Belton Park Golf Club: Match & Competition News

Gala Presentation Evening

The first ever Belton Park Golf Club Gala Presentation Evening was a roaring success. The Gents & Ladies Captains and the Club Chairman presented trophies to Mixed, Ladies, Junior and Gents trophy winners and below are some of the winners. There was also a special presentation to the 1st team, winners of the South Lincolnshire Golf League.

Review of 2007

Hello again one and all. Trust you are keeping yourselves nice. Autumn is upon us, the nights are drawing in, and the season is all but over. This, in my humble opinion, necessitates a look back at 2007. Not just at the glorious Belton Park, but also at those little gems that you may have forgotten about around the world. In other words, another batch of complete cobblers from yours truly. Ah well, I hope you wouldn’t have it any other way! Gulp. Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you…..erm…… this year!

Review of the Year 2007
I will admit to being somewhat in trepidation as to how to go about this really. And then, in a blinding flash of inspiration, it hit me! Why not start with January!!!! Oh, at this point, can I just make an apology to anyone who gets left out, erroneously put in, has their name spelt incorrectly, is grossly offended, is physically sick, or falls asleep. Best of luck!

January
With all the hullabaloo of Christmas and New Year, 2007 started with a bang. Yes, I fell down the stairs again. Which is quite impressive considering I live in a bungalow. All those resolutions were made once again, with myself vowing to spend less time in the shed. Sorry, pub. That didn’t last long. The season kicked off at Belton with the Trustee’s Cup on New Years Day, a tournament that was intended for those who hadn’t had much or any sleep from the night before. We don’t know how much kip Paul Thompson had, but he took the first trophy of the year from Captain Paul Woods, and then went straight back to bed. Levi Desmond put down a marker for his year by winning the first medal with a gross 73 to start a mammoth year long reduction in his handicap. Look for more about him later. Elsewhere, England were getting hammered 5-0 by the Aussies in the cricket, featuring an opening delivery from Steve Harmison that had all the accuracy of a deflating balloon. Also, some 14 year old kid decided to single-handedly sail across the Atlantic. Don’t kids collect footie stickers any more at age 14? Oh, and bird flu swept across the world. Bad news for our feathered friends, good news for taxidermists. Perhaps. I think its time for February already….

February
Quite possibly the most depressing month of the year. Especially if you didn’t get any Valentine’s cards. Sob. If you flick back through your now no doubt dog eared diary you’ll see another pretty barren month for things to play in, but with the weather as atrocious as it was their was no great appeal to play. Unless you were a fan of muddy trousers. Dave Charlesworth won the latest medal for the men, but that was about it unless you were still in the Winter League or Foursomes. Out and about in the world, it emerged that David Beckham was about to sign for the pompously named LA Galaxy Soccer team for about 8 million quid a week. We all shook our heads and wondered how he’d cope. Britney Spears made a touching tribute to Belton Park First team captain Mark Sutton and had her head shaved, and the Richard and Judy show was lambasted for creaming off a load off innocent people’s money from a dodgy phone in scam. Mass hysteria ensued. In Darlington. Oh, and it was the Chinese Year of the Pig. No real reason for telling you that, apart from it summed up my golf game perfectly.
Stay with me folks, it will get better. I think….

March
Now we’re getting warm. Except we weren’t, as it was still chucking it down with a vengeance. Honestly, it was a miracle any golf at all was played in March; it was evil. Appropriately, the Lifeboat Trophy was played for this month, and Anna and John Clark sailed to the winners enclosure with 45 points. The Gents Am-Am was won by messrs Smith, Taylor, Pullen and Davies, and Steve Farrington won the monthly medal. The Strutt / Bachelor / Spencer partnership teamed up to win the Texas Scramble over 18 holes, and hopefully then set up that Estate Agents I thought the name deserved. In the news, England bombed spectacularly again in the cricket World Cup, something called the ‘Monster Jam World Finals’ took place, no doubt in America and involving large amounts of fruit, and the popular music combo that was ‘Scooch’ tried to climb the Everest that is the Eurovision Song Contest. Utter cobblers. Don’t despair kids, April was just around the corner, and that means Springtime and the Masters. Whahey!!

