Maxitours at lovely Lancaster

Maxitours players visited one of Lancashire’s finest golf courses today.

‘That is a great golf course !’ Declared Niall Lynch.
‘Lancaster! -What a brilliant venue!’ Announced knowledgeable Rob Kenyon.
‘Best Clubhouse I have ever seen!’ Reported Architect Francis Dean.

Thanks to everyone at this friendly Golf Club for making us feel so welcome. Even the Captain popped in to introduce himself and Niall (the steward) and his staff were really terrific with our guys today. The new Covid restrictions were in place, very safe and well thought out- well done Lancaster!

It doesn’t take very much to keep Dutch nice guy Koos Alders happy. He burst into the Clubhouse ‘Did you see zat shot of mine into ze eighteenf ole?
‘No, sorry’
‘I hit it to tventy von veet’
Well done Koos – zat is weally gut.

I was reading the sign by the clubhouse that warned people not to congregate in the area as you are in danger of being hit by a stray 18th tee shot. I was wondered why it was there as it would take a very wild shot to reach the Clubhouse- until I heard a little bit of rustling as Pete Ledger lined up his approach from under a nearby bush.

Can somebody tell Arthur Young that lockdown is now over and the hairdressers are open for business. I am not sure what he was struggling to control the most. His hair or his golf ball. Both were had a mind of their own after being buffeted by the North sea breeze.

Bryson De Chambeau has put on a few stone and is hitting the ball further. In an amazing coincidence Ed Wilkinson has also put on exactly the same amount of weight but he is actually defying the odds by hitting it a bit shorter than he used to. Incredible.

In todays event scoring was poor with nearly half the field failing to break par. Either conditions were tough or everyone is getting worse.

Simon Hemsleys Bramall team like going out first and they laid down a good marker with 82 points. Ian King(6) Gareth Bradley(+3) and Joe Kirwan (6) are all on good form.

This score led for much of the day before Mick Mahon(22) equalled it but had a superior back nine. Mick won his first event for years three weeks ago and then followed it up with last place. But he proved it was no fluke today as Richard Palmer(10) John Farnsworth (22)and Dave Westwood (18) all played well to take second on the card play off.

There was no sign of the wind easing and scores remained on the high side until the popular Antrobus Golf Club steward Dave Buckley(17) , Jim Spears(15) Pete Stewart(9) and Will Lancaster(2) came home in 44 points after an average front nine to score 83 points and take first place. .They picked up five shots on the closing three holes. Lancaster was on fire at Lancaster. The likeable young man had SEVEN birdies. Brilliant. Well played chaps.

Thanks for our 100% attendance. Terrific.
Tim

Nearest the pin 13th 5ft Gareth Bradley Doz AD333
Nearest the pin 18th Dan Cooper 4ft 6 inch Doz AD333

2’s £220 6 pro v1s or 14 srixons per 2.
Will Lancaster Mick Mahon Martin Humphries Phil Robinson Colin Bryan Jim Hodges Jonny Barton Paul Verdon Chris Adams Martin France Brian Ankers

Hopwood start times Thursday 16th July

10.00 Simon Hemsley x4
10.10 Colin Roberts x4
10.20 Rob Platt x4
10.30 Dave Goodwin x4
10.40 Lewis Marland x4
10.50 Mick Mahon x4
11.00 Steve Hall x4
11.10 Paul Gilbert x4
11.20 Jim Clarke x4
11.30 Martin Humphries x4
11.40 Rob Weston x4
11.50 Paul Fell x4
12.00 Martin Bramwell x4
12.10 Eddie Ellis x4
12.20 Andy Cox x4
12.30 Russell Sollitt x4
12.40 Ian Hellens x4
12.50 Roger Percival x4
1.00 Kev Hart x4 owes
1.10 Les Russon x4
1.20 Rob Kenyon x4
1,30 John Hunt x4
1.40 Dave Sully x4
1.50 Dave Buckley x4
2.00 Richard Blackwell x4
2.10 Neil Edwards x4
2.20 Neil Edwards x4
2.30 John Wallis x4
2.40 Gary Neiles x4
2.50 Bri Hopkins x4
3.00 Lee Tilley x4 tbc

