Big Dean Leith is a Winner at The Chase
This event was well supported again by the CGS members and their guests and we had another great morning welcome this time by ‘The Chase Golf Club’. Tea, coffee, egg and bacon rolls before the days proceeding was truly appreciated.
Today’s event was about securing a place for the ‘Ryder Cup’ match against the Chris Morris society, so with places up for grabs everyone in contention was charged up and raring to go! Both Carl Douglas and Junior Harris were keen to be the first back to back winners on the CGS tour, they gave it a go,…more about the winners and losers later.
There were some good drives off the first tee with everyone in the first group in position for regulation golf on to the first green. So why Ken Brown with a sand iron in his hand ended up with a blob is beyond me! This was a great looking course but there were lots of traps waiting for us and some five par 5’s and long par 4’s which were more like par 5’s with the strong winds. The greens were lighting fast, which saw birdie chances turned into pars and pars in to bogies and bogies into double bogies! If you got caught up in the rough and was lucky enough to find your ball, getting out of it was a different challenge all together.
One of our lady members 19 handicap Mrs Mary Riley had a very good round, she was out driving, out putting and out scoring the lads in her four ball and recorded a very credible 30 points, which beat her husband Keith, who scored 26 points (Keith will now have to do all the washing and cooking for the next four weeks!) Watch out Dave, Deloris will be next to win the bet!
On the course there were a number of other highlights, despite the speed of the greens Roan Mcleod was beginning to find his range, sinking three long putts of 20+ feet to save par, or to only drop one shot. Dave Simon was the bunker champion nearly holing out on three separate occasions from green side bunkers. I noticed our Sandwell friends were quiet today, I suppose they were secure in the fact that they had qualified for the Ryder Cup! We know we can’t keep them down so watch out for them at the next event in September.
The eventual winner on the day was Mr ‘B.I.G’ himself Dean Leith (Pictured receiving his award from CGS member Mary Riley) with a score 34 Stableford points. Dean said “I was really happy to win at least one event this year. I have been working very hard on my game and my handicap is slowly coming down which will please many people, I always like getting out there and mixing it with the boys, I enjoyed my round with my four ball we had a laugh”.
After eighteen holes of golf it was good to get off the course, shower, relax and have some food and drink in the nineteenth. The bar and lounge staff were great the service was excellent and although this event was without an evening meal the kitchen stayed open to provide us with some lovely food on request. The CGS would like to thank the golf professional and all the staff at The Chase Golf Club for making our stay an enjoyable one!!
The Committee would also like to thank all its members for keeping the CGS standards of etiquette throughout the day on and off the golf course.
Other Notables:
In second place on count back also with 33 points was George Oliver.
George said “It was difficult to put out there and it was just a matter of trying to keep the round ticking over. I think most would say today was a case of ‘what could have been’ but I enjoyed playing with the guys around me and looking forward also playing in the team against the other society”
In third with 33 points was Carl Douglas.
Carl said, “ I tried by best to become the first back to back major winner but lost a couple of shots here and there, but I was very please to picked up another Trophy and be apart of the this year team to play in the Ryder Cup style match against the ‘Chris Morris’ society’”
Longest Drive:
This went to the silky skills of Roan McLeod with a very long and straight drive around 300 yards into a strong cross wind. For a guy who rarely uses his driver off the tee it was incredible to witness the shot. Roan said” when it works it works, It has been a long time since I won one of these so I’m happy and I look forward to many more”. Well done Roan and remember to complete the drug testing form on my desk in the morning!
Nearest the Pin:
This went to a gentleman, George Oliver produced a great 7 iron onto the 167 yard par 3 eighteenth to within 6 feet of the pin! Great shot George we all saw it from the balcony, very impressive in deed!