Golf round-up: The latest news from Harrogate & district's courses

Pannal GC

While all the social programmes for 2022 may be behind us, golf at Pannal continues on a regular basis. There were three competitions between Christmas Eve and New Year’s Day with the hard-frost conditions having eased for the most part.

On December 24 there was an Optional Fourball Better Ball Stableford where a modest field of 16 pairs tested their skills over the winter course with temporary greens for protection.

All bar three pairs managed a score of par or better with Neil Douglas and Alan Chell top of the leaderboard with a score of 44 points, winning on a countback from Jordan and Callum Jonas.

Oliver Mantle and Lars Tibell made it into third with 43 points where their countback was better than that of Andy North and Andy Brooks.

The New Year’s Eve Fourball Betterball attracted slightly more interest when 24 teams worked off the Christmas excesses.

Regular partners Philip Miles and Gareth Whiles had a clear win with 45 points, two better than Mike Armstrong and Martin Boyle. But, they needed a countback to be sure of second place with Rob Booth and Phil O’Connor taking third slot.

The year 2023 began with the traditional Hangover Trophy, a 13-hole Texas Scramble for teams of four.

Fuelled by bacon butties and Bucks Fizz the 64 players teed off at 11.15am with a shotgun start.

With a nett score of 35, the winners were Rob and Rebecca Booth, and Amanda and Will Dunn. But they only achieved first place thanks to a better back six of only 20 shots to see Ian and McNeil, Alistair Howe and Alan Harrison into second.

Third place went to Richard and Amanda Finney and John and Rebecca Ellacott with a nett 37.

January 20 sees Pannal GC welcome Major-winning caddie Billy Foster to the club for a sold out evening of his tales and reminiscences working alongside Tiger Woods, Seve Ballesteros, Lee Westwood and, most recently, Matt Fitzpatrick during his US Open win.

Bedale GC

January 4 – Ladies Winter Stableford: 1st Patricia Knox 36 pts; 2nd Terri Williamson 33 pts (countback required); 3rd Evelyn Weighell 33 pts (countback required).

January 5 – Thursday Stableford:1st Mike Plummer 43 pts; 2nd Dave Hennessey 39 pts; 3rd Steve Gibbins 28 pts; 4th Mark Edmondson 37 pts.

January 6 – Seniors Stableford: 1st Dave Adams 42 pts; 2nd Charles Silvester 41 pts; 3rd Kevin Clinton 38 pts.

January 6 – Friday Animals: 1st Mo Kamali 43 pts (countback required); 2nd Jim Hargan 43 pts (countback required); 3rd Steve Grant 41 pts.

January 8 – Winter League Bedale AM-AM: 1st Jonny Weighell, Dave McCabe, Mark Williams & Sean McEneany 109 pts; 2nd Mike Kirk, Ginny Kirk, Martin Fuller & Mo Kamali 103 pts; 3rd Tim Morris, Matthew Day, Kevin Bradley & David Munton 98 pts (countback required); 4th Andrew Scott, Steve Gibbins, Al Aurelius & Jeff Smith 98 pts (countback required).

Oakdale GC

Oakdale Open Series: The fourth round of the Winter League pairs competition was played from the yellow and red tees.

The winners with 42 points were Oliver James (23) & Benjamin Underwood (16).

Second, with 41 points were Simon Kelly (24) & Richard Eastwood (36), while third were Timothy James (19) & Allan Underwood (13) with 39 points.

Rudding Park GC

Turkey Trot 2022: 1st Will Smith, Gary Smith, Phil Carey and Neil Bould 54.1; 2nd Andy Robinson, Lady Captain Tracey Robinson, Julie Halford and Cheryl Reed 54.7; 3rd Paul Thompson, Ian Bullock, Ian Hopper and Eve Snodgrass 55.

Nearest the pin – 5th Julie Gibbs, 8th Justin Bishop,14th Zak Spence.

Nearest the pin in two - 17th Dan Burton.

Cross Country Golf: The format for the day was a Texas scramble where there was some great scoring in challenging conditions.

In first place were David Balbi, David Liversedge, Julie Gibbs & Mark McHale with nett 22.8. Second were Liam Wharldall, Matt Wharldall, Stuart Ingham & Rod Smith Nett 23.5

December Weekend Stableford: Robert Harrison won Division One with 8 pars, beating Graeme Ogilvie by 3 points.

Julie Gibbs won Division Two, beating Eve Snodgrass by 1 point.

Results: Division One – 1 Robert Harrison 35; Graeme Ogilvie 32; Steven Walmsley 32.

Division Two - 1 Julie Gibbs 38; 2 Eve Snodgrass 37; 3 John Dodman 36.

Seniors Stableford: Carl Kennady won Division One with 1 birdie and 14 pars, beating David Smart by 2 points.

John Noble won Division Two with 5 pars, beating Nicholas Reeve in a card play-off.

Results: Division One - 1 Carl Kennady 44; David Smart 42; Richard Brewster 39.

Division Two – 1 John Noble 36; 2 Nicholas Reeve 36; 3 Aytach Sadik 34.