Greensomes April 27th 2023. Report via Mike Healey

What have you done to the Spring weather? We started off with chilly temperatures this morning and the late rain just made conditions quite miserable. Today was the first of our Greensomes season with a practice round to start with. 36 seniors signed up in pairs and a pre-draw was made from three tees. A further 5 seniors arrived and we squeezed them in for a stableford competition, which was won by Keith Hawthorn. Other members were involved in senior match knockouts elsewhere. The Greensomes format is a quick one and everyone arrived back in the clubhouse in good time for the results. Of the 18 cards returned, all but one managed to score 30+ points and countback was essential at the top end. There were 4 prizes on offer - read on. Greensomes Result: First: Richard Collier and Dave Palferman - 39 points (c/b) Second: Alan Barndsdale and Mike Healey - 39 points (c/b) Third: Reg Peacock and Barry Dare - 39 points (c/b) Fourth: Mike Hollings and Stewart Poole - 38 points (c/b) Malcolm Williams and Russ Adamson plus Ernie Williams and Bill Kelleher also scored 38 points but missed prizes on countback.

Individual Stableford April 25th 2023. Report from Mike Healey

The sun worshippers were out in force today. No overnight cloud guaranteed a very crisp start to our golf but the sun came out and it was quite pleasurable to play in shirt sleeves. 39 seniors threw their tallies in to play an individual stableford qualifier, with a couple of new faces to the group and a big welcome back to Nigel Davies after his mishap 10 days ago. The competition was initiated by Peter Bowen on ig and the scene was set with the committee going out first, in order to get back for their monthly meeting, following the results. Peter was left having to enter 7/8 cards at the end and we would encourage all to try and get the ig app on their phones as soon as possible. Anything under 35 points was just not good enough today but there were quite a few encouraging improvements compared with last week's medal and previous weeks. Three 2's were registered - all on the 5th hole. Eric Thwaites, Richard Collier and Peter Almond split the winnings from the ballsweep. Read on for stableford result - 7 prizes today. Individual Stableford Qualifier: First: Ken Tieszen - 39 points Second: Sean McCarthy - 38 points Third: Richard Collier - 36 points (c/b) Fourth: Mick Carnell - 36 points (c/b) Fifth: Bill Kelleher - 36 points (c/b) Sixth: Mike Healey - 35 points (c/b) Seventh: Ernie Williams - 35 points (c/b) Tom McGrady and Vic Rogerson also carded 35 points but missed out on countback

Seniors Medal April 20th 2023

Seniors Medal Thursday 20th April Division 1 1st Andrew Mitchell (20) 68 2nd David Mole Jones (14) 71 Division 2 1st Neville Bassett (26) 66 2nd Michael Hollings (26) 74 Division 3 1st Stuart Leyland (29) 69 2nd Peter Martin Jones (30) 70

Bonus Ball result April 18th 2024. Report courtsey of Mike Healey

This is the Bonus Ball Report Seniors - What a glorious day to be out there playing golf. We started cloudy but reached a heady 16 degrees of sunshine and shirt sleeves were to the fore. 32 seniors (perfect number) threw their tallies into the draw at 8.45am and the business end started at 9.00am with 8 x fourballs and a full course open. That alone tested one or two of our competitors. We estimated that 144 points would be an average score to make and several cards fell just short of that. 2 cards made 147 points each but they were still not good enough. There were only 2 prizes - read on for winners. Bonus Ball Result: First: Ernie Williams, Peter Fraser, Dave Jones and Mick Carnell - 173 points Second: Russ Adamson, Peter Taylor, Les Williams and Mike Healey - 153 points

Captains Newsletter April 2023

Captain's Newsletter: April 2023 Lady Captain Sue Falkus and myself would like to thank all who supported the Captain’s Drive in on Saturday 15th of April. It was wonderful to see so many members playing and we also appreciated those who weren’t playing, but who popped up to wish us good luck at the first tee. Thanks to Vice Captains Patrick and Shan and also to Dawn and Lucy for setting up the first tee and helping with the smooth running of the signing in. Patrick gave a warm welcome to our County Captain and thanked everyone for their support, he then invited Sue and myself to the tee off area. I would like to say we both hit the fairway but unfortunately only one of us did well done Sue, enough said on that. Our combined yardage was 198, and well done to Eddie Tudor with the nearest guess of 199 yards winning half the money pot of £26.00, with the other £26.00 going to our Captain’s Charity the North Wales Air Ambulance Service. Congratulations to the winner of ladies drive in Jayne Evans with a fantastic score of 40 points and to Richard Evans with another great score of 45 points to win the men’s drive in. Weather was great on the day and the course was in fantastic condition considering the amount of rain we have had leading up to the day. A massive thanks to Mark and his team who worked so tirelessly to get the course fully opened. Competitions The White Tees are now in play, so those that are involved in various knockout competitions can now see them up on ig. Please make sure to get matches played within the dates given on ig in order to insure the smooth running of the competitions. There will be numerous competitions coming up in the coming months so please support the club and join in as many as you can. Our aim this year is to try encourage more new members to the club and to try and encourage junior players to join us at Clays, so if anyone has an ideas on how to achieve this, please can you share them with me or with any members of the council or club. A Message from the Lady Captain Ladies golf, as with everyone’s, has been curbed with the poor weather however we have been able to play some golf out on the course and have also met on the driving range for practise and a social get together. It was a fabulous turn out for the Captain’s Drive in which a number of ladies were able to support, and of course a great win for Jayne Evans. Moving forward we have rescheduled the monthly medal and a number of NWLCS and Wales Golf matches are pending. Finally, this year we are hosting a Ladies Open in July which has not run for a few years so we are preparing for this event and hope it will be well supported. And Finally We are currently in negotiations with management regarding the purchase and location of new toilet facilities out on the course. We are also looking at purchasing new furniture for the bar area. Michael Club Captain

