2024

The articles in this section represent the stories behind the names on the board of the 2024 Board Competition Season for this golf course ... 2024AGC captain Dave Drury is pictured . These articles could be completed for any golf club ... contact us for details . The scribe who created all of these reports and this website is Paul Hackett . If anyone has pictures of the winners / contenders they are welcome to contact this website .

Ian Cheetham recovers from a poor start and ultimately strolls to a fifth Board Competition victory showing teak-tough resilience with a ‘Championship holes’ masterclass to defy the legendary Danny Miller (who played solidly showing his course management expertise) by a 3 hole margin . Exec chef Mark Wetherill was leading after 15 but a succession of fluffy short chips cooked his golfing goose in third whilst Rich Paulson only got going from 11 but was +3 in his final octet of holes to finish strongly in fourth. Son/father duo Mike McDermott and Pete Higgins completed the top 6 on a day when our beloved course exhausted us mentally and physically as the membership got used to the extra dimensions of attrition it now challenges us with …

The father and son combination of Alastair and Jonny Cutteridge brilliantly navigate their way through the tortuous rounds of our winter golfing knockout , showing fantastic staying power in the white-hot Championship holes to outlast their opponents to take the coveted trophy with the youthful exuberance of Jonny allied to the relentless reliability of the divine Alastair sweeping aside battle-hardened and illustrious pairs and auguring very well for their individual and joint summer campaigns for this summer season .

Cameron Arnold makes use of his brutal but accurate prowess off the tee and keeps his composure on our bruised and battered course to shoot net 69 outlasting his elite rival Chris O’Connell by a single stroke to secure the third Board Competition victory of his Alty career taking control of the competition from the 6th hole and crucially net birdieing the penultimate hole to halt the charge of O’Connell , who had drawn level with just the Championship holes to play . HallofFamer Keith Ralston served notice that he is intent on adding to his impressive trophy haul with a tremendous net 71 despite a cold putter throughout whilst winningmost legend Danny Miller , Craig Seery and your scribe Paul Hackett completed the top 6 on a day on which our course made things extremely difficult for us all with only the top two members beating their handicap.

Neil Royle produces the golfing template for mastering our beloved but bruised and battered course with a simply sublime net 66 to plunder his 19th Board Competition victory from the excellent Matt Astbury , whose net 70 was the only other sub-handicap round . A.Ty legend Danny Miller recovered from a poor start to finish third whilst our 2024 Captain Dave Drury showed glimpses of form to take fourth place . Former Club Champions David Royle and best gross player Tim Cowsill completed the top 6 on a day where the course was just too tough for the vast majority of the membership as it gradually returns to its former self . Much to do for those high handicappers amongst us to wrest power from our more talented colleagues but we are all just glad to be out there competing after such a brutal start to the golfing year .

Ben Haslam powers his way to his maiden Board Competition victory , plundering an impressive 41 points to outlast HallofFamer Bernard Wood and outclass the rest of the field with a ‘Championship holes’ masterclass which proved crucial . Wood was glorious in defeat , the only other golfer to better his handicap as he amassed a magnificent 39 points in second place . whilst elite golfer Chris O’Connell recovered from a poor start to score 35 points in third . Messrs Seery , HallofFamer Ralston and Jonny Cutteridge completed the top 6 , each posting 15/19/34 and signalling their own decent form . The course again defeated the rest of us but it is very gradually returning to normal but continuing at its obdurate best .

Defending Champions Alty Captain Dave Drury and his golfing protege James Beswick magnificently produce a stellar back 9 performance to gloriously retain their Greatbanks trophy , surviving a last hole loss which gave competing pairs Keith Ralston and Andrew Wood AND the David Doughty/Peter Tomlinson combo the opportunity to snatch the silverware from them by winning the final hole . Heartbreakingly for them , neither could do that despite them both pairs showing tremendous form to get themselves in that position . The elite pairing of Chris O’Connell and Cameron Arnold played attacking pin-seeking golf which catapulted them to lead the competition at the turn but they couldn’t build on their start to finish fourth with 2024 hotshots Craig /Reuben Thompson and Alty newboys Nick Parry and Robert Geraghy completing the top 6 on a day where James Beswick (+2) David the Doughty (+1) and Andrew Wood (+1) produced the best individual performances and were the only members to ‘beat the course’ as our beloved real estate again produced a difficult golfing examination paper for us all .

