this event was won by
dave ashley
Wychwood Park finished a very successful trial by the society to play more midweek games in 2015, and was another superb course that tested all facets of members games.
Playing long, with tough layouts that made club selections and course management paramount. One player mastered the course early and had a superb round to come home with 38 stableford points On top of this, two nearest the pin wins show that he was laser-like with his irons throughout the day. Congratulations to Dave Ashley on a great win. |
official bunkers review...
Midweek events were something that we decided to test run in 2015. That may be a strange thing for most societies, but our members have voted from day one that we will be primarily playing on a Sunday or even a Saturday. It must be said, that these midweek events have been well attended, but also seen us play some absolutely fantastic courses. Wychwood Park is most certainly another one we can add to that list.
As a European Tour venue, we had a certain level of expectancy but the grand scale and size of the place – plus the quality of everything – really did impress us from the moment we drove into the staffed security gates and made our way through the winding road towards the golf clubhouse. The décor inside and the layout were impressive and the food and drink was excellent and reasonable, given that this is a hotel chain.
Practice facilities were extensive and well kept and the pro shop was large, well stocked and run by friendly staff.
Looking out across the course, its immediately obvious that it is situated within an affluent area of Crewe, Cheshire – with the boundaries peppered with mansion after mansion and the meandering paths between holes gave you opportunity to see the communities that have been built surrounding the course.
As a course, it was an absolute beast. Playing at 6300 off the yellow tees [and 7300 off the championship tees] it certainly is a true test of golf. The course has all types of feel as you make your way around; from parkland to links and with splashes of heathland.
Its also one of those courses where you don’t seen many other holes from the one you are playing – which always focuses the mind on the task at hand.
The layout is superb and is clearly designed for championship and professional level golf. Well-placed hazards that are in prime landing areas make club selection a real test. There is a lot of water on the course that obviously plays heavy in the mind of most handicapped golfers, and the bunkers were large and welcoming for any wayward shots.
Prime examples of this are on the 13th and 14th holes where a brook runs across the width of the fairway at around 240-260 yards and is prime catchment for most drivers. But with the 13th playing long, you really do need to be further up the fairway to give yourself a chance of making par.
The 14th sees the same brook at 220 yards and then a 2nd one at 270 yards. With water up the length of the left hand side, the landing area with a 3 wood is pretty small and then you attack a slightly elevated green that is narrow from front to back.
The course condition in general was exceptional – especially after some torrential weather the day before [however, we were lucky to have a dry day with the odd sprinkle of sun]
We were advised pre round that the greenside bunkers at 9 and 10 were under repair due to the rainfall and this was appreciated in advance.
The bunkers generally were well stocked and raked and were good to play from. The fairways were soft and spongy and offered an ideal platform to attack greens. The tee boxes were all level, and well kept and signage around the course was clear and needed to be as the day saw us walk over 7 miles!
The greens were the star of the show with them being receptive and slick. They rolled true and had some superb multi levels and subtle breaks – they were just a joy to plan on.
In summary, Wychwood Park was an all around great day out. It was a heck of a walk [both on the course and between holes] but everything about the place was classy and well looked after and we would recommend visiting for any keen golfer.
Group 1 - Allan Gannon, Paul Davies JNR & Chris Warbrick
Allan started off well with some consistent play through the first 8 holes with the putter working particularly well and even the driver was behaving itself!
It's always inevitable that somewhere throughout the round there will be a blob fest and it came, as usual, out of nowhere on the 9th through to about the 13th. Having borrowed 3 of Phil Williams pristine ProV1s pre round, Allan entered the gorse bushes on 13 with little optimism of finding his ball but after scouring through for a few minutes he stumbled upon a collection of about 9 balls, all of quality brands, typically what you would expect to find on a course like this! Needless to say, not one of them was his so he blobbed the hole. A couple of decent holes on the back 9 salvaged a bad score and he came in with 29 points.
After a couple of months of pristine golf the group were looking forward to witnessing some quality play by Warbrick. However, it was not to be, after some solid tee to green work on most holes [as one comes to expect from a 5 handicapper] they were surprised to see his putter letting him down. A number of 3 putts throughout the 18 holes let him down massively. If this guy gets the putter hot he will take some beating! There were flashes of brilliance throughout; he just lacked the consistency today.
Paul JNR was very similar to Chris throughout, although his usual drawing drive seemingly stayed straight on a good number of occasions today, which continually put him in trouble. Having purchased a course planner beforehand he, along with Allan and Chris, where bemused on the 4th to see what we thought was a straight hole become a dogleg left which Paul in the rough. Again a similar scenario on the 9th with a pond on the left according to the planner, a pearl drive straight down the centre of the fairway ended up being in the water! Not to happy with the course planner to say the least.
