Our results for the 2019/2020 season are as follows
(most recent event first):
Challenge Trophy
The
Nottinghamshire Golf Club - 16th October 2020
18 hole stableford (full handicap)
Write-up by Graham Thorpe
Another month
gone by and we assembled at another new venue for BUNGS on a
dank and dismal drizzle and cloudy morning at the
Nottinghamshire Golf & Country club. 22 players turned up to
play 9 holes on the Signature course in the morning with 24
present to play the Championship course in the afternoon.
Lockdown affects us all in many different ways, our control over sophisticated mechanical/ electrical appliances are always tested but 2 of our members probably need a crash course in controlling their electric trolleys.
The nine holes on the Signature course had only just commenced when Bob Stretton in the second group on the short par 3 watched his trolley and clubs dive into the deep pond in front of the green. Bob waded in after it to recover his wet clubs and trolley as his partners watched in amazement.
On the previous event Kevin Morris also lost control of his trolley turning back to watch it career across two fairways through bushes until it was stopped by another member! This morning team competition was won by Kevin, Ian Ronson, Steve Gibbons, & Steve Dewey with a total of 55 points.
After a quick lunch we tackled 18 holes on the Championship course in brighter weather and no rain. Bob re- kitted out in new shoes and carrying his bag had recovered except for being £150:00 lighter in his pocket.
The afternoon rounds were much more sedate but closely contested. Finishing in 4th place with a score of 34pts from a handicap of 5.2 was Howard Holliday. 3rd place went to John Shaw with 35 points from a handicap of 3.6. Runner up was Paul Jobbins with 36 points from a handicap of 8.0 and the winner for his first BUNGS trophy was Steve Gross with 37 points off a handicap of 23.9. Obviously the rest in the morning had worked Steve, and his Lincolnshire partner had missed his memorable day but I am sure Shaun you will get a blow by blow account in the months ahead!
As it was the final match in the season, the winners were
announced:
League Cup - Peter Meaney
Gross
Birdies - Kevin Morris
Nett Birdies - Peter Meaney
View full results and handicap adjustments from The Nottinghamshire
Gross 2's Scored by the following
| 2nd | Par 3 | 172 yards | Steve Harris | £5 |
| 5th | Par 3 | 101 yards | James Shipman | £5 |
| 12th | Par 3 | 140 yards | Kevin Morris | £5 |
| 14th | Par 3 | 141 yards | Howard Holliday | £5 |
Captain's Trophy
The Manor (Kingstone) Golf Club - 17th September 2020
18 hole stableford (full handicap)
Write-up by Graham Thorpe
The second
event since lockdown took place at a new venue for BUNGS,
and a greater turnout of 22 players turned up on a glorious
afternoon to meet old colleagues and get together again for
a short time and to hell with the golf! It was pleasing to
see some long distant travellers too in Adrian and Stevie
Gross make it on the day.
Since lockdown several members had splashed the cash in particular Gordon Galloway, who took over ten minutes to park his new car successfully, and then produced his bright new yellow submarine (sorry trolley) for all to see. If some members had invested in new clubs they were keeping quiet as we lined up on the 1st tee box exactly at 1.00pm.
From some of the tee shots I saw there was some creaking limbs and rusty swings with Marcho highlighting his bright red balls (cov 19 balls they were christened) as the first shot dribbled off the tee.
Believe it or not once we got going most of us had decent rounds and the scoring was reasonable and competitive except for Kev Morris who is trying to get some shots back on his handicap - 19 points dear oh dear!
Out in the last four ball, Bobby Ho was first passed the post with 38 points off handicap 13.7 winning on countback scoring 25 points on the back 9. Runner up was local member Ian Ronson also scoring 38 points off 17.7 handicap, with a back nine of 21 points.
Third place also on 38 points off 16.8 handicap was Wayne Tandy scoring 20 points on the back nine. Fourth and all the way from Lincolnshire was Steve Gross scoring 36 points off a handicap of 24.3.
There were two gross 2's,Kevin Armitt and Max Williams both at the13th par 3. The final prize winners were Gordon Galloway in the 1-18 handicap range and Ivan Wozniack in the 19-28 range.
