Golf News April 2005 - June 2005

Read all the golf news from the Huddersfield area.

20/06/05 - Steve Bower won the Meltham Trophy after what felt like a lifetimes efforts! Bower has been trying to win the competition ever since he left the junior ranks over 20 years ago. The three handicapper produced two of the most solid rounds of golf over his home course to take the title by a stroke from fellow club mate Roger Hunt.

His son Jamie won a major Meltham club event earlier in the year when he landed the Thick Hollins Cup at the tender age of 11. Only six bogeys were accumulated against just two birdies as consistency was the order of the day as Bower had to endure a tense three hour wait to see if his score was good enough.

14/06/05 - Chris Hanson is in the form of his life! A second course record in as many weeks was broken by the Crosland Heath youngster this weekend. This time Hanson shot a six under par 65 around his home heathland course.

The five under par 65 at Woodsome Hall in the Union Team Championship was faultless, however, playing in the Presidents Prize at his local course he could even afford the luxury of a dropped shot at the opening hole, a reachable par 5 and the tricky 8th hole. Birdies at holes three and four followed with an eagle at the driveable par 4 put the form man back on track. The bogey at 8 looked like putting a dampener on a record score, however, a birdie at the ninth cancelled that out.

Birdies at holes 11, 13 and 15 over the back nine meant that Hanson broke the previous record set by ex Huddersfield Town footballer, Bob Wallace, by three shots.

Hanson put part of his recent good form down to his coach and club professional at Crosland Heath John Eyre, "John has put in a lot of work with me and done a great job," he said. "His coaching is class, I've been working with him since I was 14 and it has paid off."

06/06/05 - Woodsome Hall won the Halifax, Huddersfield Scratch Team Championship on their own course yesterday. The four man team saw off strong competition from a number of teams to win a closely fought contest.

It was the prestigious club's first victory since they last triumphed in 1992 and their fourth win since the tournament was founded in 1947. It was made all the more sweeter that it was on home turf with a number of local spectators supporting but also that this years President of the Union is Albert Guest is a member at Woodsome Hall.

Woodsome lead at the halfway stage with a string of clubs hot on their heels; West End, Meltham, Halifax Bradley Hall and Dewsbury. But local knowledge combined with good scoring produced a memorable victory. 

Chris Dyson, the leading individual at the halfway stage with Andrew Whitworth on 70, played a captains role adding a 73 to his morning total. Matthew Broadbent produced two solid rounds of 75, 76 to anchor the team firmly in position and whilst Ian Lawson's faulted somewhat in the afternoon with an 83 after a solid morning 74, it was Rob Andrews who made up for a disappointing first round 81 to record a 74 which brought home the title.

Bradley Hall pushed Woodsome Hard all the way but ultimately didn't have enough in the tank to defend their title.

At the other end of the spectrum both newly promoted clubs Bradley park and Outlane made swift returns to the 2nd Division whilst yo-yo side Saddleworth finished in an impressive 8th position. Lightcliffe were the last team to make the drop by three shots from Halifax (Ogden) and will face qualification next year.

If Woodsome Hall were the team that made the headlines it was Chris Hanson (Crosland Heath) who was the individual who had everybody talking. A superb afternoon 65 after his morning 71 not only gave him the leading individual score but tied the course record.

30/05/05 - Bradley Hall will go into this weekends Halifax, Huddersfield and District Union's Scratch Team Championship as red hot favourites. The Hollywell Green club will be looking to defend the title they won by 8 shots last year at Meltham and make it their 7th victory in the last 12 years.

Meltham, runners-up in 2004 on home soil, will again look to feature strongly as will this years hosts - Woodsome Hall. Crosland Heath, West End and Halifax (Ogden) are also likely to be in the shake up whilst Dewsbury District could be this years surprise package after finishing third last year.

Recently promoted clubs Outlane, Bradley Park and Saddleworth will make their main priority avoiding relegation by finishing outside the bottom three to ensure they do not have to pre-qualify again next year.

In a tournament they have dominated since their maiden victory in 1994 Bradley Hall, who have a history of producing quality players over the years, have options open to them this week when it comes to team selection. It is possible that the team that lifted the trophy last term; Andrew Whitworth, Paul Taylor, Jim Fairhurst and Andrew Shaw, will not stay exactly the same.  As both Martin Cockcroft and Neil Wilson are pushing for a place.

In windy conditions players struggled on the slick Fixby greens and as victor Wells said, "it was all a matter of being patient and waiting for the good things to happen." 

Indeed the conditions made the course that difficult 16 players out of the 7-man field failed to return a score. Well's morning 69 was the only score to break 70 all day and Ludwell's 70 the only score to beat par in the afternoon. Well's added a 73 to his morning score to take the title just one shot.

Carmen who played the front nine solidly in both rounds rued a double bogey six on the long 12th hole in both rounds. After 27 holes Carmen was still in contention for the title but the charge he needed on the last 9 holes unfortunately didn't materialise and he was left in a tie for seventh position with rounds of 73 and 75.

Nigel Hirst from Dewsbury District struggled on the newly laid greens but still managed to record scores of 77, 76, whilst fellow club mate Edward Battye was the regions best placed amateur with two rounds of 77, the later of which included a quadruple bogey 8 on the par 4 6th after playing a wrong ball. 

Other amateurs from the Huddersfield area had disappointing days. Chris Hanson from Crosland Heath went in with high hopes but a total of 160 was well of the pace as was Meltham man Graham McLean's 158. Paul Taylor from Bradley Hall was one of the players who failed to post a score.

