The weather was perfect for the  annual Golfer/ Non Golfer event held at Freshwater Bay on Sunday. There was a big entry of 36 pairs and the scores were very good indeed with some of the non golfers showing more aptitude for the game than their golfing partners!

 The winning pair was Mike Blandford & Charlie Clark with Charlie only having 16 putts for the 10 holes. This was good enough to win him the individual prize of best non golfer. Runner-Up in the pairs was the husband & wife team of Dave & Pam McArthur with Pam showing a much better touch on the greens than Dave has ever managed.

 Reg Macgregor was 2^nd in the non golfers taking 19 putts. The nearest the pin prizes went to Tom Barbe (non-golfer) and Dave McArthur (golfer)

On the same day Freshwater Bay held their Monthly Medal and this was won by Keith Wright with a gross score of  2 under par 67 nett score 61. Second place went to Colin Thompson with a nett 64 and third was Bill Hinchen ,65

Graham Ellis takes Veterans Stableford as weather abates

With the weather abating Freshwater Bay was back in full flow this week with not a temporary green or trolley ban in sight, first up was the Veterans Stableford with Graham Ellis (24) taking the honours with 38 points. Peter Dawson finished second with 37 points playing off 19 and Tim Deville (21) sneaked third on count back from John Wisker both players returning 36 points.


Saturday saw count back separate first and second places in both divisions of the Whisky Trot with Bill Hinchen (7) taking Division 1 with 38 points from Derek Wright (3), Division 2 was won by Gary Holmes (16) returning 37 points to sneak first place from Dennis Smith (19) in second.


The Monthly Medal on Sunday was ably won by John Riddlesdell (19) with a 68 ahead of Gary Holmes (16) in second on 69, Kevin Garrett (5) took third spot on count back from Keith Wright with both players carding a 71. Keith’s brother Derek again featured in the prizes, this time taking the lowest gross with a 75.

Four Ball South African definately a game of two halves!

This week’s Mid Week Whisky Trot saw Chris West (12) take Division 1 with 41 points and John Veal (15) in second on 40 points. Division 2 had the top three players tied on 37 points, when separated on count back Dennis Smith (19) finished in first place, John Wisker second playing off 23 handicap and John Herbert third.


Saturday’s stableford saw some good scoring in Division 1 but judging by the final points Division 2 players found conditions a lot harder with John Wisker taking pride of place this time with 34 points, Malc Williams (16) finished second on a mere 30 and Dennis Smith (19) was almost too ashamed to take third with only 28. Five handicapper Kevin Garrett returned 39 points to take Division 1 while Bill Hinchen (7) came out second on count back with 37 points, holding off Kasey Tuckey and Ian Ball with the same score.

The Four Ball South African Scramble was definitely a game of two halves with the winning team of Kevin Garrett, Bill Hinchen, Hugh Morrison and Derek Wright returning a total of 358 points, scoring only 80 on the front nine and a massive 278 on the way back. John Veal, Dave Wright, Nick Punter and Ian Ball came in second a mere 150 points behind.

A good weekend for Derek!

On Saturday, whilst playing in the Hampshire & I.O.W. County Sevens match versus Ventnor, Derek Wright recorded a hole in one on our notoriously difficult 15th hole. He then followed this up on the Sunday by going round in a gross 70 in the Club's Irons Only Competition. This gave him 40 points, and he won the event from Club Captain Chris Tansley and Graham Wells, who both scored 39 points.


Saturday's stableford saw some very good scoring, especially in Division 2. John Burke (11) won Division 1, pipping Kasey Tuckey (7) on countback with 38 points. In Division 2 John Wisker (23) thought his 40 points would be enough, but he had to settle for 2nd place as Justin Clayton (17) scored an incredible 44 points!

In the Midweek Medal, Division 1 was won by the in form Graham Wells (11),who only last week was complaining he could no longer play to his handicap, and needed shots back! He scored a nett 66 to win by two from Kasey Tuckey (7). Division 2 saw Mike Dowsett (19) win with a nett score of 67, with David Wilkins (16) in 2nd place with 70

Captains Drive In

Despite an horrendous weather forecast Sunday bloomed with blue skies and sun shine, although a little on the chilly side, some 95 members attended Freshwater Bay Golf Club’s Captains Drive In. Out going Captains Bill Hinchen and Rita smith had the easy job of playing a ball up the 18th fairway whilst the incoming Captains had the unenviable task of trying to hit the renowned 18th green into a blustery wind with out of bound down the right and the green thronged with members. Kevin Garret must have had some inside knowledge to pick up the bottle of scotch for putting his peg nearest to where Club Captain Barry Hunter’s ball would finish, with Ian Andrews collecting a bottle of wine for predicting that Sue Keen, Captain of the Ladies Section, would completely clear the 18th green. Members were treated to mulled wine and a meal after which Club Captain Barry announced that the day had got the Club’s 2009 Charity, EMH Hospice at Home, off to a rousing start of £350. On behalf of the members Vice Captain Chris Tansley thanked the Captain for his hospitality and for organizing such a great start to the year, especially as Chris himself managed to pick up no less than three prizes in the 10 hole stableford including nearest the pin on the 14th.

First prize in the hidden pairs went to Hugh Morrison and Sean Clark returning a commendable 41 points, with John Meredith and John Sexton in second with 39 and Roger Thomas and Chris Tansley scoring 38 to take third spot.

In the singles Tansley improved on his third place in the pairs and picked up first place with 22 points beating Sean Clark into second on count back. John Sexton finished in third place with 20 points holding off Dave Wright, Ryan Harmer and John Veal on tie break.

The mid week stableford on the 14th January saw Frank Ing take first place in Division One scoring 41 points, a single point ahead of Steven Cooke with 40 and Gary Cooke in third on 39 points. Father and son Gary and Steven continue their battle of handicaps with them both being cut to 15.

In Division Two the scoring was not quite so good with Mike Dowsett scoring 36 points off his 18 handicap to pinch first place from Gordon Day off 17 returning 35 and Ray Cooke collecting third place with 32 points.

Saturday’s Division One of the Stableford was ably won by Derek Wright scoring 38 points and reducing his handicap back down to 3. Frank Ing finished in second beating Derek’s younger brother Keith on count back after both players returned 37 points.
In Division Two Gary Cooke stole a march on his handicap race with his son by carding 40 points and getting cut to 14, Mike Black playing off 16 finished in second with 38 points and Dick Leppard third with 36 points off of his 19 Handicap.