this event was won by
chris berry
Our final standard event of 2016 took us to the wonderful venue at The Mere in Knutsford on a surprisingly sunny and still autumn day.
Some good golf on a tough track but the winner played a tremendous round with a display of solid [and long] ball striking and great work around the greens with consistent putting. A reliable 3-wood was going as far - if not further - than most other players drives gave Bez short irons into the tricky greens. His putting throughout was superb with good lag putts from distance and the odd long one dropping into the cup - which is always a winning combination. Congratualtions on a great display and a first win in Bunkers Golf Society for Chris Berry. |
official bunkers review...
Group 1 - Andy Sullivan, Syd Sullivan & Marc LLoyd
It was a hit an miss day with this group. First off the tee was Andy he hit a lovely drive down the middle and stepped aside to let Bubba Lloyd loose and in typical fashion if was a duck hook resulting in a blob.
Syd isn't the biggest of hitters but hit a lovely drive to set his round off to a good start. As the round went on the greens where proving tricky with Andy putting for birdie on numourous holes but walking away with bogies. Lloydy putted well its just a shame it took him 3-4 to hit the green with only one 3 putt all round. As the round went on with the slow play in front it gave them time to think shots through properly and all three started playing much more consistently as a result. Lloydy resorted to his new 3 wood as the driver was more like flubber Lloyd and not Bubba!! Andy was hitting bombs but they just weren't straight and with this tight lined course he was punished heavily. Syd was short off the tee but hit the most fairways , it was safe to say all 3 scores summed up the round and a case of what could have been more.
Group 2 - Chris Parrish, Brendan Smith, Allan Gannon & Rob Botterill
The names were drawn, the anticipation and hope of a good round on the horizon......but not by this crop of players! Bang average was the order of the day on a fantastic course on a beautiful October Sunday morning. All players played in a ridiculously similar manner with tiny tiny flashes of brilliance but mostly tons and tons on mediocrity! Chris was clearly the best off the tee with some clean striking straight down the middle of the fairway, his tee to green was not to bad but some poor putting and a number of lip outs prevented him from posting a threatening score. Rob was suprisingly not to bad off the tee either with most of his shots landing on the fairway, a number of approach shots into the green finding the bunkers and this is were he fell short. He took a number of shots to get out and also thinned a few through the greens. Improvement in his sand shots will see his score reduce. Brendan like myself was average, all players struggled with the consistent pace of the lightening quick greens!
Group 3 - Phil Williams, Paul Davies SNR, John Standley and Chris Warbrick
The first tee greeted group 3 and the advice of the starter was listened to and promptly ignored by John Standley who thought that Lloydy in the first group had shown him the right line. He pulled it a little bit though and ended up left of Lloydy's ball and a blob ensued. He was hitting the ball bullet straight don't get me wrong but it was bullet straight left. Two further blobs never allows relaxed free flowing golf and despite getting his strike back it was always a struggle and ultimately 7 points going out is difficult to recover from and it was a sad loss.
Paul SNR had a shaky start with a blob and his problem appeared to be inconsistency off the tee. On some his draw was controlled and distance was good but too often they went far right into trees, water and the odd gazebo in the rear of no.73. When he did hit fairway his approach play was good but he never quite got the measure of the greens and his putting was not where he wanted it. A poor performance given his recent scores but nothing to be massively concerned about.
Phil had been shopping but left his new toy in the bag on the first and unusually started well with a tap in birdie. Too many single points followed and he never learns going for the green from the trees on the 7th losing a ball in the sunlight so blob. Off the tee he was pretty good and the 2 iron acquisition behaved very well generally doing as it was told. Putting was so so and he said he enjoyed the greens but still took too many putts. There was only one tiddler missed and that was on the 18th by which time he was pretty pleased with his overall game if not the total score.
Chris hits some lovely golf shots we all know that and nothing really changed today. Take away his blobs on 1 and 13 and he was 1 over gross. Ridiculous. Around the greens he missed he chipped close giving great putting opportunities that were converted. Off the tee he is long and consistent. He hates par 3's he says as he pops in a birdie. There is nothing to pick up on that is not petty. It's just a pleasure to watch. He should have won but missed a putt on the 18th and settled for par. How disappointing for him.