Latest results and news of Clays Seniors courtesy of Mike Healey. April 13th 2023

On Thursday, 13 April 2023 at 15:18:12 BST, Michael Healey wrote: Seniors - there are 3 reports so get your reading glasses on. Firstly - On Tuesday 11th our away match versus Northop GC took 16 members abroad and a convincing win of 5.5 to 2.5 saw us win our first match of the season. Warm sunny conditions eventually gave way to odd showers but they did not interrupt play. The opposition were both helpful and friendly around the course and it was all followed up with a convivial two course meal afterwards. Well done for the start of the season - Clays Senior team. On the same day, my thanks go to Andy Mitchell for organising an Individual Stableford back at base. 20 members entered the tally draw for a chance of one of the five prizes. The 2nd hole was closed and the winners read as follows: Individfual Stableford: First: Bill Kelleher 41 points Second: Peter Fraser 38 points (c/b) Third: Stewart Poole 38 points (c/b) Fourth: Neville Bassett 35 points (c/b) Fifth: Nigel Harris 35 points (c/b) Dave Fergus also had 35 points but missed out on countback Today - Thursday was scheduled to be a Pairs Betterball and no fewer than 38 members turned in for the competition. The weather was quite warm but the wind played a part in some of the scores. There was a lot of groundstaff work going on around the course (which just gets better and better) in preparation for the Captain's Drive-in on Saturday. They waited patiently for our seniors to play through and there were four prizes ultimately on offer. Just to round up the day the Ballsweep carry over eventually happened and it was carried over in style: Mike Hollings and Billy Spilstead both recorded 2's on the 12th hole, with Dave Jones making his on the 17th. Graham Wright also shot a splendid hole-in-one on the 5th hole. Not only did he receive a double share in the sweep but very kindly placed a bottle of whisky in the centre of the room for all to share. Well done Graham. Pairs Betterball: First: Colin Brown and Keith Hawthorn 43 points Second: Dave Jones and Graham Bryne 42 points (c/b) Third: Alan Pocklington and Mick Carnell 42 points (c/b) Fourth: Alan Barnsdale and Billy Spilstead 40 points (c/b) Richard Collier with Ken Tieszen and Brian Cross with Irwin Elkin also had 40 points but both teams missed out on countback

Senior team win away at Northop. Report from Mike Healey via Whats ap April 11th 2023

The Senior Team won 5.5 to 2.5 . Weather was sunshine and showers mixed with with very friendly opposition followed by a convival meal back in the Clubhouse.

Waltz result April 6th 2023. Courtesy of Mike Healey

The advertised Tango was changed on the day into a Waltz because of the numbers of holes open and also members who turned up. 9 x threeballs put their tallies into the draw and all enjoyed the warm sunny conditions, along with the ground improvement after maintenance and improved weather. There were three prizes for the winning teams with expected scores over 60 points: Waltz Result First: Chris Jacques, Ken Tieszen and Peter Lord 70 points Second: Keith Hawthorn, Tom Blakshaw and Peter Fraser 69 points Third: Stewart Poole, Bill Kelleher and Eric Thwaites 67 points

Peril Ball competition. Results courtesy of Mike Healey. April 4th 2023

We had been given plenty of warning about maintenance week and it has to be said that sand on greens never helps the golf on the day! It will benefit us all ultimately I'm sure. However, we persevered and the sand made little difference to the outcome. The rest of the course is drying very nicely and after a rather cool start, the blue skies appeared and we experienced a heady 14 degrees C - roll on summer. Peril Ball - what is it you may well ask? Basically a Yellow Ball competition with the normal bonus points but added differences when penalties are incurred by the holder. The troops were briefed and 9 x fourballs headed off to do battle. We did not hold a ballsweep today so there is still carry over to come. There were 3 prizes in total and the predicted score was somewhere between 90 and 100 points - read on. Peril Ball Result First: Peter Taylor, Bill Kelleher, Peter Fraser and Alan Barnsdale - 111 points Second: Dave A Jones, Peter Thomas, Ray Griffiths and Mike Healey - 101 points Third: Peter Lord, Tom Pierce, Stewart Poole and Irwin Elkin - 97 points Les Williams, Andy Mitchell, Alan Pocklington and Barry Dare also scored 97 points but missed out on countback.