The GC Level team played their second match of the week entertaining Cheltenham on 27 August. The team was Neil Pinker (2), Tony Curson (2), Feona Bickley (3), Sally Helvey (4), Bob Hart (6) and Anwen Owens (7). Cheltenham brought a very strong team to the match consisting of Ivor Brand (0), Richard Brand (0), Ray Bassett (1) and Paul Watson (1).
Although everyone had come prepared for wet weather, as forecast, the rain passed through before play started and the day was dry and very warm in the afternoon. The match started off with two doubles matches and Anwen and Tony triumphed over Ivor and Paul 7-4 to give a score of 1-1 after the first round. The first round of singles resulted in four wins for Cheltenham and the second round of singles was only slightly better with Anwen being the only winner. This gave a lunchtime score of 8-2 to the visitors.
After lunch there was a change in fortunes with three singles wins for Tony, Neil and Feona to close the gap to 9-5. The last round of singles was shared two all with Neil beating Paul and Feona having a very good win over Ivor 7-4. This meant that Cheltenham had won the match and in the last round of doubles they extended their lead to a final score of 13-7.
Despite the loss the team played well and learned from playing against lower handicapped players. As a result of his two wins and one loss in the singles matches Neil’s handicap has reduced to 1. Thanks also to David for refereeing all day.
The teams last game is away to Broadwas, complete with sloping lawns, on 9 September.
GC Level Success v Camerton & Peasedown
The club’s GC Level Team entertained Camerton & Peasedown at the Rec on 24 August. The visitors had a strong team including three players with handicaps of -1,0 and 0. The clubs team was Pete Miles, Neil Pinker, Sally Helvey, Feona Bickley, Anwen Owens and Tony Curson.
After the first round the score was 2-2. We won the next round 3-1 but Camerton came back in the third to level the match 6-6 at lunch. We had a good fifth round with Pete and Sally winning their second doubles of the day and Feona and Neil also winning their games. We needed to win 2 of the final 4 singles games to gain an overall win. Pete and Feona lost their games, both against low handicap players, but Neil came back from 6-4 down to win his game 7-6. This meant we had a draw at the worst. In the final game to finish Sally was playing Andy Loakes (handicap 0) and was 6-5 down. However after some good play at hoop 12 with Andy repeatedly clearing from distance Sally brought the score back to 6-6. With all the other players watching Sally won the game at golden hoop to give the team a win 11-9. The team now go on to play at home to Cheltenham on Thursday.
Thanks also to Sue Duncan for a busy day of refereeing.
Good Performances at Hamptworth GC C and D Level Tournaments
Last weekend several club members played in the GC C(handicap 7+) and D (handicap 10+) level tournaments at Hamptworth.
On the Saturday Kasia Laganowska, Monica and Neil Baker took part in the C Level. Monica won all three of her morning block games and Kasia won two of her three games. This gave them both places in the afternoon main knockout. Neil played in the Plate competition. Both Kasia and Monica won their Q/F matches to advance to the S/F’s. Monica was beaten by Phil Hendy of Camerton & Peasedown 7-4 in her semi and eventually finished in 4th position. Kasia won her semi against Susan Bellew ( Bristol) and came up against Hendy in the final eventually losing 7-4. Neil finsished in 15th place. It was a very long day for all as play went on until after seven o’clock.
On the Sunday four members, Carol & Mike Gorvett, Marion Bedford and Hanna Laganowska Black competed in the D Level tournament. Due to the late finish the day before timed games were instigated. Carol and Marion were drawn in the same morning block and played each other in the first game, Marion winning 7-6. At the end of the morning games Carol, Marion and Debra Sandrey (Winterborne Valley) all had two wins each. Carol topped group with +5 hoops with the others on +4. Marion lost out on place in main knockout as she had lost to Debra. In block B Mike finished in 2nd place with two wins to proceed to main knockout. In block C Hanna, in her first senior tournament, won two of her block games to finish in second place and also go into afternoon main knockout. Carol and Mike were drawn together in the Q/F with Carol winning 7-3. Hanna won her Q/F against Roger Isaac (Budleigh) 7-3. Carol and Hanna met in the sem-final and after a close game Carol advanced to the final 4-2. In the final Carol was beaten 7-3 by David Frohnsdorff (Ryde). Hanna won her play-off game to finish in 3rd place. Mike finished in 7th position overall and Marion 13th.
Sally Helvey Wins Bath GC B Level – 2 July 26
The Club hosted a round of the national Golf Croquet B Level competition at the Rec on 2 July. Twelve players from the south of England took part including three Bath CC members, who all finished in the top four places.
The players were split into two groups of six on an all play all basis. In Block A Feona Bickley won all five of her games to finish top of the block. Anwen Owens finished in second position in the block with three wins. In Block B Sally Helvey also won all of her five games to finish first in the block. Second place went to Jill Bateman (Cheltenham) with three wins.
The top two in each block went through to the semi-finals. In the first semi-final Sally beat Anwen 7-2 whilst in the second Feona lost a close match 7-5 to Jill Bateman. The final between Sally and Jill was also a close matched game with Sally winning 7-5 to win the tournament. In the play-off for third place Feona beat Anwen 7-4.
As well as winning the tournament this gives Sally a place in the national final in September in Pendle (Lancashire) and a Croquet England Silver Merit award. Feona also gained a place in this final and a Silver Merit award when winning the B Level tournament at Hamptworth in June.
GC Handicap Team v Nailsea 29 June 26
The Handicap team came out again on 29 June for their fourth match in the series, welcoming Nailsea back to Bath.
Nailsea fielded a very different team to last time when we beat them, resulting in a difficult day for our team of Adrian, Feona, John, Kasia, Nigel and Valerie.
After a very shaky start when we were 6-2 down after two rounds, we rallied somewhat and ended with a final score of 7-13. Every game presented its difficulties but the Bath sextet battled on still smiling, even if with gritted teeth and all credit to them for doing so.
With two matches still to go, we move onward and hopefully upward.
As always we are grateful to Tony for refereeing and keeping us straight,
GC Handicap Team at home to Camerton & Peasedown 19 June 26
The Handicap team was in action again on Fri 19th June for their third match of the season. We welcomed Camerton and Peasedown A team in glorious sunshine for a day of friendly competition.
This time the team consisted of Adrian Raybould, Amanda May, John Hailey, Monica Baker, Neil Baker and Stephen Barrett.
Everyone played four games during the day and battled hard against much lower handicaps and the extra pressure of not wanting to return the first loss of the season. It all went down to the last hoop when we finished with a draw 10-10. Many congratulations to all – our team remains unbeaten!
Stephen won enough to drop his handicap, John in his first match came back from almost certain defeat to secure 6-7 victory. Adrian, Amanda and Neil both won two and lost two. Monica won three out of her four. The whole day was played in a great spirit, and overall a draw was a fair result.
Many thanks to Tony for refereeing and generally the font of all knowledge.
We now start all the return matches, when I am sure they will all be after revenge, but as ever we will battle to the end.