Group 4 - Andy Roper, Steve Evans, Craig Evans & Chris Berry
"Highs and Lows" is probably the best way to explain this group on the day. The first hole saw all four start off with lovely drives and then walk off with 3 pars and a birdie between them. The second saw Roper, and the Evo's chipping out sideways after disappointing tee shots and walking off with silly dropped shots - the theme for the day.
Chris had as good a ball striking day as has been seen from him in Bunkers with his long irons and trusty 3-wood delivering arrow straight shots and with the added bonus of absolute distance. He was also quickly accustomed to the speed and contours of the greens and was draining some lovely putts from a variety of angles and distances. His front 9 score of 19 points set a solid base on which he continued to build and with a couple of blobs thrown in for good measure it really shouldn't have been as tense a finish as it was.
Roper had an equally solid front 9 with 18 points, but it was more of a scrambling round with a scattering of poor shots amongst some nice ones. His wedges from 100 yards and in, and particularly around the fringes of the green, were solid and helped him scramble scores after poor drives or long iron shots. Walking onto the 18th tee all square with Chris, it was in Andy's hands as he had a better back 9 score. However, a poor tee shot left him with a horrible down hill stance and two subsequently poor shots and he walked away with a double bogey 7 and went from a possible win to finishing 4th on a card playoff. However, he was happy with the general quality of the round - and the end of a good season of improvement.
Steve went below the radar for most of the round and picked up points quietly thanks in large part to some lovely drives and some crisp short irons - particularly on par 3's - where he found the dance floor on all of them and was 5 feet away from the pin on two of them but came away with a 2 and a 3. As the round drew to a close, and the scores were tallied up it came as a bit of a surprise to find him right in contention and again only a poor 18th hole prevented Steve from a first Bunkers victory. However, a solid 2nd place and green shoots of improvement after a few unusually poor scores earlier in the season.
Craig had one of those day, where you kind of talk yourself out of anything and you're onto a loser before you even fill in the scorecard. He isn't renowned as an optimist, but even this took negativity to new levels. The bane of his round was his wedge play from 130 yards and in and a number of 'fat' shots left him walking away with bogeys and blobs when he should really have been getting birdies and pars. He estimated 15 points were lost throughout the round due to this short game mental block and its something he will no doubt be keen to address before 2016.
Group 5 - Dave Tsang, Keith Davenport, Frank Corker & John Lewis
A fourball of guests on the day, were mostly off 3/4 handicaps and this took its toll on the scorecards - although Andy Roper was suggesting Dave's score was more down to his old age and mobility issues!! The tough course layout and super slick greens were punishing any wayward shots and ultimately it was a case of the course 'beating up' this fourball to limit scoring to an absolute premium. Still, heres hoping they enjoyed the day enough to want to come back to a Bunkers event in the future.
Group 6 - Kev Muphy, Paul Davies JNR, Peter Bilson & Ben Warden
Ben played very good the whole round and if it wasnt for one or two poor drives he would have surely won. He had 2 great birdies where he played the whole very smartly. He was very consistent with his driver hitting it a good 250+ down the middle each time apart from an errant one on the 14th and his putting has to be mentioned as he got the pace of the greens very quickly and putted fantastically; one putting his fair share of holes. Im sure if he carries on playing like this we can expect the shadow of the handicap secretary to loom large.
Next up was Kev who started the round perfectly, ripping a 330-340 yard drive right down the middle leaving a mere (no pun intended) 8 iron to the green which he would 2 putt for birdie. He didnt score too well on this outing but if you spoke to him he was really happy with how he struck the ball, albeit too well most times that he was carrying greens into wind! Im sure after the front 9 he was thinking the loser top was coming his way but he battled well on the back 9 to make sure he didnt.
Paul Davis Jnr was next out hitting the lowest driver shot we've ever seen off the first tee, to his delight just when we thought it would be a blob his ball was found 12 ft into the bushes on the left, he played a great recovery shot after chipping out hitting a 3 wood onto the green and still managed to make par! Paul played solid all round hitting his irons very consistently and if he had chosen to not hit his driver as much as he did he probably would have had a chance to win, for some reason his usual drawing driver shot deserted him for most of the round leaving him in tough positions to score. All in all he will probably be happy with how he played.
