Author: ffgsgolf

Forest of Arden – FFGS Cup

I believe the victorious captain was supposed to do this write up but as he is on holiday I have stepped in to do it for him. I would try and write it in his style but I would have to supply a codex for everyone to decipher it so I’ll just stick to my own words.

It felt like a real honour for captain Les to send me out first off in the Ryder cup, a chance for me to stamp some authority for the team. In my head I am Ian Poulter stood on the tee. The postman ready to deliver. I quickly came back down to earth after topping it fifty yards and raucous laughter from both teams sending me on my way (thanks for the encouragement team mates). Clearly I was out of practice after three rounds of golf in Scotland in the previous two days. I suppose I should mention I still won the hole. U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A!

What followed was a great match fought by Team Hadden vs Ste Davies and Zach Jones. And when I say Team Hadden I just mean myself. My Dad brought home the spoon and contributed on two holes all day (winning none). It’s hard to put across in words just how useless he was as a player on the day but he made for a very encouraging partner to keep me going in the match. We somehow managed to get it to the last hole but a great par from Zach was enough to half the hole and win the match for Team Europe. Well played lads. It was only after the match I realised I had actually got a pretty good stableford score as I had just been hanging in there for the matchplay all day. Thankfully I came out on top and every other European team won their match so really my Dad was our only loser on the day.

The next days singles offered me a chance at redemption by serving up a rematch with Zach. I won’t go into too much detail but lets just say the ref would’ve stopped this one early to save the lad any further punishment. Unlucky Jonesy!

USA brought home the victory after two days of booze, battle and birdies. Or should that be booze, battle and bogeys. Maybe even that is generous. Congratulations to captain Les and commiserations to captain Lee and his team and a special shoutout to MVP Phil Draper winning both his matches, on day one in the dream team with Col Davies and then the match clinching point in his singles.

Big thanks to both Simon Davies and Clarkey for efforts organising the event. It’s one we all love and I hope it carries on for many years. Maybe someone might even remember the trophy next year! But lets not get our hopes up, this is FFGS after all.

Thanks and congrats to our winner, Josh Hadden

For full schedule see; Forest of Arden – FFGS Cup

Long Drive – Josh Hadden

NP – Dan Foode

NP2 – Andy Davies

2’s – N.A.

For current League and Helix standings see Current Season.

See you all at the next event

Vale Royal Abbey Golf Club

The day began with the draw for the upcoming Ryder Cup and with the top four places here all ending up being Team Europe players (including the brilliant resurgence of Frankie Mc) the signs are looking good 🙂 It’s probably also worth noting that Team Europe players scored a total of 253 points on the day compared to Team USA’s 176!!! Lets just hope it’s a little more competitive in 3 weeks 😂😂.

Back to Vale Royal Abbey, a great club and course in a beautiful spot in leafy Cheshire and the weather was very kind to us. I had the pleasure of being in the final group with the Hadden boys and Evan. It was great to see Evan back, though it was constantly a relief to see him emerge from the trees after each visit and, I’ll think he’ll agree, he did have an awful lot of visits to them. I had a word with my ego before the round began and told it not to get caught up in what was likely to be a long drive fest with Dave & Josh, fortunately I didn’t need to 😂. I managed to hold onto a handy short game most of the way round and holed some decent putts helping me to my winning score.

Well done to Andy, Barry and Josh on winning the prizes (though Josh, despite being 40 yards ahead of me, still think you were lucky 🙂) and congrats to Dan on winning the matchplay semi final (sorry Captain). The final should be a cracker.

See most of you at Forest of Arden. Go Team Europe.

Thanks and congrats to our winner, Lee Hardy

For full schedule see; Vale Royal Abbey Golf Club

Long Drive – Josh Hadden

NP – Andy Davies

NP2 -Barry Dreaves

2’s – Evan Bale

For current League and Helix standings see Current Season.

See you all at the next event

Chorlton-cum-Hardy Golf Club

It’s been just over a year since my last win with FFGS. That was in a depleted field also with the society championship being played the following month and everyone deciding to protect their handicaps. Sunday was a similar story with just 16 of us braving the rainy Manchester forecast.

