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

Harrogate GC

At the head of each division in the recent Stableford at Harrogate GC there was close competition and some excellent scoring.

In Division One, Matt Roberts and George Davies could only be separated by a countback after they both scored 39 points. Roberts had the better run-in to take the win from Davies, who has been in great form.

Carl Winston’s 38 points gave him third ahead of Lewis Delaney and Paul Lai tied one point further back.

Mike Kent has experienced a fallow period recently but stormed back from this to take Division Two. His 41 points just pipped the pair fighting for second place.

Dave Jack had the better back nine after he and the in-form Bob Fox came home on 40 points. Also in a tie, Ian Birchall was awarded fourth place ahead of Michael Harrison.

Alan Bowman recorded the best points score of the day in the process of winning Division Three on 43 points.

Keir Parker’s recent form rewarded him with a healthy score of 41 points and second place, while Harry Kirk secured third place with three players tied for fourth place.

David Sykes eventually took fourth on the countback from Eric Chapman and Nick Trowell.

The widest smile of the day came from Course Director, Richard Mackenzie after seeing his tee shot on the 9th roll nicely into the hole for an ‘ace’.

Two Foursomes competitions were combined for the Ladies last week, with the winners progressing to the Regional Finals.

In the Australian Spoons Foursomes, Boo Orman and Lyndsay Raybaud will now represent Harrogate on their home course in July.

Margaret Brown and Liz Haw will travel to York in August to play in the Regional Final of the R & A Coronation Foursomes.

Results: Australian Spoons Foursomes - 1st Boo Orman & Lyndsay Raybaud, 43pts; 2nd Cheryl Lewis & Fiona Gillies, 41 pts; 3rd Wendy Skaife & Celia Fowler, 39 pts.

R & A, Coronation Foursomes - 1st Margaret Brown & Liz Haw, 46 pts; 2nd Boo Orman & Lyndsay Raybaud, 43 pts; 3rd Cheryl Lewis & Fiona Gillies, 41 pts.

9 Hole Stableford - 1st Susan Flynn, 22 pts; 2nd Sheila Robertson, 20 pts; 3rd Ann Watkin, 20 pts.

The Wednesday, Midweek Stablefords continue to attract large fields with the first one of May seeing 61 players enjoying the sunny and dry weather.

It seemed like ‘match-play’ with Shaun Johnson and Len Walters battling it out in the same playing group.

Walters has been performing well over the last few weeks but had to concede the top spot to Johnson by just one point.

Results: 1st S. Johnson (P.H. 20), 40 pts; 2nd L. Walters (19). 39 pts. (bb9); 3rd R. Harper (29), 39 pts; 4th P. Farand (7), 38 pts.

The following Wednesday, there was a four-way tie at the top with Stuart Reid, Joe Slater, Luke Edwards and Anthony Armstrong all signing for 38 points. The count-backs confirmed that final order.

Results: 1st S. Reid (14), 38 pts. (bb9); 2nd J. Slater (19), 38 pts. (bb9); 3rd L. Edwards (8), 38 pts. (bb9); 4th A. Armstrong (15), 38 pts.

No fewer than 138 players were chasing silverware as they contested the Anniversary Salver.

At the top of the leaderboard, the scores were very good, but conversely many players found the hard ground and extra run hard to manage.

It was therefore a remarkable day for Steve Wright to return on a six-under nett 63 to win, with Robbie Whellans following closely on his heels, signing for nett 64.

The good scoring didn’t stop there with Peter Bainbridge’s nett 65 giving him third from three players tied on nett 66.

Alan Firth’s better back-nine saw him head that trio, with Bob Ansell having the better run-in to go fifth ahead of Garry Irvine.

Another Saturday and another hole-in-one. The smile this time belonged to Gareth Sawyer, who produced his ‘ace’ on the 14th.

Results: 1st S. Wright, 77-14=63; 2nd R. Whellans, 81-17=64; 3rd P. Bainbridge, 80-15=65; 4th A. Firth, 79-13=66 (bb9); 5th R. Ansell, 86-20=66 (bb9).

Harrogate GC’s Men’s 1st team went to Ripon GC and returned with an 11-9 victory. Meanwhile, the Ladies entertained Knaresborough GC and ran out 3-0 winners.

The Ladies ‘B’ Team put in a good effort at Oakdale GC but came out just the wrong side of a 3-2 score-line.

The Rabbits recently played their home leg of the Tri-Series Riverside Rose-Bowl between Harrogate, Otley and Wetherby.

With the next leg to played at Wetherby on June 3, Otley currently lead the way with 279 pts, while Harrogate sit second on 274 pts and Wetherby currently find themselves third on 243 pts.