Group 2 - Dave Ashley, Paul McCoy & Allan McMurray
The second group out featured guests Paul McCoy and Alan McMurray in the company of society President Dave Ashley.
All three struck decent drives down the first but fortunes quickly began to diverge as Alan struggled to find any form after a long lay off from the game. He remained positive throughout and played with good humour and a smile on his face despite scoring poorly. In contrast, Paul generally struck the ball well but struggled to convert his decent play into points as a result of a combination of inconsistent bunker play and some very bad luck on the greens. The President's steady but unspectacular play over the front nine saw him earn a relatively modest total of only 16 points. Things improved significantly after the turn for home however with a superb back nine of 22 points which included a spectacular finish during which he added 13 points to his total over the last four holes alone! Finishing with 38 points and two nearest the pin prizes certainly made this a day for the President to remember!
Group 3 - Andy Roper, Craig Evans & Ste Holmes
A committee filled group set off down the first and the tone for the day was set. Ste sent his tee shot into the trees on the right, took a provisional and sent it further right and then proceeded to struggle to get the ball to the green to score well. Craig ripped a driver down the middle, played the course well and walked off with a par and Roper played well from tee to green and three putted to throw away a chance.
Ste did pick up and went on a run of 2 and 3 pointers but somewhere around the turn things took a twist and the 'big move' [of house] the day before began to take its toll as his body did not want to make the necessary turns to keep the club on path - and he found himself battling a hook, with the odd one drifting out right. Not an ideal combination! He did have some really good flashes, and he shouldn't be too disheartened as the golf is in there - it just needs coaxing out.
Roper had a return to some solid golf and the horrific 'shanks' seemed to be fixed for the day that have blighted him in the last couple of months. Driving was solid with a sprinkling of good fortune, particularly on 7th when he called his line as "at the trees on the left and fading right" [to avoid the OB right]. The drive zipped low and as it reached the trees it was travelling at about 1 foot off the floor as it majestically glided through the small collection of 40 odd trees unscathed and finished on the fairway on the other side - these things always taste better when witness by The Worlds Unluckiest Man, also known as Craig Evans!. Putting was Ropers killer today and on another day he could have walked off with closer to 40 points than the 34 he had.
Craig, playing off his new handicap of 7, had another consistent round. Driving the ball well throughout, and hitting all his irons right out of the socket. The only times he lost points [and control] was when he tried to play for position by taking a different club to avoid hazards and ended up putting the ball in a hazard or OB. On the 13th - one of his few holes with a shot - he walked off with a blob which was probably the difference between his 3rd place finish and a victory. His third shot on this hole landed on the fringe of the hazard in some long grass/straw type stuff and ended with his ball sitting 15cm from the floor in the roots of it. Cue the quotes about him being the unluckiest man in the society and the ball being hacked further, and deeper, into said hazard.
However, overall, it was a very good round and will no doubt see his new handicap eaten away at again!
Group 4 - Jay Wright, Lee Helm & Paul Helm
All the gadgetry in the world could not spare Jay from a bang average round. With new Garmin GPS to hand it still led to the same old story for Jay, poor off the tee which left lots of work for his second but around the greens performed very well. All the gear, no idea! Lots of work for Barry during lesson time! Jay played with two guests, family members of his (Lee Helm and Paul Helm) who were very impressed with the Bunkers setup. Lee was long off the tee but struggled hitting greens and making putts. A regular player who when is on form is a very low scorer. Paul Helm, also a regular player and member of a work society, seemed to be having a bad round but scored pretty well. Wayward off the tee but very accurate iron play led to putts being sunk. Both expressed their thanks for the invite and look forward to another guest appearance in the future.
Group 5 - Phil Williams, Kev Murphy & Duncan Ritchie
96 hours is a relatively short period of time. Just four days. Some mad people can run 4 marathons in that time. Some people go on short breaks to Dubai. A woman could have several hundred mood changes and all of these are normal. So please explain how it is possible for Phil to go from half decent mid handicap golfer to a complete hacking mess in the four days since Didsbury. He was wayward off the tee, generally duffed or hooked approach shots and a coke addict would have found more decent lines on the green than he did. The inconsistency was too much to bear and a total of 19 was generous given the poor standard of golf. The luck was not with him at all either as decent shots were punished with horrible lies against the lip in bunkers or managing to find water on the 14th when 1 metre either way would have cleared it. That's golf though and his only decent hybrid of the round ensured a couple of points on the last to keep him coming back...maybe.
