Competition Results

National Championship and The north Lincolnshire Handigolf Open
12th May 2003 at Normanby Hall G.C. Scunthorpe

 

The first competition of the year is always the most eagerly awaited and the hardest to play. After a winter, when  handigolfers have to put the buggy and the clubs away at least until the beginning of March, we have 8 weeks to remember how we hit that small white ball and then 2 hours in the bar afterwards wondering why!

This year I had the largest entry since I started running the competition seven years ago. Entry forms sent out in the beginning of March. Closing date at the end of April. 76 golfers, 19 four balls of disabled and able-bodied golfers, and my problems start with a black and white dog 30 minutes before I tee off.
 I have a new dog which came with us to the course and sat in the open boot of the estate with just enough lead to hang itself which was exactly what it tried to do as I transferred from the wheelchair to the buggy. Fortunately Jack Russell's are good escape artists unfortunately I had to catch the little so and so.
This happened as a new handigolfer, Ray Lee, arrived to play in his first golf tournament since becoming disabled "have you seen a black and white dog?",  " yes I almost ran it over as it ran of into the woods", " are you Ray?", "yes", "great I'll see you later" he must have thought I was a  right idiot.
 I didn't get to see him later but I did hear good reports form our Chairman Andrew Greasley on his golf. Definitely one to look to look out for in the future.
 So I went chasing off into the woods looking for Lilly Savage (dogs name), unable to shout because of the 1st tee on the  right and the 8th tee on the left, (showing consideration to my fellow golfers at all times).
 I finished up having to park the buggy on top of her to get her to stop, picked her up gently and drove back through the woods to the car park where I carefully placed her back in the boot of the car. Honestly.
 After that I was exhausted and that was the reason why I played so badly and didn't become the national champion.


Mrs Margaret Fisher who is pure gold to any tournament organiser, had everyone registered and to the tees on time. For a change, and as everyone commented, the weather, apart from 5 minutes of hailstone, was brilliant.
 This really showed the Normanby Hall golf course at its best. The fairways had the balls running and the greens were fast and had the golfers cursing.

  Margaret Fisher Peggy Williamson  

 Margaret and Rowena, the photographer from the press (so someone told me), wandered around and enjoyed the desperate attempts of my team to play golf. Margaret asked if having them watching was putting us off, I dearly wanted to lie but had to say no, we always play this bad. Other comments were made about a bucket and spade, and snorkels.

 It is always good to get to the 8th tee where Peggy Williamson makes a good cup of tea, and a team can make their excuses as to were it is going wrong. I think Peggy must have heard them all as the groups went thru.

Back at the club house Margaret had returned to do check the score cards and sort out the wheat from the chaff. I think that this job is the hardest of them all. After 5 minutes all the numbers seem to blend into each other.( As I said pure gold).

The trophy table this year looked really good. Biffa Waste who sponsor the competition bought the individual trophies, and Frame It  Dronfield donated 4 framed golf prints for each category winner. Ian Green from Normanby Hall golf club donated a beautiful clock that he had turned from wood for the winner of the national championships.

So onto the results. With a new lady in his life, Tucker Chance played the game of his life and came in with a net score of 56 to win the national championship.
 His marker who played off 18 said "he out played me on every hole".
 Tucker who played off 34 also wins the North Lincolnshire open with a stableford score of 52 points.

 Tucker said at the presentation that his father died 2 years ago and he dedicated the win to his memory and wished he could have been there to see it.

Tucker Chance National Champion 2003

With our severe handicapping system of a 1shot deduction for every shot under the handicap and 0.1 per shot to the handicap for going over, to a maximum of 3 per year I hope he can live up to his new handicap of 18. Well done Tucker.

Ray Williams won the amputee/ les autre section with  33pts. Mr S Longstaff won the able bodied with 40 pts, and Stephanie Green won the ladies section with 27.  The team prize went to team 12, Tucker Chance, P. Baker, R. Gill  and S Longstaff with a  total of 145pts.

Norman Leach, who had his own buggy stolen and vandalised on the Saturday before the competition, had the replacement  brake down  after 4 holes and went home early spitting feathers. ,

I talked to Norman  the next day" I started really well" he said "and I think I could have won" and told him of Tuckers win.  "I started really well, I think I could have come second".