Harrogate’s Ladies recently played the Ping 4BBB Stableford and produced some excellent scores.

With a colossal 48 points, Elizabeth Goody & Judith Nickols were the clear winners.

On any other day, 45 points would have been enough for victory, but Elaine Shepherd & Boo Orman along with Karen Myers & Nikki Butters had to settle for second and third after they were tied on that score.

Results: 1st E. Goody & J. Nickols. 48 pts; 2nd E. Shepherd & B. Orman, 45 pts. (bb9); 3rd K. Myers & N.Butters, 45 pts;

Nine-hole Stableford - 1st Lindsay Bancroft, 21 pts; 2nd Lynne Shears, 20 pts; 3rd Susie Lax, 19 pts.

Knaresborough GC

Alan Edgar wasn’t going to tempt providence. When it came to tee shots, out went the driver, the woods and the hybrid.

Over a sun-baked course, his over-riding purpose in the 36-hole Harpanoak Trophy was to minimise danger.

Over ambitious clubs could easily pitch left or right into trees or undergrowth. For Edgar it was irons all the way including a “trusty” two-iron from the tees.

The formula largely worked, with plenty of pars to his credit over the Saturday and Sunday.

Add in an accomplished chipping game and some tenacity and he finished round one in third place with a 68, thee shots off the pace-setter Rob Whittaker.

The Harpanoak is open to all handicaps, but on day two Edgar stuck to his tactical guns and shot an even better 66 to finish winner with a combined tally of 134.

The 24-handicapper won by eight shots from 13-handicapper Geoff Gravestock on 142, and 12-handicapper Roy Howarth on 143.

Undeniable evidence that multiple-time Club Champion Julie Willey has recovered well from more than a year of lingering injuries was forcefully underlined by her performance in the ladies’ Harpanoak.

She led both the first and second round with a two-under 73 on day one and a two-over 77 in the second round.

A birdie four at the tricky second bolstered her second round as she consolidated her lead to finish with a total of 150 from Bridget Tasker on 155 and Julie Hargreaves on 156.

Julie Curry and Karen Lippeatt go through to the next round of the Coronation Foursomes with a winning score of 42 from Liz McVey and Bridget Tasker, who were second on 40.

Top of the leaderboard in the club’s internal 18-hole foursomes were Jenny Jones and Pat Eve on 42, well ahead of Jan Seymour and Anne Cooley on 32, and Maria Howland and Rose Tate on 31.

Pannal GC

A total of 52 Ladies played in the Fourball Betterball Stableford competition on Tuesday May 20.

The sun was shining and the run on the ball continues to be great, which was reflected in the impressive scores.

Helen Mountford and Gail Witcomb set an early total with 48 points, which was the winning score of the day.

They were closely followed by Alison Stratford and Natalie Boyle, who had 47 points, with Sue Halliday and Steph Turner taking third on 46 points.

There were 15 pairs with 40 points or over, which is a record for the Ladies section. This included 13 ladies getting a WHS handicap index reduction as they had done so well.

This competition was also the England Golf PING qualifier and the club have submitted their results to England Golf and are now waiting to hear if their top-scoring ladies have qualified for the national final in September.

The Scratch & 1st Team matches against Romanby GC took place on Thursday May 22 at Romanby.

The 1st Team, comprised of Simon Walker, Will Eardley, Josh Chi & Will Caldecott, won 7-1.

Overall Pannal, triumphed 13 points to seven to remain top of the league on 54 points, six ahead of Skipton GC.

Next up is an away match against Bedale GC.

Harrogate & District Union

Skipton GC, having formally joined the Harrogate Union last year, hosted the Second Division Team Championship on Sunday May 18.

In total, 24 four-man teams competed for the Harrogate GC Trophy. The competition for players within the Handicap Index range of 12.1 to 20.9 is a medal round off scratch with all four scores to count.

It was played over the orange course, with windy conditions and the undulating course proving challenging for some of the players more used to flattish home courses.

This was particularly reflected in that the par-four 13th hole, normally SI15, proved to be the third-most-difficult hole, although everybody thought the course was well presented and, in general, enjoyed the round.

After the first eight games, the leading individual scorers were home club players Alex Conroy on gross 82 and Peter Jowesey on gross 84. Conroy held his position to the end of the competition, with Mark Whitaker (Knaresborough) moving, at game 12, to second place with a gross 83.

Not surprisingly, with home club players topping the individual leaderboard, both home teams found themselves setting the pace - namely Skipton ‘B’ (Andrew Burton, Alex Conroy, Gerald Corrigan and Club Captain Jonathan Smith) on gross 356, and Skipton ‘A’ (Seth Rawlinson, Bob Jarman, Alistair Coy and Peter Jowesy), who were in second place with gross 359.

