfortunately, it didn’t go to a Hornsea member which I would have really liked. It went to a fantastic guy called Steve Johnson who is the Captain of KP Club, he kindly bought a ticket when he attended my Captain’s Invitational back in May.

I recently attending a fitting session at PING in Gainsborough, what a place, if anyone is thinking about getting new clubs I would definitely recommend it! On Friday, 12 July, I attended the Hessle GC Invitation and Dinner which was very well supported, unfortunately, we didn’t come anywhere near the prizes and we were rubbish! John Britton the Captain did however put on a very successful day. On Sunday, 14 July, I had the pleasure of welcoming the East Riding Union and Harrogate Union Teams to Hornsea for their match, it was great to see so many Hornsea Members playing for the union, it was also great to see a convincing victory!

On Wednesday, 24 July, I was going over to watch Hornsea compete in the Yorkshire Championships, however, due to the workload I couldn’t make the day. A friend of mine had asked if I fancied a knock after work - obviously, I said yes. I made it to the fourth when Stretton rang to say “it looks like we have a chance of winning the championship, can you get to Huddersfield”. Luckily, I was only paying local so I could shoot home to get changed and hit the motorway, I managed to make it to Huddersfield in plenty of time. Once I arrived, I was told that Hornsea had won the team championship and that, as Captain, I was to be presented with the trophy, as over the moon I was I must admit I did feel a little like John Terry in the Champions League final when he didn’t play! What an achievement by the players Luke Robinson, Nick Raybould, Matty Raybould and the caddies, Leigh Gawley, Nathan Wright and Sam Middleton though, to win that in the heat over 36 holes is an incredible feat. I’d also like to thank Nathan and Sam for sorting me a speech out, I owe you a beer!

On Thursday, 25 July, I attended the Cottingham Invitational and Dinner kindly hosted by Gavin Mennell the Cottingham Captain, again it was a red hot day and just put into perspective what the Hornsea lads did the day before over 36 holes. We had a great day; however, we were beaten by one point to finish in second place.

On Sunday, 28 July, was the Scarborough Northcliffe Exchange, where 40 players from Hornsea played their course. As usual, our team headed off first, Dave Snr and as a pair and Al Beaumont & Rees Brown in a pair. Over the first couple of holes I thought “this is ok, nothing special” however when we crossed the road what a stunning golf course this is, I couldn’t believe how different it was! We all set off very well, however, Al Beaumont played like a man possessed, we reached the turn and I and Dad were -6 and Al & Rees were -8, game on! Unfortunately, we couldn’t hold onto the coat tails of Al and Rees and we finished on -8 and they finished on -12 which was good enough to win first prize. I must say it’s the best I’ve ever seen Al play and when we looked at his front 9 score he was -3 gross. Again, it was a brilliant day and really well supported, well done to all the prize winners.

Welcome to all the new golfers that have recently joined, we have had quite a few new members this year, hope you all have a great rest of the year. That’s all, for now, folks, thank you all once again for the amazing support over the last month.

Dave