Full results

National Champion:- T. Chance     North Lincs. Open H/Golfer:- T Chance 52pts
Runner up               :- M. Gibson      Runner up                               :-M. Gibson 41pts
3rd                          :- T. Kirby         3rd                                          :- T. Kirby

   T. Chance 

Amputee/les Autre                              Able Bodied
Winner          :- S. Gilbert    33pts       Winner                               :- S. Longstaff         
Runner up      :- R Williams 29pts        Runner up                          :- G. Mowforth
3rd                 :- M. Lee        28pts       3rd                                     :- J. Steel 37pts
  S. Gilbert                                                
 

Team Winners                      Runners up                          3rd
T. Chance                               M. Lucas                               T. Kirby
P. Baker                                  D. Riley                                J. Potter
R. Gill                                     J . Coggin                             G. Mowforth
S. Longstaff                            J. Allon                                 S. Milne

                                          

Ladies Winner :- Mrs S. Green 27pts

B.A.L.A.S.A. FEDERATION GAMES
SWINDON
 

There where two Handigolfers at the British Amputee and Les Autre National championships at Swindon, myself (Terry Kirby) and Tucker Chance. the format for the Championships is gross, net and stableford. There are also multiple categories to do with different amputees i.e. above the knee, below the knee and so on.

 Unfortunately Tuckers buggy broke down after the practice round so he went home on the Friday. This meant that the sitting Les Autre ( Handigolfers) would not be competed for.
 I had 2 very steady games on the Saturday and Sunday and scored 36 points on each day. This was enough to for me to win the stableford competition.


SOUTHPORT OPEN
9th JUNE 2003

Compared with last years competition when there was so much standing water and a howling gale that it was very nearly called off, this was the Costa Brava in summer.

Southport was the first competition I ever competed in as a handigolfer 10 years ago. It was the Nation Championships and I went round in 142. I never enjoyed a game of golf so much. So the venue has always been special to me. This year there have been some improvements to the  course with a drainage ditch across the 1st and 9th to help with the water problems and the overall condition is much better.

I was there an hour before my tee time and had everything ready to go at 10-50 except for a team to play to play with. Apparently the thought it was next Monday. So I played with Mike Oxley form Cheshire who also was team less and had a leisurely enjoyable round of golf.

Norman leach was a happy man, he actually got to complete a game of golf without having to be pushed off .It was nice to see Andy Gore and Ray Lee at the competition, especially Ray coming up from the south of England.

Result.

1st Terry Kirby         40 points

2nd Alan Campbell  36 Points (on count-back)

3rd Andy Gore         36 points

 

                                           Deangate Ridge Southern
                                                     29th June 2003

This, the first leg of the Southern Open was held at Deangate Ridge, Rochester, Kent.

 This was played in conjunction with High Elms Bromley.

Deangate in my opinion is a wide open golf-course suited for the high handicap players of which there are a few of us.

The weather was clear, fine and very hot which suited us Southern Softies.

Ten disabled golfers took part in this tournament. I hope that we will have as many if not more next year.

I would like to thank Medway Council for allowing us the courtesy of the course (no fees), and also Mrs Christine Williams for arranging and organising this tournament.

 

The Result

1st Ray Lee           40pts

2nd Terry Kirby      39pts

3rd Joe O’Reilly    38pts

  Ray Lee Winner High Elms

A.T.B.  Keith Robins

 

                              High Elms Open ( 2nd round southern open)
                                                           30th June 2003

The Result

1st Joe O'reilly
2nd Norman Leach
3rd Ray Lee

The Winner of the Southern Open was Joe O'reilly .Joeseph O'Reilly & Tony Tofield

THE NORTHERN OPEN
31st AUGUST & 1ST SEPTEMBER 2003

The Northern Open was competed for over 2 days at the Bolton Open G.C. and Regents Park G.C. in Bolton.

The competition was organised by Jon Gorton of the Bolton Metro Council who have run this competition for 10 years in one format or another.

As I said in one of the news letters, this is not a long course but you have to be accurate. This really was the case on the  day. A number of golfers looked at the course and took it for granted and came unstuck. The 17th par 3 in particular caused problems. Only 90 yards to a small green with a wooded drop off on the left side, it looked a piece of cake. There were a lot of 4 balls lost more than 4 balls on this  beauty. The greens were very hard which made it very difficult to attack the pin.

