this event was won by:
phil williams
Our second event of the 2014 season took us to Moreton in the Wirral to play the wonderful Links style course at Leasowe.
The day had plenty of ups and downs as players fought hard against some stiff winds. Despite this, there was some superb scoring. The best of which came from Phil Williams who 'walked it' by scoring an impressive 40 Stableford points. Read the review below and view the photographs See how these results reflect on our ORDER OF MERIT |
THROUGH THE WIND AND RAIN...
Leasowe was booked to give members something 'a little bit different' as for the majority of 2013, we had booked courses that were either parkland or were large championship courses on complexes. Having given Leasowe a trial run, we knew it would be a lovely course and something that the group would respond well to. Its got an element of links feel to it, but it requires a lot more thought from the tee than simply reaching for 'the big stick'The build up to the day out saw forecasts predicting all manner of weather, and we went with the expectation that it could prove to be a very wet and windy afternoon. Although this was the case in part, it was mainly dry and quite sunny but the steady, stiff wind caused havoc for a few players and this was reflected in some of the poor holes that prevented a few people from challenging for the win.
Group 1 looked very promising early on with all three players (Dave Ashley, Paul McCoy and Kev Murphy) starting with tap in pars on the first. Unfettered early optimism soon dissipated though as the swirling wind began to blow and bring understandable indecision and confusion to club selection. The torrential rain which came in occasional bursts added also to the examination of players' technique and temperament and it was almost inevitable that scores for all three became increasingly inconsistent before unravelling altogether!
With none of the group having played the course before there were one or two demanding tee shots which resulted in players hitting good shots down the wrong lines and losing balls as a result! Very frustrating but lessons learnt and layout now etched into the memory banks for future visits.
All three players had fleeting moments of success though and some excellent golf was played at times during the course of what proved to be an extremely testing round. Although not a long course the wind was a persistent and significant factor throughout the afternoon but it was an enjoyable and interesting layout which rewarded accuracy off the tee and precision iron play.....Qualities sadly lacking from this three-ball for most of the afternoon!
Greens were in excellent condition particularly so early in the season but putting stats for the three left them with much to be modest about! Having said that, Kev (current Masters Champion) played pretty steadily and benefited from his ability to send the ball enormous distances....albeit not always down his intended line! Paul could well have had a tremendous score, but with 7 blobs on his card he can feel well satisfied with 26 points. Dave is still searching for his "magic move" which will no doubt bring him considerable success should he ever discover it!
Finishing with 27 points, 26 points and 30 points respectively the lads were happy to find the sanctuary of the clubhouse where they sank a couple of beers with much better technique that they had sunk anything else all day!
Group 2 consisted of Peter Woolley, Steve Evans and Mark Gaskell. Steve suffered a bit of an inconsistent afternoon - which is unusual for him as he is often steady and 'there or thereabouts' come the end of the days play. The bunkers took their toll over the course of the round, and the deep pot bunkers were dug even deeper in parts as Steve found them consistently and struggled a little to splash out of them. However, the round did see back to back birdies on the 11th where he his a great drive into the wind gave him a great chance to approach that he did with style to give himself a short putt, and a wonderful 4-iron on the 12th that was into the wind and landed no more than 10 feet away from the hole.
Mark was disappointed with his final score and had a poor round by his usual standards. The putter was ice cold throughout the round and points scoring chances were spurned time and again which came back to punish him in the final standings. He also had a penchant for the water, as having found it beautifully with one shot he proceeded to almost do a mirror image only to just miss. All in all, a day to forget scoring wise for Mark.
Peter had set his marker down by spending that much time at Clarkes Driving Range in the build up to Leasowe, that he has been invited onto the Christmas doo this year. However, the practice did make perfect and Peter played solidly throughout the round and was consistent in his all round game. It was just a shame there was a couple of blobs recorded otherwise he may have found himself pushing for top spot. However, a very respectable score of 35 points saw him slide into 3rd place on a countback and a well deserved bottle of red was handed over as a result.
Group 3 was kicked off with a great pushy half shank half dribble by Phil much to the amusement of those behind. However, the shortness of the first was in his favour and a good approach and two putts set the tone for Phil's day. His "leave the driver in the bag" philosophy paid dividends with a series of half decent tee shots setting up approaches that were there or there about. 5 over gross going out made his dream that this could be his day and only a poor 8 on the 17th having lost a ball and returning to the tee spoiled an otherwise consistent card. It could have been better with a three putt on the 5th and a pot bunker on the 7th resulting in single points and he was kicking himself on the 17th trying to be big and strong. Lesson learnt.
