2019

Brian Nichols takes the unheralded but bragging rights as the Nett ‘best in show’ as halfway leader Shaughnessy tumbles down the field in the closing holes whilst Dunlop triple bogeys the last with the event at his mercy with Champion contenders Miller and Rothwell taking the minor places as the course at maximum length was bettered to handicap by only four players on an absorbing day of attritional golf at our beloved Alty .

Keith Ralston takes the Old Hall Trophy to maintain his personal renaissance outlasting the ‘never nearer’ Owen Fallon whilst front 9 joint leaders Andrew Wood , Glen Rothwell and Luke Dunlop all rue crucial lapses on a day where our beloved course allowed only four members to beat their par and did not yield one birdie 2 AT ALL . with no less than 4 players DQ’d signing for a different score indicative of such a tortuous mental examination for many of us .

George Sainthouse shoots a superb net 66 to beat 38 rivals and take the Seniors Trophy with the excellent Richard Paulson 2 shots back in second . Third-placed noted ball-striker Brian Southworth had the angst of capitulating on the benign 16th after being in a dominant position with just 3 holes left with fellow golfing stylist Andy Miehe taking the minor place with a solid display .... meanwhile ‘down’ the field the lack of a Presidential signature costs him over 30 places whilst another former Captain suffers a similar fate for the same omission .

Former Secretary and oldest competitor Matt Goodall wins the inaugural Dave Barton Shield from the front ,playing especially well on the front 9 and regrouping well after an Amen Corner stumble to ease to victory with Luke Dunlop a strong second but crucially never quite getting on equal terms . Improving duo Nick Lewis and Stuart Mason filled the minor places without setting the world alight and several shots behind whilst collectively our select 14 strong ‘young guns’ did not in any way come to terms with the back 9 today with curiously NONE of them playing it better than handicap .

Andrew Window played magnificent golf and then survived a late collapse to finally take the first Board Competition of his Alty career to claim the Autumn Cup prevailing by just a stroke from the never nearer Greg Harding with Alty new boy John Cullen an excellent third , whilst multi-Board Competition winner Keith Walton not able to maintain a stunning start and current Club Champion Glen Rothwell firing 4 gross birdies but crucially stumbling at our Amen Corner to lose momentum .as our beloved course allows only 5 sub-par scores from the 44 competitors .

Newly crowned Autumn Cup hero Andrew Window makes it 2 Board Competitions on successive weekends this time with his great pal and Alty underachiever Ian Cheetham who finally takes his first major victory , just reward for thousands of hours of practice . Solid performances from defending champions Ralston and Snape left them just over 2 shots adrift in second with Lomas and Walton Jr just 0.1 behind in third . Fourth placed Danny Miller and Howard Johnson dominated the front 9 but could not master the finishing holes and were frustrated as DM’s quest for number 31 to equal James Wests’ all-time Board Competition winning record continues .

With a triumvirate breaking away from the select field , Stuart Mason emerged triumphant , adding to his quite magnificent trophy-laden season with a superb net 65 to snatch the Monthly Medal final courtesy of a storming assault on the usually daunting final ‘championship’ holes . Sash Neersoo crucially lost ground at the start and a -7 response from his last 15 holes left him one short in second place with Andrew Moss similarly recovering from +4 to score an incredible -9 in 11 holes then succumb at the final hole whilst runaway leader Luke Dunlop produces superb golf to lead the field at the turn but capitulates thereafter to finish 7th. .

Evergreen pair 2018 captain Bob Kay & George Sainthouse showed their undoubted golfing skills to claim their first Alty pairs title together with a narrow victory with no less than 6 pairs finishing within 2 points of one another . The form players all maintained their momentum with Captain-elect Stuart Mason ( with multi-Board comp winner John Hogan ) taking second place and the rejuvenated Nate Butterworth (with Lee Cullen) and Keith Ralston ( with Mark Snape ) taking third and fourth respectively on a day where Sainthouse achieved his 6th pairs title with SIX different partners , a feat without parallel at our beloved club surely elevating him to legendary status .

Multi-Board Competition winners Keith Ralston and Mark Snape add to their impressive haul to take the JS Chorlton Trophies with their magnificent 49 point total giving them a three point victory over serial contender Nate Butterworth and his partner Andrew Wood. Past and present captains respectively Wilkinson and Dickens placed third on countback from those affable Reds Armiger and Paul Southworth on a day where the benign holes around the turn seemed to cause more problems than usual .

Sash Neersoo snatches victory on the final hole to thwart Captain-elect Stuart Mason , whose challenge faded in the final three holes to finish third after he had the trophy at his mercy with Ged Grogan (who had also overcome the leader) finishing second . with Messrs Dickens , Miller and Window completing the top 6 . The rest of the select field struggled to handle the tricky conditions where no player needed a handicap adjustment as the course again proved a difficult opponent .

Time to salute our clubs elite players as they battled all season to achieve their best 6 gross rounds . For the fifth year in succession Club Champion Glen Rothwell dominated his rivals to retain the prestigious Tommy Povey Board Competition , posting the top three scores of the season . Fellow legend and multi-Board Comp winner Danny Miller took second place for the fourth time this season with another similarly feted legend Stewart Royle achieving a creditable third despite a restricted campaign . Honourable mentions to Messrs. Butterworth,Miehe and Harding respectively for finishing in the top 6 .

A season-long event but high drama as Greg Harding sensationally net birdies the very final hole on the final qualifying competition to snatch the prestigious RAFA trophy from the grasp of leader Andy Miehe who crucially had elected not to play that day and thus was in no position to defend thus finishing in second place on countback . Danny Miller the 2006 winner posted his lowest super 6 scores after his huge effort in the JFord and didn’t play the last events whilst Luke Dunlop threatened to usurp everyone after he got himself into a position to win after a stellar opening 6 holesof the final event left him the task of coasting in and he inexplicably had three very poor holes then unbelievably withdraws with 9 holes to go when still in contention for the prize .