Spaces Available this Thursday at possibly Lancashires best inland course- ‘The ETIQUS Masters at Pleasington’

‘The next event is the ETIQUS MASTERS at the wonderful Pleasington. The winners of the event will each receive a voucher worth £179 with which they can purchase an ETIQUS Classic Tour Timepiece with a leather strap or put towards any other watch in the ETIQUS range. With Father’s Day just a month away an ETIQUS timepiece makes an excellent golfing gift to put on your wishlist and you can see these wonderful watches that are rapidly becoming a favourite choice as a unique gift for the golfer on www.ETIQUS.co.uk. Gary Butler, the owner and Maxitours player, is also offering an ‘on the day’ promotion at the Pleasington event where any order placed ‘on the day’ will result in your entry fee to the event being refunded.’

This Thursdays ‘ETIQUS MASTERS’ Start sheet

9.30 Colin Roberts x4

9.38 Nigel Compsty x2 Simon Conway x2

9.46 Ian King x4

9.55 Ray Jones x4

10.04 Colin Lynch x4

10.13 Dave Stanhope x4

10.22 Mick Mahon x4

10.31 Ian Ainsworth x4

10.39 Archie Tahir x2 Anthony Grimley x2

10.47 Neville Dennis x4

10.56 Lewis Marland x2 Richard Blackwell x2

11.05 Roger Percival x4

11.14 David Kelly x4

11.23 Chris Adams x4

11.32 Matt Cheffins x4

11.41

11.50

12.00 Sam Leach x4

12.08 Tim Spencer x4

12.16 Andy Morgan x4

12.24 Roy Ainsworth x4

1.38 Phil Chadwick x2 Paul Garrity x2

1.47 Steve Parle x4

1.56

2.05 Ian Buxton x2 John Hilditch x2

2.14

2.23 Richard Williamson x4

2.32

2.41 Jon Farrell x4

2.50

3.00 Brian Hopkins x4

3.10 Gav Sutclife x4

Great upcoming Maxitour events- nearly full.

Pleasington Etiqus Masters next Thurs-spaces
Hopwood ‘2UNDR Open’ 21st May-spaces
Ringway Taylor Made Classic 28th May-spaces

The Belding Masters at Prestbury

The first event of the exciting Maxitours Summer series was held at the lovely Prestbury Golf Course today. When the early morning clouds finally dispersed there was some very pleasant warm sunshine to be enjoyed by all the players and it felt like summer had finally arrived.

The Prestbury Golf course starts to play its best in the month of May and all players were very complimentary about the condition of this great golf course. Many thanks to all the excellent staff and management for their help to make the event a success.

Today is election day and many Maxitours players were caught in two minds whether to go to work or play golf. Golf got the vote for any right minded individual and everyone who played thought they had made the correct decision.

In the 1950’s an American tour pro called Ky Laffoon who had struggled badly all season with his flat stick had yet another poor putting round which culminated in a horse shoe on the 18th green. He quietly went back to his car and pulled out a revolver. He then shot his putter three times in the first recorded case of ‘clubicide’. Today the fast Prestbury greens got the better of Mick Mahon and his putter was living dangerously as it missed three short putts on the final three holes of his round.

In today’s event the scoring was tough on the well watered fairways after several days rain.
David Wilkinson(6) and Geraint Allen(14) from Warrington Golf club recorded their highest ever Maxitours finish with 41 points to take 4th place. Deep chested Geraint is known as Grunty because no-one can pronounce his name correctly and he used to do plenty of grunting when he was playing high level rugby. Today he was grunting again as he hit several big drives but his partner wasn’t groaning as a several solid pars saw them move through the field.

Dave Randles(10) and Mike Gow(9) from Eaton Golf Club combined well to record just their second podium finish as they took third will 42 points. They had a superb 24 points on the front nine but failed to better par on the slightly more testing closing nine.

