Belton Park C team 4 v Radcliffe on Trent 2

Belton Park C Team have won 8 of their 11 games this year, halved 2 and only lost 1. With 6 matches left, this could be the best season yet for the team.

A friendly competition match between our 2 clubs at Radcliffe golf club was played on a warm still afternoon. It was a pleasure to meet new and old friends and play some friendly golf.

These golf matches are played between 6 no pairs of golfers representing each club and although it's friendly nobody wants to lose and let their fellow teammates down.

First pair for Belton park  was Captain Ian Carroll partnered by Russel Clough this being the 1st time playing together taking on Radcliffe’s new Captain  Steve Ness and Tony Ingham both pairs equally matched with handi caps . Ian and Russel went 2 up by the 4th hole but by the 7th when Radcliffe shot a birdie it was equal and later on by the 10th went 1 down so had to regroup and Belton’s pair went on a birdie run and by the 16th won 3&2 . Have to say a great competitive match from both sides.

2nd pair Ken Kane and Kev Phillips played superb as giving away 23 shots and taking the match to the 18th and just getting over the line with a 1up win- great job well done.

3rd pair BP’s Club Captain Andrew Hodgson and Dish Patel again giving away shots but both in good form lately had a good battle and taking the win on the 16th hole winning 3&2.

4th pair Clive Horn and Paul Meredith both good seasoned players but met even better players playing against them and although had some shots in hand just was not enough to take the honours and losing 3&2.

5th pair Martin Clarke and Josh Rogers apparently had a great first 14 holes and Josh only dropping 2 shots up-to the 15th but again the opposition just didn’t give up and the match all depended upon the 18th hole and alas the opposing pair took the honours. Thus  BP’s pair lost 1 down.

6th pair Ged O’Reilly and Dave Shepherd’s match was the decider but whilst playing they were not aware of this, Ged stated that his partner Dave played a superb match and Ged came in as needed. This match went up to the 15th hole and BP won 4&3- a great result away.

The Radcliffe course was set up lovely and the ball travelled long distances on the fairways due to the dry spell of weather but the greens were true and fast -credit to their green keeping staff.

The match was followed by a lovely 2-course dinner where all the players rested and enjoyed each other’s company.

The following scores will all be added to the “Every leg count’s” sheet and this shows who the best player of the year is and will be presented with a dated solid silver lapel pin and their names placed upon the C Team trophy.

Results were-

Captain Ian Carroll.    &. Russel Clough       won 3&2

Ken Kane                     &   Kevin Phillips        won 1up

Andrew Hodgson       &.  Dish Patel              won 3&2

Clive Horn                    &. Paul Meredith       lost  3&2

Martin Clarke              &  Josh Rogers            lost 1 down

Ged O’Reilly.               &. Dave Shepherd       won 4&3

The return match will be at Belton Park on August 18th 3pm tee off

Belton Park C Team 5 V The Nottinghamshire 1 

Belton's C team are still on a winning streak after playing a very tough Nottinghamshire team at home. 

No matter what your golfing performance is, you will make new friends that will last a lifetime. With hot, dry conditions, the ball travels further down the fairways than normal, putting on fast, true greens. All of this will change as winter approaches, so enjoy these sunny days while you can. This was Nottinghamshire's return match at Belton Park after their defeat on their home course earlier this year. Because the ball travels so far, high handicappers can reach the longer holes in fewer shots than normal, which gives them a slight advantage over low handicappers. The home team's familiarity with the course allowed them to dominate the score sheet as results started to come in.

We would like to extend a special thank you to both new Belton Park C-team players Glenn Lindfield and Rickie Bellett Now that both of them have played their first matches, they have a 100% winning record, so keep up the good work lads.

A comfortable win was achieved by Belton Park after winning the first four matches, losing the fifth, and winning the sixth. 

