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2013 Results

Our results for the 2012/2013 season are as follows

(most recent event first):

Challenge Trophy
Worcester Golf & Country Club
- 25th October 2013
26 hole stableford (full handicap)

Write-up by Steve Lloyd
As I wasn't at this event personally, the write-up will just deal with the results. 37 players were meant to travel to Worcester for the final event of this season, the Challenge Trophy (with all holes to count). However five players didn't make it, two due to injury, one for work commitments and two who just didn't fancy the prospect of getting wet (not a good excuse guys)!

There had been a huge amount of rain the the days leading up to the event so there were some temporary greens in evidence which is a shame, but it is the same for everyone. The golf club failed to inform us that the 9th hole was not close to the clubhouse, so the morning round was played over just 8 holes instead of 9.

The end of season competitions were to be decided at Worcester. Steve Lloyd had already triumphed in the Matchplay Knockout and Graham Bilsland and Alan Heard had pretty much sewn-up the Gross and Nett Birdies Leagues respectively.

The League Cup competition was between two players who have performed spectacularly all year, John Webber and Alan Heard. John was in pole position with two wins and two second places and sat one point ahead of Alan (who had a win and three second places). The scenario was simple, to take the League Cup, Alan had to win the event at Worcester. The scoring on the day was pretty good and 49 points was only good enough for fifth place. Terry Tomkiss, Dennis Childs and Paul Herrmann all made this score. It was Dennis who took the fifth place prize on countback from Terry (who had the consolation of picking up the Longest Drive) and Paul beat Dennis into fourth with a better back nine.

Three points ahead was Peter Meaney playing off 14 who scored 18 in the morning and 34 in the afternoon for his 52 point total. League Cup contender Alan Heard looked to be out of it after scoring just 14 points in the morning but he had a superb afternoon 18 holes with 39 points off his handicap of 9. He was clubhouse leader for a long time and it looked like he'd pulled off a remarkable League Cup triumph, that was until Alex Tolley handed in his scorecard.

The society has been waiting for a Tolley win since 2002 and then two come along in succession. After victory at the previous event, Alex Tolley did it again with a very steady performance - scoring 17 in the morning and 37 in the afternoon for his 54 point total. Well played Alex although a 2.4 handicap cut might make it difficult for you to make it three in a row!

As anticipated, Graham Bilsland took the Gross Birdies League title for the tenth consecutive year and Alan Heard had the consolation of taking the Nett Birdies League after missing out on the League Cup title to John Webber.

View full results and handicap adjustments from Worcester

Gross 2's Scored by the following
6th Par 3 172 yards Paul Herrmann £5
6th Par 3 172 yards James Shipman £5
8th Par 3 149 yards Karl Hughes £5
13th Par 3 149 yards Alan Heard £5

Captain's Trophy
Breadsall Priory Hotel & Country Club
- 26th September 2013
18 hole stableford (full handicap)

Write-up by Steve Lloyd
34 players made their way up the A38 for this year's Captain's Trophy at Breadsall Priory Hotel & Country Club. Everyone enjoyed probably the poshest bacon sandwiches we've ever had, with the rashers carved straight off the joint in front of us, then it was onto the Priory course for the morning team event.

The weather was superb with lots of sunny spells and short sleeves was the order of the day, very enjoyable in late September. The money for the morning competition was won by Jamie Moore, Bobby Ho and Mike Fox in first (40 points), closely followed in second by Graham Bilsland, Alex Tolley and Dave Jones (39 points).

After soup and sandwiches for lunch it was back onto the first tee of The Priory for the afternoon's Captain's Trophy stableford. Although short, the course is very undulating in places and the greens were a bit of a lottery, as they all seemed to be different lengths of grass and different speeds - very tricky to putt on when nearly every putt had some sort of break.

Many of those who scored well in the morning continued their fine form in the afternoon. Dave Jones scored 35 off his handicap of 19 but was beaten into fifth place on countback by Graham Bilsland, who produced a superb display, knocking it round in just 3 over par off is handicap of 2.

