The 2012/13 Winter League started on 27th October with a round robin series of games from which two players from each division went forward to the quarter and semi finals in March. The final on the 24th was called off due to a large influx of snow but finally took place this weekend. The finalists, Peter Dickinson off six and Peter Smith off twenty four played four handicapper Ben Gasson and Matt Asher off thirteen on the Lakes course off yellow tees on a dry but very cold day.

First blood in the front nine went to the two Peters who were two up after four holes; this deficit was reduced to one after Ben made a birdie on the long par four fifth. After the completion of the front nine, the two Peters were still one up in spite of another birdie from Ben on the ninth. Ben and Matt took the tenth to make the match all square but Peter Dickinson managed to win the thirteenth to reinstate their lead. After halving the fourteenth, Ben and Matt birdied fifteenth, but this was halved by a par with a shot. Ben got his third birdie of the day on the index one par five sixteenth only to see this also halved when Peter Smith parred it with a shot.

With only two holes to go and just the one hole in it, things were getting a little tense for both sides. On the seventeenth, Ben hit a massive drive to give himself a short iron shot to the green and a chance for another birdie to level the match. Peter Smith who was on the green in regulation went first and hit his putt close to the hole. Ben just lipped out with his birdie putt which meant that Peter, who had a shot on the hole, had to drop his par putt in to win it, he said that he felt very tense but took his time and sunk the putt to win the hole, the match and the title. 

Ben and Matt said that they couldn’t have played any better in the conditions, Ben was one under gross for the round. Nobody enjoys being beaten in the final of any game but they were gracious in defeat and congratulated their opponents. The two Peters said that it was a very tough competition all round but the final was their toughest game of the series and they thought that Ben and Matt were going to pull them back on the fifteenth and the sixteenth. They don’t receive their trophy until prize night in November but their thoughts turn now to next weekend when the first white tee competition of the year, the Anniversary Trophy, gets under way on Saturday 6th April.  

The Easter Pairs competition, which is always played on the Valley course, looked to be in jeopardy at the start of the week but even though it was very cold, the snow melted enough to allow it to go ahead. Not all of the snow had departed and with all of the bunkers still full of it, they were judged to be GUR meaning a free drop if you ventured into one of them. Played over three days, Friday, Saturday and Monday, members could play all three days as long as it was with a different partner each time. 

In the men’s competition, forty three seemed to be quite a popular number as the top four all came in with the same score and were separated on count back. The first of the forty three’s and winners overall were Peter Key and Graham Day, they beat Darren Want and Leon Wyche into second place. Club Secretary Dennis Millington and Club President Martin Boughton were third and Alan Bennett playing with Simon Bateman were fourth.

Sophie Beardsall and Pat Jamieson won the Ladies’ competition with a score of thirty six. Ladies Vice Captain Bev Dolman and Jackie Bailey were second, they scored thirty five. Gilly Grant and her partner Helen Woolley were third on thirty two.

The odds are shortening on who will be the eventual winner of the Winter Order of Merit. With the last 3 games of the 24 game series  being cancelled due to snow, it now comes down to a mad dash in the last round to try to get as many points as possible. Three weeks ago in round 21, anybody from 20th place upwards could have put a run together; when that was cancelled anybody in the top 12 still had a chance. The round 22 game came to a halt half way through thanks to snow laying on the greens making putting an impossibility.  

In round 23 last weekend we were down to only the top five who had a chance to win. However, winter returned with a vengeance and for the final round it is really the top three who have the best chance. Club Captain Trevor Smith, who leads the series, Paul Jenkinson in second and Steve Anderson are now the main players who have any realistic chance of taking the win. With only fifteen points separating the three, if Paul or Steve wins, Trevor needs to come in no worse than second to take the overall win. If they have a complete nightmare on the course, Carl Causbrook and Tony Mould in fourth and fifth, some 35 points behind, could still take it. There are an awful lot of “ifs” but it has been that sort of up and down series this year. Former winner Adam Clegg is back this week after injuring his shoulder in a ski-ing accident, he and several others could still improve their positions. The leaders will be going out last as a three ball and they will no doubt be keeping a very watchful eye upon each other.