Results are- 

Captain Ian Carroll        &   Colin Mason                   won 8 & 7 

Russel Clough                &   Graeme Day                   won 4 & 3 

Martin Clarke                &   Rickie Bellett                  won 4 & 3 

Andrew Macgowan       &  Glenn Lindfield               won 4 & 3 

Ben Bayliss                    &   Andrew Doubleday        lost 2 & 1 

Kevin Phillips                 &   Kevin Smith                    won 2 up 

Belton Park has performed well so far this year, winning nine matches, halving two, and losing one. 

Belton Park C 5 v Sleaford 1

Belton's home course knowledge proved the decisive factor.
Playing just after the severe hot weather conditions on a lovely warm still afternoon was a pleasure to play golf and both teams praised the course's total setup from tee boxes to defined fairways and true greens.
The balls were all travelling further due to the warm dry conditions also the pitch shots stayed upon the greens making every player feel like they were as good as 'Sevi Balasteros' for 1 day.
BP’s Captain Ian Carroll was partnered by Paul Meredith only on his 2nd ever C team match and Paul never let the nerves get to him as both ham and egged together so well against Sleaford’s Captain Al Pearson with Graham Bradford. Al’s previous statement before the match was that he wanted revenge for the past defeats by Ian and after the match Al can keep on saying it as this match was similar to the previous matches BP winning 7&6. This match was played in a lovely friendly atmosphere and may it continue.
2nd pairing Derek Mackey and Andy Macgowan played hard to win and on the 10th hole Andy eagled the par 5 but the opposing pair kept coming back and on the 18th hole the away pairing took the honours 1 up.
3rd pairing Dish Patel and Graeme Day put on a display of golf giving no stance to the away pair and finished the match on the 13th green winning 7&6.
4th pairing Kevin Phillips and John Foster often play together and thus know each other's game so the Sleaford pairing came under some pressure. Kevin shot a gross 80 helping the BP pair get a 3&1 win.
5th pairing Dave Shepherd and Russel Clough had a tougher battle on their hands and the opposing pair just would not let the BP pair get away taking the match to the 18th hole and halving the match. 
6th pair Chris Groom and David Payne (silent assassin) must have hit a brick wall in the last match as so far this year these pair are the 'steady eddy' of the BP team and they don't lose but alas this week they met 2 of the finest players in fact the 'best ever pairing' to come from Sleaford as they succumbed to a 6&4 loss - we have all been here better luck next time.
For dinner, the teams had a fantastic 3 meat platter with coffee and mints which complimented the day.

Results are-

Captain Ian Carroll     &.    Paul Meredith            won 7&6
Derek Mackey            &     Andy Macgowan         lost 1 down
Dish Patel                  &     Graeme Day                won 7&6
Kevin Phillips             &     John Foster                 won 3&1
Dave Shepherd         &      Russel Clough            Halved
Chris Groom              &      David Payne               Lost 6&4

Belton Parks next match will be on the 28th of July at Radcliffe 4 pm tee off.

Team- 4 matches in 10 days proved a success

The C team met a busy time in the last 10 days playing 1 home and 3 away matches. Getting 48 players picked and paired up in very little time proved easier than first considered due to the Belton Park members wanting to be played in friendly competitive golf against other local golf clubs.
As it started with Spalding away the C team just lost losing 4 & 2 but as the other 3 matches were played the C team proved to fight hard and won 2 and halved another which shows how good the players are.
So far this season Belton Park has played 9 matches winning 6 halvings 2 and losing 1 which is a good record for any team.
Every match played each BP player has his score entered into the “Every leg counts “ players competition which shows who becomes the best player of the year award and the winner gets a solid silver engraved lapel pin and a trophy so all players want to try and win this. This season after 9 matches we have 6 players fighting it out all being within 4 legs of the leader who is Neil Gray with a plus 16 score and having a great season winning record and so far not losing a match- watch this space as the season unfolds as there are some very good players chasing him for the 2022 title.

