Fri 5th               Bi-weekly Draw – around 9-00

Sat 6th               Monthly Medal (Q) -  Starting Sheet

Wed 10th           Seniors Cup & Lunch – 1st tee 9-00 until 10.00am

Wed 10th           ‘B’ Team v Walmley  (H) – 1st tee 2-00 until 3.00pm

Fri 12th              Night Golf – 6-30 pm

Sat 13th             Presidents Evening – 6-45 for 7-30 pm

Tues 16th           Ladies Stableford (Q) – No Starting Sheet

Wed 17th           Mid Week Stableford  (Q) – No Starting Sheet

Fri 19th               Bi-weekly Draw – around 9-00

Sat 20th             Beer & Skittles – 7-00 for 7-30 pm

Sun 21st            Winter Stableford Course Closed until 12noon

Wed 24th          ’B’ Team v Kings Norton (A) – 2.00pm

Fri 26th              Past Lady President’s Lunch – 12.30 for 1.00pm

Sun 28th           Winter Stableford Course Closed until 12noon

Wed 31st          Seniors v Drayton Park (H) – 1st tee 8.45 – 9.30am

It is rumoured that a host of sport scientist’s will be around to gain data to demonstrate their point. Will this break, bring the regulars back fresh and raring to go or will they have lost the muscle memory forever – only time will tell.

With rain forecast for the weekend it is hoped that this will get rid of the snow and leave the course ready for play – lets hope.

Entrance forms can also be downloaded from this page.

• Mens Open – Sun 16 May – 2010 Mens Open Entrance Form
• Ladies Open – Tues 18 May – 2010 Ladies Open Entrance Form
• Junior Open – Fri 4 June – 2010 Juniors Open Entrance Form
• Mixed Open – Sun 4 July – 2010 Mixed Open Entrance Form
• Mens Mid Week Open – Wed 28 July – 2010 Mens Mid Week Open Entrance Form
• Seniors Open – Thu 5 August – 2010 Seniors Open Entrance form
• Ladies 3 Ball Alliance – Thu 19 August – 2010 Ladies 3 Ball Alliance Entrance Form
• Mens Seniors Winter Pairs – Thu 4 Nov -2010 Mens Seniors Winter Pairs Entrance Form

Entrance forms are in PDF format and will require Adobe Reader or a suitable alternative to view the file.

Tuesday 29th June 2010.

The Bridget Jackson Bowl is a 36 hole, scratch medal competition for leading amateur ladies. There is currently a handicap limit of 10.4 with the field limited to 50.

The first competition, started by Bridget Jackson, was held in 1982 and continues to be arranged by Bridget each year. Back in 1981, Bridget felt that there was a need for a top amateur ladies 36 hole competition in the Midlands. Although this was the original aim, the field now comes from all over the country. Many past competitors have since gone on to join the Professional ranks. Among them are Laura Davies, Trish Johnson, Katrina Douglas, Lisa Hackney, Helen Dobson,  Karen Stuples, Felicity Johnson, Rebecca Hudson and Kirsty Speak.

Trish Johnson created  the Handsworth Ladies course record of 65 in 1985 which has since been equalled by Felicity Johnson in 2004.

Entrance forms are now available for the 2010 Bridget Jackson Bowl.

Entries are limited to 50.

All entrance forms along with the entrance fee must be returned by 10th June 2010.

Entrance form is in PDF format and will require Adobe Reader or a suitable alternative to view the file.

The club recently received the following e-mail from John Jewsbury regarding Ryans appointment.

“I am sure you and your members will be delighted to hear that Ryan Wallace has been invited to be Warwickshire Boys Team Captain for 2010 and that he has accepted that invitation. Congratulations to Ryan and to Handsworth!

Regards

John Jewsbury

Warwickshire Junior Golf, Chairman.”

Mens Team Results

Junior Competitions

Junior Team Results

Snooker Competitions

Ladies Competitions

Ladies Team Results

Six Midlands counties compete for the Midland League.  These are Warwickshire, Worcestershire, Staffordshire, Derbyshire, Nottingham and Shropshire & Herefordshire. Ten man teams play the matches with foursomes in the morning and singles in the afternoon. This year not only did Warwickshire win the trophy but they went through the year undefeated.

It was a special year for Warwickshire as the 2^nd team won their competition as well with Handsworth members Karl Smith and Steve Dyson playing a regular role in the side.

For more details the following links give full match reports.

http://www.warksgolf.co.uk/article/rw/id/2440/Unbeaten!.html

http://www.warksgolf.co.uk/article/rw/id/2441/Bears-eat-Pears-on-the-way-to-Title-.html

http://www.warksgolf.co.uk/article/rw/id/2424/Its-good-(great!)-to-be-a-Bear.html

http://www.warksgolf.co.uk/article/rw/id/2386/2009-Midland-League—Match-2—vs-Shrops-&-Hereford.html

http://www.warksgolf.co.uk/article/rw/id/2333/A-fine-away-win.html

http://www.warksgolf.co.uk/article/rw/id/2399/Warwickshire-vs-Derbys—the-win-makes-it-3-0.html

Bearing in mind this event has started this year in the credit crunch; Ivan was very pleased to have 21 teams attend on the day.  These teams came from friends, relatives and members.  Ivan commented that it was “pleasing to have so many people who were prepared to commit both time and money in this environment to attend the day, and raise money for a worthy cause”.

The main reason for raising this money is that last year Ivan’s sister was immobilised by MS, which required the purchase of a top of the range wheelchair, the “Genie”.  Family and friends managed to raise the money for the wheelchair, although that was not the end of it as there were various alterations needed to her home in order to accommodate the wheelchair.  The MS Society stepped in with a donation and it was Ivan’s intention that the money raised at this event would replace the money drawn last year.

Annette came along to demonstrate her new wheelchair and meet her friends at the start of the day

The Day itself

It was reassuring that a number of the teams commented on the quality of the course – although many found the greens to be true, although quicker than their taste.

As it turned out, from a golfing point of view, there were some excellent scores, but the eventual winners were “Definitely Out of the Office”, captained by Handsworth member Mohammed Boston. They were presented with their winning Pro shop vouchers by the club captain, Mike Edwards.

Definitely Out of the Office

Ivan’s closing comments were:  “We couldn’t have had a better day, the thunder clouds kept off and with the help of so many friends and contacts, we were able to raise this money.  We would like to give a massive thanks to everybody who assisted us with the event”.

“In particular, we would like to thank Lee Bashford (Professional) for ensuring that the various competitions were set up correctly, and for checking the cards to ensure that the final result was correct.  He also reconfirmed that the majority of the guests commented on how good the barbecue was and also the sandwich platters at lunchtime.”

This club was formed by a number of golf clubs, all celebrating their Centenary in 1995.  All members of the 1895 club offer reciprocal courtesy of the course to visiting members from other 1895 clubs.
The following clubs are members of the 1895 club. Four of us decided to take advantage of these courtesies over Easter and arranged the following trip.

• Thursday 9th April – Halifax Golf Club
• Friday 10th April – Duddingston Golf Club
• Saturday 11th April – Torpin Hill Golf Club
• Sunday 12th – rest in the day – Back to Duddingston Golf Club to watch the Masters
• Monday 13th April – Craigmillar Golf Club

Thursday 9th April – Halifax Golf Club

We decided to drop in on Halifax Golf Club on the way up north just to break the journey!

Halifax Golf Club provides a great challenge with eleven of the holes featuring water hazards, often nestling in the bottom of steep gullies, which can gather your ball as naturally and easily as any seaside bunker.

The first 12 holes represent a steady climb up the valley with many of the fairways criss-crossing two streams.  Holes 13 through 16 then sit on a plateau, which afford spectacular views across the earlier holes and down the beautiful Hebble Valley.  There are no water hazards at the top and the 2 par fives at 13 and 15 offer real opportunities to improve your score. Unfortunately these were played with a 3-club wind, which made scoring a little difficult to say the least.