It isn’t just about the win however: players in the positions below the top three still have a lot to play for. The prizes go down to twelfth place and everybody from twentieth upwards still have chances to either get into the top twelve or to improve upon their position within the top twelve. Organiser Neil Harris has added a further twist to the competition to keep the interest going for players outside of the top twelve. He has put aside a separate fund to reward the top player outside of the main prizes with the most points gained in rounds played on a Saturday or Sunday.

The WOOM, as it is known, started last year on 20th October and after Neil changed the rules from the previous year to give a two shot penalty to the winner, one shot for second and a half for third, nobody has won it more than once. The final round will take place on the Lakes Course, snow permitting, on Sunday 7th April.

The WOOM has been confirmed as a club competition for next year but this doesn’t mean that the Winter League will disappear. Club Secretary Dennis Millington confirmed that the competition will still go ahead, providing there are enough entrants to make it a viable competition.

Sunday 24th March was also supposed to be the finals of the Winter League but that was also snowed off. The semi final was played the weekend before in atrocious conditions, high wind, snow, sleet and rain. Ben Gasson and Matt Asher were scheduled to play Peter Key and Peter Zimmer Smith, unfortunately Peter Key had to play them on his own as his partner couldn’t play in the semi final due to a long standing family commitment. Peter did very well to give Ben and Matt a game, he took it to the fourteenth where he finally lost five and three.

Pete Dickinson and Peter Smith beat Bill Skinner and Graham Day four and three and will now play Ben and Matt on a day to be set by Dennis Millington and whoever keeps throwing snow all over the course.

Lady golfers are made of very stern stuff and a bit of rain and snow doesn’t put them off. Greetham Valley’s Mail on Sunday team of ten played host to Burghley Park Ladies in the team knockout competition at the weekend. The teams had horrendous conditions to contend with: very high winds, hailstones, snow and driving rain. In the first game Captain Gilly Grant led from the front and beat Anne Hughes one up. Sue Brand kept up the momentum by beating Joan Hickman four and two. In game three, Pat Jamieson had a comprehensive win against Carole Hollman, Pat won seven and five. This was enough to put the Valley through to the next round with two games to go. Mandie Cassie lost to Kay Hircock four and three and Sophie Beardsall lost to Hanna Vaughan three and one.

They had the option of just tossing a coin instead of going out in the tough conditions but it says a lot about both teams that they wanted to play the game to have the chance of going through with a win. Gilly said that both teams did very well to play not just against the course and their opponents but against some of the worst weather conditions that she ever has played in. Greetham Valley now go forward to the next round of the Mail on Sunday in a couple of weeks’ time.

The March Medal was played the previous weekend before the snow hit and was played off yellow tees; because pick and place was in force, it couldn’t count as a qualifier. Alex Carter thought that he had won division one with a net sixty three but unfortunately his handicap was ineligible, it only counted towards his three cards needed to get his handicap up to date. Trevor Smith, playing off two, won the division with a net 68. Jordan Burdall, off scratch, took second place and the lowest gross on countback with a fantastic 69 consisting of fifteen pars and three birdies. Fourteen handicapper Neil Baker took third and Fraser Denholm off six was pushed back into fourth.

Division two was also a very close finish with two players in with a net sixty three; Ken Mason took the win from Steve Burgon who also won the lowest gross. The next three places were also settled on countback as all three scored a net sixty eight. Adam Smith took third, Paul Childe Freeman was fourth and Simon Bell was pushed down to fifth.

For the second week running the Winter Order of Merit was affected by snow. The field of thirty six hardy individuals soldiered on through the rain which quickly turned to snow, unfortunately organiser Neil Harris had to call it a day half way around as the snow was laying on the greens and putting was impossible. With only two games left in the series, this means that the top five are the only players in with a realistic chance of taking the title this year. As the players came in the snow stopped and it started raining, clearing the greens.

On one of the very few good weather days this week the Seniors got their season off to a good start with a terrific win away to Thorney Lakes. The day didn’t get off to a very good start, an accident on the A1 meant that five members of the Greetham Valley team were late. Captain Rod Wells changed the teams around to get the games under way, if the rest of the team didn’t arrive they would have to forfeit those games, luckily they did and quickly got changed, onto the course and into the games.