C Team 5 v Melton Mowbray 1

Each team has 6 pairs of players to play in friendly matchplay on a 90% shot difference. Belton Park entertained the Melton Mowbray golf club on their Brownlow course holes 1-18. 
Golf is a delight to play in the afternoon on a warm, still day, and you can see why so many love it, especially when you get to play with other golf clubs and have a meal together at the end of the round.
It just tops any sport.

Belton Parks Captain Ian Carroll partnered by (Sideways) Simon Denton v Meltons Captain Keith Tomblin and Adrian Cairnes - the match started by winning 2 holes immediately but Melton decided to fight back and on the turn, Melton was 1 up and this made the BP pairing dig deep and play a lot better winning 4 holes out of the last 9 and taking a birdie on the 17th hole winning 3&1.
2nd pairing Graeme Day and David Payne (the silent assassin) recently have become a great pairing and Graeme played a fantastic front 9 holes and was 6 up on the turn, Melton’s pairing tried harder on the back 9 but with holes running out the BP, pair won 3&2. David has now won his last 4 matches keep this going.
3rd Pair Kevin Phillips and Russel Clough took on Meltons tried and tested Adrian Green and Alan Parkes who never give up on the golf course. The BP pairing must have played well as the score coming in was a 5 & 4 win - another good BP pairing and matched the best winning score on the day.
4th Pairing Mason Humphrey and Neil Gray v David Bailey and Nigel Vernon - Neil has been in great golf form lately even with a low handicap and partnered by Mason made this pairing a difficult team to beat which is good news for BP as they know they will give everything for a win and the match proved to be difficult for the Melton duo as BP came in with another great score of a 5 & 4 win. Easy to pair these 2 again.
5th Pairing Chris Groom and Mark Hunter v Clive Watts and Dave McKain - these 2 BP players seem to always be under the radar of how good they are and always offer a test to the opposition and any team wanting to beat them has to play very well unfortunately for the Melton pair the BP pairing had the upper hand and came off with a 5&3 winning score.
6th Pairing Dave Shepherd and Andrew MacGowan v Colin Kitchen and Paul Halford, Well, all good stories come to an end and the BP pairing who are both seasoned golfers and playing on home turf gives all the advantages but Colin and Paul don't look at it like that and gave our players a run for their money and eventually taking the spoils on the 18th green giving Melton the win.

Results are-

Capt Ian Carroll    &     Simon Denton                      won 3&1
Graeme Day         &     David Payne                          won 3&2
Kevin Phillips        &     Russel Clough                      won 5&4
Mason Humphrey  &     Neil Gray                             won 5&4
Chris Groom         &     Mark Hunter                         won 5&3
Dave Shepherd    &     Andrew MacGowan              lost 1 down

The next match for the C team will be a home match v Sleaford Golf Club on the 21st of July

Belton Park C Team 3 v Sleaford away 3

The team set off on an absolutely beautiful sunny day towards Sleaford golf club with an earlier than usual 1 pm tee-off time.

Unfortunately, the day before the Sleaford chef had caught the dreaded covid so to be on the careful side on this occasion no food was part of the event.

Sleaford looked and played exactly like a links course having fairway lies to protect the course. With the recent lack of rain, the fairways were dry and on each shot, every player had to consider the extra length the ball would roll before hitting each shot to avoid passing the targets.

The course had some newly designed bunkers which were built in the same style as the seaside links courses well known in Scotland.

Each fairway had plenty of high thick rough on each side so driving the ball had to be accurate otherwise it was a look and hope you find it.

The greens were true and fast and it took skill to actually get a ball to land and stop on them.

Each team had 5 pairs and a single player going head to head in match play and both teams this year had good past records by not losing more than 1 match.

Belton Park started with Dish Patel starting with his singles match against Sleaford’s last year's club Captain Jim Robertson but alas Jim’s superior knowledge of his course proved too much so BP went 1 down.