HalloFamer Keith Ralston ruthlessly plundered the sweet 16th. Board Competition of his Alty career as the front 9 leader recovered after a poor start to his journey home to get back into contention , coming back from 2 strokes back with just one hole to play to ‘go for broke’ and showing his teak-tough mentality to produce a sensational trophy-winning birdie to take the Gibson for the second time . Cameron Arnold again played golfing bridesmaid as he went to the altar of the final hole in control but was heartbreakingly thwarted whilst high-handicapper James Beswick can rue a quartet of poor holes but at the same time salute his ‘go for broke’ mentality that saw him go very close . The O’Connells father and son completed the top 5 with encouraging rounds of promise whilst the evergreen golfing bandit that is known as Peter Higgins manoeuvred himself into sixth place , bemoaning that he failed to build on a great start to his round on a day where only one beat his handicap as our beloved course bossed us again .

Brian Southworth rolls back the years to win the Five Club Shield for the second time , an incredible 26 years after winning the event to open his Board Competition account and now the HalloFamer taking his 17th trophy of his illustrious Alty career . Southworth broke away from a 3-way tie for the lead at the turn and never looked back , with a standout Amen Corner performance extended his lead to stroll to a dominant 3 stroke victory . Much credit to second-placed David Doughty , who started superbly , lost his way for a time starting his journey home but finished strongly to card a net 71 .Tony O’Connell and Nathan Butterworth shared the lead after 6 holes but both faltered on their back 9 to finish 6 strokes back whilst senior golfers Johnston and Wilks completed the top 6 with steady but unspectacular rounds whilst triple defending champion Neil Royle never got going in his quest for an extraordinary 4th shield on the trot and finished just outside the top 10.

John Cullen finally harnesses his undoubted talents to complete an overdue and richly-deserved maiden Board Competition victory , holding his nerve on the Championship holes to snatch the trophy and breaking the golfing heart of long-time leader and 6-time Board Competition winner Tim Dibble , who had played stunning golf to lead by three strokes with just 6 holes to play . Third-placed Mike McDermott was perhaps more broken-hearted as he shared the lead with Dibble and Cullen as they played the final hole and needed just a 5 for victory but carded 8 . Fourth placed Joe Cronshaw played beautifully on the front 9 to lead at the turn but a quad bogey on 11 destroyed his momentum whilst fellow 16 handicappers Corcoran and Gleave were steady rather than spectacular in completing the top 6 with defending champion Oliver MacDermott finishing seventh without ever managing to properly challenge on a day where our beloved course again bested the membership .

The magnificent Royle brothers Neil and Stewart bestrode our golf course like a colossus to stroll to the aggregate Pairs title finishing on +3 ... they course-managed their way to victory courtesy of a spectacular;ar Amen Corner campaign , improving their position to such an extent that a 5 stroke lead as they stood on the 13th tee was increased to a THIRTEEN stroke advantage just 3 holes later as the rest of us toiled on those AC holes which allowed them to coast to a 10 stroke victory over the Capt.Drury/O'Connell Sr combo with early leaders (and ex-Captains ) Mason and Dickens Sr.a further 4 strokes back in third . Completing the top 6 with distinctly unflattering scores were ... your reporter Hackett/Christian (4th) with the elite pairings of O'ConnellJr/Hadfield and Bartley/Arnold in 5th and 6th respectively on a day where only Neil Royle with a simply sensational 68 bested the course on a day which will go down as one of the poorest scoring on record .

Alty elite golfer Chris O’Connell played exquisitely in the difficult conditions , taking control of this Board Competition with 6 holes to go and toughing it out to outlast current Captain Dave Drury who , like 4th placed Ged Grogan both missed the chance to par the last to snatch the Shield from his grasp . 3rd placed Alastair Cutteridge ( like 6th placed Andy Miehe ) had blistering starts to share the lead after 6 holes but just couldn’t maintain form whilst 5th placed former Captain Stuart Mason struggled early on but posted a superb sub-par back 9 to give him confidence for this summer season as our beloved course unusually made it hard for competitors on the benign holes 8-11 to thoroughly test our low handicap golfers . Chris O’Connell was winning the 4th Board Competition of his Alty career and his first silverware since his sensational breakthrough triple-trophy year in 2021 , also taking the Best Gross honours to post early notice that he will be a viable contender for the Club Championship..