After the 16th there is nowhere to go but down and the par 3 17th, aptly named ‘Bagott’s Leap’ (see above), is Halifax’s famous signature hole. Club selection is of paramount importance here and, depending on the wind conditions, you can take anything from a driver (a little long even in this that wind) to a pitching wedge!

Halifax 17th

The overall impression of Halifax was that it’s a very tough start, which would be made easier, if they had stroke savers. After the first 5 holes there are plenty of opportunities to score. In addition for us who are members of a parkland course, it is a pleasure to play a moorland layout.

Duddingston Golf Club

Friday saw us play Duddington. This is a gently undulating parkland course (in Gaelic Duddingston means ’sunny side of the hill’). The course is a very good test of golf with the Braid Burn winding through the fairways and challenging the golfer on a number of holes.

Duddingston Monument

This proved to be an excellent test of golf and offers a number of challenging holes. But with 4 par 5’s it does offer plenty of scoring opportunities.

Torphin Hill Golf Club

Saturday saw us play Torphin Hill Golf Club.  We were fortunate to get a cloudless morning which ensured the magnificent views were at there best.

16th Tee with great view of Edinburgh

With magnificent views over the city of Edinburgh towards Fife the course is ideally situated to delight any golfer, not only with the challenges provided by the course itself but also with the scenery which is truly breathtaking.
We did take the advice of a previous Handsworth visitor to take a buggy, as it is an extremely hard climb for the first 4 holes. Overall it was a very enjoyable round, apologies to the club if these is any mark on the 15th green as Gary & Jayne celebrated a long put to get back to one down (the closest they got all day). Again it would have been better if we could have purchased a course planner, as navigating could be difficult.
Sunday – The Masters at Duddsington Golf Club
As all good golfers must on a weekend away that coincides with the Masters, we had to get a good TV position and a few beers. Worried that the local pubs in Edingburgh may change coverage to some tacky Premiership match we phoned Duddingston and asked if we could watch it there at the clubhouse with the members.

They were more than happy to have 4 thirsty golf spectators, and we were treated to a great night with very friendly members.

Craigmillar Park Golf Club

Monday saw us take on Craigmillar.  The course lies on the eastern slopes of Blackford Hill which was formed of lava and moulded into its present crag-and-tail shape by an easterly flowing ice-sheet. The ice laid bare the rocky crags round the west side and, deflected round the sides of the hill, gouged deep hollows now occupied on the north side by Blackford Pond and on the south side by the alluvium of the Braid Burn. The gently sloping tail on the eastern side of the hill supports the Royal Observatory before continuing on through the golf course, dropping some two hundred feet from the tenth tee to the lowest point where the Braid Burn leaves the course near Liberton Dams.

9th Fairway at Craigmillar

Even with the various extensions, which have occurred, the course is not long at 5851 yards for the men and 5213 for the ladies, but it is tightly enclosed with the left side of many of the holes inviting disaster.
This did though provide a gentler test with many holes reachable in regulation even for the girls! One of our number, despite a 4 shot cut in the week got 41 points with 44 puts! I’m not bitter but we will leave it there.

It is fair to say that the hospitality of all the clubs & their members was excellent and we had a great time trying out these new courses, which our membership of Handsworth allows us to play. On totting up each couple saved £262 on green fees over the weekend and I have to say the courses were much better that most of the hotel courses which would have been the alternative.

So thanks to everyone for their hospitality and lets make sure we make our 1895 visitors get the same welcome when visiting Handsworth.

• HGC Mens Open – Sunday 17th May.
• HGC Ladies Open – Tuesday 19th May.
• Juniors Open – Friday 29th May.
• HGC Mixed Open – Sunday 5th July.
• HGC Mid Week Open – Wednesday 29th July.
• Seniors Open for Ladies & Gentlemen – Thursday 6th August.
• Ladies 3 Ball Alliance – Thursday 20th August.
• Mens Senior Winter Stableford – Thursday 5th November.

If you would like to enter any of our Open Competitions this year please download an entrance form and return to us as soon as possible. Places fill up fast and will be allocated on a first come first served basis.

Application forms are in PDF format and will require Adobe Reader or a suitable alternative to view the file.