Frodsham’s Mike Gibbons(5) and Steve Roberts(3) were out early and they thought they were going to record their first ever victory after they scored 46 points in the worst of the weather. Six birdies and an eagle from the low handicap pair was just not good enough as they were narrowly pipped on the back nine card play off and finished 2nd.

John Hilditch is famous for running a hugely successful Estate Agency in Hale. Today he played with his new employee Jordan Sheppard. Jordan’s career prospects looked bad when he failed to listen to his cautious boss and hit a driver on the dog leg 11th which nearly went in the hazard. The future looked a little rosier for Jordan when he played the last three holes in 1 under par to take first place. ‘He started to take my advice,’ said wealthy John in the clubhouse after play. Great golf chaps well played.
Thanks to all players for your support once again today, Tim

2’s £140 3 Pro V1s or 6 srixon AD333s Per 2 Jordan Shepherd Steve Roberts Mark Williams Max Knowles Brian Greenbank Ed Wilkinson David Kelly Stuart Blake John Bent Billy Blissett John Bent Hugh Mullin Archie Tahir

Nearest the pin 7th hole John Bent Sponsored by Matt Turnock -2 tickets for Dr Karl Morris golf psychology seminar at Mottram Hall next Thursday 7-9pm contact Matt 07774 132382 if you wish to attend this interesting talk.(tickets £25 each or 2 for £45)
Nearest the pin 17th Hole Geoff Underhill Belding Leather Headcovers

The Maxitours Belding Classic at Prestbury has been kindly sponsored by Tony Bishop ofBelding Europe.
Fifty years of producing the best, for the best.
Belding has a pedigree of golf bag and luggage production that has stood the test of time and continues to produce beautifully designed goods that last.
In a world fast becoming accustomed to short-life, disposable consumer goods, you can chose something that stands out from the crowd in quality and longevity.
Belding bags and luggage; completely hand-made, in the same factory in California, since 1965.
http://www.belding.eu

Start times fot the ‘ETIQUS Classic’ Pairs event at Pleasington Golf Club
Thursday 14th May
9.30 Colin Roberts x4
9.38 Nigel Compsty x2 Simon Conway x2
9.46 Ian King x4
9.55
10.04
10.13 Dave Stanhope x4
10.22 Mick Mahon x4
10.31 Ian Ainsworth x4
10.39 Archie Tahir x2 Anthony Grimley x2
10.47 Neville Dennis x4
10.56 Lewis Marland x2 John Hilditch x2
11.05
11.14 David Kelly x4
11.23 Chris Adams x4
11.32
11.41 Roger Percival x4
11.50
12.00 Sam Leach x4
12.08 Tim Spencer x4
12.16 Andy Morgan x4
12.24 Roy Ainsworth x4
1.38 Phil Chadwick x2 Paul Garrity x2
1.47 Steve Parle x2/4 Ian Buxton x2?
1.56 Matt Cheffins x4
2.05
2.14 Ray Jones x4
2.23 Richard Williamson x4
2.32 Richard Blackwell x2 Archie Tahir x2
2.41 Jon Farrell x4
2.50 Ben Harris x4
3.00 Brian Hopkins x4
3.10 Gav Sutclife x4

Great May Maxitours events
Prestbury Belding Classic 7th May -room for 1 pair and 1 four ball
Pleasington Etiqus Masters 14th May -last few spaces
Hopwood ‘2UNDR’Open 21st May -last few
Ringway Taylor Made Am Am 28th May last few

Maxitours Shotsaver singles at Knutsford Golf Club

The best greens of the year so far were in play at my home course, Knutsford Golf Club today. Many thanks to Head Green keeper Mark Dingle and his assistant Greg for all their hard work. Thanks also to Anne and Ian for looking after us all so well.

A late finish due to the shootout means a shorter than usual report tonight.

It is always fascinating listening to the conversations in the Clubhouse prior to play. Alan Clough was confusing his team when he was telling them how he had just dropped his grandkids of in the ‘Quiche.’ After a long pause his partner said ‘do you mean Crèche?’.

