Write-up by Graham Thorpe
This year the Society returned to Lytham for it’s annual
summer tour, and as most members arrived at the hotel on
late Saturday afternoon or late evening in the summer
sunshine which was a welcome addition to the tour. As in
previous years several members lined up in two camps for
either a Chinese night or Curry night as we all hit the town
of Lytham St.Annes.
On paper as always the teams looked evenly matched and there were two new debutants in John Martin and Kevin Armitt making their debuts!
The two teams lined up as follows:
Captain Kevin Morris's Team Black | H'Cap | Tour Win % | Challenger Gary Tyler's Team Blue | H'Cap | Tour Win % |
Kevin Morris | 2.6 | 56.7 | Gary Tyler | 14.0 | 72.0 |
Adrian Marchant, Vice Capt | 15.0 | 51.3 | Alan Heard, Vice Capt | 6.9 | 52.0 |
Adam Thompson | 4.2 | 63.8 | John Shaw | 4.5 | 59.6 |
Shaun Mullaney | 6.1 | 38.8 | Howard Holliday | 5.1 | 63.2 |
Steve Lloyd | 6.5 | 63.5 | Martyn Dodwell | 7.4 | 64.8 |
Karl Hughes | 8.1 | 60.4 | Peter Meaney | 7.5 | 42.0 |
Gordon Galloway | 8.1 | 58.0 | Steve Barkshire | 9.5 | 82.5 |
Mark Johnson | 11.5 | 35.0 | Steve Harris | 10.3 | 35.7 |
Alex Tolley | 12.3 | 73.3 | James Shipman | 10.2 | 49.0 |
Bobby Ho | 13.2 | 44.5 | Tim Thacker | 9.4 | 54.8 |
Craig Vale | 13.2 | 60.6 | Phil Latham | 15.1 | 61.3 |
John Martin | 16.5 | N/A | Kevin Armitt | 15.9 | N/A |
Paul Herrmann | 16.8 | 33.0 | John Haley | 19.2 | 51.3 |
Steven Raji | 18.3 | 76.7 | Graham Thorpe | 21.8 | 53.3 |
Alan Tolley | 19.2 | 49.3 | John Evans | 21.8 | 36.7 |
Robert Brown | 21.0 | 40.0 | John Stamper | 22.7 | 0.0 |
Jeff Thacker | 21.7 | 44.4 | Steve Gross | 22.6 | 43.8 |
Dave Grubb | 23.8 | 35.5 | Gordon Sullivan | 28.0 | 42.4 |
AVERAGE | 12.98 | 52.1% | AVERAGE | 13.96 | 50.1% |
We were welcomed into the car park by a member of the committee on arrival and then were offered complimentary bacon sandwiches and coffee before captain Kevin Morris and partner Adam Thompson took their first drives in the first greensomes match.
Kevin Morris & Adam Thompson | half | John Shaw & Howard Holliday | A/S |
Adrian Marchant & Craig Vale | half | Alan Heard & Tim Thacker | A/S |
Steve Lloyd & Kal Hughes | half | John Haley & Steve Gross | A/S |
Shaun Mullaney & Mark Johnson | beat | Gordon Sullivan & Graham Thorpe | 2/1 |
Gordon Galloway & Alex Tolley | lost to | Gary Tyler & Phil Latham | 2/1 |
Bobby Ho & John Martin | beat | Martyn Dodwell & Peter Meaney | 2/1 |
Alan Tolley & Jeff Thacker | beat | James Shipman & Steve Barkshire | 2up |
Robert Brown & Dave Grubb | beat | John Stamper & John Evans | 2/1 |
Steven Raji & Paul Herrmann | lost to | Steve Harris & Kevin Armitt | 2/1 |
The Captains team made a solid start, the first three matches were halved but then the team of Shaun Mullaney & Mark Johnson overcame Gordon Sullivan & Graham Thorpe after conceding 8 shots to them. Gary Tyler & Phil Latham levelled for the Challengers in the next game but the next three matches went to the Captain’s team before the Challengers won the last, to leave the Captains Team with a lead of 2 points after the first skirmish.
