News

     

County Scratch League AGM

Penrith GC

7th March 2020

  The County Scratch League Annual General Meeting took place at Penrith GC on Saturday 7th March to a very well attended meeting of Scratch Team Managers and Players. The County Captain, Neville Johnstone, was also in attendance as he had put forward a proposal to help rejuvinate the Scratch League. The Chairman, Alan Mclean, opened the meeting and after apologies and formalities the meeting got on with the agenda. The main point everyone was interested in was the proposal from the County Captain that the teams be reduced in number from a 6man team down to a 4man team. The Scratch League has always had a 6man team policy from the day the Scratch League was started. 

  The 4man team proposal is an effort to revamp the leagues which have become a little stale over the years mainly because the Northern premier league has been dominated by Carlisle Golf Club. The Manchester United of golf in Cumbria, as one golfer put it.The meeting discussed a whole batch of ideas and proposals connected with the Scratch League and a number of other problems were ironed out. Some procedures were also discussed and the delegates all had a valuable input to the meeting. The chairman was charged with a number of tasks as the meeting decided that the 4man team proposal was voted upon and passed by a large majority. All golf clubs in the county are to be contacted and invited to send a team into the County Scratch Leagues. It is hoped that the 4man team scenario will encourage a lot more interest from all clubs.

  Clubs in Cumbria will have until the 21st Of March to register their interest and then the structure of the leagues will be examined to see how they can be improved.It should be an exciting time for team golf in Cumbria.

Alan Mclean

Scratch League Secretary

  

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                                                                                                        Cumbria Union of Golf Clubs

           County Inter Club MatchPlay

       Maryport Golf Club

Sunday 19th April 2020

With the start of the Golf season a matter of a couple of months away, you wouldn't think it looking at the weather, its time to start thinking about the first of the Counties Competitions. 

At the beginning of April the Cumbria Union Squad will play a match against the South of Scotland, at Brampton Golf Club, which is always a good test of how the County squad are preparing for the season ahead. The squad will also play a match against a Lancashire select at Lee Park Golf Club near Liverpool.

On the County domestic front the Inter Club Matchplay Qualifier will be taking place at Maryport Golf Club this year. Its a change for the County but it was felt that it was time the County started to spread the competitions a little wider so that other clubs and other regular golfers at these clubs could see how these competitions are run. This Competition, which takes place on Sunday 19th April 2020, is the oldest competition run by the CUGC and is a tough competition to win. The 4man team is split into 2 teams, the 2 lowest handicappers go out first against another drawn out pairing, and the foursomes matches get underway. Team members must be aware of how both teams are progressing so that at the end of the 18 hole competition the scores are added together, and a combined result is given then, the winners go forward to the next knockout round, and start all over again.

The First and second rounds of the Inter Club Matchplay will take place at Appleby Golf Club on Sunday 24th May 2020 with the Semi-final and Final taking place at Workington Golf Club on Saturday 6th June.

Teams must register their interest in competing in this prestigious competition by instructing their Club Secretary to put their teams ( you can have up to 3 teams in the competition) into the draw through;

Tom Stout

County Secretary  at 

secretary@cumbria-golf-union.org.uk or

cumbriaugcsec@yahoo.co.uk

Watch this column for more news on CUGC competitions, entry information and results in the coming season.

 

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  Cumbria Union of Golf Clubs 

2020 Season

   Cumbria Scratch League AGM

 This years AGM (Annual General Meeting) will be taking place at Penrith Golf Club on Saturday 7th March 2020 at 11.00. Our thanks     go to Andrew and his team for giving up their valuable Club House Board Room for this meeting. 

  This years meeting looks like being a very important and memorable one, items on the agenda include proposals to completely    

  overhaul the Scratch Leagues in order to make them more competitive. Changes to formats are also proposed but it may well    

  come down to how people will be swayed by the arguements and how they vote that will be remembered.

  At the moment there are 4 leagues The Northern Premier, Southern Premier League, The North League and The West League, I        personally I can't see the 4 leagues changing but the way teams are formed and the way scoring is worked out could well change?

 All team players are invited to have their say and interact with the administration of the Scratch League and perhaps they may 

 learn a thing or two about the way things are run. Alan Mclean will chair the meeting and hopefully it will be a meeting full of ideas    to improve the Scratch League.