A truly unforgettable day as Tony O’Connell mastered the difficult conditions presented by our beloved course to outlast second placed Jonny Cutteridge as the pair were the only members to beat their handicaps , wonderfully pulling away from the rest of the field from pre-comp favourite James Beswick who got within a couple of strokes before crashbangwalloping his way out of contention with an awful Amen Corner campaign with the venerable trio of Dibble , Sainthouse and Maguire all succumbing to poor back 9 performances but distinguishing themselves with decent finishes on a day where the O’Connell and Cutteridge father son combos tussled for the two trophies on offer that day with O’Connell Sr gloriously matching his son on a great day for the family by bagging himself a trophy as the Cutteridges’ challenge was dashed by their exploits on a day where our beloved course reminded us as to the degree of difficulty it can create .

Jonny Cutteridge gained compensation from his countback defeat last week in the Diggle to produce a truly stellar round of 63 , good enough to deny Captain-elect Pete Higgins to second place despite his marvellous 65 . Paul Slade showed his undoubted class in carding the lowest gross score of the round in third whilst Messrs Ralston , Dibble and John Cullen maintained their early summer season form with top 6 finishes . Defending Champion Craig Seery endured a poor start which ended his hopes of retaining his crown but saw him fight back well to finish in 8th position . It was Jonnys’ second Board Competition victory and the first individual trophy of his Alty career .

Craig Seery produced one of the rounds of his life to sensationally cruise to victory in the Coronation Cup with a wonderful score of net 65 . 8 net birdies and a net eagle showcased his undoubted talents and good enough for a dominant 5 stroke win as he held his nerve on the back nine holes whilst his rivals crumbled. Our lower handicap golfers took all the minor places with Chris O’Connell (2nd) the valiant defending champion Lee Lomas (3rd) David Royle (4th ) all five shots back with rising star Reuben Thompson fifth as our Alty GOAT Danny Miller had to content himself with sixth place after sharing the leadership at halfway but stumbling to a pair of net double bogeys which finished his challenge . Our beloved course again took the honours , restricting all but four members from beating their handicap.

Stuart Dutton confirmed his standing as one of our best handicapping bandits with a tremendous hard-fought victory to take the Gellatly Memorial trophy today to win his first Board Competition . He held his nerve to triumph on countback from rising star Jimmy Brown , crucially bouncing back from a dropped shot on 16 to sensationally use his handicap to net eagle 17 to snatch the trophy out of his rivals clutches to match his score and win on countback . Brown had played aggressively positive golf which yielded no less than 4 birdies (including a net eagle) to hold a 2 stroke lead with 6 holes to play but could not improve his position , was caught by Dutton and paid the penalty . Evergreen Bob Kay (3rd) and classy ball-striker Andy Miehe (4th) with your reporter Paul Hackett posting an encouraging fifth place and the wily veteran John Rossiter completing the top 6 on a day of attrition at our beloved course which also saw our defending champion Nathan Butterworth begin his bid for a third Gellatly win with a nine-shot horror show which effectively ended his challenge after just one hole as the course bossed the members again .

Joe Hadfield produced a magnificent display of skill and course management to win the Tommy Barlow this morning … he had returned to the club from a year long Canary Island timeout to show the benefit of his warm weather training , today producing a sensational back 9 to thwart the excellent Nathan Butterworth who had also played beautifully on his journey home only to fall one stroke short . Cameron Arnold showed his elite talents to card a net 70 in third whilst Tim Dibble had produced a scintillating opening 6 holes to push himself 4 strokes clear of the field but lost 7 strokes on holes 8,10 and 14 which cruelly destroyed his hopes of a 7th Board Competition victory . HalloFamers Glen Rothwell and Danny Miller both showed glimpses of their undoubted talents but completed the top 6 a frustrating 2 strokes short on a day where our beloved course restricted all but 4 members to beat their handicap on an absorbing day of golf . A third Board Competition win for Hadfield who took net and gross honours announcing himself as a strong Club Championship and Tommy Povey contender with this performance .