Would like to say I prepared well for Sunday. Only the one bottle of red the night before and the kids were kind enough to let me lie in until 7am. Only to find that Josh the night before prepared with just the one 2.5% beer whilst watching the England game, and a lovely relaxed morning of avocado on toast whilst reading his latest novel. His single figure handicap was starting to make sense. Whilst at the club, my preparation took a further hit when I thought I’d locked the door in my pre round toilet visit, only for Dave W to pull the door wide open for the world to see me. Cheers Dave, things could only have got better from there.

Onto the golf and we got really lucky with the weather. A bit of a downpour before Les got us underway but nothing after that. A few even came in with a bit of sunburn! Thought the course was in really good condition, fairways and greens well looked after which made for a great afternoon.

In a group that consisted of me, Josh, Derek and my dad, it’s fair to say all styles of golf were on show. Long drives, sliced drives, struggling to make it past the ladies tee drives! Spirits were always high however and was a great group to play with. Me and Josh seemed to be the early pacesetters with 17 and 19 respectively after 9 holes. But I finally bucked the trend and had a good front AND back 9 and came in with 21 giving me a winning score of 38. Where was this performance in the matchplay last month!!

Now with a handicap of 18 and no more two shot holes, I’m hoping the bandit shouts will go quieter now! Roll on the next event.

Thanks and congrats to our winner, Martyn Wilson

For full schedule see; Chorlton-cum-Hardy Golf Club

Long Drive – Zach Jones

NP – Josh Hadden

NP2 -Lee Hardy

2’s – Colin Davies, Dave Whitaker

For current League and Helix standings see Current Season.

See you all at the next event

Manchester Golf Club

My thanks to the 2 Steve’s and Colin for witnessing a round of golf from a previous life from me. My real thanks goes to Jim Payne for a lesson two days prior. £30 well spent when you take into account my £20 winnings. Thought Manchester golf club was really nice and hope we go back there soon

Thanks and congrats to our winner, Mark Campbell

For full schedule see; Manchester Golf Club

Long Drive – Lee Hardy

NP – John Nelson

NP2 -Andy Davies

2’s – Andy Hanson, John Nelson

For current League and Helix standings see Current Season.

See you all at the next event

Leasowe Golf Club

And so, we made our long-awaited return to Leasowe Golf Club, the scene of absolute weather carnage on our last visit. Pleasing to say that for our return the weather was a lot more akin to that we would expect to play golf in and was probably our first dry outing in approx. 8months! The sun was shining, the temperatures were the right side of 20 degrees and there was plenty of FFGS flesh on display, even Josh Hadden was seen gracing a pair of shorts.

Arriving at the car park I decided that it would be safer to park as far away from the 1st fairway as possible, especially knowing that Martyn Wilson was in attendance and how he is partial to driving his first tee shot into a car park.

Bacon butties downed and scorecards distributed, we assembled on the first tee to watch our Captain take the honour. However, our Skipper had decided to go on yet another sunshine holiday and had delegated the honour of leading us out to his vice, Lee, who did so majestically by smashing his tee shot long and straight. Our group of Clarky, Steve Stuart, Mark Murray and I went out third with three of us hitting acceptable drives whilst Clarky knobbed one into the thick grass about 50yrds off the tee. As we navigated our way around the front 9 it became apparent that the key to success on this course was to be straight as anything not on the fairway or first cut was testing. The rough was exactly as it said on the tin with the slightly longer grass proving difficult to get out of. The greens were in good condition and a little slow, something that tends to suit my game!

And so to the back 9 and the prize holes, starting with the nearest the pin par 3. Our group expertly managed to not put a single ball on the green with two going long, one left and one short, never mind there was always the NP2 to go for. Alas, yet again none of our group managed to hit the target in two after a range of curious (and wayward) tee shots. Surely the tricky longest drive would see one of our group get their name on the card. A straight par 4 with two bunkers in the centre of the fairway, which brought much complaining from Dan Foode – big hitter with no finesse- stating it wasn’t fair! After much debate we decided that Clarky had managed to be the only one of our group to hit the fairway, and surprising was the first name on the card. We did suspect that it wouldn’t last long as the big guns followed us through……and it didn’t.