  Alan Mclean

 Scratch League Secretary

          

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INTERCLUB STROKEPLAY 2019

                                The Inter Club Strokeplay event will take place at EDEN GOLF CLUB on Sunday 4 th August 2019

Interclub Strokeplay Draw

TIME	CLUB      PLAYER	CLUB PLAYER	CLUB PLAYER
08.00	Stony Holme A John Longcake	Carlisle A Stephen Jopson	Eden B Alex Park
08.10	Eden B Lewis Ransley	Stony Holme A Rory Thompson	Carlisle A Andrew Wolstencroft
08.20	Carlisle A Neville Johnstone	Eden B Craig Hindmarch	Stony Holme A Nicky Bell
08.30	Brampton John Berry	Carlisle B Craig Coady	Penrith Will Dean
08.40	Penrith Kenny Maclellan	Brampton Mathew Ward	Carlisle B Lewis Cheetham
08.50	Carlisle B Robbie Cullen	Penrith Mark Wilson	Brampton Carl Kerrigan
09.00	Workington B Jack Hunter	Seascale B Johnny Lymer	Stony Holme B Daniel Ling
09.10	Stony Holme B Paul Taylor	Workington B Jonathan Crosby	Seascale A Craig Connor
09.20	Seascale B Andrew Wallace	Stony Holme B James Lambert	Workington B Ryan Pearson
09.30	Kendal James Atkinson	Seascale A Jim Stothers	Silloth Steven Hodgson
09.40	Seascale B John Rushforth	Silloth Brian Metson	Windermere Andrew Millray
09.50	Windermere Mark Chapman	Seascale A Simon Young	Kendal Dominic Barron-Holden
10.00	Silloth Allan Aitkin	Windermere Alex Rose	Kendal Dan Garnett
10.10	Eden A Greg Mossop	Ulverston Andrew Edwards	Workington A Chris Neale
10.20	Workington A Richard Mewse	Eden A Joe Bzik	Ulverston Chris Mackellar
10.30	Ulverston Luke Walker	Workington A Will Bowe	Eden A Ben Johnstone

Players are reminded they must register with the front desk in the clubhouse at least 15mins before their Tee Time. Teams must settle their food tab before leaving the premises, CUGC will not be held responsible for any unpaid tabs.  Rules of the competition will be available to view at Eden GC on the day. Winners will be invited to represent Cumbria in the England Golf Champion Club Competition. 

CCC Committee

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   INTER CLUB MATCHPLAY 2019

  The Inter Club Matchplay ( ICMP ) is to be held at ONE venue in 2019.

  The venue this year is Kendal Golf Club on Sunday 21st April 2019.

 It will remain a foursomes  team event, where the 4 man team is split into 2 pairings and then drawn against opponents pairings       from another club. Teams should enter via their Club Secretary and all entries to be sent to :-

 Tom Stout . 
 cumbriaugcsec@yahoo.co.uk

 secretary@cumbria-golf-union.org.uk

 All teams entering this competition will be placed in an open draw. This competition is open to ALL golf clubs in Cumbria.

Multiple entries will be accepted, however, if more than one team is entered to play for a club then the lowest handicapped players MUST play for the " A " team and any subsequent entries for that club will also need to be in handicap order.

The relevant fee of £40 per team, £70 for two or £100 for three teams. 

  Closing date for entries Midnight 31st March 2019.

 The draw will take place on the Sunday 7th April 2019 and posted on the website thereafter.

Interclub Stroke Play at Penrith.

   Preparations are well under way to play the ICSP Competition at Penrith on Saturday 4th August. The draw has been     completed and the first tee is at 08.00. Best of luck to all teams playing in it.

    Congratulations Stonyholme

     Many congratulations go to Stonyholme Golf Club Scratch Team on winning the North League for 2018, 

     This is the first time the team have won their league and so they must be looking forward to playing in the 

     Northern Premier League next year. Well done to Rusty Douglas and the team for a great season.

    Caitlin Masters Europe

    Carus Green Junior Caitlin Whitehead has had a fabulous win at the Hauger Golf Club in Norway.

     Caitlin had a 3 under par score after 54 holes to take the European Masters Title.

     The 15 year old was said to be "really pleased" with her win, she said she had been playing well all season but hadn't managed to        win many tournaments,  so was happy to finish one off.  She expressed how much she enjoyed the competition and went on to          say  in the last round she hit 17 greens in regulation making it a lot easier to make birdies.   

     We say many many congratulations on a fantastic win. Well done Caitlin. 

  Seascale B win their league

    Many congratulations to Seascale B who have won the Scratch League West League with a game in hand.

    The team, fancied by many in the know, would have been bitterly disappointed had they not lived up to everyone’s    

    Expectations. Seascale B will now join their loftier brothers Seascale A in the Northern Premier League for the first

    Time ever,  Well done Seascale B.

      Not again !!!!

     You might not believe it, and who would, but that old campaigner Terry Rhodes has had another hole in one, anyone who has            ever had one will know how difficult it is to do, but this is Terry’s 12th! Said Simon Young when told of it, unbelievable,!!!

