Dear Members,
It seems a long time since my last blog and a lot has happened in between. Football didn’t come home in the end, the weather has been very mixed but we have enjoyed some great golf.
I want to thank everyone for their reaction to my last blog. I was attempting to share with you why I am supporting my chosen charity and I was really heartened by all the comments that I received from you all.
The golf over the past month and a bit has been coming thick and fast. Firstly, I played in the Mixed Challenge Trophy for the first time. Although it is a board competition, it was a fun night and I really enjoyed playing with my partner, Gill O’Donnohue again. We probably finished near the bottom, but we had a great night playing with the Lady Captain, Sue Dunne, and Alan Dunne. Luckily, our lady partners were great off the tee, which saved mine and Alan’s legs as we didn’t need to walk back to the white tees on a lot of holes. The event was organised superbly by the Ladies section and was well supported by members. Congratulations go to the worthy winners, Bertile Newton and Mike Heaher.
On Sunday 20th June, I successfully completed my 72-hole marathon in aid of my charity. It was a great day where the weather really helped me by staying dry, but also not too hot. I started just after 6.00 AM and finished around 9.30 PM. I had some great volunteers throughout the day, either playing 18 holes with me or just simply walking the course with me to help get me round. Thank you everyone for helping me get round. Surprisingly, I managed quite well, only struggling on holes 10 – 13 on the final back 9, before getting my second wind. I wish I had kept scores as I played some good golf on all 4 rounds.
During the third round, I was joined by Ryan Curtis who runs The Club Talks. Ryan had come up from London to offer his support, before jumping on a train to get to Cardiff to support students from Cardiff University, who were doing a 100-hole challenge for The Club Talks the following day. Ryan was really impressed by the set up at Pryors Hayes and tweeted ‘Beautiful day at @pryorshayesgolf supporting @2021Phgc doing 72 holes in the day for us. Lovely course and great people.’ Ian Jackson and I gave him a couple of interviews on the course and these have been posted on YouTube, which can be accessed using the following link - https://youtu.be/iNBSpTlotKA
It was also slightly humbling to see a later post where he said ‘People like you that make everything we do worthwhile Gordon. Whilst we are all watching this US Open finale you'll have changed people's lives today.’
On the day, I made just over £1,000. Many thanks to those who contributed and especially those who came to the Club to spur me on.
Note, I was determined to walk the course for all 4 rounds. However, due to some of the hot weather beforehand, I decided to seek medical advice before hand, just to make sure that it was safe for me. The advice I received from my cardiologist was that it was fine for me to do the challenge provided I used a buggy throughout and stopped if I felt anything wrong with my heart. Unfortunately, this advice was received 2 weeks after my challenge and when I received a couple of irregular heartbeat warnings on my fitness watch, I ignored them – oops.
At the end of June, the club laid on a fun day as a reward to members for their loyalty over the past year. The event was a 4 ball Texas scramble and there was a massive turnout from all sections within the club. The Vice-Captain, Simon Hetherington and I embraced the fun aspect of the day and teamed up with the Lady Captain, Sue Dunne and her Vice-Captain, Pam Oatley. We had a fun round, culminating in a measure between the two Captains for nearest the pin on the sixteenth, which I surprisingly won.
The following day, the men disappeared off to Hawkstone Park for my Away Day. 55 golfers joined me plus John Oatley and Nigel Thomas, who were suffering injuries but still wanted to come and enjoy the experience.
Of course, it would have been strange for everything to run smoothly. However, there was a bit of panic on my face when I announced to the bar staff that the party from Pryors Hayes were here and that they could start serving the bacon rolls, when they responded, ‘no one has told us about any bacon rolls.’ I have to say the staff were tremendous in sorting it out meaning we were all fed before starting the afternoon’s golf.
Unfortunately, that was not the only communication mishap. When I asked if it would be possible for us all to sit down to dinner at 8.45 as we had specified in the booking, the waitress said that it was unlikely as the chef was due to finish at 9.00. After hastily agreeing a set menu and arranging a rolling seating plan, everything turned out ok in the end, apart from someone who had pre-ordered salmon.
I have to say that the food offered was excellent and the service was amazing.
The golf was spectacular too, playing two great courses over 2 days. First up was The Hawkstone on Sunday afternoon. This was not an easy course, but the course was in great condition and some of the views were spectacular. Everyone seemed to have enjoyed the course no matter how well they scored. The Championship course on the Monday presented a different challenge, with more water in play. Again, the course was in excellent condition. I can thoroughly recommend those who have never been to Hawkstone Park to consider it in the future. It is a great golfing venue at reasonable prices and not too far to travel to.
For the record, Jon Briggs was the overall winner over the 2 days, scoring very well over both days.
Following quickly after the Away Day was the Lady Captain’s Charity Day on 1st July. Again, we were blessed with great weather. A great day was had by all and my team won the Men’s prize – possibly my only honour of the year.
Over the weekend of the 10th and 11th of June, the Club Championship was up for grabs. Even though I have no chance of winning it, I have always found this to be an enjoyable weekend, supporting the cream of the talent at Pryors Hayes to find out who will be our champion golfer of the year. There is normally a healthy crowd on the Sunday to welcome the winner back in. Last years winner, Adam Radley had to withdraw due to ill health and Dan Ephraim is still overcoming an injury. With that in mind, it all pointed to a new name on the Trophy. Tom Butterworth held a 2 shot lead and held on during the final round, despite a strong challenge from Jack Hutchison. It was a pleasure to present Tom with the trophy.
Sadly, we need to get Tom and Jack back in the team. Pryors Hayes hosted Heyrose and Antrobus again on 18th July. Although we managed to beat Antrobus 2-1 on the day, we were soundly beaten by Heyrose 3-0, giving them a bonus point. Heyrose now sit top of the league on 16 points, Antrobus have 12.5 points and Pryors Hayes look to be heading for the wooden spoon again with 10.5 points. However, we are still looking forward to our trips to Heyrose and Antrobus in August and September.
I will end there as although I have more to say, I will leave it to my next blog. Just a reminder that entries for my Charity Day on 11th September opened today. I am hoping that this will be another great, fun event and look forward to seeing you there.
Play Well, Support the Club and Stay Safe.
Gordon