It was tight at the top with four players on 36 points. Steve Lloyd was heading for a round as good as Graham's after going out in 1 under par (23 points) but the collar of his polo short was obviously too tight as he choked his way through the back nine with just 13 points, even three putting the 18th after finding the par five in two, something which proved very costly for Steve.

Ahead of Steve on countback was Jamie Moore, playing off 18 who scored 20 on the front nine and 16 on the back nine. Beating Jamie into second place was John Webber of a recently reduced handicap of 12. John also scored 20 out and 16 back but beat Jamie with a better back six holes.

It is great to see the name Tolley finally up amongst the BUNGS winners as Alan has been a member since 2002 and never 'stood on the top step' despite being runner-up n numerous occasions. Unfortunately for Alan however, it was his son, Alex, who took the title in just his third BUNGS appearance. Playing off a handicap of 24, Alex scored a very steady 18 points on each nine for his 36 point total to take the trophy on countback. Well played Alex.

With this being Captain's Day, there were some additional handicap category prizes (for those who had not already won a top five prize). The winners were:
0-12 Handicap Category - Karl Hughes
13-17 Handicap Category - Bill Hancock
18 plus Handicap Category - Dave Jones Full

View full results and handicap adjustments from Breadsall Priory

Gross 2's Scored by the following
2nd Par 3 169 yards Ian Talboys £5
6th Par 3 120 yards Bill Hancock £5
6th Par 3 120 yards Karl Hughes £5
6th Par 3 120 yards Tim Thacker £5
6th Par 3 120 yards Lloyd Johnson £5
6th Par 3 120 yards Alan Heard £5

Pairs Championship
Forest of Arden Hotel & Country Club
- 30th August 2013
18 hole fourball-betterball stableford (3/4 handicap)

Write-up by Steve Lloyd
As I wasn't at this event personally, the write-up will just deal with the results. 40 players made their way to former European Tour venue The Forest of Arden for the 2013 Pairs Championship.

The morning 'practice' took place on the Aylesford Course and the money was won by Peter Meaney and Steve Gross on 23 points in first place with defending champions Karl Hughes and Neil White in second on 22 points.

After lunch it was onto the Arden course for the main event.

In third place were Alex Tolley (24) and Dave Grubb (22) scoring 19 on the front nine and 18 on the back nine for a 37 point haul. On the same total were Andy Smith (13) and Dennis Childs (17) scoring 18 on the front nine and 19 on the back nine, pipping Alex and Dave into second place on countback.

The winners, a full three points clear of those in second on 40 points were Gordon Sullivan (26) and Shaun Mullaney (4). A very steady 20 points on each nine was enough to secure only Gordon's second ever victory and the very first success of Shaun's BUNGS 'career'. Well played fellas!

View full results and handicap adjustments from the Forest of Arden

Gross 2's Scored by the following
15th Par 3 172 yards Steve Gross £20

BUNGS Shield
Drayton Park Golf Clu
b - 1st August 2013
36 hole eclectic stableford (3/4 handicap)

Write-up by Steve Lloyd
42 players headed to Tamworth to Drayton Park Golf Club for this year’s BUNGS Shield. Due to several players (including the society Secretary and Captain) being stationary for 90 minutes on the A38 (closed due to an accident), the timesheet went out the window and various committee members 'rallied' to re-jig the groups and get everyone out on time.

The course was in a good condition and the weather was sunny and hot, sun cream and shorts (although not in the clubhouse, and definitely not flip-flops Grubby) were the order of the day.

The scoring wasn't as good as has been during our eclectic event of previous years and 39 points was enough for fifth place which went to Phil Latham off a handicap of 17. Also on 39 with a better back nine was Graham Bilsland (off 2) in fourth and he was beaten by Steven Raji's even better back nine, with Steven finishing in third.

