NDGL 2006 Captains' Society - 22 September
Annual Golf Tournament - Morpeth
Earlier this year, the 2006 Captains of the 16 Newcastle & District League Clubs agree that it would be a good idea to maintain the friendships we had built up during our year of Captaincy.

Part of that process would be to have, at minimum, an annual golf competition and dinner and this we did at Morpeth recently.

Although some Captains were on holiday or detained at work, (yes, not all of us have retired yet) nine of us gathered on what turned out to be a rather wet day. However, the weather in no way dampened our enthusiasm or enjoyment and the Captains who attended this inaugural event were:
William Rose - Arcot Hall
Tony Hunter - Gosforth
Harry Cone - Morpeth
Terry Irving - Newcastle United
Jim Storey - Newbiggin
John Murray - Ponteland
Me - Prudhoe
Peter Lawson - Tyneside
David Blair - Westerhope

First of all, sincere thanks to Harry for offering us the courtesy of Morpeth and organising a wonderful after match supper. Yet another task in a busy but highly successful Centenary year. By the way, it's Gosforth's Centenary too. Congratulations to both Clubs and I wonder, do they get telegrams from the R&A?

Our Society's first winner was Terry who scored a pretty impressive 36 points considering the weather and playing of the back tees with only 3/4 handicap. Well done Terry and also to Tony who was second with 34 and to William who had 33 and beat David on a count back.

We decided that the winner each year would host the event the following year. If we're not careful, we could be playing at Newcastle United for a few years. So we've either got to practice hard or nick Terry's clubs! For anyone who can't remember what Terry looks like, he's the one with the striped shirt, mask and swag bag!!

I'm afraid that, although I had 19 points on the front nine, I only added 12 more. But I think I had a good excuse. I'd felt a bit dodgy in the morning and, when I went home that evening some horrible flu bug kept me in bed until Tuesday. All together now..............!

It was wonderful to have some real quality time together and we do deserve it of course. Getting together also has other benefits such as being able to share ideas about Club management and League issues. On behalf of the Captains present, I will, as promised, be presenting our proposal to the League to have the Thompson Shield drawn in future rather than the current method of working out pairings on arrival.

To all District League Club Captains, I hope you are having a wonderful year and that what bit remains is even more so.

Northumbria Junior Golf League
Liaison Officers Day - Prudhoe - 15 September
I very much appreciated being invited to attend and play in this annual event staged for two Liaison Officer representatives from each of the 18 Clubs in the League. Prudhoe were represented by Cath Jenkins and Geoff Ross.

Few would disagree that JLO's rank among the hardest working Club members and it is great that they have this opportunity to get together for some R&R.

I had the pleasure of playing with two great guys from Slaley, Steve Gray and Paul Shrimpton, who both played very well and helped me to score 41 points, one of my best scores since becoming Vice Captain nearly two years ago. Nice to see I can still shoot scores well into Category 1.

Although I did have the highest score and won the sweep, I couldn't win the trophy of course. However, as usual, I did mark the winner's card and congratulations to Paul on his great 39 points.

To make up for the loss of the sweep, Paul also won the Pairs Trophy which is decided by two cards being drawn at random.

After the golf, we all enjoyed a fine meal, some liquid refreshment and a chat - arguably the most important part of the day.

Again, my thanks to the NJGL and we all thank you and the JLO's for the tremendous job you all do on behalf of the Juniors.

Wendy Tames The Village

I wrote and submitted the following story to the press this week:

Prudhoe ladies are enjoying a very successful year and have been boosted by Wendy Oubridge winning one of the oldest and most prestigious Northumberland County Ladies titles for the first time.

At a windy and tricky Alnmouth Village course, Wendy won the Cecil Leitch Challenge Cup, a title first played for in 1929. Her five under par score of 65 was 7 shots under the scratch score for the day and gave her a comfortable four shot victory over Margaret Gray from nearby Warkworth golf club.

This is an especially tough trophy to win as the 41 clubs in the County normally stage stroke play qualifying and then match play knock-out rounds to find their club representatives for the Challenge Cup final.

During the year, Wendy did get the odd game for the Prudhoe Ladies League Team, promoted as Division 5 Champions recently.

A delighted Wendy said, “This is my first major trophy victory and I am pleased to have won it, both for myself and the Club. Now that I am a Silver Division player, I am looking forward to helping our newly promoted League team even more next year.”

