Parklands Golf Club

Congratulations to Margaret Finn who won Ladies Chairman’s Day last Saturday.

Candy sends a big thank you to everyone for supporting her Chairman’s Day and raising the fantastic sum of £200 for Maggie’s at the Freeman.

For a look at all the winners and general photographs click here … https://www.flickr.com/photos/100735050@N04/albums/72157700165151984

A copy of today’s company newsletter  …. If you are not getting a personal copy of this, see Michelle in the office and ensure that you have agreed that we can use your data (ie email address).

Parklands juniors went into Sunday’s semi-final /final of the Northumberland Junior Golf League at Northumberland Golf Club without two regulars; Ben Jones our number 1 who could not be released from his duties from Parklands and Maz Shanshol who was laying in the sun in Portugal. However, that didn’t stop the lads putting up a great fight in the semi-finals against a strong Maften Hall side. We lost the match 8 – 4 which was not a bad result, considering young Jake Minto (pictured above) age 11 was playing in his first ever match play game and young Josh Barrass only lost his match on the 18th. Our afternoon game was the 3rd and 4th place play-off against a very strong Hexham side and the lads did themselves proud again with Thomas Middleton just losing on the 17th hole to a + 1 golfer. Harrison Sewell and Finn Bell were unbeaten in their 2 games and Josh won this time on the 18^th giving us a finishing score of 6 – 6.  But the decision goes to the result of the number 1 match and so Parklands finished 4^th. Well done to all our lads for getting into the semi-finals and performing so well on the day. And to crown it all, the day didn’t finish there. The chairman of the junior league gave our lads a wild card to go and represent Northumberland at Moor Allerton Golf Club, Leeds, on August 29^th.  What a way to finish a superb day.

On Sunday 15th July we played Hexham at Parklands and going into this game we had to beat Hexham by 2 points to win the league.  Unfortunately, we just missed out, managing to get a draw 6 – 6 which meant Hexham went on to win our league and left us sweating to wait and see how the other junior teams had done to determine who were league runners-up. Well, Close House got a good result against Northumberland which left Northumberland on the same number of points as Parklands, but I’m happy to report that after all the mathematics were done Parklands juniors, for the first time ever, have qualified for the semi finals at Northumberland next weekend. A great effort lads; well done to you all.

It’s an achievement in itself to get to the final of the Parklands Men’s Club Championship; two 18 hole qualifying rounds of strokeplay competition on successive Sundays followed by quarter and semi-finals played on the same day of 18 hole matchplay competition … and you are in the final.

Today’s final brought two team players together in a 36 hole matchplay challenge, Lee Thompson and David Gibson. Although the course is very dry and the weather is even drier, the greens are in superb condition and we witnessed a thriller. In the morning session, Lee pulled ahead and as they stopped for an early lunch, Lee had opened up a lead of 3 holes. The afternoon session saw Lee go 5 up after 2 holes and then we witnessed a strong fightback from David. David pulled it back to 3 down and was looking strong, but both players birdied the par5’s and parred the 4’s with puts just not dropping decisively for either player. The match ended on the 16^th (34^th hole) with a 3/2 win for Lee Thompson our new Men’s Club Champion. Both players played under par for the course for both rounds and acquitted themselves superbly. Well done to you both, with a match played in the best of good sportsmanship. You should both be very proud of your achievement.

In the morning Senior’s Handicap Trophy Final played between Les English and Eamon Farrar, the match was even tighter with the game to-ing and fro-ing until the 18^th green when Les finally clinched the trophy. Well done guys.

Thanks to the referees and all the members of the Club who turned out to support our Championship day.

This coming Sunday sees the finals of the Men’s Club Championship and the Seniors Handicap Trophy.

There will not be a Men’s competition on that Sunday.

If you wish to play on Sunday, please arrange your own playing companions and book tees through the shop.

Our Junior team had another great win at Bedlingtonshire Golf Club in the Northumbria Junior Golf League today winning 10 / 2.

There were wins for Ben Jones and Finn Bell winning 7 /6; for Tom Middleton 3 / 1; Harrison Sewell 1 up and Kane Mason 2 up. Well done again lads.

And well done to our junior member Maz Shanshol for getting a great score in the men’s Percy Hedley Trophy competition today with a staggering 49 stableford points.

Today saw the Club Quarters and Semis Finals for the Men and the Semis and Finals for the Ladies at Parklands.

It was already warm at 07.00am as the players started to assemble on the tee, ready for the first match scheduled for 07.20am. You can plan for most events, but unfortunately, most of the players did not have their clubs as they were securely locked away in the Clubhouse, which itself was securely locked, as we waited for someone with a key to arrive. A very obliging and enterprising staff member managed to find a way in, but not before the alarms were set off resulting in a visit from the local constabulary. Still, we started only 5 minutes late and the matches were underway. In the morning session of the Men’s Club Championship, there were wins for Lee Thompson, Craig Wilson, Warren Young and Dave Gibson. The Seniors Handicap brought wins for Tommy Mitchell, Eamon Farrar, Bill Sidney and Les English. The Ladies Championship Semis had wins for Candy Brown and Angela Rumney  and Pat Bainbridge and Anne Heatley in the Bronze event.

The afternoon session was equally warm with lots of sunshine on our parched fairways and there were a few tired bodies on the course. The Men’s Semis were won by Lee Thompson and David Gibson thus setting up an intriguing contest for next week’s final.

The Ladies Club Championship was won by Candy Brown on the 18^th green in a closely fought contest with Angela Rumney.

The Bronze Championship was won by Pat Bainbridge beating Anne Heatley.

Congratulations to all the winners and commiserations to all the runners-up. Thanks to Brian King for organising the day and to all the caddies and supporters who assisted and followed the players on the course …. And most of the matches were over to enable us all to watch England’s impressive victory.