Golf round-up: The latest from around the region's courses

Pannal GC's 2022 Seniors Rosebowl winner Ian Webber, left, receiving his trophy from Men's Captain Lindsay Mckenzie. Picture: Submitted

A round-up of the region’s latest golf action, as submitted by the clubs themselves.

Knaresborough GC

After an impressive back-to-form victory in the November Medal, Dave Firth (8) was entitled to enter the December fixture with a deal of confidence.

In fact, he confessed to being “very surprised” when in fact a back to back win in Division one was exactly what he scored.

Members of Rudding Park GC raised £10,123 for St. Michael’s Hospice.

But as he himself acknowledge, hitting fairways off the tee was a ‘must’ in the present conditions where the rain soaked rough can cling like congealing syrup.

The front nine bore out all the good work he’s been doing with the Pro on his ball striking. Six pars and a birdie confirmed the new consistency, evident in his November win.

A driver and an eight iron to six feet set up the birdie, encouraging hopes of an equally bright back nine.

It was not to be, quite. Five bogeys and a single par in six holes from the 10th deflated his hopes, but the one bright spot was a birdie at 16 which sealed victory with 37 points.

Brendan Donaghy (8) on 36 and Darren Swales (6) on 35 kept him close company.

If hitting every fairway is not your forte on some days, probably the next best formula is good scrambling - getting up and down from tricky places around the greens.

That was Ian Hartley’s (13) strength as he posted 38 points to lead Division two. With a double bogey at the first it was not an auspicious start. But the scrambler’s art is at its best when it’s capped with plenty of single putts and Hartley nailed enough of them to keep his nose ahead of the field.

The highlight was the birdie at the long eighth when, after a lengthy drive he struck a hybrid then pitched from 60 yards to hole the four footer.

He wavered at the dog leg 10th where, for his second, he went for the uphill green with his three wood but found trouble in the spongy rough and was forced to take a drop. The result was a triple bogey seven.

But he finished a point ahead of a clutch of players on 37, notably Paul Cameron (11) second on countback from Andy Marshall (10) in third place.

Alan Edgar (21) on 38 beat Ben Doherty (20) on 37 and Malcolm Lawrence (21) on 36 to take the honours in Division three.

Pannal GC

Sunday November 27th saw the start of Pannal ladies’ 13-hole Stableford Winter trophy.

Competitors can play in a maximum of six rounds with the best three nett scores winning the Trophy. Although there are no qualifying games in December, there will be four opportunities to play in January and February

Just four ladies played in the first round on Sunday 27th, which was won by Vicky Eyre on 23 points by countback from Carole Whiles, both one point ahead of Sandra Taylor.

A larger field of 22 battled it out in round two on Tuesday 29th November. In Division One, Taylor won with 24 points and Becs Booth topped Division Two with 23 points.

So, in the overall competition, Taylor is the early leader with an aggregate 46 points, followed by Julie Parry with 44 points and Vicky Eyre, lying third on 42.

Thursday 1st saw the staging of the Seniors Rosebowl, which is a 13-hole team and individual Stableford competition followed by a Christmas lunch.

In the team event, the combination of Jon Clayton, Peter Jones, Ian Webber and David Holmes enjoyed a comfortable victory with 69 points.

Four points further back were John Sheldrake, David Whan, Derek Hufton and Martin Boyle, who in turn edged out Ian Shay, Julian Monaghan, Rob Farnell and Colin Arnot by one point.

The 2022 winner of the Seniors Rosebowl was chairman of Green Ian Webber on 30 points, with Steve Dodds second (on count-back) and Bill Mullins third.

Saturday 3rd saw the annual Pheasant Flutter Greensomes Stableford competition take place, with 50 pairs setting out in good golfing conditions.

Tom Page and Tom Hesketh came out on top with 46 Stableford points, and the best gross score, to win by a countback over brothers Jason and Callum Jonas.

Third place went to Richard Goodall and Julian Graham-Rack on 42 points with the card count edging out Phil Hudson and Norman Lightfoot.

Masham GC

Thursday 24th November, Ladies’ 18-hole Qualifying Stableford: 1st Anne Stebbing; 2nd Jackie Thirsk; 3rd Melanie Couchman.

Ladies 9hole Qualifying Stableford: 1st Deborah Hodges; 2nd Jennifer Bedford.

Thursday 1st December, Ladies’ 18-hole Winter Stableford: 1st Jackie Thirsk; 2nd Jan McGee; 3rd Mandy Boak.