Pete was out next and he started the round great with a birdie on the first hole after hitting a great tee shot right down the middle and scoring 4 points! His round was very up and down with him scoring excellent on one hole only to blob the next. He had lots of opportunities to score well but left alot of shots out there. He struck the ball well with his irons but a few bad drives which left him demanding second shots prevented him from scoring more.
Hopefully he continues to join us as a guest and at some point can join. Very enjoyable 4 ball with a good set of lads in some great weather,what more can you ask for.
It was a hit an miss day with this group. First off the tee was Andy he hit a lovely drive down the middle and stepped aside to let Bubba Lloyd loose and in typical fashion if was a duck hook resulting in a blob.
Syd isn't the biggest of hitters but hit a lovely drive to set his round off to a good start. As the round went on the greens where proving tricky with Andy putting for birdie on numourous holes but walking away with bogies. Lloydy putted well its just a shame it took him 3-4 to hit the green with only one 3 putt all round. As the round went on with the slow play in front it gave them time to think shots through properly and all three started playing much more consistently as a result. Lloydy resorted to his new 3 wood as the driver was more like flubber Lloyd and not Bubba!! Andy was hitting bombs but they just weren't straight and with this tight lined course he was punished heavily. Syd was short off the tee but hit the most fairways , it was safe to say all 3 scores summed up the round and a case of what could have been more.
Group 2 - Chris Parrish, Brendan Smith, Allan Gannon & Rob Botterill
The names were drawn, the anticipation and hope of a good round on the horizon......but not by this crop of players! Bang average was the order of the day on a fantastic course on a beautiful October Sunday morning. All players played in a ridiculously similar manner with tiny tiny flashes of brilliance but mostly tons and tons on mediocrity! Chris was clearly the best off the tee with some clean striking straight down the middle of the fairway, his tee to green was not to bad but some poor putting and a number of lip outs prevented him from posting a threatening score. Rob was suprisingly not to bad off the tee either with most of his shots landing on the fairway, a number of approach shots into the green finding the bunkers and this is were he fell short. He took a number of shots to get out and also thinned a few through the greens. Improvement in his sand shots will see his score reduce. Brendan like myself was average, all players struggled with the consistent pace of the lightening quick greens!
Group 3 - Phil Williams, Paul Davies SNR, John Standley and Chris Warbrick
The first tee greeted group 3 and the advice of the starter was listened to and promptly ignored by John Standley who thought that Lloydy in the first group had shown him the right line. He pulled it a little bit though and ended up left of Lloydy's ball and a blob ensued. He was hitting the ball bullet straight don't get me wrong but it was bullet straight left. Two further blobs never allows relaxed free flowing golf and despite getting his strike back it was always a struggle and ultimately 7 points going out is difficult to recover from and it was a sad loss.
Paul SNR had a shaky start with a blob and his problem appeared to be inconsistency off the tee. On some his draw was controlled and distance was good but too often they went far right into trees, water and the odd gazebo in the rear of no.73. When he did hit fairway his approach play was good but he never quite got the measure of the greens and his putting was not where he wanted it. A poor performance given his recent scores but nothing to be massively concerned about.
Phil had been shopping but left his new toy in the bag on the first and unusually started well with a tap in birdie. Too many single points followed and he never learns going for the green from the trees on the 7th losing a ball in the sunlight so blob. Off the tee he was pretty good and the 2 iron acquisition behaved very well generally doing as it was told. Putting was so so and he said he enjoyed the greens but still took too many putts. There was only one tiddler missed and that was on the 18th by which time he was pretty pleased with his overall game if not the total score.
Chris hits some lovely golf shots we all know that and nothing really changed today. Take away his blobs on 1 and 13 and he was 1 over gross. Ridiculous. Around the greens he missed he chipped close giving great putting opportunities that were converted. Off the tee he is long and consistent. He hates par 3's he says as he pops in a birdie. There is nothing to pick up on that is not petty. It's just a pleasure to watch. He should have won but missed a putt on the 18th and settled for par. How disappointing for him.
Group 4 - Andy Roper, Steve Evans, Craig Evans & Chris Berry
"Highs and Lows" is probably the best way to explain this group on the day. The first hole saw all four start off with lovely drives and then walk off with 3 pars and a birdie between them. The second saw Roper, and the Evo's chipping out sideways after disappointing tee shots and walking off with silly dropped shots - the theme for the day.
