January 2007
RICHARD and Amanda Moyes continued their winning streak in the Mixed Goblets at Tiverton by beating last year’s captain Mark Sangster and Bridget Grieve 2 up on Sunday.
They are now the frontrunners in the White group with six points from four games.
The shock of the day was Tony and Karen Allsopp losing 1 down to Alan Broom and Gina Churchill.
Fixtures in their section had to be hastily rearranged after Gerry Franklin injured his ankle in the week.
Joe and Linda Knowles managed their first point in the Yellow group with a half against Steve Buchanan and Sue Thompson while David Simpson and June Carver beat Chris and Annette Cardwell 1 up.
Vice captains Peter Boax and Gail Stuckey still lead the group with four points.
Steve and Jessica Bradley remain unbeaten in the Red section after beating Roger and Marian Stevens 1 up.
James Lambden and Jane Walton were 3 up after eight holes when Shaun Vickery and Sharron Quick had to retire due to Vickery’s ankle injury.
The group is still tight, with Lambden and Walton on four points from three matches and the Bradleys on four points from two games. They play each other this Sunday.
Father and son Mike and Russell Angus posted an eight-under score of 10 to win the men’s Medalford competition on Saturday.
The fourth and final men's Winter League qualifier, which was cancelled due to bad weather closing the course last weekend, has been rescheduled for this Saturday.
The top eight teams who have yet to qualify will join the 24 pairs who have already booked their places in the last 32. If the weather intervenes again this weekend, the qualifier will take place on Saturday, February 17.
Meanwhile, Colin Hart has announced that his Captain’s Charity for 2007 will be FORCE, following in the footsteps of Mark Sangster last year.
The club skipper has set a fund-raising target of £5,000, with the money buying a specific piece of equipment for the Exeter-based cancer charity.
The ladies’ committee has agreed that The ShelterBox Trust will be the Lady Captain’s Charity, in addition to supporting FORCE. Helston-based ShelterBox provides relief to disaster victims across the world.
A birdie John didn't want - by Jim
Bray
KEN Wells compiled 36 stableford points in cold and difficult conditions to win
the third round of the veterans’ Duckworth Salver competition at Tiverton on
Tuesday. The 27-handicapper finished one clear of Derrick Barrett, with
Mike Boote third on 34. The Salver comprises five rounds over the winter,
with the eventual winner having the best three aggregate scores.
The only player in Tuesday’s 50-strong field to record a two was Roger Tucker,
who won 30 golf balls.
One man pleased to finish his round with his ball was John Woods. After driving
off on the 18th, one of his playing partners said: "There's a crow flying off
with a golf ball." The crow had taken Woods’ ball up into a nearby tree,
so the quick-thinking veteran stood underneath it and clapped his hands.
The crow then dropped the ball and Woods was able to replace it and finish the
hole, though he was unable to round off the tale by landing a birdie of his own.
Leading scores: 1 Ken Wells (36); 2 Derrick Barrett (35); 3 Mike Boote (34); 4
Bob Taylor (34); 5 Noel Thomas (33); 6 Mike Hurley (33); 7 Eric King (33).
Lesley Crossley and Phyllida Dunn linked up with three-handicapper Hannah Grant
to secure a comfortable victory in the ladies’ Texas Scramble on Wednesday. The
trio had an impressive gross 41 over 11 holes for a nett score of 37.9.
Teresa Birchmore, Bridget Holland and Charlotte Snow were second (47-4.4=42.6)
while Marian Stevens, Alison Kelland and Helen Scriven took third spot
(49-6=43). The event was played on a sunny but cold day and mainly on
temporary greens. It attracted 13 teams of three, who received a 10 per
cent handicap allowance.
The fourth and final men's Winter League qualifier, which was cancelled due to
bad weather closing the course last weekend, has been rescheduled forSaturday,
February 3. If the weather intervenes again, it will take place on Saturday,
February 17.
The men have a Medalford competition on Saturday, the Mixed Goblets resumes on
Sunday after a weather-induced break and the ladies are back in winteraction on
Wednesday.
THE wet and windy weather relented for the Mixed Goblets at Tiverton on Sunday, and some pairs took full advantage to record comprehensive victories.
Gerry Franklin, kindly standing in for captain Colin Hart, recovered from a senior moment over his tee-off time to join ladies’ skipper Christine Williams in beating Alan Broom and Gina Churchill 6 up.
Richard and Amanda Moyes overcame a jetlagged Jim Walton and Tracy Banbury 7 up while James Lambden and Jane Walton saw off Peter Garnsworthy and Sheila Ball 5 up, with Ball allegedly seeing parts of the course she never knew existed.