17/05/05 - Tony Morrison lifted the Page Trophy by three shots at his home club Outlane.

Morrison shot back to back rounds of 65 off his 13 handicap to take the title in impressive style.

Morrison, an electrician ran out a worthy winner from fellow clubmate Mick Riley. Chris Whitley scored two superb nett 67 rounds off his 2 handicap to finish in tied third with Simon Beaumont a shot further back. Whitley claiming the JW Peet Trophy for the lowest gross score.

The lowest professional was Michael Allison representing Halifax (Ogden) GC who scored an impressive 67 in the morning backed up with a solid one under par 70 in the afternoon.

Dewsbury District GC took the top team honours comprising of Daniel Hartley, Adam Crum and J Binns with an aggregate score of 434. 

16/05/05 - The HHDUGC team lost by a heavy margin to Bradford Union in the opening Inter-Union league match of the season at Northcliffe.

Despite having Chris Hanson back in the team after his bid to qualify for the English Strokeplay Championship failed Halifax Huddersfield were unable to repeat last years victory. Bradford ran out 25-11 winners having seven Northcliffe players proving to be a big advantage.

At 8-4 down after the morning foursomes there was still all to play for in the afternoon singles  but with only Chris Hanson and Ian Powell recording victories it turned into a heavy defeat.

09/05/05 - LOCAL knowledge paid off for Outlane as they won the Halifax, Huddersfield Union Second Division Scratch Team championship over their home course to set up a date in the Division One Scratch Team event next month.

Their four-man team of Simon Beaumont, Mick Riley, Andy Wilford and Paul Reynolds posted a total of 309 and finished seven shots clear of pre-tournament favourites Saddleworth.

Saddleworth are the serial yo-yo side of the competition, last year's champions claiming second spot to gain promotion for the third year running.

Now they aim to cement a top section spot by avoiding a rapid return, relegation having been their fate in each of the past two years.

Accompanying Outlane and Saddleworth to promotion to the First Division Scratch Team event at Woodsome Hall on June 5 are Bradley Park, who finished third.

07/05/05 - Deana Rushworth and Alex Keighley both missed the cut in the Consort Travel Vulcan Trophy at Lindrick.

However, both will look to bounce back next Thursday in the regional qualifying round of the Powerade PGA Assistants national championship.

At windy Lindrick Rushworth shot an 82 (+11) whilst Keighley scored 87 (+16).  David Astin, attached to West End was in joint second place, finishing just one shot behind halfway leader John Wells from Beverley and East Riding.

05/05/05 - Saddleworth go into the HHDUGC Second Division Team Championship at Outlane as firm favourites after their runaway victory last year. 

Despite promotion last year the Lancashire club made a swift return to the Second Division when they were relegated in the main Team Championship. Queensbury also promoted last year and then relegated will also be hoping for promotion again at Outlane.

30/04/05 -  The seven Huddersfield golfers gunning for success in the Hawksworth Trophy at Bradford Golf Club were all beaten......by the weather!

Play was suspended as the opening group were on the 15th hole with many golfers not even starting their round.

Constant rain meant that many of the greens became unplayable and with no end to the wet weather in sight officials reluctantly decided to call it a day.

Officials are currently looking for available dates to re-arrange the event, either midweek or possibly in September.

28/04/05 - Lightcliffe GC were relegated back to the qualification stages of the Yorkshire Union Team Championships at Doncaster Town Moor GC yesterday.

F. Schofield actually shot the lowest round of the morning but was let down by rounds of 84, 91 and 97 by his other teammates. This meant Lightcliffe were well off the pace at the halfway stage and although they rallied in the afternoon the disqualification of Schofield in the afternoon round meant the club finished bottom of the pile and will need to pre-qualify again next year.

27/04/05 - Seven players from the Halifax, Huddersfield Union are hoping for success in The Hawksworth Trophy at Bradford on Saturday.

Chris Hanson from Crosland Heath is favourite to be the leading contender and will be gunning for the overall title currently held by Fulford's James Mason.

Other players from the union included Neil Williams from Huddersfield and the West End trio of Matt Godfrey, Steve Martin and Chris Ingham. Edward Battye from Dewsbury District is one of the early starters as is K. Smith representing Queensbury Golf Club.

21/04/05 - Lightcliffe GC progressed to the 7th Division in the Yorkshire Union Team Championship. With the top six teams qualifying rounds of 79 by F. Schofield, 81 by E. Pickles, 83 by R. Beaumont and 85 by P. Court ensured the Halifax based club took the last qualifying spot.

It was heartbreak though for all other sides from the region. Halifax Bradley Hall missed out by just three shots whilst Elland, Hanging Heaton and Halifax (Ogden) all missed out by some way.

13/04/05 - NEVILLE DRAKE, among the best known figures in Huddersfield golf circles, has died aged 85.

Mr Drake had been a member for 70 years at Fixby, where he served as both captain and president. He captained the club at a momentous time in 1969 when new holes at the course were created and officially opened with a match involving Gary Player, the previous year's Open champion, Ryder Cup star Peter Oosterhuis and Walker Cup legends Rodney Foster, from Bradford, and Ireland's Joe Carr.

Mr Drake, a former dentist, was Fixby club president from 1982 to 1987. An accomplished pianist, he regularly accompanied the singing of the traditional Fixby song at the club captain's dinner and at last week's function, a verse of the song was dedicated to him.

A fine golfer in his younger days, he took part in the past captains' annual match at Ganton in September.