Well done to Jackie Thirsk with a two-ball recorded on the 8th.

Sunday 4th December, Men’s December Medal: Division 1 (Handicap Indexes up to 16.4) – 1st (1st overall) Jockey Beckett 80 (17) 63; 2nd (7th overall) Alan Sturdy 80 (11) 69; 3rd (8th overall) Dave Pickard 84 (13) 71.

Division 2 (HI 16.5-26.4) – 1st (3rd overall) Tom Rodney 85 (20) 65; 2nd (5th overall) Bruce Watson 90 (22) 68; 3rd (6th overall) Jack Richmond 89 (20) 69.

Division 3 (HI 26.5-54.0) – 1st (2nd overall) David Elsworth 93 (28) 65; 2nd (4th overall) Keith Bain 94 (29) 65; 3rd (9th overall) Martin Elsworth 107 (36) 71.

There were 5 x 2s - Jockey Beckett x 2, Alan Sturdy, Terry Pickard and Martin Elsworth.

Saturday 26th November, Men’s Winter Nine-hole League, round nine: 1st Peter Laing 21pts (10) (b6); 2nd Bruce Watson 21pts (11) (b3); 3rd Mick Powell 21pts (07); 4th Norman Hutchinson 20pts (09).

Saturday 3rd December, Men’s Winter Nine-hole League, round 10: 1st Peter Laing 20pts (10); 2nd Tom Rodney 18pts (10); 3rd Tim Howard 17pts (05) (b6); 4th Mick Powell 17pts (07).

Oakdale GC

Oakdale Open Series: On Saturday 25th November from Yellow and Red tees the second round of the Winter League pairs competition was played.

The clear winners with 46 points were Paul Dineen (17) & Greg Nelson (14). Second, on count back, with 44 points were Simon Kelly (24) & Richard Eastwood (36) from Mark Hudson (20) & Tim Sunderland (22).

The ladies played their 9 Hole Mince Pie fun competition last week.

The clear winner of the alternate day Stableford, in which 36 ladies braved the mist on Sunday and frost on Tuesday, was Carol Heatley, with 22 points.

Marina Rietschel was second with 19, ahead of Jane Crosby with 18. Homemade mince pies were enjoyed afterwards by everyone who took part and many who didn’t.

Bedale GC

November 30 – Ladies Stableford: Division 1 - 1st Karolina Aurelius 42 pts; 2nd Julie Noble 39 pts; 3rd Rachel Holden 35 pts.

Division 2 – 1st Sharon Wilkinson 36 pts; 2nd Evelyn Weighell 25 pts; 3rd Fiona Blaken 34 pts.

Division 3 - 1st Claire Retchless 35 pts; 2nd Helen Wycks 28 pts.

9 holes - 1st Maggie Tuer 20 pts; 2nd Sheila Minto 16 pts; 3rd Karen Lilley 13 pts.

November 30 – Bingo Night: Another successful Bingo night held in the clubhouse, thank you to Peter Durrans for organising. This event is taking a break in December, and the next bingo evening will be Wednesday, January 25.

December 1 – Thursday Stableford: 1st Dave Snaith 38 pts; 2nd Ric Noble 35 pts; 3rd David Blades 34 pts; 4th Al Aurelius 33 pts.

December 2 – Seniors Stableford: 1st Les Kitching 41 pts; 2nd Steve Gibbins (19) 35 pts; 3rd Richard Stevens 33 pts.

December 2 – Friday Animals: 1st Patricia Knox 40 pts; 2nd Pam Rawlin 39 pts (countback required); 3rd Sally Hunt 39 pts (countback required).

December 3 – Junior Winter League Round 5: 1st Oliver Moody 23 pts; 2nd Oliver Crannage 22 pts; 3rd Josh Askew 21 pts.

December 4 – Winter League: 1st Mike Edwards, Les Kitching, Neil Exelby & Kevin Clinton nett 51.85; 2nd Tim Morris, Matthew Day, David Munton & Kevin Bradley nett 52.95; 3rd Jonny Weighell, Dave McCabe, Mark Williams & Max Weighell nett 53.8; 4th Andrew Simpson, Mike Elsdon, Dan Murdoch & Domonic Moon nett 54.

Rudding Park GC

Rudding Park Golf Club’s greenkeepers recently raised more than £2,000 for Cancer Research UK through their participation in Movember last month.

Meanwhile, members of Rudding Park raised £10,123 for St. Michael’s Hospice. The cheque was presented to St. Michael’s at Rudding Park Golf’s Annual Awards Dinner on November 19.