North Wales Tour 2012

BUNGS Tour 2012 - North Wales

7th July to 9th July 2012

This year saw a record 40 players from the Society returning for the first time in 10 years to the Lleyn Peninsula in North Wales. This time round the annual Ryder Cup style matches were played over 3 excellent courses ; Pwllheli, Nefyn and Royal St David’s.

The Society’s captain this year is Graham Adams who successfully guided his Challengers’ team to victory during last year’s tour to the West Country. This year saw him up against one of the Society’s better players, John Shaw who led the Captain’s side on the 2003 tour to North Norfolk which lost by 1 point to a Challengers’ team led by James Shipman. So, with Graham, one of the fast-improving members of the Society and John, as Challengers’ Captain, desperate to make amends for that 2003 tour defeat  it promised to be an interesting challenge as to who would come out on top at the end of the day.

The teams lined up as follows:

 

Friday 6th July 2012

All but 3 players travelled to North Wales on the Friday – some to get in an early round of golf at either Porthmadog or Aberdovey, the rest to simply get to the hotel a day earlier to relax and chill out prior to the competition starting in earnest the following day. The problem was that Friday saw heavy and persistent rain falling for most of the day across large parts of England and Wales which meant a long, arduous journey for most of the party whilst those who had decided to play golf got (very) wet! Craig Vale had done his bit earlier by advising everyone to be aware that a music festival was taking place in Pwllheli and it might be prudent in the circumstances to start out a bit earlier. Paul Herrmann also got in on the act by suggesting we should consider travelling by train to Pwllheli from Criccieth on Saturday morning as the station is only 3 minutes from the hotel. Apart from the prospect of 40 players loaded up with golf gear trying to get on one of the 2-coach trains which happen to run along the line in question, Paul wisely retracted his suggestion later on the basis that the first train out of Criccieth wouldn’t get in to Pwllheli until 9.12am and the first tee time happened to be 9.15am – at least it was a good suggestion Paul!

With 4 players staying at the nearby Caerwylan Hotel, the majority of the society stayed at the Lion Hotel in Criccieth which proved to be a good hotel, reasonably priced and the staff looked after us really well during our stay. On arrival, a few of the more adventurous members decided to ‘hit the town’ but soon found that, apart from a couple of pubs and an Indian restaurant, there wasn’t a lot else to do in Criccieth on a Friday night during the summer (what it must be like in the winter is anybody’s guess). John Mansell would have been at a complete loss as to how to spend his evenings if he’d made it on tour instead of going on a cruise – mind you, at least we all got a good night’s sleep with none of his snoring to keep us awake!

Anyway, the Indian restaurant won the day with the rest of the party eating in the hotel from the excellent bar menu. There was a potential ‘diplomatic’ incident on the eve of the competition when Alan Tolley, who’d waited patiently for his burger and chips to be served, saw Alan Heard ‘pinch’ them from right under his nose. Now, anyone observing the incident will have been aware that the food definitely belonged to Alan#1 as the burger and chips was clearly accompanied by a number of vegetables – something Alan#2 normally stays well away from. However, peace was soon restored when #1 offered #2 some of his chips to be going on with and a crisis was averted. Mind you, they were both on the same side for goodness sake!

Saturday 7th July 2012 - morning
Pwllheli Golf Club
10 x foursomes matches

After a very welcome buffet-style breakfast at the hotel we made the short  15-minute drive from the hotel to the course, with everyone hoping it would be open for play given that it had been closed the day before due to the rain.

We were told to get there early for the traditional ‘photo shoot’ and arrived in bright sunshine to see standing water on many of the fairways but this was forecast to drain away during the day so the course was well and truly open for play.

Pwllheli is a mixture of parkland and links but, although the weather was glorious for most of the day, it proved to be a stern test for many of those competing

Match Score

Captain's Team - 8 / Challenger's Team - 2

So, the Challengers are humbled in the first session of this year’s tour and find themselves trailing by 6 points going into the afternoon session. With the course beginning to dry out in places, it was all to play for.....

Saturday 7th July 2012 - afternoon
Pwllheli Golf Club
10 x fourball-betterball matches

Match Score

Captain's Team - 12 / Challenger's Team - 8

 

Graham Adams was delighted with his side’s play on the first day of competition but it was a good comeback by John Shaw’s team after a disappointing result in the morning’s foursomes matches. Tim Thacker had commented after the morning foursomes that there were some pairings on the Captain’s side he wouldn’t have considered but that it had worked – a compliment indeed! The Challengers did come back strongly in the afternoon however to claw back the deficit and another 20 points up for grabs the following day at Nefyn.

A quick mention must be given to James Shipman who thought he'd found the ideal way to cross the 'river' of water in front of the 12th green. Given a good run-up, James thought he could ride his Powacaddy 'chariot style' through the water to the safety of dry land. He gave his trolley a couple of yards to get up to speed before jumping aboard only to be disappointed when the trolley's wheels sank into the soft ground under the weight of his 6 foot 2 inch frame. Nice to know that out NHS Doctors are gifted with such intelligence!