Event news:
Lancaster 6th July – full – superb clubhouse catering available
Hopwood 16th July- full
Lymm 21st July –venue changed to lovely Romiley– please let me know if you can’t play.(entries open for rearranged Lymm on 15th September)

Maxitours at pure Preston

Head greenkeeper Jonny Roberts is at the top of his game and he did a fantastic job to get the Preston course in amazing condition. The phenomenal greens were cut and ironed for our players. They were also incredibly fast considering the rain that has fallen. Other courses in the area were underwater but this class green keeper doesn’t know the meaning of a course closed sign- brilliant.

‘Those Greens were magnificent!’ Reported Cheshire senior Captain Gareth Bradley.
Regular player Andy Buckley announced that it was ‘The best course I’ve played in a while.’ His girlfriend gives birth next week so it will be the only course he will play for a while. Good luck Andy.

Registration for today’s event was in the driving range academy so I had the pleasure of working alongside head pro Andy Greenbank. He was great company and a huge help to me and my players. Thanks to a top, top professional.

Pete Dolans team had an impressive 14 putts between them on the first green to get their round of to a desperate start. Things didn’t improve very much throughout the day.

At the half-way house the superb sausage rolls were the talk of the day.
Paul Woodbine had a near death experience when a gust of wind blew the puff pastry back into his mouth just as he was taking a mouthful. It took him three holes to recover.

Kev Hart was cold, wet and famished when he reached the promised land of the half way house. He was just about to savour his first delicious bite into his warm sausage roll when it was snatched from his grasp.It was card payment only and his team just had cash. It started to rain a little harder on the unlucky Swinton man as he trudged hungrily to the tenth tee.

There were plenty of soggy scorecards handed in to me but retired policeman Andy Hall gave me an immaculate looking card. I don’t know how he did it. Playing partner Mick Fenton suggested that it could have been stored in his wallet which is known to be watertight.

There is no chance of Dave Knight getting corona virus. His damp waterproofs haven’t been washed for years so all his team were keeping at least thirty feet away from him throughout the day,

In today’s event two teams tied second with 81 points. Neale Laurents(15) Dukinfield team of John Harrop(11) Chris Clough(13) and Paul McDermott(14) had 44 on their front nine but fell away with 37 points on the back nine.

Ed Wilkinsons Lymm team had 37 on their front nine but an impressive 44 on the back nine to win the card play off. Ed’s golf has improved since he started eating an orange a day. Unfortunately for his waist line it’s a Terrys chocolate one. Roger Percival (5) Martin(2) and David France(18) were his team mates.

The Fixby Hall team took first place with 82 points. Mike Dempsey(12) had back to back birdies on the 11th and 12th holes. John Dickenson(18) Arthur Gray(12) and Pete Newey(14) completed the team. Well played guys.

Many thanks to everyone for your tremendous support today. I had just one team I know well cancel with a legitimate reason. Everyone showed their class – thank you very much this is really appreciated. I hope you enjoyed this great venue.
Tim

Nearest the pin 12th Mike Dempsey Doz AD333
Nearest the Pin 14th hole Martin France AD333s

2’s £210 3 pro v1s 8 srixon AD333
Dave Greenwood Munro Donald John Hilton Dave Cooper Gareth Bradley Charlie Bradley Darren Burgles Mike Dempsey Roger Percival x2 Martin France x2 Andrew Cox Lee Jackson Alastair Holloway Janet Heywood Donna Sully Josh Street

Lancaster Golf Club start sheet
Monday 6th July
Full catering available- please support these lovely caterers.
Superb breakfast rolls , sandwiches salads etc