Chris had as good a ball striking day as has been seen from him in Bunkers with his long irons and trusty 3-wood delivering arrow straight shots and with the added bonus of absolute distance. He was also quickly accustomed to the speed and contours of the greens and was draining some lovely putts from a variety of angles and distances. His front 9 score of 19 points set a solid base on which he continued to build and with a couple of blobs thrown in for good measure it really shouldn't have been as tense a finish as it was.
Roper had an equally solid front 9 with 18 points, but it was more of a scrambling round with a scattering of poor shots amongst some nice ones. His wedges from 100 yards and in, and particularly around the fringes of the green, were solid and helped him scramble scores after poor drives or long iron shots. Walking onto the 18th tee all square with Chris, it was in Andy's hands as he had a better back 9 score. However, a poor tee shot left him with a horrible down hill stance and two subsequently poor shots and he walked away with a double bogey 7 and went from a possible win to finishing 4th on a card playoff. However, he was happy with the general quality of the round - and the end of a good season of improvement.
Steve went below the radar for most of the round and picked up points quietly thanks in large part to some lovely drives and some crisp short irons - particularly on par 3's - where he found the dance floor on all of them and was 5 feet away from the pin on two of them but came away with a 2 and a 3. As the round drew to a close, and the scores were tallied up it came as a bit of a surprise to find him right in contention and again only a poor 18th hole prevented Steve from a first Bunkers victory. However, a solid 2nd place and green shoots of improvement after a few unusually poor scores earlier in the season.
Craig had one of those day, where you kind of talk yourself out of anything and you're onto a loser before you even fill in the scorecard. He isn't renowned as an optimist, but even this took negativity to new levels. The bane of his round was his wedge play from 130 yards and in and a number of 'fat' shots left him walking away with bogeys and blobs when he should really have been getting birdies and pars. He estimated 15 points were lost throughout the round due to this short game mental block and its something he will no doubt be keen to address before 2016.
Group 5 - Dave Tsang, Keith Davenport, Frank Corker & John Lewis
A fourball of guests on the day, were mostly off 3/4 handicaps and this took its toll on the scorecards - although Andy Roper was suggesting Dave's score was more down to his old age and mobility issues!! The tough course layout and super slick greens were punishing any wayward shots and ultimately it was a case of the course 'beating up' this fourball to limit scoring to an absolute premium. Still, heres hoping they enjoyed the day enough to want to come back to a Bunkers event in the future.
Group 6 - Kev Muphy, Paul Davies JNR, Peter Bilson & Ben Warden
Ben played very good the whole round and if it wasnt for one or two poor drives he would have surely won. He had 2 great birdies where he played the whole very smartly. He was very consistent with his driver hitting it a good 250+ down the middle each time apart from an errant one on the 14th and his putting has to be mentioned as he got the pace of the greens very quickly and putted fantastically; one putting his fair share of holes. Im sure if he carries on playing like this we can expect the shadow of the handicap secretary to loom large.
Next up was Kev who started the round perfectly, ripping a 330-340 yard drive right down the middle leaving a mere (no pun intended) 8 iron to the green which he would 2 putt for birdie. He didnt score too well on this outing but if you spoke to him he was really happy with how he struck the ball, albeit too well most times that he was carrying greens into wind! Im sure after the front 9 he was thinking the loser top was coming his way but he battled well on the back 9 to make sure he didnt.
Paul Davis Jnr was next out hitting the lowest driver shot we've ever seen off the first tee, to his delight just when we thought it would be a blob his ball was found 12 ft into the bushes on the left, he played a great recovery shot after chipping out hitting a 3 wood onto the green and still managed to make par! Paul played solid all round hitting his irons very consistently and if he had chosen to not hit his driver as much as he did he probably would have had a chance to win, for some reason his usual drawing driver shot deserted him for most of the round leaving him in tough positions to score. All in all he will probably be happy with how he played.
Pete was out next and he started the round great with a birdie on the first hole after hitting a great tee shot right down the middle and scoring 4 points! His round was very up and down with him scoring excellent on one hole only to blob the next. He had lots of opportunities to score well but left alot of shots out there. He struck the ball well with his irons but a few bad drives which left him demanding second shots prevented him from scoring more.
Hopefully he continues to join us as a guest and at some point can join. Very enjoyable 4 ball with a good set of lads in some great weather,what more can you ask for.