Phil's mate Duncan turned up as normal, if normal is the right word. His spirit was positive and he shot out of the blocks with an impressively duffy 5. Lack of recent golf troubled him though and a course with that much water is going to be tough when you snap hook drives. He kept the mood positive though with his tales and lessons in pipe tobacco. He is a character and hopefully he enjoyed getting his 60 year old putter back out on the course. Like all bad rounds a drive on the 18th made him smile as he found form too late to worry anyone other than Phil that he may beat him. He didn't of course but Phil was still last.
Kev's recent form is very positive. Docked to 7 is the way he wants to go and it is great to see someone thriving under the pressure of that new handicap. He was long off the tee and picked his way through the bunkers and around the water with apparent ease. The odd wayward one was just a memory with umpteen approaches that found the greens and his putting was solid. The back nine was quite superb and it's a pity that Phil and Duncan were too busy being rubbish to have taken it all in. Level par though is outstanding and just a couple of daft errors on the front nine prevented his second consecutive win. He made golf look easy. A cracking round.
As a European Tour venue, we had a certain level of expectancy but the grand scale and size of the place – plus the quality of everything – really did impress us from the moment we drove into the staffed security gates and made our way through the winding road towards the golf clubhouse. The décor inside and the layout were impressive and the food and drink was excellent and reasonable, given that this is a hotel chain.
Practice facilities were extensive and well kept and the pro shop was large, well stocked and run by friendly staff.
Looking out across the course, its immediately obvious that it is situated within an affluent area of Crewe, Cheshire – with the boundaries peppered with mansion after mansion and the meandering paths between holes gave you opportunity to see the communities that have been built surrounding the course.
As a course, it was an absolute beast. Playing at 6300 off the yellow tees [and 7300 off the championship tees] it certainly is a true test of golf. The course has all types of feel as you make your way around; from parkland to links and with splashes of heathland.
Its also one of those courses where you don’t seen many other holes from the one you are playing – which always focuses the mind on the task at hand.
The layout is superb and is clearly designed for championship and professional level golf. Well-placed hazards that are in prime landing areas make club selection a real test. There is a lot of water on the course that obviously plays heavy in the mind of most handicapped golfers, and the bunkers were large and welcoming for any wayward shots.
Prime examples of this are on the 13th and 14th holes where a brook runs across the width of the fairway at around 240-260 yards and is prime catchment for most drivers. But with the 13th playing long, you really do need to be further up the fairway to give yourself a chance of making par.
The 14th sees the same brook at 220 yards and then a 2nd one at 270 yards. With water up the length of the left hand side, the landing area with a 3 wood is pretty small and then you attack a slightly elevated green that is narrow from front to back.
The course condition in general was exceptional – especially after some torrential weather the day before [however, we were lucky to have a dry day with the odd sprinkle of sun]
We were advised pre round that the greenside bunkers at 9 and 10 were under repair due to the rainfall and this was appreciated in advance.
The bunkers generally were well stocked and raked and were good to play from. The fairways were soft and spongy and offered an ideal platform to attack greens. The tee boxes were all level, and well kept and signage around the course was clear and needed to be as the day saw us walk over 7 miles!
The greens were the star of the show with them being receptive and slick. They rolled true and had some superb multi levels and subtle breaks – they were just a joy to plan on.
In summary, Wychwood Park was an all around great day out. It was a heck of a walk [both on the course and between holes] but everything about the place was classy and well looked after and we would recommend visiting for any keen golfer.
Group 1 - Allan Gannon, Paul Davies JNR & Chris Warbrick
Allan started off well with some consistent play through the first 8 holes with the putter working particularly well and even the driver was behaving itself!
It's always inevitable that somewhere throughout the round there will be a blob fest and it came, as usual, out of nowhere on the 9th through to about the 13th. Having borrowed 3 of Phil Williams pristine ProV1s pre round, Allan entered the gorse bushes on 13 with little optimism of finding his ball but after scouring through for a few minutes he stumbled upon a collection of about 9 balls, all of quality brands, typically what you would expect to find on a course like this! Needless to say, not one of them was his so he blobbed the hole. A couple of decent holes on the back 9 salvaged a bad score and he came in with 29 points.
After a couple of months of pristine golf the group were looking forward to witnessing some quality play by Warbrick. However, it was not to be, after some solid tee to green work on most holes [as one comes to expect from a 5 handicapper] they were surprised to see his putter letting him down. A number of 3 putts throughout the 18 holes let him down massively. If this guy gets the putter hot he will take some beating! There were flashes of brilliance throughout; he just lacked the consistency today.