Keiran must have wondered who the hell this new Phil he was playing with was having been paired up at Worsley too. Phil was also wondering who the hell this new Keiran was as The Duffs of Worsley? - Gone. The Putts left 10 metres short? - Gone. That stupid £300 driver? - Still there but with chains keeping it firmly strapped to the bag. Opting for the most part to use his long irons off the tee, on this course at least, was inspired. Pre-round research paid off and some lovely strikes ensured that on a number of occasions he left himself easy second shots in. The 7th along the seafront was like watching Terry Wogan on Celebrity Golf as he hit a lovely draw around the dogleg. Pitch on, two putts, four points...EASY!! (Craig, sort it out.) Where it went wrong was on the longer holes and the driver with only 1 point scored on the 2 par 5's and a blob on the long 4th. Shame as otherwise it could have been a win.
Brendan didn't get off to the best start finding sand and struggling to get out. Later he would find more sand, rough, and plenty of it. This early in the season and not having played perhaps as much as he would have liked seemed to work against him. Too many missed approaches over the back of greens where it was thick and a few duffed chips made life hard. Putting was on the whole good but too often he had to make long putts to score. The back nine was a bit of a transformation scoring 12 of his final tally. Brendan made an announcement that Phil translated as "Gosh, my luck appears to be out today so I shall attempt to make best use of the no.1 wood" but was actually more like "***k it, this is s***, the drivers coming out (with Irish accent) and it did to great effect with a series of good straight drives. Shame then the late form was not replicated on the front nine or he may not have found himself in that fateful position.
Group 4 saw was kicked off by Kev Givnan who spent that long 'umming and 'ahhing' over what club to take on the first that he forgot that it doesn't matter what club you pick if it doesn't go straight and his ball sailed left and into the gorse and to an early grave. This set the scene for the early part of Kev's round that saw him uncharacteristically score 3 blobs in the first 6 holes and that gave him an uphill task for the remainder of the day. However, knowing Kev, and his positivity about his own game when things are going wrong [note, that may contain sarcasm] – it was only a matter of time before he ‘crashed and burned’ entirely. There are occasions in a man’s life when you can say “I was just there in the right place at the right time” and this applied to Andy Roper as he was able to watch first hand as the confidence was hovered out of Kev’s body with each sigh of disappointment that he made. To be fair, there were some beautiful shots scattered within the bad stuff, but off this newer, lower handicap there wasn’t enough and Kev found himself finishing on 25 points and nervously asking “What d’ya finish with?” as he panicked about getting the loser’s t-shirt.
Rob Botterill had a superb round that could have been even better but for 3 consecutive blobs on holes 16 to 19. After starting the back 9 with four consecutive 3 pointers it had looked like Robs steady tee shots and great approach play were going to pay dividends – sadly it wasn’t to be. However, there have got to be lots of positives to take out of the performance, especially in the tricky conditions.
Allan ‘The Arrow’ Gunn was not his usual fairway friendly self at Leasowe and this punished him badly at points through the round. A few unfortunately timed ‘duffed shots’ slowed down any momentum he was building and it felt like a bit of a battle all day for the usually consistent Mr Gunn. He also found some difficulty in the numerous sand traps dotted around the course and for a period in the middle of his round it was like his ball was magnetised to the bunkers. However, there were a few high points and some lovely putts that kept the scorecard respectable – especially his ‘lag putting’ which kept the 3-putts to an absolute minimum.
Andy Roper had a solid round, but again it felt at times like it was a constant battle to score consistently due to some wayward shots particularly with longer irons and the driver. However, thankfully for him, the shorter irons and wedges bailed him out and he was able to recover to scrap points and keep him from faltering entirely.
In the final group, Paul Davies Jnr hit some great approach shots but was a little wayward at times off the tee. None better than the 7th dogleg where he topped his drive of the tee into the bushes and opted to go 3 off the tee; then hit onto the green and holed a monster putt for a great 5. He followed that up with another great approach on the 8th that set him up for 1 of his two birdies. The round ended on sour note as his ball disappeared on the 17th and he finished with a blob.
Chris Berry had a 'Jeckyll and Hyde' type of round - which some may argue is typical Bez!. Hitting monsterous shots but often wayward and over the back of the greens. Particularly on the front 9 when he feared the dreaded losers t-shirt was heading his way. A big improvement after the turn saw him start a run of 4 parsbut the momentum was soon lost and he finished disappointed on 26 points.
