Clitheroe

New season, new captain, and most importantly a new vice captain. We now know that Paul Foode will take the helm in 2026, apparently a very popular vote so I can only imagine he must have dug deep into his pockets for the campaign. Dave Hadden slipped into his captaincy by missing the customary first tee, I knew it was going to go down hill after Lee’s tenure, but not so swiftly (miss you already Lee).

As for the golf, we had great turn out for October with 24 members on the day. Driving up from South Manchester I could see it was going to be a challenging start with thick fog for most of the journey. I tested this on the first hole as I lost my ball flight at about 200yds and it was a bit of guessing game as to where it ended up, it was also the time of year where leaf balls started to come into play. At the allotted 3 mins I was ready to call it, only for John to save the day and find it sitting under a leaf. As the round progressed I couldn’t tell if John was being complimentary or in some kind of self deprivation spiral, as he claimed I’d given him “a whole new perspective on golf”. He seemed disappointed when I missed a 4ft birdie putt quickly claiming I’d “pushed it”, and with Derek asking “what I’d done wrong” when I sliced a drive into the woods, I felt under serious scrutiny. Comments took on board, I cracked on and didn’t even think about winning. Aside from the golf, it’s always a pleasure to play with John, Frank and Derek, thanks for the good company.

I thought the course was in a great condition, especially the greens which were fast and had some interest, particularly given the recent wet weather. No better example of this was Colin’s putt on the last hole, a 25 foot swinger from the right slotted for 2 points to avoid the spoon, what dreams are made of.

After the round the Captain commenced the first of this years ceremonial presentations which was largely based on the popular 90’s TV quiz, play your cards right. With three members losing their prize hole funds within seconds, this is bound be a popular feature for the rest of the year.

There was also the small matter of the matchplay final between two our most unpopular members in Dan Foode and Josh Hadden. With a fine show of sportmanship on the last hole, excusing his partner from playing the wrong ball (mainly because he had a shot in hand and his opponent was directly behind a tree), the winner, 1Up was Josh Hadden, congrats. Two years running so a big target on your back for 2026.