Gorleston Golf Club

With the summer season drawing to a close at Gorleston Golf Club there has been a flurry of activity to complete competitions and the final of the Midweek Stableford attracted a very large entry of 120 to compete in conditions which many found extremely tough.

Early starter Tony Bushkes however, returned a score of 41 points to set the bar for the rest of the field and Tony looked the likely winner only for Marcus Cooper to return the same score later in the day to claim the trophy on countback.

Deserved winner of the aggregate competition decided on the best eight scores from the season went to Clyde Leggett whose consistent play throughout the summer has seen his handicap reduce from 23 to 15.

Both Marcus and Clyde were present to receive their trophies from club president Mike Amos who has once again been the principal organiser of this competition for which members are very grateful.

Three knockout competitions have also been decided in the last two weeks with James Chadd, who is establishing himself as something of a master of this type of play, beating Tommy Hunt to win the Ffiske Bowl in a thrilling encounter which saw James drag himself back from being 5 holes down after 16 holes of the morning round to eventually win the match with a birdie on the last of the 36 holes.

In the Ffiske Plate, Trevor Myhill received five strokes under handicap against opponent Patrick Greaney and made every one count as he recorded a 4 & 2 victory, a final score which does not reflect the closeness of the game through the 34 holes played.

Veteran Peter Armes enjoyed the night at the presentation evening so much last year when he attended to receive the Five Day Members Chalice, he decided to book his place once more by recording a second successive victory in the competition beating Colin Askew 3 & 2 in the final. The team representing the club in the annual Howlett Smith Trophy battle with friends and neighbours Great Yarmouth & Caister held a 12-hole advantage going into the home leg but had to relinguish this advantage to a very determined group of visitors who steamrollered their hosts thanks to winning all six betterball matches in the afternoon by a total of 24 holes to deservedly take the trophy back to Caister.

The latest Ladies competition saw a healthy entry for the Cancer Relief Stableford with Heather Harvey recording 38 points to claim victory with Gail Chapman filling the runners-up spot with 36 points.

The Men’s November Monthly Medal turned out to be a damp squib as incessant and sometimes heavy rain saw three quarters of the field seek the shelter of the clubhouse without completing their rounds. However among the hardy few who did battle their way through was a quite remarkable score of nett 64 from Dan Buckley to win Division Three and see his playing handicap reduce by three shots as a result. The Division One prize went to the ever- steady Ian Utting with a nett 75 with Lee Crosswell taking the Division Two prize with a nett 79.