10.00 Simon Hemsley x4
10.09 Colin Roberts x4
10.18 Jim Caldwell x4
10.27 Lewis Marland x4
10.36 Dave Goodwin x4
10.45 Neale Laurent x4
10.54 Mike Kirchin x4
11.03 Koos Alders x4
11.12 Mick Mahon x4
11.21 Chris Adams x4
11.30 Jim Clarke x4
11.39 Ian Hellens x4
11.48 Bob Eastwood x4
11.57 Paul Fell x4
12.03 Andy Cox x4
12.12 Tim Spencer x4
12.21 Roy Ainsworth x4
12.30 Sam Leach x4
12.39 Pete Fotheringham x4
12.48 Simon Poucher x4
12.57 Nigel Uttley x4
1.06 Roger Percival x4
1.15 Graham Pike x4
1.24 Les Russon x4
1.33 Dave Sully x4
1.42 Martin Humphries x4
1.51 Dave Buckley x4
2.00 Bri Hopkins x4
2.09 Kev Hart x4
2.18 Gary Neiles x4
2.27 Barry Jackson x4 in
2.36 Andy Bennett x4
2.42 Andy Bennettt x4
2.50 Lee Tilley x4
2.59 Simon Ashton x4

Dear Maxitours player,

The Preston course is still open and playable so the event is going ahead

In addition to the 18 hole competition there will be prizes for scores after 9 holes

Thank you
Tim

Dear Maxitours player,

Todays event is still on.
The excellent USGA Greens ensure the course is still open for play and the greenkeeper is very positive that they can take the current rain.

I will update the website again at 10 am

Yours in Golf, Tim

*Preston on Friday- strt sheet below. Please collect cards from the driving range which will be open to warm up. There will also be a half way house available for snacks

Maxitours at marvellous Mere

Perfect golfing conditions greeted 140 Maxitours Competitors at The Mere Golf Resort and Spa.

The greens were rolling superbly and there were lots of positive comments about this phenomenal Cheshire venue.

Even before his round Sam Leach was looking forward to the Preston event on Friday rather than his game at Mere today. ‘I’m not playing with this lot at Preston- I’ve got half a chance.’
When he finished his round today I asked him how today’s team performed ‘They started badly and then crumbled.’

Graham ‘the pie man’ Jackson is a fast-food loving Maxitours legend and his eating habits are regularly mentioned in my reports. I have also been known to enjoy the odd portion of chips. Today I called in at the Cranford café on the way to Mere and surprised myself by ordering a salad box. Just as I opened the box at Lunch time Graham walked in with his team scorecard and his eyes lit up ‘Ha! Caught you eating! What is in that box! He chuckled.
‘Salad.’ I replied.
He took a quick peek to remind himself what a cucumber looked like and then made a quick exit.

In todays event ex- Club Captain Nigel Eckersley(10) led his under-rated Knutsford team into 5th place with 80 points playing alongside Jeremy Lawton(14), Dave Horsley(6) and Matt Clement(12).

Taking 4th place late in the day was Richard Blackwell(13), Garry Smith(11) Nick Moores(12) and John Hilton(13)
The Withington team of Martin Keates(3), John Owen(11), Kev Hawkins and Simon Raine(6) took a card play-off third also on 82 points.
Taking second was the Wilmslow low handicap team of Paul Dalby(6) Phil Vokes (4) Matt Birch (2) and Kevin Hamilton (scr). They had eight gross birdies between them to secure eighty six.

Winning today was the Macclesfield Golf Club Captain Chris Massey(3) and his team. I have known Chris since we played together nearly every day as Juniors. He won his fair share of mars bars off me. Rick Ward (4) Tom Hollingworth(3) and Tom Silcock(8) all played great to score a magnificent 88 points to take their first ever victory. The team had four 2’s. Brilliant.