Alan Sorlie and Rod Wells lost their game two and one, Mike Guy and Colin Bateman won theirs by the same score. Greetham went behind again when Peter Macdonald Pearce lost five and four, they were soon back on an even par after Fred Aspin and Jack Vernal won their game three and two. Denis Cleggett and Keith Godwin then put Greetham ahead with a win, two up. John Taylor and Ken Upton won two and one, this meant that the visitors couldn’t lose and needed a half or a win from the next two games to take the match. Brian King and Martin Boothman lost their game by three and two. Stu Dodd and Ken Moore won the final game three and two to give Greetham a five and three win. Captain Rod was very pleased with his team and grateful to the latecomers for settling in so quickly. Their next match is also away, they visit Belton Woods near Grantham and hope for good weather again.

Week twenty of Greetham Valley’s Winter Order of Merit got underway in almost Spring like conditions – sun, warmth and unusually, next to no wind. Even the greens felt Springlike, very fast but true. After nineteen weeks of the competition, no player has won it more than once and week twenty, yet again, was no exception. Second Team Captain Alan Bennett, playing off seven, won this week with a massive 41 points. Alan, who was two under for the front nine and level on the back, said that he just played steady golf with the feeling that he just couldn’t miss. He was docked two shots off his handicap and will play off five next Sunday.

Club Captain Trevor Smith continued his push to not only win the Order of Merit but to do it with the lowest handicap possible. Playing off plus two, Trevor was second with yet another sub par round, he came in with 37 points and had a further shot taken off his handicap, he will play off plus three this weekend. Fraser Denholm headed a group of three on 36 points to take third and saw his handicap drop down to six for Sunday. Steff Dutton and Bob Beverley were pushed back into a tie for fourth place.

With the Order of Merit leader Paul Jenkinson missing through injury, Trevor Smith took over at the top of the league with 224 points, 12 ahead of Paul. Steve Anderson drops to third just 3 points behind Paul. Last week’s winner Carl Causbrook drops down a place to fourth and another previous winner Tony Mould is in fifth. This weeks winner, Alan Bennett moves up nine places into twelfth. Organiser Neil Harris said that it is all still very tight for the top thirty players and impossible to pick the eventual winner. Seventeen of the top twenty are now playing off single figure handicaps, somebody could still burst from the pack and make a charge.

 Next year, this competition, which started as an alternative to the Winter League, will be adopted as an official club competition but for now with only five rounds to go all of the players are focused on winning the last independent one.   

In the quarter finals of this year’s Winter League, played on the Lakes course on Sunday, Ben Gasson and Matt Asher beat Neil Crees and Bernard Bell four and three. In group two Bill Skinner and Graham Day beat the previous unbeaten pairing of Ray Gladwinfield and Mark Hibbitt on the last hole. Peter Dickinson and Pete Smith beat Gary Graham and Kevin Burdall three and one to win group three. In Group four it was a comprehensive win for Peter Zimmer Smith and Peter Key who beat Steve Sharples and Mick Jones six and five.

This coming Saturday 9th March sees the first Medal of the year and on Sunday round 21 of the Winter Order of Merit takes place. The following week Saturday 16th is the date of the Winter League semi final. Ben Gasson and Matt Asher play Peter Peter Zimmer Smith and Peter Key and Bill Skinner and Graham Day will play Pete Dickinson and Pete Smith. The winners will go forward to the final on Sunday 24th March. Good luck to all involved!

Cold wind and snow flurries were the order of the day as round nineteen of  Greetham Valley’s Winter Order of Merit got underway on the Lakes course. After eighteen weeks of the competition nobody has managed to win it twice and this week was no exception. Carl Causbrook playing off nine took the honours with a sterling 36 points. Carl has come close to winning before but lost out on countback and had to settle for second place a few rounds ago; he will play the next round off seven after being docked two shots. Club Captain Trevor Smith playing off plus one also came in with 36 but lost out on countback to Carl; he loses another shot and will play off plus two in round twenty on Saturday. The ever consistent Steve Anderson was just the one point behind on 35, he loses point five off his handicap and will play off five this weekend. Wayne Terrett also came home with the same score as Steve but was dropped back to fourth place on countback. Club President and winner of the first Order of Merit in 2010/11, Martin Boughton, was fifth with 34 points.     