Allan Gannon was steady in the main, but started off the round a little wayward from the tee. His 3 wood causing the main concern as he duffed a coulpe of shots and was swinging faster than John Travolta in Grease. After a word in his shell about the swing speed, Allan slowed it slightly and was sweeping lovely shots off the tee and finding the fairways. A few missed putts proved costly, but it was a steady round nevertheless.
Craig Evans produced another solid known that was spoiled only by a couple of zero's and a couple of 'lip out' putts. The first blob coming at the 8th when a downpour that seemed like the end of the world was imminent really effected Evo's delicate equilibrium and he scored a poor 6. This was soon forgotten on the 12th, when he decided a 2-club wind was in play on the short par 3. He slipped out a 5 iron, despite the hole only being 140 yards and a sweet strike saw the ball landly softly about 4 foot from the hole. Even sweeter for Craig was that he had stolen the nearest the pin from his arl fella. Despite this wonderful shot, the very next hole saw him go out of bounds and the second blob of his card followed - even so, he finished 2nd on 36 points and hit his handicap. Gotta be happy with that!
Over a few pints, it was decided that Leasowe was definately a club to return to in 2015 and that its clever layout - and the possibility of wind - made the course a real 'thinker' of a course. The greens were slick and true, and the views from some of the coastline holes were beautiful. All in all, another superb day out and we look forward to another new track at Heswall Golf Club on 18th May.
Group 1 looked very promising early on with all three players (Dave Ashley, Paul McCoy and Kev Murphy) starting with tap in pars on the first. Unfettered early optimism soon dissipated though as the swirling wind began to blow and bring understandable indecision and confusion to club selection. The torrential rain which came in occasional bursts added also to the examination of players' technique and temperament and it was almost inevitable that scores for all three became increasingly inconsistent before unravelling altogether!
With none of the group having played the course before there were one or two demanding tee shots which resulted in players hitting good shots down the wrong lines and losing balls as a result! Very frustrating but lessons learnt and layout now etched into the memory banks for future visits.
All three players had fleeting moments of success though and some excellent golf was played at times during the course of what proved to be an extremely testing round. Although not a long course the wind was a persistent and significant factor throughout the afternoon but it was an enjoyable and interesting layout which rewarded accuracy off the tee and precision iron play.....Qualities sadly lacking from this three-ball for most of the afternoon!
Greens were in excellent condition particularly so early in the season but putting stats for the three left them with much to be modest about! Having said that, Kev (current Masters Champion) played pretty steadily and benefited from his ability to send the ball enormous distances....albeit not always down his intended line! Paul could well have had a tremendous score, but with 7 blobs on his card he can feel well satisfied with 26 points. Dave is still searching for his "magic move" which will no doubt bring him considerable success should he ever discover it!
Finishing with 27 points, 26 points and 30 points respectively the lads were happy to find the sanctuary of the clubhouse where they sank a couple of beers with much better technique that they had sunk anything else all day!
Group 2 consisted of Peter Woolley, Steve Evans and Mark Gaskell. Steve suffered a bit of an inconsistent afternoon - which is unusual for him as he is often steady and 'there or thereabouts' come the end of the days play. The bunkers took their toll over the course of the round, and the deep pot bunkers were dug even deeper in parts as Steve found them consistently and struggled a little to splash out of them. However, the round did see back to back birdies on the 11th where he his a great drive into the wind gave him a great chance to approach that he did with style to give himself a short putt, and a wonderful 4-iron on the 12th that was into the wind and landed no more than 10 feet away from the hole.
Mark was disappointed with his final score and had a poor round by his usual standards. The putter was ice cold throughout the round and points scoring chances were spurned time and again which came back to punish him in the final standings. He also had a penchant for the water, as having found it beautifully with one shot he proceeded to almost do a mirror image only to just miss. All in all, a day to forget scoring wise for Mark.
Peter had set his marker down by spending that much time at Clarkes Driving Range in the build up to Leasowe, that he has been invited onto the Christmas doo this year. However, the practice did make perfect and Peter played solidly throughout the round and was consistent in his all round game. It was just a shame there was a couple of blobs recorded otherwise he may have found himself pushing for top spot. However, a very respectable score of 35 points saw him slide into 3rd place on a countback and a well deserved bottle of red was handed over as a result.
Group 3 was kicked off with a great pushy half shank half dribble by Phil much to the amusement of those behind. However, the shortness of the first was in his favour and a good approach and two putts set the tone for Phil's day. His "leave the driver in the bag" philosophy paid dividends with a series of half decent tee shots setting up approaches that were there or there about. 5 over gross going out made his dream that this could be his day and only a poor 8 on the 17th having lost a ball and returning to the tee spoiled an otherwise consistent card. It could have been better with a three putt on the 5th and a pot bunker on the 7th resulting in single points and he was kicking himself on the 17th trying to be big and strong. Lesson learnt.