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Sunday 4th October 2015
Tee times from 10:30am [arrive no later than 09:30am]
Prices include 18 holes + bacon roll & tea/coffee
Website: www.themereresort.co.uk
Tee times from 10:30am [arrive no later than 09:30am]
Prices include 18 holes + bacon roll & tea/coffee
Website: www.themereresort.co.uk
format for the event
Format: Stableford Singles
Handicaps: Players will play off full handicaps. [Except guests Non-CONGU who will be 3/4 handicap]
Groups: Will be drawn on the morning of play
Tee: Players will play off the yellow tees.
Mini Comps: There will be TWO nearest the pins and 1 nearest the pin in 2 shots. [See below]
Prizes: Will be for 1st, 2nd & 3rd & "The Wall of Shame" for last
Captain v's President competition will be in operation.
Handicaps: Players will play off full handicaps. [Except guests Non-CONGU who will be 3/4 handicap]
Groups: Will be drawn on the morning of play
Tee: Players will play off the yellow tees.
Mini Comps: There will be TWO nearest the pins and 1 nearest the pin in 2 shots. [See below]
Prizes: Will be for 1st, 2nd & 3rd & "The Wall of Shame" for last
Captain v's President competition will be in operation.
who's playing?
Andy Roper
Craig Evans Steve Evans Phil Williams Paul Davies SNR Chris Warbrick Marc Lloyd |
Chris Berry
Kev Murphy Paul Davies JNR John Standley Ben Warden Rob Botterill Andy Sullivan [Guest] Syd Sullivan [Guest] |
Chris Parrish
Brendan Smith Allan Gannon Dave Tsang [Guest] Keith Davenport [Guest] Frank Corker [Guest] John Lewis [Guest] |
nearest the pins
There will be 2 nearest the pins on the 3rd and 14th and a nearest the pin in 2 shots on the 16th.
CLICK THE IMAGES TO ENLARGE
CLICK THE IMAGES TO ENLARGE
the venue
Surrounded by the breathtaking Cheshire parklands the James Braid designed golf course at The Mere is undoubtedly one of the best prepared and well-conditioned golf courses in the North of England.
The 18 hole, 6,882 -yard, par-71 course was created out of 150 acres of Cheshire parkland in 1934. The surrounding mature trees, rhododendron bushes and the lakeside setting add considerable charm, and provide challenging hazards on this Manchester golf course. Water, ravines and thick vegetation have been incorporated into the layout so that care and accuracy are demanded both off the tees and on the greens.
To prepare for the challenges of The Mere's golf course, they offer players a unique, floating golf ball driving range, two-tier pitching green, putting green and bunker practice area where players can warm up before a round. Over the years, The Mere has hosted several high profile championship tournaments. We are currently the regional venue for the qualifying round of the R & A Open Championship for a six year period (2008-2013).
CLICK HERE TO SEE THE MERE GOLF BROCHURE
The 18 hole, 6,882 -yard, par-71 course was created out of 150 acres of Cheshire parkland in 1934. The surrounding mature trees, rhododendron bushes and the lakeside setting add considerable charm, and provide challenging hazards on this Manchester golf course. Water, ravines and thick vegetation have been incorporated into the layout so that care and accuracy are demanded both off the tees and on the greens.
To prepare for the challenges of The Mere's golf course, they offer players a unique, floating golf ball driving range, two-tier pitching green, putting green and bunker practice area where players can warm up before a round. Over the years, The Mere has hosted several high profile championship tournaments. We are currently the regional venue for the qualifying round of the R & A Open Championship for a six year period (2008-2013).
CLICK HERE TO SEE THE MERE GOLF BROCHURE
directions
The Mere is off the A556 just 3 minutes drive away from junction 19 on the M64 and 4 minutes drive away from junction 7 on the M56. It is 30 minutes drive in total from Liverpool or Skelmersdale.
The full address for Sat Navs is:
The Mere Golf Resort & Spa, Chester Road, Mere, Knutsford, Cheshire United Kingdom WA16 6LJ - Tel: 01565 830155
The full address for Sat Navs is:
The Mere Golf Resort & Spa, Chester Road, Mere, Knutsford, Cheshire United Kingdom WA16 6LJ - Tel: 01565 830155
photos and video....
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