Finally the catering staff did us proud with several dishes of our choice and a fun day ended with the feeling it was nice to be back!
Up to you now Boris !
View full results and handicap adjustments from The Manor
Gross 2's Scored by the following
| 13th | Par 3 | 111 yards | Kevin Armitt | £10 |
| 13th | Par 3 | 111 yards | Max Williams | £10 |
Pairs Championship
Leamington & County Golf Club - 21st August 2020
18 hole fourball-betterball stableford (90% handicap)
View full results and handicap adjustments from Leamington and County
Gross 2's Scored by the following
| 15th | Par 3 | 179 yards | Owen Morris | £10 |
| 15th | Par 3 | 179 yards | Mark Johnson | £10 |
The Ballesteros Bowl
Bondhay Golf Club - 6th March 2020
18 hole stableford (full handicap)
Write-up by Steve Lloyd
33 BUNGS members plus one guest headed North to Bondhay Golf
Club for the first event of 2020, The Ballesteros Bowl. With
all the wet weather in the preceeding couple of months, it
was nice to have a bright dry day for a change, in fact it
was the best day of the year so far for weather. Those
arriving at the club early were greeted with a white frost
covering over the whole course, but as everyone tucked into
a full English, the sun melted the frost away and we were to
play on main greens.
The bunkers on the course have all been GUR for the past few months but the pro-shop gave us permission to play from the bunkers as we were playing a competition. They looked a lot worse than they played and it seemed a strange decision to have left them GUR for so long, a quick rake and the surface was back to normal. The rest of the course was in a pretty good condition considering the time of year and the amount of wet weather.
Phil Latham's year of captaincy started with his drive-in and he started with a 187 yard drive, low and to he left. A perfect destance for both Steve Lloyd and Andy Smith who shared the drive length guess pot,having both guessed that exact yardage,
Onto the scoring and lots of people were very rusty and struggled with seven players scoring less than 20 points. At the other end of the leaderboard, 5th went to Gary Tyler scoring 30 off a handicap of 15. Incoming Captain Phil pipped Gaz into fourth with a better back nine, also scoring 30 off his 15 handcap. Guest Stephan Benn was next scoring 31, also off 15, but as a guest he is not officially counted in the top five.
Third went to Howard Holliday, playing off 6 and scoring 34 points, the same total as Mark Johnson who finished second off a 12 handicap, and making a fantastic start to the 2019/20 BUNGS season, pit your money on Mark for the League Cup!
Attending his first event was friend of James Shipman and fellow Wychwood Park member Steve Dewey. Having had his 'introductory' 10% cut in handicap, Steve played off 18.9 and scored 19 on the front nine followed by 18 on the back nine for a 37 point total and took his first BUNGS title at the first attempt. Hopefully the 2.4 handicap cut will see Steve struggle a bit more next time like the rest of us, lol. Well played Steve, a great performance in your first event.
View full results and handicap adjustments from Bondhay
Gross 2's Scored by the following
| 7th | Par 3 | 150 yards | Jeff Sackett | £10 |
| 11th | Par 3 | 129 yards | John Haley | £10 |
The Christmas Cup
Maxstoke Park Golf Club - 19th December 2019
18 hole stableford (full handicap)
Write-up by Graham Thorpe
On a wet morning with the A38 blocked just below Barton I
eventually arrived at Maxstoke Park where a small turnout of
16 members this year were huddled in the clubhouse enjoying
their bacon sandwiches for the final event of the Bungs
calendar.
Illness had struck Society Secretary Steve Lloyd’s family and possibly due to work commitments and nearness to the Christmas festivities our numbers were low. This good thing from this was we probably saved the life of a Turkey this year! The course was very wet and buggies and even trolleys were banned this year.
Whilst all 18 holes were open several of them had been reduced in length and we were presented with a score card with a par 69 today. However all the greens were open and were in great condition. The fairways had standing water in places which reduced the run of the ball but we started on time in fine weather with a moderate wind keeping the clouds up above moving. The conditions obviously did not favour the better golfers and the higher handicaps had a successful day.
