Fitzwilliam Golf Society

Day 2 – Church Stretton

I had arranged for us to have breakfast at the golf club at 9.15 am – so we travelled the half hour journey from Ludlow quite early. When we arrived, it was immediately evident that there had been some damage caused by recent heavy rains (especially the previous Thursday – when I believe there had been a raging torrent running down through the car park and past the clubhouse and on down the very steep hill to the town). Anyway we all just about managed to park – and had a hearty cooked breakfast. Phil was again present – and he would guide Penny and Ann on a short walk in the area, whilst the rest of us played the golf. Thanks so much for your help. Phil.

We were playing today an Individual Stableford – as usual for the Tour Trophy, off full handicaps. And we had the extra prizes on the last three (fun) holes. The course is relatively short and therefore our course handicaps were quite a bit lower than our WHIs – but as we soon found out, the course was certainly not without difficulty!

The 1st hole – a par 3 – is very steeply up and reckoned to be the hardest starting hole in Shropshire – and so most of us found! Then two more par 3s followed – both semi-blind and uphill – again quite a challenge. Once on the 4^th tee, you have done the worst of the climbing and the whole course pans out more in front of you. Although the 4^th (the stroke index 1) was certainly one hole where it would have been very helpful to have had more prior knowledge as there were major problems for most of us on the right side of this difficult hole.

Thereafter, there were still many an up-hill / down-dale holes – and a number of blind shots, where you generally had to trust the distance markers / posts at the back of the greens and hit the ball accordingly. But mostly, I thought that it was a fair test.

The superb 10^th is played downhill to a largely blind green – with stupendous views of Caer Caradoc and the Lawley and the Wrekin and the Cheshire Plain beyond. The 15^th is another hole where you have to descend a long way – and is another marvellous hole, with views down to Church Stretton town and beyond – albeit a difficult green to access especially using a buggy, on the eroded track!

Our feature holes were the 16^th – a potentially driveable par 4, but with OOB on the right. The 17^th was another shortish par 4, where we had the longest drive. The steeply downhill, lovely par 3, 18^th, back to the clubhouse again was Nearest the Pin.

All in all, what an incredible course – really a ‘must play’ at least once in our golfing lives! And despite all of the rain – the course was still generally in good condition – and the greens were all excellent. It was a tough outing for those walking the course – and it was quite a dangerous operation controlling the buggies for those taking that option. But I hope that everyone agreed that it had been well worth the effort!

After the round, we met up again in the small bar / clubhouse – for our lunch. And when we were all back in, the winners for the day were announced. I was very pleased to announce that Colin Dunkerley had come out on top (just, on countback) – and was therefore the winner of the Tour Trophy. Colin was a previous winner on Tour – in 2015 at Walmer & Kingsdown – but after his hip problem, he had gone into golfing decline – so it’s great to see him back playing so much better, after his successful operation.

Albeit I was disappointed for Martin Dinkele, who has recently been so close to winning several times now. Both scored a very creditable 35 points – especially on a course where there a number of blind shots and it clearly helps to have played there before. And Clive Makin was third on 34 points – again a very good score, particularly off his very low handicap.

So the best scores in the Individual Stableford were:

1^st – Colin Dunkerley – 35 points (on countback)

2^nd – Martin Dinkele – 35 points (on countback)

3^rd – Clive Makin – 34 points

4^th – Mike Hamment – 33 points

5^th – Richard Newport – 31 points

6^th equal – Paul Staten and Brian Smith – 30 points

Very well played all of these guys – especially congratulations to Paul, still only an occasional player.

And the winners of the feature holes were:

Nearest the Pin in 2 on the short par 4, 16^th – John Uwins (in close, 100 cm or so away)

Longest Drive on the 17^th – Andy Flint (John Uwins couldn’t win again!)

Nearest the Pin on the steeply downhill 18^th – Mike Hamment (4.5 metres away)

Many then departed – for their quite long journeys home – but some stayed on and were rewarded with some excellent dessert – apple pie and ice cream – which was only produced quite late on by the overworked caterer. Maybe this showed that things are not perfectly organised and a bit chaotic at Church Stretton. But we could hardly complain as we had only paid £40 each for the exhilarating golf and the two meals – an absolute bargain!

SUMMARY OF THIS TRIP AND ON TO NEXT YEAR

It had been another successful Tour – not only for the golfers but for non-golfers also enjoying the delights of Ludlow and of the Shropshire hills. On the back of this Tour, I’m sure that many of us will want to return before too long to this lovely area.

In terms of the golf, Ludlow was a friendly and welcoming club – and a good warm-up course for us to play. But as with last year at Cleeve Hill, the real winner this Tour, was the spectacular and quirky – and of course, very hilly – Church Stretton. A real ‘hidden gem’ and a course that we’ll all long remember! And I suppose the other win on this Tour was that it was so cheap – £180 if having paid for a twin and £240 if paying for a single room – this included all of the meals and some wine – remarkably good value especially compared to the cost of most golf tours these days.

Next year’s Tours are to Ipswich Purdis Heath / Felixstowe Ferry (13^th and 14^th May) and to Prestbury / Wilmslow (8^th and 9^th October) – with an optional extra day at Macclesfield on the 7^th October.

We try to move the Tours around the country and I hope that we’ll see you all again next year for a lot more golfing fun – again paying at a relatively cheap rate, but still on some very fine courses! For example at Ipswich, Purdis Heath (a very highly rated course), we are playing at 2.30 pm at a considerably reduced twilight rate.

Mike Hamment, President and Tour Organiser