2nd pairing was Captain Ian Carroll with Ken Kane playing Sleaford’s Captain Bill Gault & Graham Bradford quickly going 1 down on the 1st hole but over the match, the scores went to and fro between each team until Ken had 3 birdies making it difficult for the Sleaford pairing and BP won with a 3&1 making scores equal.

BP’s 3rd pairing of Keven Smith & Russel Clough both capable golfers played well but Russel’s golf ball seemed to have a magnet to the sandy bunkers and came in 2nd with a 2&1 loss.

BP’S 4th pairing was our biggest winners consisting of Bruce Macfarlane and Club Captain Andrew Hodgson and their scores will be added onto the “ Every leg counts board” which tells us who is the best player of the year. Winning with a 4&2 score.

BP’S 5TH pairing Colin Mason and Andrew Macgowan hit a brick wall going down 5 holes within 7 played so had an uphill struggle trying to stay in their match. They competed hard but just ran out of holes before going down 2&1 – well-done lads good effort.

BP’s 6th pair was our very own “Secret assassin “ David Payne with Chris Groom taking on Sleaford’s own “secret assassin” Tony Cook and Adan Crate both had many past winning records over other teams and this match went right up to the 18th hole with everyone watching and on this occasion, BP’s pairing took the honours 1up. David keeps his unbeaten record going- well done David.

Results were-

Dish Patel Lost 3&2

Captain Ian Carroll & Ken Kane                 Won 3&1

Keven Smith & Russel Clough                     Lost 2&1

Bruce Macfarlane & Andrew Hodgson       Won 4&2

Colin Mason & Andrew Macgowan             Lost 2&1

David Payne & Chris Groom                        Won 1 up

Sleaford will be coming to Belton Park Golf Club to play the return match on the 21st of July

Belton Park played above and beyond

Belton parks C team travelled to play against one of their main adversaries Stoke Rochford golf club who always prove to be a difficult team to beat away from home.
With an afternoon tee-off in scorching conditions of 31 degrees which never changed throughout the whole match, some players loved and others felt the heat later in the match.
Belton parks Captain Ian Carroll was back in action after suffering an injured shoulder partnered with Andrew Macgowan giving away 18 shots to Stoke Rockford's Captain Andrew Edwards which certainly made the match interesting partnered with Gary Skerritt who was on form and displaying his short game skills from the start to finish. StokeRochford went 3 up before the turn and made life difficult for the Belton pair but by the 15th hole both teams were tied level only to see Stokes Captain drop a 20-foot putt on the 16th hole giving Stoke a 1up lead, Ian then returned the favour on the 17th to get half so the 18th was all to play for and this was where Andy Macgowan showed his metal with an enormous drive followed by a 110yd pitching wedge hitting the flagstick and left a 4-foot putt and getting the half which was a fair result as both teams played so well.
BP’s 2nd pair the 2 Kevs (Phillips and Smith) took a great win against Stoke’s club Captain Darryl and Gavin 2 up giving BP the start of a lead.
BP 3rd pairings Ken and Stuart both good seasoned players unfortunately walked into a brick wall against Stoke's biggest winner by losing 5&4.
Newbie to the BP squad Keith Bowers with Andy Trotter (super sub) had a great match and took the honours on the 16th hole so Keith now has that 100% winning record - keep that going.
BP Graeme and Mason fought out a great half which was a credit to both as they had not played the course before again great result.
And lastly, Andrew Doubleday played with an injured Colin Mason coming in as a super-sub and had another good win taking BP to that elusive away win- a good team effort.
These good scores will help each BP player go up the league table in the "Every Leg Counts" contest to find the best C Team player at the end of the year.
We have to congratulate StokeRochford’s green staff for presenting us with a fantastic course set up with conditioned tee boxes true fast greens with defined fairways- a pleasure to play upon.
Followed by a lovely meal of chicken pie with trimmings and a choice of puddings and coffee to follow - the caterers are a credit to their club.

