Golfshake Societies Match - CGL v NWGS

Guest writer James Illsley reports on the societies match between the County Golf League (CGL) versus North West Golf Society (NWGS)

The fourth, now annual, battle of two of the largest societies on Golfshake took place last weekend with 20 golfers from each side going head-to-head in singles match play at Chapel-en-le-Frith Golf Club, Derbyshire.

The 40 players met at 12.30pm in Chapel’s nice clubhouse to enjoy bacon rolls, coffee and, already, a large amount of banter. NWGS’ Ged Keeley, captain of the reigning champions courtesy of a narrow win at Bondhay last year, read out his team in playing order, while James Illsley, standing in for usual skipper Allan Bostock (missing somewhere in Russia), did the same for CGL.

The first tee time was 2.00pm and the NWGS’ Paul Taylor teed it up against Martin “Mr Big” Millichip, representing CGL.  Martin played his usual standard of excellent golf to record a 5&3 victory.  Accompanying Martin and Paul was the match between CGL’s Tim “fore left” Hawkins and Michael Scotland of NWGS.  This match went right to the wire and ended with the latter missing an 18 inch putt on the 18^th green to ensure that match was halved.

The second group off the tee comprised John “Tiger, Rory, Seve, Ernie” Spencer and James “Baywatch” Illsley from CGL against Paul Coffy and Mike Hood respectively.  The CGL players dominated the matches in this group as James recorded a 7&6 victory, with John ending his match on the next hole to win 7&5.

NWGS got their first win in the next group with Mark Williams overcoming Stuart “Wayward” Laws 3&2, while “Foxey” Bob Haynes ensured parity for CGL, beating John Granite 2&1.  The following group saw Leeds pair Paul “Bendy Ball” Sherwin and Rich “Guns of Naverone” Garner also share the points, with Rich accounting for Steve Martin 6 and 4 and Paul narrowly losing out to NWGS’ Derek Edmonds 2&1.

The biggest winning margin of the day came in the next group, with Dave MacDonald of the NWGS winning 9&7 over Malcolm Fell, who was unlucky enough to break his driver warming up.  Darren “Grip it and rip it” Millichip recorded another one-sided win, beating Paul Caldwell 6&4.  These matches marked the halfway mark in the match, with the scores standing at NWGS 3.5, CGL 5.5.

The second half of matches began well for the NWGS, with Matty Burke accounting for Neil “Mr Happy” Beech 3&2.  Pat Bourke then achieved what three others had failed to do in previous encounters, beating NWGS captain Ged Keeley 4&3.  That started a winning run for CGL with Steve “Scissors” Martin overcoming Dave Holding 4&3, and Andy “Splash” Adams hammering Alan Jones 8&6.  This took the score to NWGS 4.5, CGL 9.5 and Trev “no nickname” Minchin recorded the vital point to take CGL to an unassailable 10.5 points, accounting for Mike Hopkins 4&3.  It was a good job he did as NWGS won the last 5 matches with Chris “Zorro” Millichip, Richard “Chatterbox” Norton, Lee Booth, Dan “Wonkey Donkey” Atkins and Jim Bates all going down to Chris Woodward (6&4), Robin Vidler (5&3), John Sheppard (3&2), Paul Northway (5&3) and Mario Mandak (5&4) respectively.  This meant the final score was CGL 10.5, NWGS 9.5 meaning CGL regain the trophy.

The players convened in the clubhouse for an excellent two-course meal before losing captain Ged Keeley handed over the trophy to James Illsley for CGL to hold for another year.  The course was in excellent condition and, fortunately, the weather was fantastic.  Thanks go to all players and particularly the staff at Chapel-en-le-frith Golf Club who looked after us so well and helped make it an excellent day’s golf.