April
Here comes the sun de de dee de! And I wasn’t kidding, the currant bun was seen on at least three occasions in April!! Heck, Jim Sergeant even got the creosote out and put the shorts on! Resident pro Mr Williams launched his killer latest line of beige wear, suitable for all occasions and modelled at all times by himself. You could just feel the summer vibe coming on! The aforementioned US Masters always seems to signal the start of golf kicking off around the globe, but the god-fearing Zach Johnson sent us all to bed that Sunday night with a speech so vomit inducing the online service at B&Q collapsed as bucket sales rocketed. At Belton, Johnny Kirkup won the latest mens medal, and Ed Glenn took over ownership of the Easter Monday Cup with a splendid nett 66, with Levi collecting another best gross. Team wise, Mark Sutton and Steve Middleton were in charge of our first and second teams respectively, and the comedy fixture computer certainly didn’t help Steve and his men with four out of the opening five fixtures away from BPGC. Sutty and the boys made the daunting trip to Burghley for their first game and got trounced 5-1. Here we go again we thought. But 5 months is an awful long time in golf, so stick with it, you never know what might happen. A 3-3 draw for the seconds at home to Burghley was a good start. The Winter League saw Sims senior and Sims junior triumph, with Carl Gelder and Chris Stott powering through all and sundry to win the Foursomes title. Young James Philpotts took the junior Stanrene trophy with a remarkable nett 63, and the RAF Spitalgate comp saw Keith Paddock and Belton legend Trevor Ireland pair up to be victorious. The Cranwell Cup started but then got stopped because it heshed it down again, and for those of us out on the course it really did go down well, especially when stood in the 18th fairway. Level par gross. Grrrrrrrrrr!! Simon Pullen and Simon Denton won the morning round of the Spring Open with two very welcome visitors taking the afternoon round. In the rain! On a dryer note, our man, ‘Firth goes Forth, Ian Firth and partner Anna Clark won the Freda Shipley mixed event, and special mention to Harris and Burns who defeated the soon to become Lincs Open and Lincs Amateur champions Adam Keogh and Adam Rowlands in the second round of the Daily Mail Foursomes. Sweet! Spalding came to Belton in the league and the first team got some points on the board with a 4-2 win, but the seconds lost over there. Long way to go though…..
Time waits for no man though – to May sharpish!

May
For those of us with an IQ over about 10, May means very bad things. Namely, the start of Big Brother. There must be some sort of subliminal message knocking about around this time of year as every female on the planet I speak to cannot stop blathering on about it. My campaign to have it banned and the editorial team put into stocks didn’t really get enough backing, but watch out next year, revenge will be sweet. And to top it all, Liverpool lost the European Cup Final to AC Milan. My. Heart. Bleeds. Ahem.
Mark ‘Sutmeister’ Sutton took the Marie Curie / Chris Curtis event with a sumptuous 41 points, and it was rumoured that Britney was now thinking of putting a bit of beef on to go with the hair. Perhaps. The Quincentenary Cup was captured by the father and son partnership of Steve and Ed Glenn, and Wes and Wendy Wright ran off with the Gordon Foster Cup. The first team beat Boston West at home but lost at Stoke, so were languishing in mid table at the end of the month. It weren’t looking to good for the seconds though, one point from four games put them at the bottom of the table. Another junior, James Meredith won the Lombard Cup with a nett 65, and the Long Handicap Cup went to Mr A Rawson on nett 67. Well played. But on a much more sinister note, the first Belton Park ‘Wear Beige for Lenny’ day was very poorly supported. The shame of it. And last but not least, that Umbrella song went number one and would stay there forever, giving TV production associates a nailed on tune for sporting events when it starts raining. Utter Cobblers no.2.

Get me to June before someone gets a volley!

June
Crikey are we halfway through the year already? Fret not, not much more purgatory to endure!! The most startling newspiece of June I could remember was that someone dug up a 2100 year old melon in Japan. Which begs two questions: a) Who managed to reckon it was exactly that old and b) was there a sell by date on it? I’d take it back to the shop mate. Back at Belton with not a melon in sight, Glen Carpenter won the Middlemens Cup, Chris Burns shot a gross 66 to win the Centenary Medal, and Juniors Levi Desmond and Dan Keddie took places one and two in the monthly stableford to keep their handicaps tumbling down. The Barford Open went to Chris Glenn and Stoke Rochford’s Steve Greenfield; excellent work chaps. Sutty’s troops started to climb up the table in the South Lincolnshire League with two highly impressive victories at home against Burghley Park and Sleaford, but endured a set back away at Spalding with a narrow loss. Not much joy for the seconds though as they found it hard to get out of the slump. Finally, Tony Blair called it a day at number 10. Does he have to give a couple of weeks notice to the landlord?