   Well done Terry

      Inter Club Match Play at Brampton Golf Club

    The Four clubs who had reached the semi final stage of this ICMP competition were Carlisle A and Kendal A, and Furness B and the unknown Dark horse of the county, Stony Holme.  They are flying high at the top of the North League in the County Scratch League and look set to be promoted to the top flight of  Scratch League golf in Cumbria. The play began with Carlisle A teeing up against Kendal A at a beautifully manicured but burnt to a crisp Brampton course that would offer Links conditions on a Parkland course. The Carlisle players consisiting of Kieran Waters and Will Postlethwaite,were first off against Kendals young Damon Barron-Holden and the journeyman of Kendal, Greg Dixon.

         The other Carlisle players were County Captain Nev Johnstone and fellow ex County Player Geoff Nixon, playing against Sam Doidge and James Atkinson of Kendal. The kendal duo tried their best to contain the Carlisle ex County stars but to no avail as they ground down their Kendal opponents. Waters and Postlethwaite despatched of their opponents in a business like manner to reach the final, In the other semi final it was Stony Holme who started the better and looked like they would comfortabley take their place in the final, but ,no one had told the Furness team who came back at Stony Holme with avengeace and eventually ran out as winners  to meet Carlisle in the final.

The two best teams in the County were to play head to head matchplay golf, but in an unusual move, the Furness captain asked if he could swap around his pairing and was given permission , but it seemed to work agast them as the back pairing of Rob Spence and Dave Pearson fell 3 down very quickly and the pairing of Johnstone and Nixon kept that distance  between them and the Furness duo could only fleetingly make dents into there lead. Waters and Postlethwaite  made a fine job of beating Rob Leitch and Jon Clarke 3up and looked to the old soldiers  of Johnstone and Nixon to finish off the job. This they did with style and ended Furness 's dreams by beating then3up. In the end it was a win for Carlisle 6 &5. Well done to Carlisle and many comisserations to the Furness team.

    Carlisle bt Furness 6&5

    County 4's at Carlisle Golf Club 20th May 2018

Scratch League Finals Day - Barrow Golf Club, 20th August 2017

Barrow Golf Club were the host to the Scratch League Finals and the course had been prepared beautifully with the teams certainly appreciating all the work that went in to it.

The qualifiers for the day from the South of the County were Furness, winners of the Southern Premier League, and Kendal A who were runners up. The Northern Premier league winners were Carlisle A, with Carlisle B runners up, surely a first for Finals day. The promotion Final was to be fought out between Workington B and newcomers to Finals Day Appleby.

In the first Semi-final Kendal A were drawn against the favourites Carlisle A whilst Furness were drawn out against Carlisle B.

Carlisle A fielded a team which oozed experience in Greg Waters, Geoff Nixon, Nev Johnstone, Stephen Jopson and Kieran Waters along Andrew Wolstencroft who was brought in at No 4.This team proved too strong for the Kendal squad of Simeon Barsby, Kyle Gilbertson, Andy Earl, Graham Hayton, Greg Dixon and Dom Barron Holden, with Carlisle A winning 4 ½ - 1 ½.

The second semi-final saw the Furness team of Isaac Caine, Liam Mcnulty, Mark Diamond, Rob Leitch, Jon Clarke and Rob Spence dominate the Carlisle B team consisting of Marcus Dodds, Travis Little, Jamie Newton, Johnny Mossop, Craig Coady and Archie Davies with Furness bringing home a 5-1 win.

Alongside these matches the Promotion final was also taking place between Appleby and Workington B. The Workington team consisted of Mark Brasted, Paul Brown, Paul Shearman, Andrew Shilito, Chris Drabble and Adrian Drabble who proved to be too strong for the Appleby team of Ian Moncaster, Andrew Moncaster, Nigel Robinson, Adam Elliot, Grant Doherty and Nick Sowerby with a nail biting finish leading to Workington B finishing off with a win of 3 ½ - 2 ½.

After a hectic schedule in the morning play resumed after lunch with the main event, The Scratch League final between Carlisle A and Furness,  which on paper looked like it was to be a very good match, it did not disappoint.

After all matches passed through 9 there was nothing between the teams and as each match came towards the finish they all were still fighting it out coming up the 18th. 1st match in between Greg Waters and Isaac Caine ended all square shortly followed by Geoff Nixon beating Liam McNulty 1up.