Tucker Chance, who since winning the national championships has been very quite with his reduced handicap, once again got it together and came in with a stableford score of 40 points to win the first days competition and carry his score through to the second day.
Tucker Chance

On to Monday at Regents Park. There have been a few changes seen at the course over the last 2 years with a new driving range being the biggest. To accommodate this, the front and back nine have changed over, and the new 1st runs along the side of the driving range. Next year there is going to be a new club house.

The good weather this year has made a lot of course's play shorter and this usually longish course was no exception. Unlike the Bolton Open course the greens at Regents Park were a bit more receptive and this made a lot of difference to the way golfers were able to play, Hence some great scores came in. The winner of the second day with 42 points  was Ray Lee who took the honours from Norman Leach on count back.
Ray Lee

Tucker was 3rd, again scoring 40 points and wins the Northern Open.

 

THE HANDIGOLF MASTERS
WAVENDEN G.C. MILTON KEYNES
8th SEPTEMBER

Joe O'Reilly has taken over the running of the Masters and did a great job for which we should all be grateful. This is the only Handigolf Competition that we go head to head with other handigolfers. Like a lot of competitions this year it made a change to be dry, last year was appalling.

I played with Tucker and the Chairman, Dr Andrew Greasley. I've only played with Tucker once before, in Denmark, and when he's on form it's a pleasure to watch. Andrew has invested in a Big Bertha, and a couple of his drives were pushing 300yds. Tucker and I were played much the same and we finished up with just one point between us at the end, but we had a audience watching us on the 8th tee.  We both finished up150yds from the flag with drives of 200yds. We left a good impression of what seated golfers were capable of.

The result on the day was very close.

Winner Keith Robinson     37  points
2nd       Ray Lee                 36 points
3rd       Graham Hinchliffe 35 points

Keith Robinson

Review of Italian Open for the disabled 2003 at Castelconturbia. By Ray lee

 

It would be unfair of me, or incomplete, to write about the golf without mentioning two other aspects – from my perspective. First, the trip there and back and second, the social side and the hospitality of the Italians.

For those willing, able and having the stamina and resources to drive down the rewards are well worth the effort. With Pam – my wife - I picked up the motorway just East of the channel tunnel exit and drove through the night with the expectation of having breakfast in Geneva. This proved a little optimistic, as I had not anticipated the over-hill route, but this was rewarded by postcard scenery and the discovery of an, as yet, unexplored region of France - Jura. The road winds up through a series of forests, farmlands and ski resorts before dropping down just North of Geneva. We eventually stopped in Lausanne and spent the night in a very pleasant lakeside hotel at Ouchy, (the Movenpck). Having spent the best part of sixteen hours behind the wheel without getting out of the car I crashed out at six o’clock for 14 hours. I must say that at no time during the journey did I see a single piece of litter, plastic bottle or discarded can – not even at the service stops! What do they do that we don’t?

After a great breakfast and somewhat rejuvenated I decided not to go on the motorway and to drive around the lake through Montreux and Martigny instead, passing the castle of Chillon where Pam managed to take a few photographs and reminisce about her time in the area some forty years ago. We wound up the Simplon pass with its spectacular mountain scenery and although I would have liked to have had a break and enjoy the view – and a coffee - at the top, the recent snow and low temperature deterred us from stopping. The down-hill route highlighted the significant water shortages in Northern Italy where the Toce has been reduced to a trickle in places. The North Italian roads also highlighted another shortage – road maintenance! But you can’t have everything

As fatigue yet again set in I was not so able to appreciate the pleasant environment that is particular to the lakes of Northern Italy and the grand lakeside villas looked rather neglected at this time of year, their owners having deserted them for warmer climes. The only thing I would say is that having arrived at siesta time and at the end of season there was a feeling that a large proportion of the population were hiding, with most of the businesses shut for the Winter. Despite that our hotel, the Villa Carlotta in Belgirate, which is located on the shore of lake Magiore, was bustling, with most of the ninety competitors and their entourages staying there, and Pam and I spent a pleasant evening getting acquainted with many new faces, mostly from Europe, but also from the South Africa, the USA and Canada

The golf:

