Captain's Journal Hello everyone, just want to say a big hello to all the new members. I hope you are having a good start to the golfing season.
Phew, what a busy month April was!
It was the first Captains Invitational of the year for the new Captains and up first was Brough, John Backhouse the Brough Captain hosted a great day and evening meal, it was also nice to come second and pick up a new sleeve of Pro V golf balls.
On Thursday, 11 April I had the pleasure of partnering Rosie Atkin in the East Riding Mixed Alliance at Bridlington Belvedere, although it was a lovely day we just couldn’t get going and left too many shots out on the golf course, the putt of the day went to Rosie when she rolled in a 30ft putt for birdie with an audience.
I was due to play in the Mixed Greensomes with Christine Gregory, unfortunately I couldn’t attend as my Son, Jacob who is eight was selected to play for Hull City v West Bromwich Albion in Birmingham. This was a very proud moment for me as was the eight holes he played with me late on the Sunday afternoon. I can already tell he’s going to be a very good little player; I don’t know what made me prouder, him playing for Hull City or getting a six off the red tees on the fourth! Up next in the Captains Challenge match was Dave Blanchard Senior and Alan Beaumont, this match was all about bragging rights and the banter! Although, we were two down stood on the eighth hole, two short putts by our opponents opened the door, to which we gladly stepped through. This resulted in a 3&2 win for us, something that can never take away! I must admit though trying to play in a medal in a stiff breeze, win a match and keep up with the banter is not for the faint hearted, hence my medal score! All in all, though a great day and thank you to Dad (Dave Snr) and Al (Geordie)for their generous donation to the Captains charity. On the Sunday was the Shotgun AMAM, what a great competition this is, par-3 comp is easy isn’t it? Not when you have a seven on the second! It was fantastic to see so many enter it and even better to see Mark Barrass in the coveted tartan jacket once more! Congratulations to the winners and to Kevin Bond on his overall win. On Thursday, 18 April myself, Steve Blanchard, Richard Suddards and Tom Greaves played in the Beverley Trophy at Hessle GC. This was a medal format with three to score from four, it’s a tough format, we were +2 after three holes then got to -2, level, -2, level and then finished on -2. I didn’t expect this to be a relatively good score, however as I was sat having a coffee, I overheard a lot of people saying there were quite a way under and finished over par. This resulted in our team winning overall and taking the Beverley Trophy back to Hornsea, Hornsea also had a team in second place and could have won it on 18. I managed to get back to Portugal last week and played on the Quinta do Lago courses in the sunshine. We had a mini competition on one of the days between myself and Mike Smith and two lads from Hull GC, team Hornsea won, well Mike did as he shot -1 on Laranjal which is a fantastic score and ensured we took the bragging rights and a few euros which we gladly spent on a few drinks! As most of you will know, when you play abroad and come back to the UK to play courses, you can feel somewhat deflated at times as there is such difference in the courses. The greens tend to be smoother, the fairways lush and the overall experience is better. Well, I played golf this morning at 06:00 and I have to say the course is in unbelievable condition, the greens and fairways are amazing. We are very lucky to have such an amazing golf course to play and long may it continue! With that in mind, it was still annoying to see so many pitchmarks and bunkers not raked, it takes 30 seconds to rake a bunker and 10 seconds to repair a pitchmark, even if they aren’t yours! It was good to see our previous captain Rees Brown playing in the scratch league last Thursday at Hull GC, when I saw him, he was one down on the 15th and he didn’t know how the others had got on, they won 3-0! Brilliant result and hopefully we will have another good season. I had the pleasure of marking cards for some of our junior members this month, what a fine bunch of young gentlemen. I must take my hat off to Paul Gibson as their attitudes toward golf and the way they conducted themselves on the golf course was first class, along with some of their shots! I look forward to seeing their scores come in during the season. Stretton Wright Winners Medal Trophy
I recently approached Stretton about sponsoring a new “gold leafer major” I proposed to him that I would like to sponsor and name a trophy in recognition of the hard work that the Wright family put into the golf club, what I have found during my short time as Captain is that with their constant presence, drive and effort the club continues to go from strength to strength and without their support the Captains role would be a far harder role to be successful in. I am glad to say they accepted my proposal; I honestly can’t stress enough the effort that they put in and I personally thank them for their guidance. We have agreed this will be held in mid-October, every year. The competition will be in a medal format and the only players who can compete for it are those who have come first or second in the twelve main club medals throughout the year. There will also be a £100 Pro Shop voucher to the winner, so all to play for in those twelve medals!
Good luck to all those playing in the Divisional Open at Hessle on Saturday, 4 May #teamhornsea
Captains Prize
Tickets are selling nicely for the trip to the Algarve, If I am not around there are tickets behind the bar or in the pro shop
That’s all for now, happy golfing!
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