The closed Clubhouse saved Liam Rex a fortune after he had a hole in one on the 3rd hole. Congratulations!

Thanks to everyone for another full house. Tim

Nearest the pin 12th Nigel Eckersley Doz AD333
Nearest the pin 16th Jim Clarke Doz AD333

2’s £255 3 pro v1s or 7 srixon AD333

Liam Rex x2 (hole in one)Kevin Hamilton Mark Hughes John Russell John McCaffrey Lee Charnley Josh Street Steve Aspinall Alan Simpson Craig Forsyth Graham Davenport Andrew Monk Brian Greenbank Dave Sarsfield Jim Hodges Christie Beakey Munro Donald Jim Kenyon Nigel Eckersley Dave Horsley Jim Kenyon Simon Beswick Bernie Scott Chris Burrows Rick Ward Tom Hollingworth Tom Silcock

One of our Maxitours players Bob Pickthall is a more talented singer than he is a golfer and he has forwarded this email;
Like most of you, I have had a lot of spare time during Lockdown. I decided quite early on that I wanted to do something creative and worthwhile with my time so I joined forces with my full-time musician friend, Ian Lawton, to write a couple of songs.

We wrote one of the songs with the intention of raising funds for Cancer Research UK. The song ‘When it’s Really Really Over’ is about all the things we long for after Lockdown and when we get a magical vaccine!We’ve called the project FUTURESCOPE.( for obvious reasons)

Unfortunately, a lot of Cancer Research UK’s normal sources of funding (such as the London Marathon and Race For Life etc) have been cancelled due to the pandemic. The charity is predicting a 20-25% decline in fundraising income this financial year and has already been forced to make £44m cuts to its research spend.

Whilst the pandemic will hopefully be behind us this time next year, the need for Cancer Research goes on! My wife, Jenny, and I have both recovered from Cancer due to amazing improvements in treatments over the past 20 years. We are committed to keeping these improvements moving forward to help future generations.

We hope that you can help by doing 3 things:
1. Watch and hopefully enjoy the Video to our song, ‘When it’s Really Really Over’, use the following link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZqyjSgks6o
For best AUDIO/VISUAL go to You Tube on a Smart TV, Search IANROB for the video.
2. Please donate if you can. To donate press this link to the Cancer Giving page https://bit.ly/3dJNy26

3. Please pass on to friends, family and colleagues (10 other or more if you can). Momentum is so vitally important to maximise the fundraising.
Your donation and sharing of the details will make a great difference and

See our other song ‘Let the World Unite’ by following the link IANROB- Unite. You’ll find both songs if you search for IANROB on YouTube on your Smart TV.

Preston start sheet
Friday 3rd July

9.50 Ian King x4.
10.00 Colin Roberts x4.
10.10 Gareth Winston x4
10.20 Steve Fairclough x4.
10.30 Jim Clarke x4
10.40 Nigel Jenkins x4.
10.50 Sam Leach x4.
11.30 Lewis Marland x4.
11.40 Neale Laurent x4.
11.50 Pete Dolan x4
12.00 Pete Dolan x4
12.10 Paul Fell x4. (£50)
12.20 Richard Blackwell x4.
12.30 Munro Donald x4. (£50)
12.40 Ian Hellens x4
12.50 Steve Aspinall x4. (£50)
1.00 Jim Rymer x4
1,10 Dave Buckley x4 (£50)
1.20 Mick Mahon x4.
1.30 Kev Hart x4.
1.40 Dave Goodwin x4.
1.50 Lee Tilley x4.
2.00 Martin France x4
2.10 Martin Cox x4. (£50)
2.20 Garry Owen x4.
2.30 Dave Sully x4.
2.40 Bri Hopkins x4
2.50 Gary Neiles x4. (£50)
3.00 Ian Hellens x4.
3.10 Dave Griffiths x4
3.20 Neil Edwards x4
3.30 Neil Edwards x4

IANROB- Unite