The two teams held their position until game 20 when Rudding Park ‘B’ (Rod Smith, Kevin Askew, Ian Barnes and Graham Boffey) returned a gross 356.

In the event of a tie, the trophy and prizes are shared, meaning that Rudding Park, who won the trophy last year, had managed to keep one hand on it.

Rudding member Graham Boffey had also played in the previous year’s winning team.

Joint winners of the trophy with individual scores were: Skipton ‘B’ Team - Andrew Burton (92), Alex Conroy (82), Gerald Corrigan (95) and Jonathan Smith (87), team score gross 356, and Rudding ‘B’ Team - Rod Smith (94), Kevin Askew (89), Ian Barnes (88) and Graham Boffey (75) team score gross 356.

The best individual score of the day was won by Alex Conroy (Skipton) on gross 82.

Bedale GC

May 12 – Gents ‘B’ Team v Thirsk & Northallerton GC: On a wonderful evening at Thirsk, the course in good condition and the ball running well, the “Twelve good men and True” were looking for a win. Things were extremely close, with effectively all the matches having the potential to go either way, but Bedle eventually came through. Led by Mike Edwards & Graham Seel, Graham Lilley & Club Captain Scott Gray both won their respective matches, with two draws to secure an excellent true half with six points each. With a total of 11points after their first two matches, away, Bedale can reflect on a positive start to their season.

May 12 – Ladies A Team v Kirkbymoorside: The Ladies ‘A’ Team got some revenge against Kirkbymoorside in the heat, winning 3&1/2 to 1&1/2

May 13 – Gents Air Ambulance round two: 1st James Phillips 37 pts; 2nd Ged Hall 36 pts; 3rd Kevin Palethorpe 35 pts.

May 14 – Ladies Stableford: Division One - 1st Sheila Grant 36 pts; 2nd Clare Bevan 35 pts (countback required); 3rd Di Clark 35 pts (countback required).

Division Two - 1st Pam Rawlin 37 pts; 2nd Patricia Knox 34 pts; 3rd Evelyn Weighell 33 pts.

Division Three - 1st Annie Duffy 39 pts; 2nd Julie Fisher 37 pts (countback required); 3rd Pauline Gurd 37 pts (countback required).

Nine holes: 1st Glenys Brown 17 pts; 2nd Debbie Palethorpe 16 pts.

May 14 – Water Rats: 1st Mick English 36 pts; 2nd Matthew Kettlewell 34 pts (countback required); 3rd Dave Hall 34 pts (countback required).

May 15 – Thursday Stableford: 1st Steve Swift 33 pts (countback required); 2nd Paul Clemens 33 pts (countback required); 3rd Jim Hargan 32 pts (countback required); 4th Phil Danby 32 pts (countback required).

May 15 – Gents 1st Team v Knaresborough GC: Bedale’s Gents 1st Team travelled to Knaresborough GC for their third away match in a row. The Scratch Team managed a very respectable tie, however, the team lost 14-6 overall on a very well-presented course. The Bedale team comprised Steve Whitwham, Jonny Rayner, Bailey Lawson, Tim Morris, Ross Hodgson, Bill Barclay, Craig Lawson, Max Weighell, Kev Palethorpe and Scott Gray.

May 16 – Seniors Stableford: 1st Andrew Robson 34 pts; 2nd Mick Powell 33 pts (countback required); 3rd Clive Robson 33 pts (countback required).

May 16 – Friday Animals: 1st Colin Tipton 42 pts; 2nd Steve Black 36 pts; 3rd Dave Fleming 31 pts.

Front nine - Dave Hall 18 pts; Back nine - Kevin Palethorpe 16 pts.

May 17 – Team Open: 1st J Sheard, G Clarke, G Lowe & P Tempest (Normanton GC) 95 pts; 2nd M Rushforth, S Kitching, M Yule & M Butler (Romanby GC) 91 pts; 3rd J Keen, C Steele, D Cooksey & G Moffat 88 pts; 4th M Gibb, I Smith, D Munton & B Barclay (Bedale GC) 87 pts (countback required); 5th A Iqbal, G Hussain, A Sadigue & I Abbas 87 pts (countback required); 6th P Simmons, S Grant, S Grant & C Bevan (Bedale) 86 pts.

May 19 – Ladies Scratch Team v Lindrick: There was a superb 5-0 win for the Scratch Team of Shona Lawson, Clare Bevan, Karolina Aurelius, Lindsay Souter and Rachel Holden on what was a great afternoon in the sunshine.