- ends –

For further information please contact:
Richard Hannam, Captain - 01661 835 588
Ian Pauw, Secretary - 01661 832 466

Notes to editors:
Prudhoe Golf Club, the Home of Champions, was established in 1930 and has developed a national reputation for the quality of its course, clubhouse, friendly welcome and its County and National Champions. When Neville Dunn won the British Boys Championship in 1951 he set a pattern followed by Janet Soulsby (British Champion, Curtis Cup and LPGA player), David Curry (Amateur Champion, Walker Cup and European Tour player) and Shaun Philipson (England player and British Mid-Amateur Champion). David’s son James is following the tradition and, along with many other players, has contributed to over 100 League, County and National titles. Prudhoe will host the 2007 Northumberland County Championship week and the 2008 Seniors County Championship.

Association of Golf Club Secretaries
Northern Region Golf Day - 14 September
It was a pleasure to welcome nearly 40 hard working Secretaries to Prudhoe to compete for the Famous Grouse Trophy. And my grateful thanks to Regional Secretary, Alan Curtis, for inviting me to the presentation dinner. I am only sorry that the wet weather caused the competition to be cut to 11 holes.

For me it was great pleasure to meet, many for the first time, Secretaries from all over the region as well as the National Captain, David Paterson, from the West Midlands and Region Captain, Ed Stephenson, who is Secretary at Tyneside. We also welcomed representatives from Golf Central and Eagle Promotions.

It's interesting to note the increase in low handicap Secretaries such as Alastair Greenfield (Boldon) and Peter Simpson (Whitley Bay). There may well have been others and maybe there's a trend showing here?

The overall winner was Geoff Brown from my old club, Parklands, or Wideopen as I prefer to remember it. I'm very much looking forward to attending their presentation night in November and meeting a few (very) old friends - most of mine are!

I must admit that this was one of the jolliest visiting parties I have ever seen at Prudhoe. Club Secretaries do a wonderful job for their members and must be knowledgeable, organised and committed as well having the patience of Job! No wonder they have such a good time when the opportunity presents itself.

Thank you for bringing your event to Prudhoe and do come back again very soon.

Great North Air Ambulance Charity Day - September 8
Tynedale Rotary have made a significant contribution to keeping the air ambulance helicopters in the air having raised over £100,000 during the last 15 years. Prudhoe Golf Club is proud to have been part of that as the Charity Golf Day has been at the Club for the last 11 years.

Many congratulations to Rotary President, Raymond Dance, and to Ray Scott and his team for their superb organisation of the event. In addition, much thanks is due to Dickinson Dees and Price Waterhouse who sponsor the event and to the many organisations who enter teams.

This year, 43 teams took part on a day which was blessed with excellent weather and I was fortunate to be part of the Club team comprising of Chairman, John Perry, immediate past Captain, Mike Newton and Ken Robson who is a past Captain and current Committee member.

The format is stableford with the best three out of four cards counting for the team score and there are individual prizes too.

Thanks to John's excellent 41 points, Mike Newton's 37 and Ken Robson's 35, we held the lead for most of the day with 113 points. Knowing that my team mates were playing so well, I had a quiet practice round and came in with 31 points.

Late in the day, Dodds of Hexham came in with 114 points to win the event thankfully. After all, it doesn't look good if the hosts win! Third was Slaley Premier with 111 although, sadly, they were not present to collect their prizes as were some of the individual winners. Some of the players also forgot to tell the organisers that they wouldn't be able to attend either - a very sad trend these days.

In the individual prizes, John was joint first with his 41 points but was beaten on a countback by C. Watson with P. Shrimpton in third on the same score. In 4th place was David Strangeways from Prudhoe. Our own Margaret Griffin won the ladies prize with 36 points, J. Robinson was 2nd with 35 and Prudhoe's Cath Jenkins (30 points) and Elaine Wilson (27 points) were 3rd and 4th respectively. Well done to the Prudhoe ladies - they're making a habit of winning this year!

Nearest the pin prizes went to:
R. Boaden at the 7th - 2' 3"
D. Lishman at the 11th - 7' 6"
A. Smart at the 13th - 2' 6"
David Strangeways at the 15th - 6' 8"

I was slightly embarrassed to get a trophy for our team finishing 2nd in the team when I had contributed basically nothing at all. However, I did genuinely win a raffle prize which contained a message for me as there were two golf instruction videos (anyone tell me what a video is please) and three DVD's (I know what they are). The DVD's were, South Pacific, The King & I and West Side Story. So I'm old and in need of golf instruction it seems!