In today’s event the scoring was incredibly close. With such a well prepared course a score in the forties was expected but three players tied on 39 points. In third place was Dave Buckley with his best finish of the season. Pete Short is known as ‘Kate Middleton’ because a good performance from the likeable Airport Security man was so overdue. Today he produced a great performance to take his best ever position on the podium. Paul Dalby took top spot after he incredibly birdied every par 3 to shoot -2 and collect 39 points. Well played chaps!

Nearest the Pin 3rd Dozen AD333s Kevin Hamilton
Nearest the pin 5th Dozen AD333s Barney Ross ‘hole in one’ CONGRATULATIONS!!!

2’s £55 1 pro v and 1 srixon per 2 or 3 srixons! John Farnworth Frank Hindle Steve Johnson Phil Lockett Dave Owen Paul Dalby x4 Kevin Hamilton x2 Barney Ross x2 (hole in one)

Winning the Prestigious Shotsaver Winter Order of Merit was Paul Dalby. Martin Firth took second and John Rigby capped a superb Winter by taking 3rd place.

Order of Merit
1st Shotsaver s320 tour Paul Dalby
2nd Maxitours sweater Martin Firth
3rd Maxitours sweater John Rigby

Shotsaver Shootout
In the Maxitours end of season shootout ten of the best Maxitours competitors went head to head over nine holes and after some tremendous golf Alan Leigh from Swinton Park came out on top beating last years winner Phil Vokes in a tremendous Shootout.

Winner Shotsaver s430 tour Alan Leigh
Eliminated 9th hole Dozen ProV1s Phil Vokes
8th Maxitours sweater Frank Massey
7th Dozen Z Stars Andy Stubbens
6th Sunice shirt Kevin Hamilton
5th Sunice Shirt Paul Dalby
4th Sunice Shirt John Farnsworth
3rd Dozen AD333s Barney Ross
2nd Titleist Cap Steve McDermott
1st Titleist Cap Neville Dennis

Many thanks to everyone for your wonderful support throughout the year, I hope you have enjoyed the Winter season. Yours in Golf, Tim

Prestbury Belding Classic start times

9.05 Colin Roberts
9.15 Jim Caldwell x2
9.25 Ian King x4
9.33 Brian Greenbank x4
9.40 Mike Gibbons x4
10.00
10.20 Mick Mahon x4
10.30 Ian Ainsworth x4
10.40 Simon Conway x4
10.50 Richard Blackwell x2 D Whelan x2
11.00 Anthony Grimley x2 Lewis Marland x2
11.10
11.20 Mike Saxon x4
11.30 Steve Parle x4
11.40 David Wilkinson x4
11.50 Ian Waddington x4
12.00 Geoff Underhill x2 John Hilditch x2
12.10 Pete Cleaver x4
12.20 Ian Buxton x4
12.30 Neil Higgins x4
12.40 Rob Weston x4
12.50 Bob Sutton x4
1.00 John Dickenson x4
1.09 Joe Yates x4
1.18 Dave Hillier x4
1.28 Dave Hillier x4
1.38 Dave Bowers x4
1.48 Steve McDermott x4

Spaces at Knutsford singles on Thursday- superb fast greens
Great upcoming Maxitours events!
Prestbury Belding Classic Pairs 7th May
Pleasington Etiqus Masters Pairs 14th May
Hopwood AM AM ‘2UNDR Open’21st May
Ringway Taylor Made AM AM 28th May

Maxitours at Conwy
A healthy welsh sea breeze and clear blue skies greeted well over 100 Maxitours competitors at Conwy today. Many thanks to everyone at this historical Championship course for looking after us all so well today.

The golf course looked like a picture postcard scene with immaculate lime green striped fairways and golden gorse bushes which were in full bloom. Joe Kirwan finished his round with a sprig of gorse still attached to his sweater – evidence of yet another long day in the undergrowth for the lovely Bramall man.

