Sparta golf society

Spring Meeting: Chelmsford GC 5 May 2010

There was a good turnout at our Spring Meeting despite going north of the river to Chelmsford Golf Club. Sunny intervals gave some warmth but a constant stiff breeze made club selection difficult.

This is a short course and getting to the greens in regulation was generally not too difficult but the slick greens and subtle borrows often turned possible birdies into bogeys and worse. As such scores were not as high as they might have been and a net par of 36 points by Ray Owen secured him the Addison Plate in the morning round.

Defending champion Vince Rossiter put up a good defence despite a bad start and came in second. However, Will Donaldson, who might have been expected to burn up the course, had a bad round and for a time it looked as though he might have the worse score of the morning of just 24 points. But Mike Gilks (23) and Mike Arney (17) saved him from that embarrassment.

Despite Will's poor morning round, his gross score of 82 was enough take the Woodgate Cup for the 5th successive year. Second was brother James with a gross 83.

In the afternoon, the pair of Andrew Gardner and Doug Little were clear winners of the Astor Cup with 41 points. This included a gross birdie on the stroke index 2 14th - possibly the feature hole of the course - picking up 5 points with 2 shots on the hole. This was achieved with a chip in from Doug who admitted he did not see it go in. He commented "I played the chip and was happy it would be on the green so I turned to put my club away when cheers rang out as it disappeared into the hole."

With the uphill 7th chosen for the longest drive during the afternoon round, there was possibly only a handfull of winners. It was no surprise therefore that the honour went to Will Donaldson. However, had the competition been held in the morning even Will's drive may have been beaten by Mike Arney which was possibly Mike's only memorable moment.

The nearest the pin was held on the 18th in front of the clubhouse and there was no doubt who was the winner here. James Milligan's shot to the 150 yard par-3 hit the pin and almost went in - which could have been expensive for him.

In his speech, Graham Hoy recounted some past honours achieved by today's winners and generously gave special prizes to John Richards who had the best score on all par-3's and a Tom Watson book to Mike Arney who had the worst morning round!

With the morning scores going forward to the second leg of the Adams Salver to be played for at the Autumn Meeting, the draw for the 2010 Mond Cup matchplay event was made. There were eleven entrants for the competition but only the best 7 from the morning round plus last year's winner (Doug Little) qualified. The full draw is in the Results section under Mond Cup.

The main topic of conversation in the clubhouse was undoubtedly the difficult greens. Many commented on putts that looked in from just a foot or so away but then caught a late borrow to miss. Slight criticism was also made of the layout of the course with some tee shots having to be played over greens and the access to the fourteenth tee, which crossed in front of the second tee, was clearly dangerous.

Even so, everyone agreed it was a great opening to the Sparta Golf Society 2010 season.