But, forgetting all of the above, how much did Tynedale Rotary raise for the Great North Air Ambulance this time? Brian Cave, who heads up fundraising for GNAA, was handed a cheque for £6800 - another magnificent achievement. Brian also confirmed that, as a result of fundraising throughout the North East, the air ambulance for Northumberland will be flying again later this year. The details will be announced at a press launch soon.

I'm also pleased to say that Brian has accepted my invitation to attend our AGM in December to accept my cheque resulting for my own fundraising for GNAA during my Captaincy. The figure currently stands at over £1000 and I hope to add to that over the next few weeks.

Finally, we all very much look forward to staging this important event again in 2007

NJGL League Teams Championship - 2 September

I wrote the following story and sent it to the local and national media this week:

Prudhoe Juniors At The Double
Back in June, the team of Danny Shevill, Graham Younger, Ben Lloyd and Ben Shields won Northumberland County Teams Championship at Goswick by three shots with a gross score of 227. Danny and Graham's 75's also tied for the individual gross.

Just three months later, the team of Andy Scrimshaw, Luke Anderson, Shaun Fenwick and Michael Tailford have won the Northumbria Junior Golf League team title at Morpeth with a remarkably similar score of 228. Shaun also won the best net with a score of 65.

The fact that both titles have been won by entirely different teams shows the enormous strength in depth of the Club's junior squad and the progress they are making. Andy won the Junior Club Championship recently and Graham has enjoyed selection at senior team level for the first time scoring a hole in one at Prudhoe's 357 yard 8th during a Hadrian League match.

Danny has had an excellent season too and was rewarded with selection to make his debut for the full Northumberland side in the crunch match against Durham. He halved his foursomes match to help the County secure the Northern Counties title.

Geoff Ross is the Club's Committee member responsible for organising the League Team and Junior competitions and commented, "We are all delighted with the progress of our Junior team this year and the growth of the Junior section generally which now includes rapidly improving girls."

"We expect the team to finish runners up in the Northumbria Junior League which is a tremendous improvement over recent years. Our thanks also go to Exel, part of DHL, who provided polo shirts, caps, umbrellas, bag towels and golf accessories for all existing and potential team members. The clothing and umbrellas are badged to identify each player as a member of the Club's Junior team."

"The performance of our Junior players this year ensures that Prudhoe Golf Club will continue to be the home of champions."

Notes to editors:
Prudhoe Golf Club, the Home of Champions, was established in 1930 and has developed a national reputation for the quality of its course, clubhouse, friendly welcome and its County and National Champions. When Neville Dunn won the British Boys Championship in 1951 he set a pattern followed by Janet Soulsby (British Champion, Curtis Cup and LPGA player), David Curry (Amateur Champion, Walker Cup and European Tour player) and Shaun Philipson (England player and British Mid-Amateur Champion). David’s son James is following the tradition and, along with many other players, has contributed to over 100 League, County and National titles. Prudhoe will host the 2007 Northumberland County Championship week.

Danny Shevill - County Debut - 2 September
Since joining Prudhoe from Stocksfield earlier this year Danny has made great progress with impressive showings in both County Championships, County events such as the Fenwick Smith and National events such as the Carris Trophy.

Along the way, he has reduced his handicap from 2 to scratch, lies in the top 10 of the County Order of Merit and, as a result, got his well deserved first cap for the County having been in the County's development squad for most of the season.

But what a match to be selected for! Northumberland, playing their last match away to Durham at Brancepeth, needed at least a draw to secure their first Northern Counties League title for many years.

In the foursomes, Danny was partnered with fellow development squad member, Craig Penny from Morpeth, and earned a very creditable half in atrocious weather conditions. This gave Northumberland a narrow 3.5 to 2.5 lead.

But it was the weather that brought the whole match to an early finish and none of the singles could be played. Frantic phone calls between County Presidents and the Northern Counties Chairman caused a nervous delay until the decision was made and Northumberland were crowned champions.

Well done to Team Northumberland on a long overdue but magnificent title victory.

Camerons Corporate Day - 31 August
We've been fortunate to stage this event every year since we changed to Camerons as a beer supplier.