Paul JNR was very similar to Chris throughout, although his usual drawing drive seemingly stayed straight on a good number of occasions today, which continually put him in trouble. Having purchased a course planner beforehand he, along with Allan and Chris, where bemused on the 4th to see what we thought was a straight hole become a dogleg left which Paul in the rough. Again a similar scenario on the 9th with a pond on the left according to the planner, a pearl drive straight down the centre of the fairway ended up being in the water! Not to happy with the course planner to say the least.
Group 2 - Dave Ashley, Paul McCoy & Allan McMurray
The second group out featured guests Paul McCoy and Alan McMurray in the company of society President Dave Ashley.
All three struck decent drives down the first but fortunes quickly began to diverge as Alan struggled to find any form after a long lay off from the game. He remained positive throughout and played with good humour and a smile on his face despite scoring poorly. In contrast, Paul generally struck the ball well but struggled to convert his decent play into points as a result of a combination of inconsistent bunker play and some very bad luck on the greens. The President's steady but unspectacular play over the front nine saw him earn a relatively modest total of only 16 points. Things improved significantly after the turn for home however with a superb back nine of 22 points which included a spectacular finish during which he added 13 points to his total over the last four holes alone! Finishing with 38 points and two nearest the pin prizes certainly made this a day for the President to remember!
Group 3 - Andy Roper, Craig Evans & Ste Holmes
A committee filled group set off down the first and the tone for the day was set. Ste sent his tee shot into the trees on the right, took a provisional and sent it further right and then proceeded to struggle to get the ball to the green to score well. Craig ripped a driver down the middle, played the course well and walked off with a par and Roper played well from tee to green and three putted to throw away a chance.
Ste did pick up and went on a run of 2 and 3 pointers but somewhere around the turn things took a twist and the 'big move' [of house] the day before began to take its toll as his body did not want to make the necessary turns to keep the club on path - and he found himself battling a hook, with the odd one drifting out right. Not an ideal combination! He did have some really good flashes, and he shouldn't be too disheartened as the golf is in there - it just needs coaxing out.
Roper had a return to some solid golf and the horrific 'shanks' seemed to be fixed for the day that have blighted him in the last couple of months. Driving was solid with a sprinkling of good fortune, particularly on 7th when he called his line as "at the trees on the left and fading right" [to avoid the OB right]. The drive zipped low and as it reached the trees it was travelling at about 1 foot off the floor as it majestically glided through the small collection of 40 odd trees unscathed and finished on the fairway on the other side - these things always taste better when witness by The Worlds Unluckiest Man, also known as Craig Evans!. Putting was Ropers killer today and on another day he could have walked off with closer to 40 points than the 34 he had.
Craig, playing off his new handicap of 7, had another consistent round. Driving the ball well throughout, and hitting all his irons right out of the socket. The only times he lost points [and control] was when he tried to play for position by taking a different club to avoid hazards and ended up putting the ball in a hazard or OB. On the 13th - one of his few holes with a shot - he walked off with a blob which was probably the difference between his 3rd place finish and a victory. His third shot on this hole landed on the fringe of the hazard in some long grass/straw type stuff and ended with his ball sitting 15cm from the floor in the roots of it. Cue the quotes about him being the unluckiest man in the society and the ball being hacked further, and deeper, into said hazard.
However, overall, it was a very good round and will no doubt see his new handicap eaten away at again!
Group 4 - Jay Wright, Lee Helm & Paul Helm
All the gadgetry in the world could not spare Jay from a bang average round. With new Garmin GPS to hand it still led to the same old story for Jay, poor off the tee which left lots of work for his second but around the greens performed very well. All the gear, no idea! Lots of work for Barry during lesson time! Jay played with two guests, family members of his (Lee Helm and Paul Helm) who were very impressed with the Bunkers setup. Lee was long off the tee but struggled hitting greens and making putts. A regular player who when is on form is a very low scorer. Paul Helm, also a regular player and member of a work society, seemed to be having a bad round but scored pretty well. Wayward off the tee but very accurate iron play led to putts being sunk. Both expressed their thanks for the invite and look forward to another guest appearance in the future.
Group 5 - Phil Williams, Kev Murphy & Duncan Ritchie
96 hours is a relatively short period of time. Just four days. Some mad people can run 4 marathons in that time. Some people go on short breaks to Dubai. A woman could have several hundred mood changes and all of these are normal. So please explain how it is possible for Phil to go from half decent mid handicap golfer to a complete hacking mess in the four days since Didsbury. He was wayward off the tee, generally duffed or hooked approach shots and a coke addict would have found more decent lines on the green than he did. The inconsistency was too much to bear and a total of 19 was generous given the poor standard of golf. The luck was not with him at all either as decent shots were punished with horrible lies against the lip in bunkers or managing to find water on the 14th when 1 metre either way would have cleared it. That's golf though and his only decent hybrid of the round ensured a couple of points on the last to keep him coming back...maybe.