Having completed our round we went up to the gallery to watch the rest of FFGS display a range of par 3 wizardry on the 18th. Simon Davies managed to top the ball about 80yrds down the fairway and expectations were high that Colin would hit next and out-drive Simon. A decent contact, a straight and true ball flight which landed on the upslope halfway up the fairway and finished about 3yrds behind Simon’s ball. Next came the Matchplay’s with Dave and Martyn tied on the 18th tee, both with makeable par putts. Martyn duly sunk his, whilst Dave saw his do a 360 round the cup and return almost to the spot it started its journey from, Dave losing Martin one down. Next to the tee came a dejected looking Mike Bower, which would suggest it was game over already for Mike ………..and it was, having been well beaten by Dan Witterick. Well done to both Martin and Dan.

All in all a very enjoyable day on the Wirral, which could only have been bettered had Dan Foode collected the wooden spoon – which he tried his best to by finishing with a measly 21points, only one point ahead of the spoon.

Thanks and congrats to our winner, Paul Foode

For full schedule see; Leasowe Golf Club

Long Drive – Martyn Wilson

NP – Steve Davies

NP2 -Andy Davies

2’s – Steve Davies, Paul Foode

For current League and Helix standings see Current Season.

See you all at the next event

Society Championship – Albufiera

04:15AM, Liverpool John Lennon Airport Departure Lounge. A quick look to my right and it was a snapshot of years past; the same place, the same spot – the hardcore of FGGS supping Guiness for breakfast. After my customary quick hello and even quicker ciggy, I made my way to my kindred, the lightweights in Starbucks.

As usual I was looking forward to a few days of brilliant company, the usual great golf, getting away from our recent horrendous weather and getting some sun on my back. Fast forward 10 hours and I stood on the 10th tee at Salgados Golf Club completely piss wet through thinking maybe this year may be different!!

It didn’t matter though, this was just pretend golf, the real event would start the next morning at 9.30am when we were getting picked up to head to Penina, or so we thought. 10am, still no vehicles. After much discussion, ‘shall we get taxis’?, ‘should Richard start ferrying us in his hire car’?, ‘shall we just stay by the pool for the day’? (apart from Clarkey who, as usual, just dealt with it), our transport finally arrived at about 10.15. With a 30-minute drive ahead and a 10:56 tee time for Captain Les, Josh and myself, things were looking a bit tight. Josh and I jumped in a buggy, shot to the first tee and made it with about 3 minutes to spare. 10 minutes later, Les waltzed up, completely unfazed, impervious to the Portuguese course Starters angry stare and proceeded to hit the Captains Drive straight down the middle. Brilliant.

A great but very tough course. Not helped by my oversized ego, if there was water to be carried, I was going to carry it, no matter how far. The water won the battle 8 – 1. Simon (who has a much smaller ego and can also hit it a lot further than me) came in with a fantastic score of 33 to win the day, closely followed by sibling Steve with a 31, another great score and also very pleasing as my tenner was on Steve.

The evening group trip to the local Tim Tim Chinese restaurant probably gave me my highlight of the trip, The Les & John romantic banquet, they are a perfect couple, in many many ways 😂😂

Thursday took us (on time) to our first sortie to the Amendoeira resort, the Faldo course. Another fantastic course but thank god we had buggies, it went on forever. I had a fantastic day with Barry, Col and Frank. Col was a great help, he kept picking up my clubs from the side of the green and putting them in his bag, he didn’t know he was but it helped me greatly knowing I didn’t have to worry about losing a club. I got to witness my first 5 pointer with the Society, Frankie birdying the 9th with a great Drive, perfect approach to about 10ft and a wonderful putt. It was great to see. Some of the greens were like mini par 3’s front to back and extremely undulating and quite possibly a reason for the lowish scoring on the day, I managed to win it with 32 points.