The Captain’s team strategy was to consolidate on their morning’s lead by sending out early some strong pairings in the afternoon. Steve Lloyd made four birdies in the opening 9 holes to demoralise opponents meaning he and Adam Thompson won 3 & 1 in the first four-ball and Karl Hughes and Adrian Marchant won 5 & 4 in the second pairing. In the third match Captain Kevin and partner Craig Vale took on the OLD Codgers (combined age of 155) Gordon Sullivan & John Haley in quite an eventful match. The Captain’s team had always been in front until they reached the last hole. Both Kevin & Craig had witnessed on a previous hole Gordon’s expertise using his 15 wood to the amazement of the Captain and whilst he and his partner were in the rough on the 18th looking for their balls Gordon took out his 7 wood and played to approximately 12 feet of the pin. Captain’s team holed out in 5 and with no concession given for Gordon's 3 foot putt he rammed it into the hole to halve the match!
In match 5 the Challengers were on fire, Particularly Peter Meaney scoring six birdies from his positive putting. Captain Gary Tyler ably assisted and they won the match 5&3.
Match 6 paired the undefeated (on Bungs tours) Tolleys, against Phil Latham & Martyn Dodwell. The Challengers opened a lead and were 4up with 5 to play. A storming finish by the Tolley duo took the game down the last hole all square and Alex putted out for par to win the match for the Captain’s team.
At this time the Challengers were struggling for points but this was rectified in Match 7 with those Leicestershire lads Steve Barkshire and John Stamper who had a resounding win by 5 & 4 over Shaun Mullaney & John Martin.
Match 8 was all square at the turn and then the Challengers Steve Gross and Graham Thorpe took a commanding lead 3up with 4 holes to play. Then something clicked or was corrected in Robert Brown’s swing and the Challengers pulled it back to all square down the last and won the 18th with Jeff Thacker asking for quiet from the balcony as he putted out to win a very close contest. This had been the last match to finish.
Matches 9 & 10 had seen significant wins for the Challengers team. James Shipman and Kevin Armitt winning 4 & 2 and John Evans and Steve Harris winning 3 & 2.
Steve Lloyd & Adam Thompson | beat | John Shaw & Tim Thacker | 3/2 |
Adrian Marchant & Karl Hughes | beat | Alan Heard & Howard Holliday | 5/4 |
Kevin Morris & Craig Vale | half | John Haley & Gordon Sullivan | A/S |
Mark Johnson & Gordon Galloway | lost to | Gary Tyler & Peter Meaney | 5/3 |
Alex Tolley & Alan Tolley | beat | Martyn Dodwell & Phil Latham | 1up |
Shaun Mullaney & John Martin | lost to | Steve Barkshire & John Stamper | 5/4 |
Jeff Thacker & Robert Brown | beat | Graham Thorpe & Steve Gross | 1up |
Bobby Ho & Paul Herrmann | lost to | James Shipman & Kevin Armitt | 4/2 |
Dave Grubb & Steven Raji | lost to | John Evans & Steve Harris | 3/2 |
Jeff Thacker - Won 2 out of 2
Robert Brown - Won 2 out of
2
Alan Tolley - Won 2 out of
2
Gary Tyler - Won 2 out of 2
Steve Harris - Won 2
out of 2
Kevin Armitt - Won 2 out of
2
The Tolley’s nearly missed dinner in the Hotel this year as having been misled by Gary Tyler over times, they were chilling out on their beds, when Mark Johnson rescued them before we had finished our main courses!
The sun greeted us as we drove the three miles from the hotel to the course. The pairings from both teams looked very even and all the matches were closely fought, with the Captain’s team extending their lead by 1 point to lead by 3 points going into the afternoon four balls.
Highlights from the morning round, included Alan Tolley & John Martin digging their way out of a bunker by the first green having entered in two shots. Missing buckets & spades they eventually appeared on the green to concede the 1st hole to the Challengers team, some four or was it five shots later?
The team of John Evans and Graham Thorpe won their match with some straight driving and steady putting 5 & 4 for the Challengers against Mark Johnson & Steve Raji.
The Old codgers won again 4 & 2 this time against Gordon Galloway & Karl Hughes with Gordon Sullivan complimenting Gordon Galloway’s recovery shot at the 10th hole with “very good shot” thankyou said GG, then GS commented “mind you, you faffed around long enough before you played it!"
After the morning matches the Captain’s team increased their lead by 1 and led the match by 3.