Keiran must have wondered who the hell this new Phil he was playing with was having been paired up at Worsley too. Phil was also wondering who the hell this new Keiran was as The Duffs of Worsley? - Gone. The Putts left 10 metres short? - Gone. That stupid £300 driver? - Still there but with chains keeping it firmly strapped to the bag. Opting for the most part to use his long irons off the tee, on this course at least, was inspired. Pre-round research paid off and some lovely strikes ensured that on a number of occasions he left himself easy second shots in. The 7th along the seafront was like watching Terry Wogan on Celebrity Golf as he hit a lovely draw around the dogleg. Pitch on, two putts, four points...EASY!! (Craig, sort it out.) Where it went wrong was on the longer holes and the driver with only 1 point scored on the 2 par 5's and a blob on the long 4th. Shame as otherwise it could have been a win.
Brendan didn't get off to the best start finding sand and struggling to get out. Later he would find more sand, rough, and plenty of it. This early in the season and not having played perhaps as much as he would have liked seemed to work against him. Too many missed approaches over the back of greens where it was thick and a few duffed chips made life hard. Putting was on the whole good but too often he had to make long putts to score. The back nine was a bit of a transformation scoring 12 of his final tally. Brendan made an announcement that Phil translated as "Gosh, my luck appears to be out today so I shall attempt to make best use of the no.1 wood" but was actually more like "***k it, this is s***, the drivers coming out (with Irish accent) and it did to great effect with a series of good straight drives. Shame then the late form was not replicated on the front nine or he may not have found himself in that fateful position.
Group 4 saw was kicked off by Kev Givnan who spent that long 'umming and 'ahhing' over what club to take on the first that he forgot that it doesn't matter what club you pick if it doesn't go straight and his ball sailed left and into the gorse and to an early grave. This set the scene for the early part of Kev's round that saw him uncharacteristically score 3 blobs in the first 6 holes and that gave him an uphill task for the remainder of the day. However, knowing Kev, and his positivity about his own game when things are going wrong [note, that may contain sarcasm] – it was only a matter of time before he ‘crashed and burned’ entirely. There are occasions in a man’s life when you can say “I was just there in the right place at the right time” and this applied to Andy Roper as he was able to watch first hand as the confidence was hovered out of Kev’s body with each sigh of disappointment that he made. To be fair, there were some beautiful shots scattered within the bad stuff, but off this newer, lower handicap there wasn’t enough and Kev found himself finishing on 25 points and nervously asking “What d’ya finish with?” as he panicked about getting the loser’s t-shirt.
Rob Botterill had a superb round that could have been even better but for 3 consecutive blobs on holes 16 to 19. After starting the back 9 with four consecutive 3 pointers it had looked like Robs steady tee shots and great approach play were going to pay dividends – sadly it wasn’t to be. However, there have got to be lots of positives to take out of the performance, especially in the tricky conditions.
Allan ‘The Arrow’ Gunn was not his usual fairway friendly self at Leasowe and this punished him badly at points through the round. A few unfortunately timed ‘duffed shots’ slowed down any momentum he was building and it felt like a bit of a battle all day for the usually consistent Mr Gunn. He also found some difficulty in the numerous sand traps dotted around the course and for a period in the middle of his round it was like his ball was magnetised to the bunkers. However, there were a few high points and some lovely putts that kept the scorecard respectable – especially his ‘lag putting’ which kept the 3-putts to an absolute minimum.
Andy Roper had a solid round, but again it felt at times like it was a constant battle to score consistently due to some wayward shots particularly with longer irons and the driver. However, thankfully for him, the shorter irons and wedges bailed him out and he was able to recover to scrap points and keep him from faltering entirely.
In the final group, Paul Davies Jnr hit some great approach shots but was a little wayward at times off the tee. None better than the 7th dogleg where he topped his drive of the tee into the bushes and opted to go 3 off the tee; then hit onto the green and holed a monster putt for a great 5. He followed that up with another great approach on the 8th that set him up for 1 of his two birdies. The round ended on sour note as his ball disappeared on the 17th and he finished with a blob.
Chris Berry had a 'Jeckyll and Hyde' type of round - which some may argue is typical Bez!. Hitting monsterous shots but often wayward and over the back of the greens. Particularly on the front 9 when he feared the dreaded losers t-shirt was heading his way. A big improvement after the turn saw him start a run of 4 parsbut the momentum was soon lost and he finished disappointed on 26 points.