The group ‘split’ into smaller groups for evening meal on Thursday, though the smaller groups nearly all ended up in the same restaurant, the Casa Do Chefe, a small Portuguese place that ‘served food with love’. It wasn’t until near the end of the night when someone noticed that it was a ‘cash only’ establishment, fortunately Col and I are still getting to grips with modern technology, so us oldies were carrying cash to sort us out. Food was amazing though.

So I was back where I was last year in El Rompido, leading going into the final day. The last two groups were fairly tightly bunched. The penultimate group of Josh, Andy, Steve and John were all capable of making a charge, and my playing partners, Si, Foodie and Campbo most definitely were. The course, the O’Connor, was outstanding again, a lot less hilly than the Faldo but with much more water. Unlike last year, I managed to find a bit of a groove early on, and was able to score 20 on the front 9. Foodie was driving the ball like a 5 handicapper, straight and long, but sadly, and I’m sure he’ll agree, was putting like a 40 handicapper. Si hit some amazing shots, including an eagle 3 on the first par 5, a monster drive and an awesome approach to about 20ft, duly sunk. Campbo was great company 🙈

In the end, I was able to hang on and secure my first society championship. The week was everything I expected it to be, brilliant company with top top blokes, great golf and wonderful weather (eventually). I’m already looking forward to defending in Tenerife next year 👍

Finally, a big shout out to Clarkey, thanks as always pal. Like I always say, we just turn up 😊

Thanks and congrats to our winner, Lee Hardy

For full schedule see; Society Championship – Albufiera

Long Drive – Lee Hardy, Simon Davies, David Dreaves

NP – Barry Dreaves, Evan Bale, Steve Clarke

NP2 – Keith Dreaves, Lee Hardy, Keith Dreaves

2’s – John Aylward

For current League and Helix standings see Current Season.

See you all at the next event

Bolton Old Links Golf Club

Momentous, glorious, unforgettable. All terms I would use to describe the experience of watching Simon Davies fat his three wood twenty yards off the tee on the first hole at Bolton Old Links. I truly thought my day, nay, my year had peaked at this point, but this was just the beginning of a glorious afternoon for me (glorious being the complete antithesis of the weather we endured).

I was out in the last group with Andy Davies, Dan Foode and Zach Jones so we decided to sit in the shelter of the clubhouse for as long as we could. Whilst in there I noticed some of the Dr Alister MacKenzie memorabilia. He was the famous golden age golf course architect who designed Augusta, a course we will all be watching on tv this week enjoying the masters. I’m sure they will have less players slipping around in the mud but can they honestly say they will have more fun than the FFGS contingent. Probably. The crop of players is strikingly similar though, a group of over the hill veterans and some out of their depth amateurs.

I was playing Andy in our match play and it seemed ominous on the first hole when he drove the green not once but twice with one being a ‘provisional’ (the first one was twenty feet away for eagle). I should mention that both of these balls landed whilst the previous group were still on the green. It seemed Andy was unsatisfied with taking just me down and wanted to take Frank McGlynn and Mike Bower out as well.

Andy was highly unlucky to lose a ball on the second and winning that hole eased me into the match. It was nip and tuck all the way thereafter until I managed to win a few holes in a row on the back nine to claim victory. Roll on the semi final where I will play Martyn Wilson or my Dad, I think I will be outdriven on every hole and also hear a few shouts of ‘FORE RIIIIIGGHHT!’ either way.

It was towards the end of the round I realised I might have a chance of winning the day as well as my match and a seriously lucky birdie on the temporary green seventeenth got me right into contention. Sadly, I thought my chances had gone when I three putted the last green to end one point shy of shooting my handicap. Little did I know this would eventually make victory even sweeter as it meant I edged out my Dad on countback. 

Better luck next time Dad. A glorious afternoon indeed.

Thanks and congrats to our winner, Josh Hadden

For full schedule see; Bolton Old Links Golf Club

Long Drive – Dan Foode

NP – Simon Davies

NP2 -Andy Davies

2’s – Josh Hadden

For current League and Helix standings see Current Season.

See you all at the next event