Adam Thompson & Craig Vale | beat | Alan Heard & Martyn Dodwell | 4/2 |
Steve Lloyd & Shaun Mullaney | lost to | Gary Tyler & Kevin Armitt | 3/1 |
Kevin Morris & Alex Tolley | beat | Peter Meaney & Steve Barkshire | 2up |
Gordon Galloway & Karl Hughes | lost to | John Haley & Gordon Sullivan | 4/2 |
Bobby Ho & Robert Brown | beat | Steve Harris & Tim Thacker | 3/2 |
John Martin & Alan Tolley | lost to | John Shaw & James Shipman | 5/4 |
Mark Johnson & Steven Raji | lost to | John Evans & Graham Thorpe | 5/4 |
Adrian Marchant & Dave Grubb | beat | Howard Holliday & Phil Latham | 2/1 |
Jeff Thacker & Paul Herrmann | beat | Steve Gross & John Stamper | 4/2 |
The Challengers team came out motivated after lunch to eat into that 3 point deficit and if possible over turn it.
The two Captain’s in the first match got an honourable half, the next two pairings went to the Challengers team and the fourth match ended all square too. (Two points back for the Challengers team).
The fifth game went to the Captain’s team but the Challengers won the sixth game on the 18th after Phil Latham had holed a 30 feet putt on the 17th for a half. This game fluctuated all the way round with no team more than one hole to the good. Tim Thacker could not believe how well his opponents were putting against him on this tour until he holed a 35 feet put on the 5th hole to make him feel better.
The Challengers continued the good fight they halved match seven and won match eight to level the overall match at 17.5 each.
The Last four ball was very eventful, the Challengers team took an early lead and then were pegged back and after seven holes remained 1up. Steve Gross had questioned the authenticity of Adrian’s “painted balls” at the fourth tee to learn that Adrian in the winter months of January and February, paints the little squares on his balls all different colours for the up and coming season. Steve was impressed but it did not stop Adrian losing a few in the rough that afternoon.
At the turn the Captain’s team were 1up and then quickly moved to three up as the Challengers could only halve the holes. On the short 16th tee the Challengers were 2 down, all of us were in trouble from the tee with Paul Herrmann in thick rough some 40 feet from the hole. Paul does not waste much time in playing his shots but this time he unusually gave it an extra 30 seconds before hitting through the hazard as the ball ballooned into the air spiralling down on to the edge of the green, and then following the contours of the hill, it hit the flag and dropped for a magnificent two. Even his opponents raised a loud cheer which could be heard down the course as his shot won the match for the Captain’s team.
Adam Thompson & Kevin Morris | half | Gary Tyler & Steve Barkshire | A/S |
Craig Vale & Karl Hughes | lost to | Alan Heard & Peter Meaney | 1up |
Alex Tolley & Gordon Galloway | lost to | Martyn Dodwell & Kevin Armitt | 3/2 |
Shaun Mullaney & Steve Lloyd | half | John Haley & Steve Harris | A/S |
Robert Brown & John Martin | beat | Gordon Sullivan & John Shaw | 5/3 |
Mark Johnson & Alan Tolley | lost to | Phil Latham & Tim Thacker | 1up |
Bobby Ho & Steven Raji | half | John Stamper & John Evans | A/S |
Dave Grubb & Jeff Thacker | lost to | James Shipman & Howard Holliday | 4/2 |
Adrian Marchant & Paul Herrmann | beat | Graham Thorpe & Steve Gross | 3/2 |
Finally as I took my clubs back to the car accompanied by my partner Steve Gross who had been abandoned by his lift, Gary Tyler’s A Team van was being pushed around the car park by several team members due to a flat battery AGAIN Gary! We all had to wait with him in the 19th for the “ AA man” so a few pints of Wainwrights were consumed while we past the time!
Robert Brown - Won 4 out of 4
Adrian Marchant - Won 3.5
out of 4
Kevin Armitt - Won 4 out of 4
Gary Tyler - Won 3.5 out of
4
Heavy rain and dark skies welcomed us to Fairhaven Golf Club, with the match now very close the competitors donned their wet gear and made their way to the cheerful starter on the first tee.
Kevin Morris | beat | Gary Tyler | 4/3 |
Adrian Marchant | beat | Alan Heard | 3/2 |
Jeff Thacker | beat | Gordon Sullivan | 4/3 |
Gordon Galloway | lost to | Howard Holliday | 4/3 |
Craig Vale | beat | Steve Harris | 4/2 |
Mark Johnson | beat | John Evans | 5/3 |
Alan Tolley | beat | John Stamper | 5/4 |
Robert Brown | half | Graham Thorpe | A/S |
Bobby Ho | lost to | Steve Gross | 5/3 |
Dave Grubb | lost to | Kevin Armitt | 6/4 |
Steve Lloyd | beat | Tim Thacker | 1up |
Karl Hughes | lost to | Peter Meaney | 5/4 |
Steven Raji | lost to | Martyn Dodwell | 3/1 |
Alex Tolley | lost to | John Shaw | 1up |
Shaun Mullaney | lost to | James Shipman | 5/3 |
John Martin | lost to | John Haley | 3/2 |
Paul Herrmann | lost to | Phil Latham | 8/7 |
Adam Thompson | lost to | Steve Barkshire | 9/8 |
The first pairings saw emphatic victories for the Captain’s team with the second group matches being shared to both sides. Pairings 5 & 6 achieved emphatic wins for the Captain’s team and now the lead had crept up to 5 points, with Kevin Morris strutting around the clubhouse and a worried Challengers Captain Gary Tyler just hoping his remaining troops could pull this out of the fire!