Allan Gannon was steady in the main, but started off the round a little wayward from the tee. His 3 wood causing the main concern as he duffed a coulpe of shots and was swinging faster than John Travolta in Grease. After a word in his shell about the swing speed, Allan slowed it slightly and was sweeping lovely shots off the tee and finding the fairways. A few missed putts proved costly, but it was a steady round nevertheless.
Craig Evans produced another solid known that was spoiled only by a couple of zero's and a couple of 'lip out' putts. The first blob coming at the 8th when a downpour that seemed like the end of the world was imminent really effected Evo's delicate equilibrium and he scored a poor 6. This was soon forgotten on the 12th, when he decided a 2-club wind was in play on the short par 3. He slipped out a 5 iron, despite the hole only being 140 yards and a sweet strike saw the ball landly softly about 4 foot from the hole. Even sweeter for Craig was that he had stolen the nearest the pin from his arl fella. Despite this wonderful shot, the very next hole saw him go out of bounds and the second blob of his card followed - even so, he finished 2nd on 36 points and hit his handicap. Gotta be happy with that!
Over a few pints, it was decided that Leasowe was definately a club to return to in 2015 and that its clever layout - and the possibility of wind - made the course a real 'thinker' of a course. The greens were slick and true, and the views from some of the coastline holes were beautiful. All in all, another superb day out and we look forward to another new track at Heswall Golf Club on 18th May.
Saturday 26th April 2014
Tee times from 2pm [arrive no later than 1pm]
Prices include 18 holes + Bacon Roll & Hot Drink pre play.
Website: www.leasowegolfclub.co.uk
Tee times from 2pm [arrive no later than 1pm]
Prices include 18 holes + Bacon Roll & Hot Drink pre play.
Website: www.leasowegolfclub.co.uk
tee times & groups
Playing handicaps are shown in brackets below.
* denotes player does not hold official or Bunkers handicap and will therefore be required to play three quarters of shown handicap for 3 rounds.
* denotes player does not hold official or Bunkers handicap and will therefore be required to play three quarters of shown handicap for 3 rounds.
14:04 tee time
Kevin Murphy [11]
Paul McCoy [17] Dave Ashley [13] |
14:12 tee time
Steve Evans [12]
Peter Woolley [14] Mark Gaskell [12] |
14:20 tee time
Brendan Smith [*23]
Keiran Murphy [27] Phil Williams [16] |
overview of the day
We will be meeting about 13:00hrs at Leasowe Golf Club for pre round bacon rolls and tea/coffee and to provide some information regarding the day.
- The format for the day will be Individual Stableford scores and we will be playing from the yellow tees.[5926yds]
- It will be FULL HANDICAPS [CLICK HERE TO SEE] for all members and guests and newcomers will be playing 7/8ths of the given handicap as per the society rules.
nearest the pin & longest drive
There will be 2 nearest the pins on the 3rd hole and the 12th hole.
The longest drive will be on the par 5 17th.
CLICK ON THE IMAGES BELOW TO ENLARGE
The longest drive will be on the par 5 17th.
CLICK ON THE IMAGES BELOW TO ENLARGE
the course
A links course situated on the shoreline of the north coast of the
Wirral peninsula with superb panoramic views extending from the mountains of North Wales and across Liverpool Bay towards the Lake District. The course is built on well draining sand meaning superb conditions all year round.
Tight fairways with intimidating out of bounds are a feature of the course; this coupled with the greens rated among the best in the area, makes Leasowe a good test of golf for players of all abilities without being too physically demanding.
This will be the first links course Bunkers will have visited in regular season and for those who may not have enjoyed the pleasures of links golf we would highly recommend this wonderful local course.
SEE HOLE-BY-HOLE PHOTOGRAPHS AND COURSE PLANNER HERE
Tight fairways with intimidating out of bounds are a feature of the course; this coupled with the greens rated among the best in the area, makes Leasowe a good test of golf for players of all abilities without being too physically demanding.
This will be the first links course Bunkers will have visited in regular season and for those who may not have enjoyed the pleasures of links golf we would highly recommend this wonderful local course.
SEE HOLE-BY-HOLE PHOTOGRAPHS AND COURSE PLANNER HERE
directions
Leasowe Golf Club is a mile from Junction one of the M53 - 40 minutes from Skellmersdale and 30 minutes from Liverpool.
The full address for Sat Navs is:
LeasoweGolf Club, Leasowe Road, Moreton, Wirral, CH46 3RD - Tel: 0151 677 5852
The full address for Sat Navs is:
LeasoweGolf Club, Leasowe Road, Moreton, Wirral, CH46 3RD - Tel: 0151 677 5852