Sunday 8th July 2012 - morning
Nefyn & District Golf Club
10 x foursomes matches

We awoke to find that the weather had changed during the night and it was a much cooler and cloudier day – with rain in the air – which greeted us.  For many this was, in theory at least, the highlight of this years’ tour with Nefyn and District Golf club perched on top of the cliffs overlooking the sea. The back 9 is played over holes which sit right on top of a peninsula and, when the weather is fine there is no greater place to play golf. However, we got to play it on a rather cool and drizzly day with a stiff wind developing throughout the day which made for some fairly testing conditions.

Match Score

Captain's Team - 17 / Challenger's Team - 13

 

The morning foursomes were halved in, dare I say, ‘challenging’ conditions, on a very tough course. With the tour well into its second day the Challengers trail by just 5 points and- it’s still very much game on!

Sunday 8th July 2012 - afternoon
Nefyn & District Golf Club
10 x fourball-betterball matches

Match Score

Captain's Team - 20.5 / Challenger's Team - 19.5

 

A terrific comeback by John Shaw’s team who, after being trounced in the opening morning’s foursomes matches, found themselves trailing by 6 points but, going into the final day’s singles tomorrow there is now just one point between the 2 teams  and the destiny of the trophy is anybody’s guess.

There was much excitement at dinner when it was made generally known that the overall scores stood at 20 ½ -19 ½ in the Captains favour. Excitement mounted as the next day’s pairings were read out. Again, in a twist from previous tours, the Captains had agreed to merge pre-prepared lists, and it became obvious that both had adopted similar strategies for the final day’s Singles matches at Royal St. Davids. As the pairings were studied later in the evening both Captains foresaw quite a few halved matches.

The other talk at the dinner table in the evening however was around the 12th hole at Nefyn and whether it was indeed the worst hole in golf. The general consensus was that it certainly spoilt an otherwise fantastic course at Nefyn, but when you hit a perfectly straight drive and then end up losing your ball that isn’t what the game of golf is meant to be – although I’m sure the members at Nefyn may well have a differing view! Maybe we’ll have to settle for it being a bit of a ‘ladyboy’ hole (in other words, it looks easy but all is not what it seems !)

Monday 9th July 2012
Royal St. David's Golf Club
20 x singles matches

So, the final day dawns and after an excellent fightback by the Challengers yesterday afternoon there was everything to play for as 20 singles matches were contested over this famous old links. Indeed, when the Society last visited, in 2002, the matches were literally ‘washed out’ as heavy rain brought play to a close for the day and everyone headed back early to the hotel – only one player, Alan Tolley, on his first-ever tour, decided to play on and complete all 18 holes. This meant that the vast majority of the field had not played the course before and we arrived to find that, due to the club having just hosted a top amateur tournament, the greens were slick and the rough, not ‘knee’ high but ‘thigh high ! It was certainly going to provide a stiff test for all those involved and would anyone be able to go round without losing a ball ?

Only one point in it remember and the Challengers could do with getting some points on the board early on to put the pressure on their opponents .....

Final Match Score

Captain's Team - 36 / Challenger's Team - 24

 

After trailing by 6 points at the end of the first morning’s foursomes matches the Challengers had played some terrific golf to get themselves into a position where they went into the final day’s singles with the deficit only one point but, oh dear.....

If that first morning’s foursomes  was a ‘thumping’ victory for the Captain’s side the singles matches played at Royal St David’s will go down in BUNGS folklore as a ‘crushing’ defeat for the Challengers. With 20 points still at stake before the final day’s play began, John Shaw’s team picked up just 4 ½   while the Captain’s side, brilliantly led from the front by the ever-improving Graham Adams, collected no less than 15 ½  to seal an emphatic victory in fine style.

NB Postscript to Royal St David’s – when someone asked later whether anyone had managed to go round without losing a ball Neil Smith owned up to the fact that he hadn’t lost one but that he did have a few close calls. Marcho responded by saying that “no one likes a gloater Neil – no one!” Andy Smith joined the debate by challenging Marcho to say, publicly, just how many balls he had lost, but Captain Graham Adams had the last word on the subject, admitting that he had lost 5 balls – but on another day, with less penal rough, he reckoned he’d have found at least 3 of them!

 

Quote from the winning Captain

 

And Finally

As we come to the end of another hugely successful tour (the best yet some have said) we must say a big thank you to Steve Lloyd for putting the whole package together. A record 40 members of the society enjoyed 3 days of competitive golf on 3 top quality courses, each providing its own individual challenge but none of it would have happened without Steve’s dedication and commitment so I am happy to record that we are all extremely grateful for  his continued efforts on behalf of the society.

Thanks also to the 2 Captains, Graham Adams  and John Shaw – and to the vice captains, Ian Talboys and James Shipman for the tremendous spirit that the matches were played in.

Here’s to yet another successful tour next year in Norfolk!

NB This report was put together by Alan Tolley, ably assisted by Steve Lloyd and with the help of further  contributions from Graham Adams, John Shaw, Ian Talboys, Shaun Mullaney, Mike Fox, John Haley, Adam Thompson, Andy Smith, Gordon Galloway, John Bayliss, Steve Gross, Mark Johnson, Adrian Marchant and Neil Smith.

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Current BUNGS tour win percentages

(After the 2012 North Wales Tour)