As usual, there was a big field of over 80 competitors and a massive array of prizes big enough to go down to around 40th place! Camerons also provided 5 drinks vouchers for every competitor and a meal.

Although as Captain I would have been present for the presentations, I wouldn't normally play as this is really an event for our hard working clubhouse manager and senior officials from House and Finance. to enjoy.

However, a late withdrawal meant I had a great opportunity to have a round of golf - a bit of a rarity this year - and thoroughly enjoyed playing with House Chairman, Mike Newton, and Tom Moore, an official from Bedlington Golf Club.

A wonderful day blessed with great weather, golf course company, food and drink - I've still got 3 vouchers left!

What welded it all together was Camerons local rep, Don Kenyon and his team. Thanks Don, the event was like your products - smooth, great value and totally satisfying!!

The 'Back To School' Competition - 30 August
We have some members who work very hard for the juniors and Cath Jenkins is no exception. This tournament started last year and was fully financed by Cath as it was this year. She's put up a magnificent trophy and a very generous load of prizes including a £100 voucher for the winner, balls for birdies and meals for everyone afterwards.

I should also mention that she funded a very successful junior away day at Blyth the previous Friday.

I know the juniors are highly appreciative of the massive investment in time and money that Cath makes during the year. From me and on behalf of the whole club, a big thank you Cath.

Myself, Lady Captain Irene and Cath played in our own personal 3 ball while club champion, Margaret Kennington, played with our junior girls which ensured their participation. Their scores of 70 and 78 net were brilliant - well done.

In our private adult competition, myself and Irene were polite enough not to win and left it to Cath and Margaret. Actually, Cath won but decided she shouldn't and gave the prize of a bottle of wine to Margaret!

And now the important result. Shaun Fenwick was the 2005 Champion and successfully defended his title with a magnificent 65. He did have a few distractions during the round, which is another story altogether, so his victory was even more impressive.

Well done Shaun and to all the juniors who competed.

Father & Son/Adult & Junior Competition
The Father & Son competition has been around for years and, last year, I tried to extend it by adding Adult & Junior combinations. After all, Father & Son is a bit non PC as it excludes any female competitors. I also wanted the competition to embrace EVERY member.

However, the result was not that successful although the turnout was a little larger than previous years. Afterwards, some said that the foursomes format was not popular. I can understand that as it can be very difficult for high handicap juniors to get their heads round this format.

This year, I had a long meeting with some of my Committee colleagues and we came up with a new formula of two person Texas Scramble. This at least gives the high handicap players, especially juniors, the opportunity to be involved in playing more pleasing and useful shots!

We also clarified the entry requirements to be that anyone under the age of 21 could play with anyone over the age of 21 (both on Jan 1) and that these could be any combinations of males or females regardless of handicap. I also said that, subject to entry levels, I would donate a trophy for the Adult/Junior competitors.

Again, although the entry level increased over last year, it still wasn't large and certainly not large enough to donate a trophy. Also, one or two said that the Scramble format was not right and should have been foursomes.

Clearly, whatever we do, it does not please all of the players. But that's the way such things go.

Nevertheless, I'm not going to give up as I believe the principle to be important here. Next year I will have more time and I plan to market this event even better with the objective of being able to donate the trophy I wanted to give this year.

Hadrian League Troldahl Cup - 27 August
This year, the tournament was held at Wallsend Golf Club. For those that don't know, this competition asks clubs to enter two players each to compete for a gross and a net trophy.

Clubs can select anyone, and on any basis, they like but the idea is to use at least one place for a non-team member who has say done much to support the team during the season. Some clubs run competitions for the places, some select a pair of League players and so on.

In our case, we selected Danny Shevill and Luke Anderson. Danny for his great contribution to the points in both Leagues and Luke for his tremendous support as a caddy and spectator throughout the season. For Luke, it was also an opportunity to experience representing his Club in a senior League competition.

Wallsend was not in its best condition on the day and it was also quite windy and the CSS of 72 reflected the difficulty. Luke did have a bit of a hard time as did many of the competitors, especially those not of a Category 1 standard.

Danny did do well however and shot 71 to finish second to Simon Lee's very good 68. At least Danny got a 0.1 reduction following a long wrangle over the Rules, which we quite rightly won.

So, still no League trophies for Prudhoe this year. We've been close on a few occasions and still have the District League Players' Championship to look forward to at Tyneside on 24 September where we have a good chance to win the individual gross and team trophies.