Season Report
WW2023 - Season Report
Season overview -
Back in 2020 & 2021 the Wanderers seasons were disrupted by the COVID19 Pandemic. Jump forward two years and this year was disrupted by another outside influence we have no control over, this time the weather! At the start of the season following a lot of hard work by Derek Griffiths, Mark Wilson & myself we had planned to run a 16 round season. This included a Weekend Away trip to Northumberland but as the saying goes “the best laid plans of mice and men” usually go astray and this season was no exception.
Things started to go awry even before we had played our first match. We were due to play Morpeth but the very wet winter and more heavy rain in the days before our visit meant the course was waterlogged. After some phoning around we managed to relocate the match to Newbiggin, being a costal course it's rarely closed, the downside was the strong cold wind coming straight off the North Sea. A few weeks later we had our annual Weekend Away trip, this year just a nice short drive up the Northumberland coast to play Dunstanbrough and Alnmouth golf clubs, staying in Foxton Hall hotel. The Saturday at Dunstanbrough went well with a lovely sunny, warm & calm day. Sadly the same could not be said about the Sunday as when we rose for breakfast the course was totally fog bound and it was obvious we would not be playing there. Thankfully the staff at Foxton had an agreement with Burgham Park 15 miles down the A1 so at least we got a game in.
You would have thought that summer would give us a break and the weather would improve, but we should have known better. Our early summer match at Whitburn had to be abandoned after seven holes when a severe thunderstorm and half inch hailstones closed the course on safety grounds. We did manage to reschedule Whitburn for the following weekend. Sadly the same couldn't be said about our visit to Stocksfield later in the year. After starting off in glorious sunshine dark clouds quickly gathered with some ominous distant rumbles of thunder. By the time we had all played the ninth hole the heavens had opened and thunder & lightning once again caused the course to be closed on safety grounds. There was no time left to rearrange Stocksfield so, as all players had reached the half way point, I decided to declare a result by multiplying all players front nine scores by two.
It wasn't all plain sailing (pun intended!) from then either, the rounds at Tyneside and Bedlington had to be rearranged due to waterlogged courses. Thankfully they could both be rescheduled but we finally ran out of luck at Houghton Finals Day, sadly the course was closed thanks to three days of torrential rain caused by Storm Babet. At such a late stage in the season there was no time left to rearrange so we called it a day declaring the season results final after round fifteen at Bedlington.
Membership –
For 2023 we had 26 full paid up Members and had an average attendance of just over 16 members and/or guests playing each round. As usual we welcomed the odd guest player at some events throughout the season.
Courses –
After 21 seasons it is becoming increasingly difficult to find new local courses the Society haven't visited yet. This year we had planned to visit two new courses, Alnmouth & Gosforth Park (or Parklands as it used to be known). As previously mentioned Alnmouth had to be called off due to the foggy conditions on our Weekend Away trip so Gosforth Park was our only new course this year. We did manage to include a few courses that we hadn't visited for a good few years along with some regulars we play almost every year. At his point I must say a big thank you to Derek Griffiths and Mark Wilson for all their hard work in contacting and arranging the courses at the start of the season.
Rules & handicaps –
Following the introduction of the R&A World Handicap System a couple of years ago I looked into ways we could incorporate it in our Society structure without upsetting the balance too much. The system we adopted involved using our individual Society handicaps as the Player Index then using a website to calculate individual WHS handicaps based on the course slope and rating. We still kept our maximum 28 H/C rule and I adjusted individual Players handicaps before each round. For most of our higher handicap players their playing handicap increased but for the lower handicap players they sometimes dropped. This didn't seem to affect the overall outcome greatly as the 2023 Society Champion turned out to be the player with the lowest Player handicap, therefore was the best player throughout the season.
Competitions –
For the first time since the COVID Pandemic we were able to run a full schedule of competitions including the Tim Aberdeen Shield knockout competition, Borders Championship, Longest Drive, Nearest the Pin, Two's Pot & Birdie Bowl. We also introduced a new category, the Three Rivers Trophy, a competition comprising of the scores gained at the following “Riverside” courses, Tyneside, Teesside & Wearside .
Two's Pot –
A total of 15 Two's were carded throughout the season who shared a prize pot of £116 (rounded up to £120, making £8 per share). The winner of this season's Two's Pot, with a total of three Two's was Gordon Grant.
Birdie Bowl –
The winner of this season's Birdie Bowl, with a total of thirteen Birdies was Andy Dodd.
Nearest the Pin –
The winner of the Nearest the Pin category for 2023, with three round wins was Andy Dodd.
Longest Drive –
The winner of the Longest Drive category for 2023, with four round wins was Andy Trewick.
Three Rivers Trophy –
We had used this format before to produce a recipient for the Borders Championship during COVID when we were unable to run a Weekend Away trip but this was the first season this category gained its own trophy. Following the matches at Teesside, Tyneside & Wearside the winner and first recipient of the trophy was Steve Grant with a total of 100 points.
Borders Championship –
The first of our three "Majors" this season was the Borders Championship played on the Weekend Away trip to Northumberland in May as mentioned before. After two hard fought games the result was very tight with just xxx points covering the top 3. The Borders Champion and recipient of The Claw for 2023 with a total of 69 points was Gary West, taking his first Society Major win.
Tim Aberdeen Shield –
The second of our "Majors" was the Tim Aberdeen Memorial Shield. As used during the previous season we continued with the League then Knockout format. Following hard fought and very tight League then Knockout phases it all came down to the final between defending Aberdeen Shield Champion Alan Welsh and Dave Coates. The final was due to be played at Houghton Finals Day but had to be cancelled due to the weather, the two finalists agreed to play the match over the winter, before the 2024 season starts.
Main Championship –
Finally, we have the Main Championship and the battle for our Claret Jug. The issues with the weather and cancellation of Finals Day mentioned above meant our season was reduced to 15 rounds (instead of the usual 16). There were five players who lead the Championship at some point throughout the season but by the time we reached round 12 at Tyneside, barring a major upset, it was obvious there was only going to be one winner. After what turned out to be the last round of the 2023 season the final top three were –
In third place on 330 points came Bryan Mountford.
In second place came Gordon Grant with 343 points.
The winner and our Champion Gofer for the 2023 season was Andy Dodd with a total of 351 points.
On behalf of the Society Membership I would like to congratulate our 2023 Champions, Andy Dodd (Main Championship), Gary West (Borders Championship), Steve Grant (Three Rivers Championship). Plus I look forward to being able to add the Aberdeen Shield Champion to this list soon.
And Finally –
Firstly, thanks to everyone who has helped me during what has probably the most difficult season we have ever had. Next a big thank you to the two “Paul's” (Marshall & Baker) along with Kevin Hall of DESCO Ltd for their kind sponsorship of our Wearside match this season. Finally, thank you to all our members and guest players who have supported the Society throughout what has been a very difficult year at times. Let's all look forward to 2024 and hope it's less stressful than this year!
I look forward to meeting up with you all again in early 2024 to start another Wanderers season.
Ian Gunn, Wearside Wanderers Competition Secretary.