A great match in group 8 saw Graham Thorpe come back from 3 down after 8 holes to sneak a half on the 18th hole with Robert Brown, a real titanic match but was this half point the turning point for the Challengers? The Challengers were on their way back? Two resounding wins in matches 9 & 10 from Steve Gross and Kevin Armitt gave the team the boost it needed at this time. Matches 11 & 12 were shared to each team, so the Captain’s team maintained their lead of 4 points, , with six results to come in. Matches 13 & 14 resulted in two more wins for the Challengers. Overall match score was: Captain’s team - 26 points / Challengers team 24 points with 4 results to come.
Matches 15 & 16 went to the Challengers team, Now both teams are level on 26 points, don’t tell the final matches what is at stake. Back in the clubhouse team colleagues are drinking the Wainwrights to calm their nerves! Matches 17 & 18 went to the Challengers who triumphed in style.
Robert Brown - Won 4.5 out of 5
Adrian Marchant - Won
4.5 out of 5
Kevin Armitt - Won
5 out of 5 on his maiden tour
James Shipman - Won
out of 5
Member | Tour Win Percentage | No of Tours Attended |
---|---|---|
Armitt, Kevin | 100.0% | 1 |
Hornby, Brian | 100.0% | 1 |
Barkshire, Steve | 74.0% | 5 |
Tyler, Gary | 71.7% | 6 |
Fairweather, Stewart | 70.0% | 2 |
Brown, Robert | 65.0% | 2 |
Tolley, Alex | 65.0% | 4 |
Dodwell, Martyn | 63.5% | 19 |
Thompson, Adam | 63.5% | 13 |
Lloyd, Steve | 63.3% | 19 |
Holliday, Howard | 62.3% | 16 |
Latham, Phil | 61.1% | 9 |
Vale, Craig | 60.6% | 9 |
Morris, Kevin | 60.0% | 4 |
Raji, Steven | 60.0% | 4 |
Shaw, John | 59.0% | 18 |
Weston, Paul | 58.9% | 9 |
Hughes, Karl | 58.8% | 18 |
Smith, Neil | 58.6% | 7 |
Hayward, Simon | 58.3% | 6 |
Talboys, Ian | 56.1% | 16 |
Moore, Jamie | 55.2% | 11 |
Marchant, Adrian | 54.2% | 13 |
Haley, John | 53.9% | 7 |
Thacker, Tim | 53.4% | 17 |
Galloway, Gordon | 52.7% | 11 |
Smith, Andy | 52.1% | 12 |
Shipman, James | 50.7% | 18 |
Poultney, Les | 50.0% | 2 |
Tolley, Alan | 50.0% | 16 |
Heard, Alan | 48.3% | 6 |
Thacker, Jeff | 48.0% | 10 |
Thorpe, Graham | 47.5% | 4 |
Meaney, Peter | 45.0% | 6 |
Ho, Bobby | 44.9% | 17 |
White, Neil | 43.3% | 3 |
Hancock, Bill | 42.8% | 8 |
Sullivan, Gordon | 41.7% | 18 |
Gross, Steve | 41.0% | 5 |
Mansell, John | 40.2% | 11 |
Fox, Mike | 40.2% | 15 |
Keates, Brian | 40.0% | 11 |
Martin,John | 40.0% | 1 |
Mullaney, Shaun | 37.8% | 9 |
Harris, Steve | 37.5% | 8 |
Evans, John | 37.1% | 7 |
Grubb, Dave | 35.8% | 12 |
Johnson, Mark | 35.7% | 7 |
Tomkiss, Terry | 35.0% | 4 |
Herrmann, Paul | 33.5% | 12 |
Jackson, Anthony | 30.0% | 4 |
Johnson, Lloyd | 30.0% | 1 |
Adams, Graham | 21.7% | 6 |
Minor, Darren | 10.0% | 1 |
Stamper, John | 10.0% | 2 |