3rd game in saw Andrew Wolstencroft beating Mark Diamond 1up. County Captain Elect Nev Johnstone again was fighting it out up the 18th against Rob Leitch, which by now Furness really needed a win, but the old campaigner did the business and won 1 up, which was enough to win the title but Jon Clarke and Rob Spence gave Furness a little reward by beating their opponents of Stephen Jopson and Kieran Waters again both on the last hole.

 Carlisle A    3 ½        Furness    2 ½  

A fantastic standard of golf which was a pleasure to watch. Congratulations go to Carlisle A while heartfelt commiserations go to Furness for a great final.

Alan Mclean.

Scratch League Secretary

Sam Matthews has taken on a key role to support Cumbria golf clubs to grow the game 12.07.17

He is a new England Golf Club Support Officer and will be helping clubs to strengthen their business and to attract more players and members.
Sam said: “I’m really excited about this opportunity to work with clubs in Cumbria, listening to and understanding their business needs. Using that knowledge I can support them to provide the experience their customers want.” He added: “I have always had a great love for golf, starting playing as a child progressing through county and North of England junior squads culminating in qualifying as a PGA Golf Professional five years ago.
“I created my own Sam Matthews Golf brand delivering bespoke coaching and providing professional services across Cumbria and North Lancashire.
“I have also been a personal trainer for a number of years, this experience and expertise fuses effectively with my passion for golf performance and physical excellence”.
England Golf’s new strategy for 2017-21, Growing the game of golf in England, focusses on the customer and the importance of providing them with the golfing experience they want, whether that’s competitive play, social opportunities or short format golf which fits into busy lifestyles.
It also has the over-arching aim of encouraging more women and girls into golf. Currently only 15% of club members are women, but research shows that 640,000 women and girls are interested in taking up the sport.
Among the initiatives Sam will be promoting is the Get into golf campaign, which offers great value coaching opportunities to new and improving players, and Golf Express, which promotes shorter format golf.
Jason Budd, England Golf’s Regional Manager, commented: “I am sure Sam will be a tremendous asset to the county and they will support the clubs to increase participation and club membership.”
Contact Sam Matthews at s.matthews@englandgolf.org For more information on Get into golf visit www.getintogolf.org and on Golf Express visit www.golfexpress9.org

Cumbria County 4's 21.05.17

The promised fine weather for Sunday 21st May never really materialised but that didn't dampen the enthusiasm of the 34 pairings who gathered at a Carlisle Golf Course in beautiful condition for this inaugural competition. The brainchild of Neville Johnstone and the backing of the County Championship Committee brought a sense of fun and enthusiasm back into golf that seemed to be on the wain for far to long.

In the morning a 4 ball  better ball competition would see the pairings off to an early start at 07.30 with Longcake and Carr and Bell and Amato trying to set a lead that would see them in good stead for the afternoon competition. A 68, 3 under par was a great start but the feeling was that some in the field could go lower. We didn't have to wait long for Waters and Mossop to post a very good 65, 6 under par, to set the lead that would only be matched by 2 old campaigners of County Golf in Greg Waters and Craig Postlethwaite. The Carlisle / Workington pairing of Thursby and Mewse and the Workington / Furness pairing of Bowe and Spence were not far behind on 1 shot and 2 shot behind respectively, and with 11 other pairings under par for the morning round you could see the competition was hotting up even though the weather couldn't.

The Foursomes game of golf sees 1 of the pairing driving from the tee and his partner playing the next shot and alternating until the ball is in the hole. All those spectators and officials present knew that a great understanding of  each others game, strengths and friendship would play a massive role in finding the eventual winner of this well thought out and well executed competition. Fatigue can play a massive role in this 36 hole competition, and so it was that of the 34 pairings sent out in the afternoon foursomes there was only 4 scores under par in the afternoon. Doidge and Atkinson shot a very creditable 69 in the afternoon to go with their fantastic 68 (137 total)in the morning to claim the best nett score of  134.

Though a 1 under par 70 was posted by Thursby and Mewse it was only good enough for 3rd place, a new pairing of Kendall (Furness) and W. Postlethwaite (Carlisle) came up trumps for the County Captain and his thoughts for the future County squad when the 2 young uns posted an under par afternoon round 68 to go with their 67 in the morning round to give them 2nd place on a total of 135.

Without doubt the the two most colourfully dressed golfers dazzled the competition, not only with their matching outfits of red trousers, white tee shirt and black sleeveless pullover, but also with sparkling golf of the highest standard. Bowe and Spence of Workington and Furness formed an alliance which has not only seen them win at the highest level of County Team Golf for Cumbria but also win today's competition with a fantastic 67 - 66 (135) Truly an awesome display of team golf that was appreciated by all that were present to a great days golf, professionally run and professionally played in a great friendly atmosphere. Roll on next year.

Alan Mclean