“Gorringe wins the Spring Tour Trophy after months out with injury”

The weather was excellent for the MGS Spring Tour at the Vale of Glamorgan GC near Cardiff in Sunny Wales.  Upfront a big thank you goes to Phil Herbert who again organised a fabulous and extremely good value tour where we were very well looked after by all the staff at the Golf Course and at the associated hotel – well done Phil.

Three rounds of very competitive golf were held over 3 days.  Two rounds on the par 73 Wales National and one on the par 72 Lakes course with water in play on 12 of the 18 holes. Kev Weaver was determined to retain the trophy he had won in 2014 at the Foxhills GC in Surrey.

Day 1:

Following a painless early Sunday morning drive down we tee’d off at just after 1pm to be faced with an opening two holes ranked as stroke index 3 and 1 on the Wales National Course!!!

On a beautiful and calm day the leaders after day one were:-

Place	Player	Score
First	Andy “burning the course up ” Tippett	38
Second	Tim “not sure if I can play but will give it a go” Gorringe	35
Third	Andy “ I’m 1.9 miles away but 6 miles in the car” Bishop	34

Andy “Tips” Tippett proving the bookies were right with them having him down as favourite after finishing in the top two at his last two outings:  second at the last MGS society day at Hever and winning the charity Lewis FC golf day on the Friday preceding the tour – the man in form.

We also learnt checking in to the hotel that Brian was called “chez” as a lad as his second name is pronounced “chez”mur rather than “cheese”mur .   Now we all know!

Tips, Bish and Barry were so pleased with their starting round that they were dancing in their room until 3am when the night porter visited and asked them to stop as he had received complaints from the other guests!

Day 2:

The aptly named Lakes course faced the 14 strong MGS society on the Monday with a 9.40am start on another dry and calm day.  The days results were as follows:-

Place	Player	Score
First	Tim “the handicap cut now hurts more than my knee and foot” Gorringe	36
Second	Barry “I got dressed for golf in the dark” Browning	35
Third	Jerry “I am not a big fan of whips!!” Watkiss	33

In addition the following were competed for:

Nearest the Pin	Won by Andy Tippett
Longest Drive	Won by Barry Browning

Aristotle in 380BC after developing his initial interest in anatomy and biology prophesied “beware of the injured golfer.”  That prophesy proved to be true with Tim “the injured golfer” now having two stonking rounds under his belt and a lead of 6 shots over a chasing pack and the “movers and shakers” on day 2 of Barry, Kev, Jerry, Tips, Peter and Mike S . Tim was thus cut 5 shots as any sympathy with his wounded soldier stories had worn off.

The afternoon consisted of a number of players enjoying the leisure and spa facilities at the hotel, a number taking an afternoon nap, some catching up on work, Dave S & Mike S breaking open a bottle of gin and Bish checking in to room 1 at Milf house as the Vale Resort was full on the Monday night.

It also transpired that certain society members had twin rooms and others had cosy double sparking memories of Morecambe and Wise!!

Day 3:

Breakfast saw Jerry Watkiss and Micky Mann both “dummy and glide past” Sam Warburton the Welsh Rugby Union captain to secure the last two fried eggs at the breakfast buffet – it was a joy to see as Sam had a 30 metre start.  Sam said “I have never seen two Englishmen move so fast”

The final day saw us return to the Wales National course on a bright but windy day in more ways than one!  Additionally, to the wind the final groups had the added pressure of being followed by a number of quick “twoballs” in buggies – never a nice experience!

The final day results were as follows:-

Place	Player	Score
First	Micky “I’ll have a Strongbow” Mann	37
Second	David “wasn’t it windy today” Howroyd	35
Third	Phil “good vouchers and nice table wine“ Herbert	31

In addition the following were competed for:

Nearest the Pin	Won by Mike Sellence
Longest Drive	Won by Micky Mann

David Howroyd stormed up the leaderboard with 23 points on his card after just 8 holes – “what a start.”  David’s final 10 holes were then very solid but less inspired.

Phil Herbert playing with David quietly put together a very good and solid round – but too little too late in terms of the overall competition.

In the next group Micky Mann had put in a real charge and was playing “with freedom” and put a strong 37 points on the board for the leaders and chasing pack to think about.

SPRING TOUR OVERALL RESULTS:-

The freshly polished Spring Tour Trophy was at stake and that one that really mattered. The final results checked and double checked were as follows:-

Place	Player	Score Day 1 Wales National	Score Day 2 Lakes	Score Day 3 Wales National	Total Score
1st	Tim Gorringe	35	36	25	96
2nd	Micky Mann	28	28	37	93
3rd	Kev Weaver	33	31	28	92
=4th	Jerry Watkiss	30	33	24	87
=4th	Peter Cudmore	32	28	27	87
6th	Barry Browning	30	35	20	85
7th	Mike Sellence	30	27	25	82
8th	David Howroyd	25	21	35	81
9th	Andy Bishop	34	27	19	80
10th	Phil Herbert	26	21	31	78
=10th	Andy Tippett	38	24	16	78
12	Captain Fred Ablitt	25	25	26	76
13	Brian “Chez” Cheesmur	23	26	19	68
14	Dave “gin” Stocker	22	18	22	60
	Average	29.35	27.14	25.28	81.64

Captain Fred and Vice-Captain Peter presented the trophy to a delighted Tim “Tom” Gorringe.

An excellent, enjoyable and very well run event by Phil “Hon Sec” Herbert as always.