One point ahead of the group on 39 was a player who has been in fine form during this BUNGS season, having already had a win and second and a third place finish. Playing off a handicap of 10, Alan Heard had a very steady 20 points on each nine for his second place finish. Alan was pipped to the title on countback however by Gary Tyler who, playing off 18, scored 18 on the front 9 and 22 on the back nine for his 40 point total, well played Gary.

View full results and handicap adjustments from Drayton Park

Gross 2's Scored by the following
4th Par 3 169 yards Graham Bilsland £5
4th Par 3 169 yards Steve Barkshire £5
4th Par 3 169 yards Alan Tolley £5
11th Par 3 142 yards Brian Keates £5
17th Par 3 158 yards Adam Thompson £5

BUNGS Championship & BUNGS Masters
Nuneaton Golf Club
- 3rd July 2013
18 hole stableford (full handicap) - 27 holes for Masters Qualifiers

Write-up by Steve Lloyd
42 players made their way to Nuneaton Golf Club for this year’s BUNGS Championship and BUNGS Masters Competitions. Nuneaton is a tight, tree lined course with small, undulating greens which were in superb condition and very fast on the day, so putting wasn’t easy. Although the course has many trees, the rough wasn’t too long so, in general, when venturing into the ‘woods’ you could find your ball and attempt to chip back onto the fairway.

The money for the morning team competition was won by Peter Meaney, Brian Hornby and Dennis Childs with a excellent 40 points and after a lovely lunchtime spread of sandwiches, chunky chips and sausage rolls, it was back onto the course for the Championship and Masters competitions.

The winner last time at Trentham Park was Tim Thacker and he continued his fine form with a fifth place finish scoring 33 points off a handicap of 10. One point ahead was Ivan Wozniak who used his 20 shots well for his 34 points. A further point ahead was someone who shouldn’t really have been there. Lynton Oelofsen’s wife was over a week late expecting their first child but, good golfer that he is, Lytn had his priorities right and headed to he golf course. Playing off 14 he scored 35 points for a third place finish.

In second place with an excellent 38 points was the mighty Alan Heard, playing off his handicap of 11. Alan scored 21 on the front nine and 17 on the back nine for a 38 point total but this was not quite enough to take the title as John Webber put in another storming performance, scoring 15 on the front nine and a massive 23 on the back nine to beat Alan on countback. To compound Alan’s misery, he thought he’d got the longest drive sewn up with a massive drive down the 9th, only to be beaten by a couple of yards by 2013 Captain Ian Talboys, playing he the last group (it must have been downwind by then surely)?

The event also saw the BUNGS Masters competition, competed of 27 holes by the previous 12 months winner along with all previous Masters winners. The top three on the day were all BUNGS Masters entrants, so the order was Lynton Oelofsen in third on 48 points, Alan Heard in second on 51 points and John Webber winning on 57 points. All BUNGS Masters scores can be seen here.

Well played John and enjoy yet another handicap cut from 15 to 13.

View full results and handicap adjustments from Nuneaton

Gross 2's Scored by the following
11th Par 3 180 yards John Webber £20

BUNGS Memorial Salver
Trentham Park Golf Club
- 17th May 2013
18 hole stableford (full handicap)

Write-up by Steve Lloyd
39 BUNGS members plus one guest made their way to Trentham Park in Stoke on Trent for the 2013 BUNGS Memorial Salver. The weather was fairly good and it remained dry for most of the day. The course is a classic parkland layout and a good test of golf but, unfortunately, the greens were in a shocking state and a putt could be missed from literally any distance, the greens were that bobbly. Once you missed a couple of short ones, your confidence was shot and that was that. For example, all day Paul Jobbins was knocking in three and four footers with ease bit finally succumbed, four putting 15 from less than 5 feet and then followed this by three putting both 16 and 17.

Anyway, the morning money was won by Graham Bilsland, Howard Holliday and Brian Hornby with a very good 52 points. After the standard lunchtime fayre of soup and sandwiches, it was back onto the course for the afternoon competition.