The other two matches both went all the way. Shaun Vickery and Sharron Quick edged out Roger and Marian Stevens on the last hole while Peter Boax and Gail Stuckey, the vice captains getting in some practice for next year, halved a good game with Chris and Annette Cardwell.
The search party has been called in for Carl Skinner and Abbie Moyes, who have yet to play a match.
In the overall standings, Boax and Stuckey remain unbeaten in the Yellow Section. They lead the group with five points from three games while the Cardwells are also undefeated with three points from two outings.
In the White Section, Franklin and Williams and Richard and Amanda Moyes both have four points from three games but the hot favourites are the in-form Tony and Karen Allsopp after two wins out of two.
It is all very friendly in the Red Section, with everyone on two points for one win. Steve and Jessica Bradley have only played one game and are unbeaten.
Saturday sees the fourth and final men’s Winter League qualifier, weather permitting.
The leading eight pairs who have yet to qualify for the last-32 knock-out stage will join the 24 teams already through, and some notable names have some work to do to avoid missing out.
The Mixed Goblets resumes on Sunday, the veterans play in the Duckworth Salver stableford on Tuesday and the ladies hope to return to action on Wednesday
Below are some interviews with the new captains for 2007 by Jim Bray.
Colin Hart
A SERIOUS bout of food poisoning has failed to quench Colin Hart’s appetite to make 2007 a memorable year for everyone at Tiverton Golf Club.
Colin has taken over the captaincy from Mark Sangster and is determined to lead Tiverton to success in what is the club’s 75th anniversary year.
The born-and-bred Bristolian only just made it to the traditional Captains’ Drive-in on New Year’s Day after suffering a bad case of food poisoning on his return from holiday in Australia.
At the Drive-in he told a packed audience he was looking forward to working with his fellow new captains, Chris Williams for the ladies, David Green for the veterans and Matt Woodgate for the juniors, along with elected members’ representatives and the club’s management team.
Colin is chairing a committee that is organising a festival of golf week starting on June 9 to celebrate the 75th anniversary, with a grand opening ceremony and competitions every day.
"I am delighted to be club captain in the 75th anniversary year," said Colin, of Blundell’s Road, Tiverton.
"I pledge to do my best, and in my own way make 2007 a memorable golfing and social year for all the members and to keep their interest to the fore in the running of the club."
Since joining Tiverton in 1997, Colin has enjoyed playing in men’s, veterans’ and mixed matches against other clubs.
He was veterans’ captain in 2003 when he led Tiverton to victory in the Emerton-Court Trophy, the first time in 25 years they had won Devon’s top inter-club event for seniors.
The 66-year-old has also served the club on the general and competitions committees and helped set up the team of rangers who marshal the course.
Colin was a chartered engineer and his last job before retiring and moving to Tiverton in 1997 was as senior executive with London Electricity plc, responsible for power supplies north of the River Thames.
His first dabble with golf was on a par-3 course near Bath at the age of 19 and after moving to London three years later, he was delighted to find that many of his new colleagues played the sport.
One of the older engineers gave him an old half set of clubs and he never looked back. He played at many courses in the London and Essex area and was a member of Wanstead Golf Club for 25 years.
His other sports back then were squash and skiing, while now he enjoys the occasional game of skittles for Tiverton Rotary Club.
Colin’s lowest golf handicap was 10 and he currently plays off 15. His wife Sandra is also a member at Tiverton, and they have two children and six grandchildren.
Christine Williams
CHRISTINE Williams is focusing on enjoyment and participation rather than trying to fill the trophy cabinet as she looks ahead to her role as the 2007 ladies’ captain at Tiverton Golf Club.
"I hope we may bring back some silverware this year, but in the words of Baron de Coubertin on the revival of the Olympic Games: ‘It is not the winning but the taking part’. "That’s the ultimate object of any sport, so let’s enjoy ourselves in this, our anniversary year," said the former teacher, who took over the ladies’ leadership from Irene Byng on New Year’s Day.
Christine joined Tiverton 12 years ago, became a member of the ladies’ committee in 2000 and was later their secretary from 2002 until 2005. She was originally from Twickenham, London, and taught in Chiswick before deciding to emigrate to Africa.
It was in Kenya that she met her husband Len, who also worked in education, and the couple eventually retired to Sampford Peverell in the mid-1990s after some 30 years working across Africa.
Christine also taught in Nigeria, South Africa and Botswana before becoming head teacher of a large international prep school in Lesotho, where she and Len spent the last 10 years of their working lives.
