Club News

Entries are now open for the Moortown Junior Bowl which is an open competition for juniors both boys and girls in and around Yorkshire. The event will be held on Friday 1st September and will consist of 18 holes strokeplay followed by a BBQ and prize presentation which is included in the entry fee. Further details of this day can be found by following the link Moortown Golf Club Junior Open 2023

Tee times can be selected on our website by going to Menu > Visitors > Open Days > Moortown Junior Bowl > Book Now

Following the success of the 2022/23 winter golf package and with the aim to attract more ladies and girls to join the Club, the Committee has agreed to introduce a new initiative called the ‘Ladies Summer Twilight Package’.

This package will run from Saturday 1st July – Saturday 30th September and offers a range of attractive perks both on and off the golf course which allows you to really get involved with what’s happening at Moortown. It will give you the opportunity to play a Championship course over 3 months this summer whilst making new friends and inviting current friends along at a discounted rate with the potential route of full membership afterward.

If you are reading this or know of any friends or family members who may be interested, please follow the link below which gives further information on this package.

Moortown Ladies Summer Twilight Package 2023

Over 100 ladies enjoyed the 2023 Ladies Open and the scoring was fantastic with 93 points taking top spot. Ladies Open 2023 Results

Sally Wilkinson from KP Club won the nearest the pin on the 4^th hole and Janet Tedson from The KP Club won on the 17^th hole.

After a morning of heavy showers the Spring AMAM competitors were treated to a fine afternoon with good scoring throughout the field. Congratulations to the winners on the day with 88points – Lee Bennett, Tommy O’Connor, Steve Ford and Peter Rossi of Seaton Carew and Cleveland Golf Club – Spring AmAm Open Result

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.”

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