The final results are-

Captain Ian Carroll & Andrew Macgowan                   Halved
Kevin Phillips & Kevin Smith                                        Won 2 up
Ken Kane & Stuart Hearn                                             Lost 5&4
Keith Bowers & Andy Trotter                                       Won 4 & 3
Graeme Day & Mason Humphrey                                Halved
Colin Mason & Andrew Doubleday                              Won 4&3

Belton’s C team will travel to Spalding (another difficult place to win) on July 4th to try and keep their unbeaten record- we can but try…….

Belton Park C Team 4 v The Nottinghamshire 2

Belton Park's C team played at The Nottinghamshire in a mid-week friendly golf match, but unfortunately, 2 of our players could not make the game and with The Nottinghamshire fielding a full squad, both Captains decided to loan one non-Nottinghamshire player to Belton, thus keeping the six matches alive. The Nottinghamshire played their captain Nigel Turner against our captain Ian Carroll in a singles match, while the rest of the team competed in pairs.

Before the match, as we travelled toward overcast Yorkshire, the weather was dark and rainy. No one was looking forward to playing, but 30 minutes before tee time, the sun came out, making for a great afternoon.

3 teams played each course and the players stated that both courses were in excellent condition and a pleasure to play upon. The greens were quick and true, and the fairways were well defined, so it's wise to keep out of the rough!

Both courses have plenty of ponds (or as I call them, ball washers) so accuracy is paramount on drives and approach shots.

When the first 4 matches returned Belton Park had taken an early lead winning 2 and halving 1 and losing 1 so the last 2 matches were the deciders. As Graeme Day stated in his speech, he was partnered by the silent assassin, David Payne (aged 82 yrs) winning their match 4&3 taking Belton Park to victory away, which is very difficult to achieve- big well done to both players.

Our last pair, Simon Denton and Chris Groom were under significant pressure as they were only 3 up with 4 to play. However, with remarkable skill, he managed to get the half.

Then our third pair of Dave Shepherd and John Foster showed their class and style as they were 4 up with 4 to play and got a half - again! I think we need to have a talk with these four golfers, i think! What is going on here?

Our club Captain Andrew Hodgson and Andrew Doubleday, Graeme Day and David Payne won 4&3 - well-done lads.

Results are-

Captain Ian Carroll                                            Won 3&2

Ken Kane & Zac (super sub)                              Lost 1 down

Dave Shepherd & John Foster                           Halved

Andrew Hodgson & Andrew Doubleday           Won 4&3

Graeme Day & David Payne                              Won 4&3

Simon Denton & Chris Groom                          Halved

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Belton Park's C Team is playing their first away game of the season after their first win at home.

Ged O Reilly and Derek Bashford were the interim captains.

As the day began with heavy rain, the 3 pm tee-off looked precarious. 30 minutes before the tee-off time, the clouds let the sun through, warm weather prevailed and the previous golfers finishing their rounds looked envious.

John Sheardown and John Foster were new players for the Belton Parks C team, so they're both very welcome.

With a 3.30 pm tee-off- 3 pairs played each course and the tees chosen were yellow.

Belton Park took the lead after the first three pairs returned to the clubhouse with one win and two halves, but Beltonwood's won the 4th match, so hopes were on the last two pairs- again both teams won one each, making it a 3-3 tie.

All players commented on how well the courses were maintained.

Having to mention the 3rd pair who were 2 up with 2 to go managed to get the half badly needed!

Dave Capindale and John Foster were great subs on the day, and Chris Groom played a key role.

After the match, Belton Woods had prepared a steak pie with mash, an all-around favourite.

Results were-

Ged Oreilly & Derek Bashford                   Won 2&1

Kev Smith & Dave Shepherd                      Halved

John Sheardown & Mason Humphrey       Halved

Graham Day & John Foster                         Lost 7&5

Dave Capindale & Russ Clough                  Won 1 up

David Payne & Chris Groom                       Lost 2&1