Due to the ropey greens, scoring wasn't particularly good and 32 points was good enough for a prize in fifth place. This went to Shaun Mullaney (handicap 5) who beat Steve Barkshire into fifth with a better back nine. Fourth place went to Chris Mayman in his second BUNGS outing, scoring 35 points off a 22 handicap. Beating Chris into third on countback was Alan Heard, playing off 12.

Another player in just his second BUNGS golf day was John Webber. After taking victory in his maiden event, John informed the society secretary of a recent handicap cut at his club, so played the event off his club (and new BUNGS handicap) of 17. Despite this, John had a really steady day scoring 17 on the front nine and 18 on the back nine for a 35 point total and second place. At his next event, John will be playing off a further revised handicap of 15, a handicap cut of 4 in less than a month - Ouch!

The winner, and taking the BUNGS Memorial Trophy for the third time was Tim Thacker, playing off 11. With almost daily trips to the hospital due to his wife's Leukaemia treatment, Tim hasn't been playing much golf of late and was just hoping to have a decent performance, so it must have been a great surprise to see his name at the top of the 'leaderboard' with his 37 points (19 out and 18 back). Well played Tim!

View full results and handicap adjustments from Trentham Park

Gross 2's Scored by the following
7th Par 3 181 yards Jeff Thacker £5
7th Par 3 181 yards Terry Tomkiss £5
15th Par 3 151 yards Tim Thacker £5

The Enterprise Cup
Leek Golf Club
- 17th April 2013
18 hole stableford (full handicap)

Write-up by Steve Lloyd
40 players made the journey to the Peak District to Leek Golf Club on a breezy morning. After the cancellation of the previous months event due to snow, it was good to meet-up with friendly faces after four months. One society member did look a little different which everyone seemed to comment on - yes that's right, John Bayliss and his 'wild' yellow hair!

Everyone present congregated around the first tee for 2013 Captain Ian Talboys' drive-in. Bets were taken as to how far he'd hit it. Ian's swing looked good but the result was a bit of a duck hook, his ball ending up on the adjacent hole - 224 yards from the first tee. Two people, Peter Meaney and Dave Jones, guessed 224 exactly and had to share the prize pot.

The weather on the day was a bit miserable first thing but brightened up as the day wore on but a strong swirling wind made things tricky. The greens has recently been top-dressed with sand which was a little disappointing but it did not slow them up - they were like lightening and any downhill, downwind putt was scary.

The morning betterball 'practice' was won by Bill Ball, Gary Tyler and Brian Hornby on 45 points. This score disgusted Graham Bilsland (who'd scored 44) so much that he ripped up their card much to Bill's amazement. It didn't stop Bill, Gary and Brian collecting their prize money though.

At lunchtime Alan Tolley informed me that the last time we visited Leek the trophy was won with a paltry 30 points - surely the BUNGS contingent wouldn't struggle quite so much in the afternoon round? Generally they did however, whether it was the wind, the undulating terrain or the super fast greens, scoring was pretty poor with many players scoring 25 points or fewer.

Of those who did play best, Bill Ball continued his fine form from the morning, scoring 33 points off his handicap of 6 in fifth place. One point ahead was Bill's travelling companion, Graham Bilsland off his handicap of 2. Graham scored an even 17 points on each nine for his 34 point total.

Society Secretary, Steve Lloyd, hadn't picked up a club since 13th December so did not expect much in he way of good golf, especially as he topped his tee shot on the first hole (just like he did in the morning). It all got better from there though as, off a handicap of 7, he scored 15 on the front nine and 19 on the back nine for his 34 point total - beating Graham into third via countback.

Last year's form player, Steve Barkshire, continued his run of banditry of his handicap of 14. He only scored 14 on the front nine but followed this with a massive 21 on the back nine, safe in the knowledge that at least he'd beat anyone else on the same score on countback........ or so he thought.

The winner of the event was a first time attendee. When John Webber made it into the bar after his round, he was greeted by our Secretary with the words "You Bastard!", after John told Steve his score (Steve being the long time clubhouse leader). John didn't get off to the best start and only had 3 points after four holes off his 19 handicap. His golf game came alive after this however, he eventually made 12 points on the front nine and followed this with a quite superb 23 points on the back nine for a 35 point total, pipping Steve to the title on countback.

