Higgins steals the show at Lichfield Golf Club
This was the biggest field so far for a CGS event. Some 39 members and one guest came to show off their golfing skills.
On the first tee Vassell Brown showed his early intentions by ripping his tee shot down the fairway with a slight draw, leaving a short wedge onto the green. There were other great starts and some not so good. Anyone who’s ever played the course will know about the out-of-bounds on the left of the first fairway. I think some forward planning and maybe investment in a course planner would have helped. The only woman golfer in the field was Deloris Simon who did herself proud and at one stage was actually leading the longest drive competition!
Some groups found the sunny conditions a bit too difficult to handle but got around in the end. We ‘Brit’s’ are never satisfied ”top unuh noise an enjoy di weather”
Top golfing honours for the day has to go to Ian “Iggy” Higgins (pictured, receiving the trophy from vice-chairman Carl Douglas) who already won our Good Friday event at Licky Hills. It seems Ian is getting used to winning, “need to put a stop to that”.
Congratulations are in order for a tremendous score of 39 points considering the size of the field and the sometimes slowness of play. It was good that you were able to keep your head and still bring it home. Also ‘congrats’ on your automatic place in the team to take on the Chris Morris Golf Society in September for the “Carib-Morris” cup.
Runner-up on the day was Michael Taylor with 38 points, who in his own words “put together a reasonable round it was nothing spectacular but I was able to hold a few putts and hit some greens in regulation which I have to do playing off my handicap. I also had some luck and Keith Salmon seems to bring me some luck whenever I play with him”. Michael or Micky as he’s sometimes called is already a winner this year and is now massing his points for the order of merit! Micky is part of a contingent of players who are members at the private club in Sandwell, so far this year the Sandwell members have done very well at CGS Majors wining nine of the fifteen trophies on offer so far this year!
In with 36 points and third place was Paul Ramsey, also a member of the Sandwell Golf club. Paul was happy to add his third place finish to his first place in the longest drive competition and gained some valuable points for the order of merit. Paul said “I was hitting the ball very well today and hardly used my driver! I also left a few shots out there, so it could have been so much better!”
I remember the long drive whole the 11th. The drive hit by Ramsey looked like a mirage in the sun, it was so far our there that you could just about see the marker. With that vision of distance the inevitable happens, time to break out the “Big Dog”, and in the mind of all the big hitters is “Mi gwaan lace dis one”!…. and what comes next “Four”. Well Mr Ramsey’s drive stood up to the challenge of 28 other golfers and some big hitters amongst them.
Other notables were Tony Lamont, a 28 handicapper who had one of his best rounds with the CGS and recorded a very credible score of 33 points. He’s starting to get the “bandit” label. Don’t worry Tony it means you’re improving. Win as much as you can while your handicap is coming down because when it gets really low it gets harder to win.
Denny Senior our hard working club secretary is now coming into his own; he started like a train for the first seven holes scoring 15 points and had good reason to believe that it was his time to visit the winners circle. However with the warm conditions he forgot to time himself, remember man, it’s not how you start, but how you finish. Denny said “it was the sun and the flies getting in my line of putting that was a big distraction” ….joker! For a long time Denny was also leading the longest drive competition with some 36 other golfers behind him until Delores beat it. However he’s starting to play some good golf, that sombrero is starting to look like a good fit we need to watch this man!Club captain Jacko had a great first nine holes recording 20 points but was also unable to keep it going. Jacko had no comment but only to say he will be back and normal service will resume.
Don Bramble the gentle giant with an awesome game playing off 8 recorded 31 points, Don said “I played a good game today but I couldn’t buy a putt. I was good tee to green but the putts would not drop, you cannot win every time you go out maybe next time”.
Nearest the pin on the shortest par 3 on the course went to Billy Banga, another one of the Sandwell crew. Billy said by his standards he’s had a quiet start to the season. I’m sure he’ll be back with a “Bang!” For his winning shot he hit a lovely eight iron onto the 160 yard par 3 15th. Billy said “I had to feature somehow and this will now kick start my season”.
Finally the CGS would like to thank Lichfield Golf Club for welcoming us to their club. A special thanks for sorting out an incident we had with one of our members. Mr John Kirnon, bought a brand new glove in the shop but left it on the reception counter by mistake and came back to find it had gone. After some attempts by reception to try and find it a conversation with the manager followed up with a replacement glove for John.
Also thanks goes to the starter and course marshal who called out the groups and each player by name and also calmed the nerves of some ahead of their round.
The committee would like to thank all the members for again subscribing to the event with payments up-front. We would also like to remind everyone of the issues regarding slow play and hope that you can continue to improve this area of your game, which will make the day’s event much more enjoyable. Remember no one wants to be out on the golf course for five and half hours, that’s too long, so please, please try and speed up play by improving your etiquette on the course.
Event Result: