Club News

A fine, sunny day welcomed 43 pairs to the Club for our annual Mixed Open.

Excellent scoring saw the top 10 teams separated by just 2 points and the top 4 places all decided on card count back.

Congratulations to the winners on the day with 44 points – Ping Leung (North Manchester) & Linda Leung (Denton). Mixed Open 2023 Results

Results from today’s Spring Seniors AMAM – Seniors Spring AmAm 23 Results

It’s almost impossible to put into context what an achievement reaching 100 years of age is but, if you were to try, Roger Calvert had just turned six when the Ryder Cup matches took place at Moortown in 1929.

He would join the club in 1961 from Pannal where he was a former captain – ‘I only joined Moortown because I met the girl who was going to be my wife’ – and part of his 100th celebrations will involve a birthday lunch at the club.

Along with his wife they formed a phenomenal backbone to Moortown with Margaret, who died two years ago, the club’s longest-serving member at 80 years while Roger is a relative new member, having joined in 1961. Between them they have enjoyed 142 years at the club.

In the entrance hall is the honours board for the Calvert Rose Bowl, a mixed foursomes knockout, which Margaret donated for presentation to the winners. Previously it had been the Captain’s Prize won by her father, James Foreman, in 1939 and it now had a permanent home at the club. In Margaret’s eight decades at the club she would be the First Lady Vice President and a former Lady Captain who would represent Moortown an astonishing 190 as well as being the author of ‘Ladies’ Golf at Moortown from 1909’.

Interestingly her father was present when James Braid and Harry Vardon played in the exhibition match which would be the formal opening of the club in 1910. With nine Claret Jugs between them at the time, Vardon would go on to win two more, Braid would edge the match by 2&1.

Roger, similarly, comes from golfing stock. As one of six children they would all play, other than his sister, and his brother Bob would be the President of the Yorkshire Union in their centenary year of 1994. Roger spent his working life as a chartered accountant – ‘I’ll never know how I passed the tax exam, that was amazing, I’ve never been so happy!’ – and, previously, he was with the RAF during the Second World War.

He was a Flight Lieutenant in 141 Squadron based in Norfolk and between 1943-45 he would fly 32 night patrols and intruder operations as a Navigator in the twin-engined Mosquito over cities such as Leipzig and Dresden. On one operation the engine caught fire and the plane flew home on one engine for six hours. On another his oxygen pipe failed and he was unconscious for part of the flight. He would say that it was the best night’s sleep he had during the war.

He would be a regular visitor to The Open when it visited the North West and the lowest that he would get down to was a handicap of three.

Mention a course and it’s likely that he’s played it. He’s ticked off 260 different courses which is less than half of his brother Bob’s tally but remains a spectacular tally. Holidays would be spent at the likes of Woodhall Spa and Scotland and Blairgowrie in Perthshire raises a particular smile. Royal Dornoch is thrown into the conversation before Roger adds that he’s been even further north to Brora.

There have been six holes-in-one, including one at Gibraltar, which is where he first met Margaret.

“She will have been playing and I will have just been wandering about.”

One of his greatest achievements is when he captured the Lawrence Batley Over 80s event in 2015, seven years after Margaret had lifted the trophy. Around Moortown Roger carded a gross 86, an astonishing six shots lower than his age. He had previously finished second to his wife before picking up the best Over 90s and emerging victorious with 42 points.

They would become the first husband and wife to achieve the feat since the competition began in 1992.

Typically modest he admitted that there was a small slice of luck on occasion as he told the Yorkshire Post.

“Like the third, I hit three rotten shots and was in the bunker and then I holed the bunker shot. So instead of struggling to score one point I scored three. I have shot around my age before, but never like this. Mind, my next round was very much a case of after the Lord Mayor’s Show.

“I give it up nearly every week. Well, almost. It can be an irritating game but I love it.”

He finally stopped playing four years ago at the age of 96 but he continues to follow the game closely from the comfort of his armchair.

“I particularly enjoy watching Scottie Scheffler, he’s one of the best golfers that I’ve ever seen. They said that he had played 150 rounds without a three putt, I’m not sure that I’ve ever managed two! What a player he is.”

At the General Committee meeting of 18 January 2021, the following safeguarding policy and procedure documents were adopted by the Club –

MGC Child Safeguarding Policy and Procedures

MGC Adults Safeguarding Policy and Procedures

Club Welfare Officer – Chris Pennington

Contact – [email protected]

Winter work has been progressing well despite the wet weather since the middle of October.

The final turf was laid this week on those areas exposed by the winter projects to date. This involved laying wispy fescue turf to the rear of the new bunkers on the 4th and 18th holes. In addition to these bunkers the course development works completed to date are as follows –

On the 2nd hole, the blue tee has been removed and naturalised. The large green side bunker has been extended into the existing mounding and the old mound at the rear of the green has been removed to allow for a fairer pitch shot back for those that run through the green.

On the 3rd hole the fairway bunker has been removed, the green side bunker on the left remodelled and the green side bunker on the right removed with a new mound added. The green surround and walk off area has also been renovated.

The 11th green rear bunker has been altered and ‘flared up’ to improve its visibility from the fairway and in addition to the new rear bunker on 18, a large area to the left of the approach has been renovated.

The team with the assistance of contractors have installed over 500m of new drainage around the course, timed well as over 50mm of rainfall this week alone!
New drainage has been added across the moor, along the second half of the 16th fairway and a main drain through the woods behind the halfway house has been added so that future drainage work can be carried out around the 9th, 10th and 12th greens.

Jamie Allison
Chair of Green

Pictures of the Designs and Work in Progress

There was some great scoring with the later tee times seeming to return the best scores in yesterday’s Seniors Autumn AMAM, which was played on a fine autumnal day in Yokshire.

Winners with a total of 81 points were the team of Lusis, Glover, Hopkinson and Hill. All winners will receive their vouchers via email to their team Captains this week.

Seniors Autumn AMAM Results

At this time our thoughts remain with King Charles III and the Royal Family during a period of national mourning.

On Monday 19 September, the day of the State Funeral, the Clubhouse, Office and Professional Shop will be closed for the full day as a mark of respect.

The golf course will remain open for members wishing to play, please reserve a tee time in the usual manner. Should you wish to bring a guest please notify the professional shop and the guest fee will be debited from your green card on Tuesday.

All facilities will re-open on Tuesday 20 September.

Peter Rishworth
Secretary/Manager

Firm, bouncy conditions met the field of over 100 golfers on Thursday, congratulations to all the winners, full results – Mens 4BBB Open Leaderboard 180822

Our Juniors were down at Woodhall Spa last week playing in the English Junior Champion Club event. Not only were they representing Moortown, but also Yorkshire having won the county final earlier in the summer.
The format was a 36 hole tournament, with 18 holes played over two days. The winning club was to be the one with the highest aggregate nett Stableford score, taking the best two of the three man team scores in each round.

The Moortown side consisted of Joseph Ellis (Junior Captain), Matty Parlett and Josh Stephens, with Jack Ellis also travelling as a reserve, just-in-case.

The assault began with a Weds practice round on the Bracken Course assisted by Messrs Gaffney & Mortimer. With course planners at the ready, the lads agreed on which holes to play safe and which to attack. Having only 3, 2 and -1 shots respectively, the need to go and make birdies was apparent if they were to challenge in this handicap event.

The serious stuff began at 12.30 the next day, with our players being announced on to the 1st tee by the official England Golf starter, “Representing Yorkshire, from Moortown Golf Club.. etc.” All three of our lads made pars on the opening hole and we were up and running!

Out first, Josh made a solid start, going into red numbers with a birdie on the 3rd. Some shots were dropped mid round, but he rallied with another birdie on the tough 13th and followed this up with 5 straight pars to post a fine +1 score. This equated to 34 points.

Playing just behind, Matty started with 7 straight pars; but on a baking hot day, his putter unfortunately turned a little cold on the back nine, and he finished on +6 for 32 points.

Joe burnt the edges on a number of birdie putts early on. Sadly, these turned in to missed par putts mid-round and he was heard asking the throng of Moortown supporters, “has anyone bought a spare putter I can use tomorrow?” However, armed with the knowledge of what was needed to post a counting score; Joe rallied with birdies on 17 and 18 to end on +6 for 33 points.

So at the end of Day 1, the squad retired to the terrace of a local restaurant placed 18th out of the 31 teams. The boys concluded that they had hoped for a slightly better score but agree they were not out of it should the leading teams feel the pressure.

Fuelled by the momentum of Joe’s birdie on 18 and Charlie Parker’s energetic banter (The Captain arrived in a pair of Hawaiian swim shorts expectant of a cooling dip in the local lido. Something which the lad’s thought was simply fantastic!) Joe, Matty and Josh promised each other they would have “a right go at it” in round two.
Joe was first off, and in true Captain’s style, led by example turning in 1 under gross. Another birdie followed on the par 5 14th imparted gladness on a growing number of Yorkshire supporters. The group now including dignitaries from the LDUGC. Sadly, an encounter with the ditch on the tricky par 4 15th led to a challenging finish. Nonetheless, Yorkshire grit was shown, and Joe ended his round on +1, garnering an excellent 38 points for the team.

The story of the day was emerging in the group behind. Rumours swirled that a big hitting lad from Yorkshire was driving par 4s and hitting second shots into the par 5s with a wedge. These tuned out to be true. Matty P had blasted through the first 6 holes in 4 under! Over the rest of the round, the Moortown faithful were treated to a magnificent roller coaster ride. Lost ball, birdie, three putt bogey, eagle! And so, it went on. Eventually ending in a brilliant +1 73 gross and 37 points.

As ever, our final player Josh gave his absolute all for the cause and posted another solid round in the mid-70s, but off a +1 handicap, could not better the existing team Stableford score.

So, after three days of golf in blistering heat, which made even spectating difficult work. The lads retired for a well-earned drink in front of the electronic scoreboard. This ended up showing Moortown on 142 in T8th position. Although the boys were sad not to be bringing the trophy home, they know their performance was extremely credible.

The calm conditions ended up favouring teams with slightly higher handicaps. Sadly, there was no gross prize. If there had been, the Moortown Juniors would have won this by a stretch. They were only 9 over in total across the 4 counting rounds. That’s great golf!

Scoring aside, the way the lads conducted themselves made all the grown-ups who travelled in support very proud. In the words of our Captain, “those lads are a credit to the club and such good fun to be around.” Thanks to Charlie, Simon, Gary, Geoff, Martin and Richard from Moortown, plus Colin and John from the LDUGC for their help and encouragement.

It would be remiss of me to end this newsletter without mentioning Cian Magill and Joe Turner who played a big part in helping us qualify for the final. Sadly, they couldn’t come along due to holidays. Everyone will try their best to get you there next year lads.

David Ellis
Junior Organiser