Some people have been coming to BUNGS events for 10 years or more without victory, so it's a very good effort to win on your debut - well played John.

View full results and handicap adjustments from Leek

Gross 2's Scored by the following
7th Par 3 139 yards James Shipman £5
7th Par 3 139 yards Bill Ball £5
9th Par 3 192 yards James Shipman £5
11th Par 3 195 yards Steve Barkshire £5

The Ballesteros Bowl
Kilworth Springs Golf Club

Due to snow, this event was cancelled so there was no Ballesteros Bowl event this year


The Christmas Cup
Maxstoke Park Golf Club
- 13th December 2012
18 hole stableford (full handicap)

Write-up by Graham Adams
Once again, the Society returned to Maxstoke Park for the Christmas Cup. One of the reasons we adjourn there every year just a couple of weeks before Christmas is that (in the words of one of the Greenkeepers) “We never close!” 36 members braved the traffic to take part in the day’s festivities and were faced with a golf course which, thanks to the cold snap, was frozen solid, with some of the greens behaving as if they should have a windmill en route to the hole.

The freezing conditions also had another effect: what would normally be water hazards became something that “saved” bad shots. Graham Adams was only one of a number who failed to clear the pond on the 7th with his 2nd shot – only to see his ball bounce many times across the ice and end up adjacent to the green. Still, although cold, at least it stayed dry and without snow (as in some previous years.)

There were only two 2’s: Lloyd Johnson chipping in on the 280yd, par 4 5th, and John Martin getting a memorable birdie on the 196yd par 3 9th. Nearest the pins were won by Terry Tomkiss (2nd), Rod Butler (New Member) (9th) & Jeff Thacker (16th). Steve Lloyd took the honours on the 17th with the longest drive.

With it being so difficult to hold the greens with an approach shot some struggled with the conditions more than others, leading to an 18 point spread in the scores. In 5th place, with 32 points (off 14.0) was Peter Meaney. One place ahead with 34 points (off 18.4) was Gary Tyler. Pipping Gary by a point was Terry Tomkiss, scoring 35 (off 17.2). The top two players were split only on count-back, each scoring 36: Karl Hughes (off 9.5) just losing out to Dave Jones (off 20.7).

As usual, the Maxstoke ladies served up a great three course Christmas dinner, which was followed by mince pies, coffee and mints, with the annual prize giving and AGM to round off another great BUNGS year.

Have a great Christmas and New Year and see you all on 2013.

View full results and handicap adjustments from Maxstoke Park

Gross 2's Scored by the following
5th Par 4 279 yards Lloyd Johnson £10
9th Par 3 194 yards John Martin £10

The Cliff Thompson Salver
Woodhall Spa - Hotchkin Course
- 17th November 2012
18 hole stableford (full handicap)

Write-up by Steve Lloyd
A fantastic turn-out of 40 players made their way to Lincolnshire at Woodhall Spa Golf Club for the 2012 November trip. Some of the chaps travelled up on the Thursday evening and over dinner were entertained by a drunken John Mansell reminiscing from his days as a trumpet player with interesting information about his close 'relationship' with The Nolan Sisters!

The rest of the group travelled on the Friday morning and met-up for a hearty breakfast before heading to the first tee of The Bracken course for the first day fourball-betterballs. The air was cold but it was dry and a bit of breeze to make things interesting. With everyone putting £2 into the pot, there was £50 on offer for the winning pair, £20 for those in second and £10 for third.

The third spot went to Brian Keates and Lynton Oelofsen with 39 points and one point ahead were Steve Barkshire and John Shaw. Topping the scores were Mike Fox and Graham Bilsland (with Graham playing the back nine in 2 under par) for a 41 point total. The nearest the pins went to Tim Thacker at the 5th, Mark Johnson at the 7th, Andrew Goode (attending as a guest) at the 11th and Mark Johnson again at the 16th. Alan Heard won the battle of the big hitters for the longest drive.