It is very tight at the top of the leaderboard: Paul Jenkinson just managed to hold onto the top spot, he has a mere five point lead over Steve Anderson: Steve has 206 points. Carl Causbrook jumps up nine places into the third spot with one hundred and eighty six points whilst only three points behind him is the ominous figure of Trevor Smith who moved up six places into fourth. Trevor is now just three points ahead of long time leader Ian Copley on one hundred and seventy nine. The top ten places are very close to each other and the last five weeks will prove interesting as the title is within reach for a large number of players. Fifty points separate first from tenth, from first to twentieth it is less than a hundred points, if somebody can get two wins they will shoot up the leader board and with so few games left, could win it overall. The scores won’t be high for the remaining five rounds as everybody in the top thirty has had at least one cut to their handicaps.

The Winter League round robin stages finished this weekend. The final games were played on winter greens for the first time this winter, thankfully, the Greetham Valley ground staff are not fans of winter mats and apart from just the one set in concrete on the tenth, they have built separate winter tees for all of the other holes. Gary Graham and Kevin Burdall finished at the top of group one. Alan Bennett and Steff Dutton lost their final match and dropped from the second qualifying spot into third. Peter Zimmer-Smith and Peter Key turned up for their game but their competitors didn’t, this meant that they took the two points on offer and moved up to second place to claim one of the two spots to qualify for the quarter finals.

Bernard Bell and Neil Crees, Bill Skinner and Graham Day both lost their games in group two but still qualified for the quarters. 2011/12 winners Dave Morgan and Iain Bain finished in third place despite a valiant fight to win their final game against their opponents from the final last year, Mick Carnie and Jim Kearney. The top three all finished with nine points and countback was employed by Greetham Valley Secretary Dennis Millington to sort it out.

Matt Asher and Ben Gasson topped group three with eight points and go forward to the quarter finals. Steve Sharples and Mick Jones were fourth before the final round, Les Kowal and Jason Giblett were second, Steve and Mick beat them in the last game to leap ahead of them into the second qualifying position. Ray Gladwinfield and Mark Hibbett were the only pairing to win all of their games in group four and finished the round robin stage with a perfect twelve points. Peter Dickinson and Pete Smith lost only one game and qualified in second. 

The eight pairs will become four after the quarter finals this Sunday.

Greetham Valley’s Ladies, led by Ladies Captain Sheila Douty, found a way to use up the times when the recent snow caused a cancellation  of their golf games: they have started a bridge school. This has become so successful that they now play bridge at least once a week as well as playing golf. Sheila said that in the future, they hope to play host to other golf clubs in the surrounding area who also play bridge.

Week eighteen of the Winter Order of Merit saw yet another first time winner; nobody has won it more than once,  although a couple of players have come close. This week’s scores reflect the cuts in players’ handicaps over the past eighteen weeks of the competition. Immediate past Captain Jim Wheeler was this week’s winner with thirty six points. Jim said that he didn’t have a spectacular round but just played steadily to his handicap; he was cut by two shots and will play off twelve in the next round. Neil Harris also had thirty six points but was pushed back into second on count back after a poor back nine. Neil was the only player still on his original handicap in the top half of the table, he was cut by one shot and will play off four this week. Three players returned a score of thirty five points: Steve Anderson had the better back nine and so took third place, he will now play off six. The other two, Martin Boughton and Ian Cunningham, were tied for the fourth spot. Paul Jenkinson retains the top position in the Order of Merit with a twenty five point lead over Ian Copley. The consistent Steve Anderson climbs two places into third. Dave Copley has moved back up into the top five, he has jumped from seventh to fourth, organiser Neil Harris leaps ten places into a tie for fifth with George Grant, they have a hundred and sixty one point six, only point four behind fourth placed Dave. Week eighteen winner Jim Wheeler has the biggest move of the week going up eleven places from thirty eighth to twenty seventh. Thirty eight players have seen their handicaps cut in the series so far this year and with only six more games to go, anybody making a run could win it. A hundred points separates first from twentieth but with fifty points on offer to the weekly winner, this could soon change.