July
Rain struck again. And big time. Flooding rendered practically half of Gloucestershire and Worcestershire impassable, and it wasn’t much better up here. Solace was found in a jam packed July fixture with more golf tournaments than you could shake a stick at John Cleese style. For the men it was the big one on Sunday the 8th, the Club Championship. It was probably at this point in the year that everyone realised just how good our junior section is. Why? Winner of the Clements Scratch bowl – Levi Desmond. Second – Dan Keddie. It would be remiss of me not to mention that Levi became the youngest winner of the tournament coupled with the incredible statistic that his rounds of 69 and 71 gave him the lowest ever total. Superb. Oh, and young Danny’s 143 total would have been good enough to win on about 90 other occasions. Watch out for these two and indeed all the juniors. The following week saw John Taylor and Keith Smith take the superbly ran Presidents Day for the men, with Enid Maltby and Vicky Grindal winning for the ladies. Sally Friend and partner took the Flowers Open. The first team were back in action after a three week gap, and due to a favourable set of results elsewhere, it suddenly dawned on Sutty and the players that they had a chance of winning the title, and that would be the first time for 27 years. Stoke Rochford were duly despatched at home, and that left two games to be won in August, more of which later. Paul Woods’ Captains Day was a rip roaring success and featured much merry making, and young Levi won the first of the Summer Knockout cups with the Jubilee. Oh, and we all sat and watched the climax of the most exciting Open Championship in decades as Padraig Harrington beat Sergio Garcia in a play off. Great stuff. Anyhow, onwards once again…

August
Smokers mourned the passing of puffing away in doors on the 1st of August as the Smoking Ban came into being. Cue huddles of people crowding around outdoor ashtrays. Can only be a good thing. The Family Cup passed us by fortunately without incident / fighting as Phil and Diane Dixon took the spoils, and another highly successful Gents Invitation day saw Max Sims and Rich Downs win with their respective invitees. Then, young Levi decided to go completely bonkers and shoot a gross 65, yes, 65 in the Junior Club Championship to set up the double, and Margaret and John Thompson won the Victory Cup. Lenny Beige’s Pro’s day was won by Steve Railton and Jerry Bowling with a mammoth 46 points, and Michael Leonard Sims won the Upper Crust trophy with a splendid nett 67, Burns taking the Stan Robinson Tankard for best gross. Ed Glenn and Callum Tyndall took the two junior trophies, The Ancaster Shield and ADA cup. Sadly, the second team succumbed to the almost inevitable and were relegated from their top league, but the first team boys were very much still competing. A very brave win at Boston West in near darkness coupled with the astonishing news that Spalding had lost to ‘The West’ the previous Saturday, meant that if Belton could win at Sleaford and Burghley not beat Spalding in the last set of matches, the unthinkable would happen and Belton would be champions. And so it came to pass that all of the above happened; we won, Burghley lost, and the celebrations began. 27 years. Think about that. Well done all of the lads who played. Emotional.

September
Big Brother ended. Thank God. The Belton season showed no signs of letting up as Simon Pullen, Tony Davies, Phil Kidd and Dave Capindale won the John Peberdy Am-Am, and the low handicap combo of Jim Sergeant, Nigel Harris and Chris Burns, in partnership with pro Paul Bagshaw, racked up a very naughty 22 under par score to win the Belton Park pro-am. Sheesh! The Pearson Gregory Cup went to Chris MottERShead with a nett 67, and that Stott and Gelder partnership took the Summer Foursomes title. The Battle of Britain trophies both went to visiting partnerships, the RASC cup was defended successfully by Rob Harley and Simon Baxter, and Josh Smith won the end of season Mod Jackson Trophy for the years medal winners. Special mention goes to Paul Thompson and Anna Clark, who almost made it to the final of the Central England Mixed Foursomes, no mean feat I can assure you.



Well folks, that’s about all I can tell you about the year. Obviously there are a few bits and pieces to let you know about from the end of the season, and these will be posted in the usual manner. I hope you have enjoyed a look back at the season, all in good jest I hope, and here’s to another next year.

Cheerio.