A few pints were had in the bar before heading to the Petwood Hotel to check-in. Most people congregated back in the bar around 6pm for a few pre-dinner drinks and then it was into the dining room for a lovely three course dinner with John Mansell even managing to catch 20 winks between each course.

After the meal, some headed straight to bed with many heading back to the bar for a quiet evening by the roaring fire. Some of the more adventurous headed into Horncastle to find some local 'action'. Most came crashing back sometime between midnight and 1am but Graham Bilsland and Alan Heard were enjoying themselves so much, they didn't arrive back at the hotel till 6am. Would just an hours kip effect their golfing performance on the Hotchkin course?

After breakfast and checking out of The Petwood, it was back to Woodhall Spa to get ready for the challenge of The Hotchkin course, one of the best inland courses in the British Isles, to compete for The Cliff Thompson Salver.

There had been quite a bit of overnight rain so the greens were soft with a lot of surface moisture so were not as fast as usual, but they still putted true and were a good test. There was some more rain forecast during the day but despite a small amount of drizzle 'early doors' it remained dry and we even got some sunshine towards the end of the round.

The 12th hole was chosen for the Captain's Challenge which was a quadruple rollover with a prize pot of £220. Playing in fours, the challenge was for three of the four players to hit the green to claim a share of the prize. It took only to the second group for the first success with Tim Thacker, Gordon Galloway and Steve Lloyd all finding the putting surface (playing partner Shaun Mullaney missed). Would these three be going home £70+ richer?.............No. They had to watch from the 13th tee as all four players in the group behind (John Shaw, Alan Heard, Terry Tomkiss & Wayne Stoddard) hit the green to claim their share. A further two groups were successful. Gary Tyler, Neil White, Steve Barkshire and Gordon '9 woods' Sullivan all hit the green in their group and James Shipman, John Martin and Karl Hughes all did from their group (Graham Bilsland missed). Each group was therefore given £55 to share between the successful players. The nearest the pins were won by Steve Lloyd (at both the 5th and the 12th) and Neil White at the 8th.

The longest drive was won for the the second day running by Alan Heard. The scoring wasn't too bad but some didn't fair too well. Staying up all night didn't do Graham Bilsland any favours - he started OK (ish) scoring 12 points on the front nine but then blobbed seven of the nine holes on the back nine. Early to bed next year with a cup of Ovaltine I think Graham!

33 points was a popular score with four players hitting this mark - John Martin just missed-out on the prizes due to countback finishing 6th. With a better back six, the ever steady Howard Holliday beat John into fifth off a handicap of 5. After winning the final event of the 2011/12 season at Whittington Heath, Steve Barkshire suffered a four shot handicap reduction but continued his fine form to take fourth place with his 33 points - a better back nine than Howard off his new handicap of 14. Playing off 7, Steve Lloyd also scored 33 points (with four blobs on the way) and pipped Steve Barkshire into third with a better back three.

One ahead of the group on 33, was Karl Hughes on 34 points off his handicap of 10. Karl had an unspectacular front nine scoring just 13 points but played the back nine in just two over par scoring 21 points.

With Graham Bilsland suffering, would fellow 'stop-out' Alan Heard also meet a similar fate? After smashing one out of bounds at the first it looked likely but Alan's game came alive scoring 21 points in the next 8 holes. By the time he hit the back nine he must have sobered-up a little, as the scoring wasn't as good with just 14 points obtained but it was a 35 point total which was enough to secure his maiden BUNGS title - well played Alan.

View full results and handicap adjustments from Woodhall Spa

Gross 2's Scored by the following
5th Par 3 143 yards John Martin £5
5th Par 3 143 yards Martyn Dodwell £5
12th Par 3 162 yards Alan Heard £5
12th Par 3 162 yards Steve Gross £5
12th Par 3 162 yards Mark Johnson £5

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