Christine dabbled with golf in Kenya and Nigeria but it was not until she went to southern Africa that she became a regular player, and she even won the handicap section of the Gaborones (Botswana) Ladies’ Open in 1983.
On returning home she felt lucky to be able to join Tiverton so swiftly. But she found golf here, without the obligatory sunshine and caddies that she had in Africa, to be somewhat different.
She said: "For the first time I found golf to be much more strenuous than I had previously thought, this being the first time I had carried a bag, pulled a trolley or looked for a ball in the rough where I frequently found myself, while the wet conditions were very daunting at first.
"After playing at an altitude of 5,000ft or so the ball went much further than it did here, which at first did not do much for my ego.
"However, I soon got used to the extra effort required and in some ways golf has become much more enjoyable, and I am certainly much fitter than I was." Christine said she felt welcome straight away on joining Tiverton, while the ladies introduced her to a more competitive scene to that of the mainly friendly golf she had played for the previous 10 years.
"I am immensely proud to be the ladies’ captain of Tiverton Golf Club and particularly so in this, the 75th anniversary of its founding," she said. "I will certainly enjoy being captain but as my predecessors found out, the job would be impossible without the help of a willing band of ladies in support."
Christine and Len, who is also a member at Tiverton, have one daughter, Sarah, who works in London.
David Green
DAVID Green says it will be an honour to lead Tiverton Golf Club’s veterans through 2007 and can’t wait to get stuck into their mammoth schedule of 40-plus matches. The 67-year-old said: "I was delighted to be invited to become captain and will set out to maintain the high standards set by my predecessor, Bob Clayden. "I would like to encourage all male golfers over 60 to join in with the extensive programme of veterans’ matches and competitions arranged for this 75th anniversary year at Tiverton."
David has played golf on and off for many years but more seriously since retiring in 2000 and coming to live in the South West. He had a career in sales for Cadbury Schweppes until a company reshuffle in 1990 and for 10 years after that worked in and around East Midlands Airport in Derbyshire, ending up with British Midland Airways at Donington Hall.
Having applied for membership at Tiverton in 2000, he joined the club in early 2001 and instantly became involved with the veterans section, where he plays most of his golf.
David, who lives with his non-golfing wife Elizabeth near the club at Halberton, plays off a handicap of 22 but has serious ambitions to lower that over the next few years.
Matthew Woodgate
FAST-IMPROVING teenager Matthew Woodgate has set himself a number of targets after taking over as Tiverton Golf Club’s junior captain – not least to get better than his dad Kelvin. Matthew has been playing golf for less than three years but has already made a big impact at Tiverton and now hopes to leave his more illustrious father in the shade.
After starting 2005 with a handicap of 28, Matthew waltzed down to 14 that year and by the end of 2006 he was off 6. He has since gone up to 7, compared to his dad’s handicap of 6, and admits the pair thrive on the family competition and banter. "I got down to within 0.4 of him at one point," said Matthew, who lives in Corner Close, Wellington. "His golf has improved a lot since I started playing!"
Matthew used to be a footballer and cricketer but those sports went on the back burner after he discovered golf, although he still plays basketball for Court Fields Community School in Wellington.
"I went along with my dad for a few holes of golf and found that I really enjoyed it," he said.
The 16-year-old took over the junior captaincy from Lewis Clarke on New Year’s Day, on what was a proud day for the Woodgate family.
His grandfather Lewis was Tiverton’s club captain in 2001 and his uncle Simon is also a member, and the four Woodgates make up a formidable combination in team events. Matthew’s rapid rise has earned him a Devon coaching place this season, so he can look forward to four free short and long game lessons with any professional of his choice in the county.
Among his goals for 2007 are breaking into the Devon junior team and keeping his place in Tiverton’s Palairet Trophy side, having been unbeaten in a hugely impressive debut season last year.
Now he hopes to overtake Kelvin, a multiple competition winner at Tiverton who has been a mainstay in the Palairet squad for a number of years.
Matthew will also lead Tiverton’s tilt at the East Devon Junior League and hopes his emerging side go one better than last year’s narrow failure to dislodge Okehampton at the top of the table.
"It will be quite a challenge but I’m looking forward to representing the club again," said Matthew, who will work alongside new junior organiser Mark Sangster.
The level-headed youngster is predicted 12 GCSEs between A* and C grades this summer and has already decided to stick to academia rather than try a golf-related college course.
He plans to study maths, physics, art and computing at Richard Huish College in Taunton from this September and his ambition is to move into design, possibly of golf courses.