In fourth place with 33 points was Graham Thorpe off 23.6 , Ivan Wozniak finished third with 34 points, off 19 handicap The scoring had proved difficult for many but Jeff Sacket in the first group played a steady round finishing second on 36 points off a handicap of 21 and the winner for the second consecutive year was Steve Raji with 38 points off a handicap of 16 (no longer.) to retain the trophy.
No group won the Captain’s Challenge so again it rolls over to next year. Maxstoke did us proud again with a splendid Christmas Dinner after which Vice Captain Phil Latham distributed the annual prize awards with Kevin Morris collecting the League Cup and the Gross Birdies League, Alan Heard was the match play champion, Gary Tyler won the Nett Birdies League, and Steve Raji took the award for the most improved player.
View full results and handicap adjustments from Maxstoke Park
Gross 2's Scored by the following
| 5th | Par 4 | 215 yards | Steve Barkshire | £5 |
| 9th | Par 3 | 190 yards | Bob Stretton | £5 |
| 9th | Par 3 | 190 yards | Peter Meaney | £5 |
| 16th | Par 3 | 110 yards | Wayne Tandy | £5 |
| 18th | Par 3 | 135 yards | Steve Gibbons | £5 |
The Cliff Thompson Salver
Conwy Golf Club - 15th November 2019
18 hole stableford (full handicap)
Write-up by Steve Lloyd
With a huge amount of rain falling in the weeks prior to the
November trip to Llandudno, many BUNGS members were
questioning whether the trip would take place. Both courses
we were due to play drain very well so there was never any
doubt about the trip,but North Wales Golf Club was reduced
to just 15 holes. Because of this, it was decided to switch
the main competition to the first day of the trip and play
for The Cliff Thompson Salver at Conwy Golf Club.
The had been another huge amount of rain overnight so we arrived at the course to see puddles of water allover the course, but it remained open and surprisingly playable. The weather was cold but luckily dry, so after a hearty breakfast, 29 BUNGS members headed onto the course.
The course was shortened due to the wet winter conditions meaning scoring wasn't too bad on the day. The wind was 'up' on the front nine but dropped when we were playing the second nine, so most players made their scores on the back nine.
33 points was good enough for the first of the prize vouchers with last season's most improved player, Steven Raji, continuing his fine form. He beat Steve Harris into fourth with a better back nine, scoring just 13 on the front nine but 20 points on the back nine off his handicap of 16. Also on 33 points, and also with a poor front nine was Tim Thacker playing off 12. Tim had a paltry 10 points on the front nine bit came alive and played the back nine in +1 gross for 23 points and third place.
In second was Mark Johnson who also struggled somewhat on the front nine scoring just 14 off his handicap of 12. He improved sunstantially on the back nine however scoring 20 points, 34 in total. One point ahead and with a more consistent performance, with 17 on the front nine and 18 on the back nine, was Peter Meaney playing off 8. Pete's 35 points were enough to secure his third BUNGS 'crown', well played Pete.
After a few drinks at the golf club it was off to the Dunoon Hotel where the sensible checked-in to their rooms and grabbed a nap, whilst others headed straight to the bar. The meal was great and a few headed straight to bed, a few remained in the bar and some checked-out the 'highlights' of Llandudno's drinking establishments.
We awoke Saturday morning to light drizzle, but warmer, conditions and headed to North Wales Golf Club for the fourball-betterballs, to be played over 15 holes. By the time we started to tee off the rain became heavier and it was miserable for a while, but this soon passed through and, once again, we were relatively lucky with the weather.
The money was won by John Shaw (4) and Kev Armitt (13) with a whopping 40 points (10 under par for 15 holes), one behind in second were Steve Harris (10) and Geoff Wayman (4) on 39 who pipped Gary Tyler (15) and Graham Thorpe(24), finishing third, on countback.
View full results and handicap adjustments from Conwy
Gross 2's Scored by the following
| 2nd | Par 3 | 143 yards | Adam Thompson | £5 |
| 13th | Par 3 | 168 yards | Rob Hallworth | £5 |
| 15th | Par 3 | 147 yards | James Shipman | £5 |
| 15th | Par 3 | 147 yards | Kevin Morris | £5 |
| 15th | Par 3 | 147 yards | Tim Thacker | £5 |
| 15th | Par 3 | 147 yards | Rob Hallworth | £5 |