Phil's mate Duncan turned up as normal, if normal is the right word. His spirit was positive and he shot out of the blocks with an impressively duffy 5. Lack of recent golf troubled him though and a course with that much water is going to be tough when you snap hook drives. He kept the mood positive though with his tales and lessons in pipe tobacco. He is a character and hopefully he enjoyed getting his 60 year old putter back out on the course. Like all bad rounds a drive on the 18th made him smile as he found form too late to worry anyone other than Phil that he may beat him. He didn't of course but Phil was still last.
Kev's recent form is very positive. Docked to 7 is the way he wants to go and it is great to see someone thriving under the pressure of that new handicap. He was long off the tee and picked his way through the bunkers and around the water with apparent ease. The odd wayward one was just a memory with umpteen approaches that found the greens and his putting was solid. The back nine was quite superb and it's a pity that Phil and Duncan were too busy being rubbish to have taken it all in. Level par though is outstanding and just a couple of daft errors on the front nine prevented his second consecutive win. He made golf look easy. A cracking round.
Bunkers Golf Society Members £28.00 per person
Thursday 20th August 2015
Tee times from 9:46am [arrive no later than 8:45am]
Prices include 18 holes + bacon roll & tea/coffee
Website: www.wychwoodparkgolf.com
Tee times from 9:46am [arrive no later than 8:45am]
Prices include 18 holes + bacon roll & tea/coffee
Website: www.wychwoodparkgolf.com
format for the event
Format: Stableford Singles
Handicaps: Players will play off full handicaps.
Groups: Will be drawn in the clubhouse prior to 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.
Groups: Will be drawn in the clubhouse prior to 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?
Tee Groups will be drawn on the day prior to play:
Andy Roper
Chris Warbrick Alan Gannon Dave Ashley Jay Wright Ste Holmes Phil Williams |
Craig Evans
Paul Davies JNR Kev Murphy Paul McCoy [Guest] Duncan Ritchie [Guest] Lee Helm [Guest] Paul Helm [Guest] Alan McMurray [Guest] |
nearest the pins
There will be 2 nearest the pins on the 2nd hole and the 11th hole.
The nearest the pin in 2 will be on the par 4 14th hole.
CLICK ON THE IMAGES BELOW TO ENLARGE
The nearest the pin in 2 will be on the par 4 14th hole.
CLICK ON THE IMAGES BELOW TO ENLARGE
the venue
Wychwood Park's European PGA tour-standard course opened in 2002. The 7213 yards off the championship tees, provide the ultimate challenge for golfers. Set in rolling Cheshire countryside, the 18 hole, par 72 course comprising US PGA specification greens, magnificent fairways, testing water hazards and protected wildlife areas is widely regarded as one of the premier inland courses in the North of England.
Constructed in 2001, Wychwood Park Golf Course has started to mature into a real treat of a golf course with large greens to home in on and great parkland scenery to enjoy on your way round. To compliment the golf course there is an outstanding clubhouse, a great practice area and a pro-shop to explore before your round on the course.
Used for European Tour Qualification it is clearly one of the standout venues in the North West of England and is highly regarded as one of the finest [and toughest] tests of golf in the area, if not the UK - CLICK HERE
CLICK HERE TO SEE A HOLE BY HOLE COURSE GUIDE
Constructed in 2001, Wychwood Park Golf Course has started to mature into a real treat of a golf course with large greens to home in on and great parkland scenery to enjoy on your way round. To compliment the golf course there is an outstanding clubhouse, a great practice area and a pro-shop to explore before your round on the course.
Used for European Tour Qualification it is clearly one of the standout venues in the North West of England and is highly regarded as one of the finest [and toughest] tests of golf in the area, if not the UK - CLICK HERE
CLICK HERE TO SEE A HOLE BY HOLE COURSE GUIDE
directions
Wychwood Park is located near Crewe, Cheshire (5 mins from Junction 16 of the M6). It is 55 minutes from Skelmersdale and Liverpool.
The full address for Sat Navs is:
De Vere Wychwood Park, Weston, Crewe, Cheshire, CW2 5GP
Telephone: 0871 222 4830
The full address for Sat Navs is:
De Vere Wychwood Park, Weston, Crewe, Cheshire, CW2 5GP
Telephone: 0871 222 4830
photos and videos
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