I must say I did not know what to expect as we tried to get to the golf course. The hotel manager, although helpful, did not know the area particularly well and did not tell us the easy route, other guests who had found it already seemed unable to give instructions either. ‘Take the road from the hotel, following the lakeside towards Novara for about ten miles, passing under the E62, then Algirate and Castelconturbia are signposted about 2 miles further, on the right’, seemed beyond anyone’s vocabulary. So we found ourselves taking some tortuous roads, through what appeared to be medieval villages, until a roundabout signposted the golf course. The demarcation between the rich and the poor of Italy is clearly shown in this area as we went from the feudal poor to the wealthy; there is no doubt which section the golf club and its environment cater for. Security guards man a gated entrance where a tree-lined drive leads to a cluster of private residences and a clubhouse to die for. The club shop and four-star hotel would not look out of place in Milan or Paris and the other facilities were comparable, and that was before I saw the cou

Castelconturbia is reputed to be amongst the top ten courses in Europe, and designed in 1986 by Robert Trent Jones Snr in such a beautiful setting I could not disagree. I could not think of any course I had played at over twenty years that came close to this. Not in terms of a complete environment anyway. Twenty-seven holes are carved into more than 250 acres of gently undulating landscape of trees, streams and small lakes that form part of the Earldom of Conturbia. . The view from the bar terrace is a saucer shaped valley surrounded by trees, mainly oaks; you look over magnificent greens down manicured fairways bordered by semi-rough, and a very pretty island hole, whose serenity belied its difficulty. The Mount Rosa massif completes the background. Golfers heaven? You bet, but I hadn’t hit a ball yet! The icing on the cake would be in the golf – not mine unfortunately!

Still rather tired from my driving I did not particularly want the benefit of a practice round, but was talked into doing nine holes; I knew it was a mistake when I hit a good first shot and sank a twenty odd foot putt for seven on the first of five par 5’s, all of which are five hundred yards or more. Having reviewed the card I realised that there would be few holes that would give the opportunity of taking advantage of my handicap.

Their lengths, if they had been in yards would have been formidable, but the metric distances added to this and were continually fooling me, but this was not the only obstacle. The shortest par 4 was over 350 yards and may have been easier had it not been for the fact that this was the ‘island hole’ mentioned above. The distance of the fairways from the tee meant that for most holes you had to hit a long shot just to get into play. The Italian Open has been played here twice in recent years and our tees were only twenty yards, (sorry metres), shorter than the championship tees. Fortunately the rough was not long, but, and I have it on good authority, the Italian grass, whether fairway or rough, is a lot stronger than that found in England and spoilt many a card. The deluge that had preceded our arrival did not help in this respect, nor in another; having only taken up handigolf this year I had totally forgotten how to play when the ground conditions are soft, and this lead to many wasted shots, despite the fact that we were playing ‘preferred lies’.

That said nobody could bemoan the conditions - only their own game, no-one bettered par over the two days. Unfortunately I only achieved a couple of pars over two rounds and whatever I had learned I was unable to put into practice.   The two days of competition were played in warm sunshine on a great course in excellent condition, and I had the company and assistance of a charming Italian lady member, who was quite happy to clean my balls on demand. One of my fellow golfers was totally blind and one could only feel admiration for his efforts – it was most humbling to play in his company

Oddly enough I had the best excuse to avoid winning. On my first night in Belgirate I had a strange dream. The golf in reality was relocated to Iraq, and having been personally welcomed by Sadaam Hussein I was told my daughter’s life would be endangered if I won! Well after that, what could I do? I am only thankful that the only option was not to win!

The social side is an inevitable and welcome adjunct to the golf and I made a number of new friends, whose company I hope to enjoy again in the future

This being my first International tournament I did not know what to expect and I don’t know if our Italian hosts were out to create any particular impression, but they certainly impressed me; their hospitality at all times was of the very best. I thought the dinner menus were offering a choice, but were a list of the various courses and I missed at least two, more out of respect for my stomach, than anything else. The same cannot be said for the wine, a large quantity of which found its way inside me. My thanks go to AGID, its Vice President Roberto Carli and his staff and all the sponsors. I certainly hope I can use/abuse their hospitality for many years to come.

Pam and I took advantage of our hosts and with several others stayed on an extra night before driving back. I had wanted to return via lake Annecy, but decided this would add too much to the journey time and returned via Simplon the way we had come, but I planned to stop twice to avoid another long drive, so we stopped overnight near Dijon, before continuing, making several detours from the motorway to tour some historic cities. Our last night was spent in Le Touquet, where I was again impressed by the environment and before heading for some shopping and the tunnel I made a detour to Hardelot, where there is a pleasant golf course and I was surprised to find a small town which looked extremely wheelchair friendly and a must for a future visit.