With only one game to go in the round robin knockout stage of the Winter League, it is extremely tight at the top of most of the four groups. In group one, Gary Graham and Kevin Burdall have eight points and look favourites to be one of the top two to go forward to the quarter final; a point from their last game would mean that nobody could catch them. Steff Dutton and Alan Bennett have six points as have Peter Zimmer-Smith and Peter Key: only one pair can go on to the next round so both need to go for the win. In group two, Bernard Bell and Neil Crees and the team of Bill Skinner and Graham Day have nine points, however if they were to lose their final game and third place pairing of Dave Morgan and Iain Bain were to win theirs, they would all have nine points and it would depend upon count back. Matt Asher and Ben Gasson lead the way in league three with eight points, Les Kowal and Jason Giblett are only a point behind them. Kevin Hingle and Andy Webb are on six, so it is all to play for. In the final group, Mark Hibbitt and Ray Gladwinfield have already qualified for the quarter finals with a perfect score of ten points, and are the only team to go into this weekend in a relaxed frame of mind. Behind them, it is all to play for, Peter Dickinson and Peter Smith have eight points and Steven Chisholm and Steve Burgon have six. The weather forecast for the weekend hints at a cold and possibly icy weekend, this could throw a spanner in the works!

The seventeenth week of the Winter Order of Merit saw yet another first time winner. Ray Hughes returned a solid 39 points to win, just edging out Club Captain Trevor Smith with an equally impressive 39 points off scratch. Ray was docked two shots off his handicap and will now play off ten, Trevor also loses a shot and will play off plus one in his next game. Andrew Queen finished third on 38 points, he pushed Terry Smith into fourth place on count back. Andrew will play off eight in the next round after losing point five.

Paul Jenkinson produced another solid round and came in with 37 points, this takes him to the top of the Order of Merit leaderboard for the first time with 186 points, deposing overnight leader Ian Copley into second place some nine points behind. George Grant moves up to third with 161 points, just four ahead of Tony Mould in fourth who slipped back as he didn’t play this week. The injured Adam Clegg falls another place to fifth, he will be out for several more weeks yet and seems destined to drop down the leaderboard.

Trevor Smith jumps up nine places to enter the top ten once again and Ray Hughes moves up eleven places to enter the top twenty. Thirty one players have finished in the weekly top three places and have had a handicap reduction. Neil Harris is the only player in the top twenty five still playing off his original handicap.

Former Seniors’ Captain Peter McDonald Pearce had his first hole in one last week while playing with the seniors on the Valley course. Peter’s ace came on the par three third. Hitting into a strong headwind, Peter decided to go up two clubs and selected a six iron. The flag was on the far left hand side of the green which meant that he had a choice: go over the branches for the flag or go for the middle of the green. Peter went for the direct route and hit the ball cleanly over the trees, the ball landed six inches or so past the hole and spun back into the hole for an ace and five points. He and everybody in the clubhouse celebrated afterwards with a bottle of Jamieson’s Irish whisky to the delight of all who were eager to help him empty it.

The first round of the Gents’ Mail on Sunday competition saw Greetham Valley drawn away at Priors Hall, (Corby) The match was played in cold, wet and windy conditions – far from ideal to play in a competition like this.

Trevor Smith beat Tony Ferns two and one to set Greetham Valley up on the right track; Fraser Denholm continued the trend by beating Ryan Jeffray two up. Steve Anderson managed a half against Graham Thompson in a game that swung backwards and forwards for the whole round. Wayne Terrett lost to Corby Club Captain John Leneghan seven and six.

With everything hanging on the last match Neil Harris fought back twice against Mark Asher from two down to level the match coming in to the final hole. The team just needed a half to secure a win. Neil was unlucky on the flooded last green, he just lipped out on the final par putt. With the overall match all square Neil and Mark had to go head to head on extra holes in a sudden death shoot out. 

With both players finding the hazard off the tee, the game was poised on a knife edge. Another flooded green and a second lip out for Neil saw the match slip away in favour of home player Mark Asher. Both teams battled hard in the cold winds and heavy rain for the tightest of finishes but the home advantage proved decisive in the end for Corby.