Les French was confused even before he started his round today when he tried to order a bacon bap from the attractive blond welsh bar maid ‘Sorry, we haven’t got any bacon baps see, we have only bacon rolls on the menu’ .

On the course in today’s event Trevor Harrison got off to a slow start playing with Ray ‘ringer’ Stringer. They dropped shots on four of the opening six holes. Trevor blamed his poor front nine on the fact that he was still recovering from a very emotional final episode of Poldark last night.

Roy Macgregor was also emotional after an unlucky day on the links. He couldn’t stop his ball from regularly finding the well placed Conway fairway bunkers. Things went from bad to worse for the likeable Stockport man when, after taking too many shots to score on the 16th hole, he was disgusted and picked his ball up and put it in his cart bag. As he jealously watched his partner putt out for three points he was dismayed to see the wind blowing his trolley and ball into the deep greenside bunker.

Ray Jones was close to tears after he made the first eagle of his very average golf career. With a fifty mile an hour tailwind on the par five 14th hole, short hitting Ray hit his best drive of the year, followed by a stonking fairway wood which hit a sprinkler head, 2 cart paths, a brick and bounced on a couple of downhill slopes before finishing two feet from the hole. Congratulations Ray.

Dave Marchant(15) and Jeff Andrews(23) from Alsager finished in 5th place with 40 points but failed expensively to score on the last hole. ‘I was thinking about my speech’ said a gutted Marchant.

Steve McDermott(10) and Mark Simister(10) also had a ‘blob’ when they failed to score on the 13th, two excellent closing pars from Steve repaired most of the damsge as they took 4th place.

Eddy Sterling(6) returned to form after a poor start to the year, he teamed up with Mark Brooks(12) to also score 40 points and took 3rd place with a very strong back nine.

Salford Reds rugby groundsman Dan Huffman(8) nearly recorded his 1st Maxitours win in 8 years at Conway. Unfortunately both he and good pal John McCaffrey(18) narrowly failed to par their last two holes and they had to settle for an impressive 2nd place with 41 points.

Taking the honours today with a low winning score of 41 points to reflect the tough and breezy but enjoyable conditions was Pleasington’s Ian Waddington and Ian Murray. Retired Waddington used to buy and sell pigs for a living. Today he hit a few ‘snorters’ off the tee his pals were left ‘scratching’ their heads as he played unusually good golf to take home the bacon. Well played chaps, excellent golf.

Thanks to all players for your support, to have over 100 players travel to North Wales was terrific -thank you very much. Yours in golf, Tim

2’s £112.50 3 pro v1s or 6 srixons per 2 Archie Tahir Iain Bartholomew Brendan Leighton Steve Johnson Cameron Massey Chris Meikleham David Kelly Tony Coleman John Williams

Nearest the Pin 2nd John Williams Dozen AD333s
Nearest the Pin 15th David Kelly Dozen AD333s

Start times at Knutsford on Thursday
Room for individual playersof groups of 2/4
8.39 Jim Caldwell x2
8.48 Ian King x4
8.57
9.06 Des Kelly x4
9.18 Mick Mahon x4
9.27
9.36 Anthony Grimley x2 Mark Williams x2
9.45 Archie Tahir x4
9.54 Brian Greenbank x4
10.03 Steve Johnson x2
12.01
12.20 Phil Vokes x4
12.30 Colin Roberts x4
12.38 Neville Dennis x4
12.47 Pete Short x2
12.56 Brian Hopkins x4
1.05 Paul Lord x2 Dave Reynolds x1
1.14 Steve McDermott x4
1.23 Steve McDermottx4

Great upcoming Maxitours events for April

Conway Monday 27th April – last few spaces
Knutsford Shotsaver Singles 30th April- spaces
Prestbury Belding Classic 7th May-full but may get you in!!
Pleasington Etiqus Masters 14th May-last couple of spots
Hopwood ‘The 2under Open’ 21st May-nearly full
Ringway Taylor Made AM AM 28th May- Nearly full