Club celebrating its bright future
IT has been a lively and active season for the juniors at Macclesfield Golf Club and they reaped their rewards at the Junior Presentation evening
All the year’s junior prizes and trophies were awarded to their respective recipients, the new Junior Captain for 2019 – Luke Stephens – was announced and presented with his Junior Captain’s blazer, and all the juniors golfers connected with Macclesfield Golf Club were presented with their Golf Club Junior polo shirts that were kindly supplied by Goodwin’s Auto Salvage.
Special thanks were also extended to the Junior Committee, comprising of Paul Tovee, Rick and Kerry Ward, and PGA Professional Dave Myers.
One of the outstanding stars of the evening was Austin O’Connor, eight, the son of golf shop manager Christian O’Connor, who won five of the year’s major junior competitions, and consequently won the ‘ Jamie Donaldson Order of Merit’ that is awarded to the junior who won the most points as a result of their positioning in the season’s competitions.
This was Austin’s first full season competing in the junior competitions, and his achievements have lowered his handicap from 54 at the start of the season to 36 by October.
THE list of winners: Bill Blackledge Trophy: Austin O’Connor, Pro’s Cup Daisy Ward, Junior 36 Hole - Round 1 Austin O’Connor, Round 2 Luke Stevens, Overall Winner, Austin O’Connor, Spring Cup Tom Silcock, Golf and Greens Harry Clements, Captain’s Cup Callum Atkinson, Lady Captain’s Shield Austin O’Connor, Centenary Trophy Mitch Hodgson, Jamie Donaldson Trophy Daisy Ward, Junior President’s Shield Austin O’Connor, P Walker Shield Harry Clements, John Douglas Trophy Austin O’Connor.
A Turkey Trot for Avro’s men saw Rod Lambert in charge with 34 points from Barry Wilson, 32, and Jack Leech and Vic Tarr, both 30.
The Fab Four in a Texas Scramble at Avro were Peter Walker, George Mullins, Tony Mullins and Roger Taylor, with 56.5 from Michael Thornber, Peter Meddows, Phil Normanton and Leslie Towler 58.3.
DAVENPORT ladies played an 11-hole Stableford with five clubs and the adaptable skills of Jane Sykes saw her in top spot with 22 points from Danuta Silva, 21, Lindsay Webb, 20, and Carol Clapperton and Jacky Broderick, both 18.
MOTTRAM Hall’s men played a ‘Bring a Prize, Take a Prize’ stableford and Paul Dunford had first pick after posting 43 points to finish ahead of Ajay Jain, and George Swann, both 40 and Neil Griffiths, Naeem Mohamed, Jim McCauley and Damien Bloor, all 39.
A Turkey Trot at Prestbury was won by Peter Atherton after a cpo on 30 points with Vinod Dave and Anthony Wright, one more than William Atherton, Paul Wardle, David Aitchison and Philip Nieman.
A LADIES Sunday Stableford at Prestbury saw Ellen Cail in top spot with 21 points, one more than Josephine Harrison and Caroline Conaghan.
The first round of the Winter League at Shrigley Hall was won by Gary Wood with 38 points from Jez Hancock 36 and Richard Burrow and Don Farqurharson.
A LADIES stableford at Shrigley was won by Lynn Heathcote with 17 points, four more than Janet Gates.
MACCLESFIELD ladies played a Winter League roll up and the winner with 22 points from 11 holes was Georgina Whalley from Sue Orwin, 21, and Sue Lawton, 20.
The Macclesfield Lady Captain v Lady Secretary Team match saw the Lady Captain rely on a win for Georgina Whalley (without a partner)in the final group to secure victory.
A WEDNESDAY Stableford at Styal over 9 holes was won by Frank Wilson with 19 points ahead of Nigel Hinds 18 and Jerry Chalmers 17.
A Progressive Team Stableford for Styal Seniors needed a cpo on 77 points to see the hot trio of D Greenwood, G Hamilton and B Appleby to victory over S Weaver, Harry Reid and T Ghost, two more than J Jones, J Hepplestone and P Carr.
The Friday Frolics at Styal was led in by Frank Wilson with 20 points from Jeffrey Chadwick,19, and Jerry Chalmers and Peter Davies, both 18.
DIVISION one in a Saturday Stableford at Styal was led in by Giovanni Porro with 39 points, one more than Jeffrey Chadwick and Rob Sanderson.
In Division two William Geddis was out on his own with 42 points, three more than Patrick Sharrocks and Ian Barber.
WARRINGTON Golf Club provided a stunning course for the annual visit of the Manchester and District Golf Alliance.
Lymm assistant professional Graham Cox topped the individual professional section with 41 points, one more than Phil Archer (Poulton Park), and Andy Palmer (Chorley).
The top assistant pro prize was taken by Jamie Howarth (Davenport) with 39 points.
Cox was also in the mix for the pro-am section posting 43 points partnering home star Russ Johnson, the father of sponsor Anton Johnson.
But the cpo on 43 went in favour of Ryan O’Neill (Penwortham) and Steve ‘Majestic’ Moores (Stamford) and Phil Archer and his Leigh partner Mark Pasquill.
Stamford have been dominating the am section in recent weeks and their tried and trusted duo of Dan Fox and Steve Finan did the business again with their 43-point haul taking them clear of John Aikenhead (Ashtono-Mersey) and John Russell (Sale) 42 and Mike Jones and Archie Palmer (Davenport) 41.
THE Society of Manchester and District Golf Captains enjoyed a splendid occasion at the 63rd Annual Dinner at the impressive venue of The Mere Golf Resort.
There were more than 120 members and guests with the principal guests being led in by Society Captain Tony Gregory.
They included the President of England Golf Desmond Duffy, who proposed the toast to the society and outlined the details of the incoming new rules of golf in 2019.
Tony Gregory responded and thanked all of those who had worked so hard.
Tony wished his successor Daniel Stone and new President Mike Rhodes (Styal), succeeding current President Ian Brooks (Bolton Old Links), every success in 2019 and he announced that next year’s Vice Captain and Captain in 2020 would be Ian Michael (Ellesmere).
The evening was brought to a close by Jim Robertson, a Procurator Fiscal from Scotland. 2 S t P