June 5th Santana End of Year Competitions and winners

'Uta Wenborn Wins Order of Merit at Torreblanca 2008'

Uta took the honours at this years End of Season Dinner and Dance held at the Tamisa Hotel. Over 100 of our members had a wonderful evening at the Tamisa including a four course meal, prize presentation and entertained by Pete the Hat Macray. The order of merit is by far the most prestigious trophy in our calendar to win, Uta accumulated over 100 pts throughout the year and pipped Pat Matthews and Dave Harris into second and third place respectively. Uta who has shaved 6 pts off her handicap this year was model of consistency and a very worthy winner, well done Uta.

Tom Garneys wins The Torreblanca End of Season Trophy

June is the biggest month of the year for the Torreblanca Golf Society, this years end of season event took place at Santana with the presentation at the Tamisa Hotel the following evening. Local Marshall and thoroughly nice bloke Tom Garneys (on the left here pictured)won the Torreblanca End of Season Classic at Santana with 40pts around his local course. Tom recently back from the U.S tour took on a large field of 60+ members, Uta Wenborn claimed second spot with 39pts with Tessa Young on 38pts in third.

Eric Chapman is the Champion of Champions 2008

Every month the Torreblanca Golf Society hold a monthly medal, the 12 winners go forward and battle it out at the End of season Classic to see who wins the Champion of Champions trophy.

This year Eric Chapman scored 37pts at Santana and took home the Cup, don't forget to bring it back next year Eric.

June 12th The Torreblanca U.S. Open at Calanova

Tessa Young Wins Torreblanca U.S. Open 2008 at Calanova

Tessa Young overcame a strong field of 60 members at this years Torreblanca U.S. Open to take the title from John Joannides Greek Ice cream tycoon and bloody nice bloke with 41pts. Much was expected from the Champion Greek but after topping his tee shot on the first in the lake he never recovered and was even beaten by Monty Caveney. Andy Hassall turned up which was a suprise to us all and took second spot and was the early clubhouse leader at the Red Dragon with 40pts he must have thought he had won with that kind of score at Calanova.  Well done Tony Anderson who overcame a recent back Injury to finish third, he completed the days high scoring with 39pts.

 June 19th Alhaurin Texas Scramble

Pat Matthews, Pat Gallet, Nick Tutall and JJ Senior scored avery comendable 58.9 to take the Texas Scramble title at Alhaurin.

Graham Pope, Linda Pope Sharon Stone and Northern Capt. SRH 111 took 2nd with 59.7, Jamie Oliver was nearest the pin with Colin Dale longest drive.

June 26th Almenara Monthly Medal Competition

Jamie Oliver our resident chef and pukka geezer Romped home by a five point margin at the beautiful Almenara course to win the Monthly Medal, Dave Harris came in 2nd with 32pts followed by Uta Wenborn. Jamie nows goes through to our end of year Champions of Champions Trophy in June. One thing Jamie, I hope our fines secretary got hold of you for breaking rule 23, non wearing of club shirt....pukka, 5 Euros, cheap as chips.

July 3rd Calanova

Tom Garneys blew away a big field to win at Calanova, In tricky windy conditions Tom scored 36 points, David Hunter was 4 points behind on 32 pts with Pat Gallet 3rd on 29, Pat also nailed the Longest drive on the 10th. Although shot of the day was Reece Caveney, Reece nearly holed in one at the par three 8th, went on the birdie the hole and win nearest the pin, well done Reece. This also marked the day that Darrell Wallis made his comeback apperance from illness, it was great to see him play 18 holes again.

  David Picking up hiis trophy

July 10th Santa Clara

It's Always nice to play at Santa Clara, especially in the summer, Eric Chapman thinks so too with 37pts he took the honours in a strong field, Micheal Wright nearly pipped him with 36 pts. Biggest achivement of the Day was Darrell Wallis winning the longest drive, I was there to witness it, it's almost like he's never been away.

July 17th The Costalock Torreblanca Open at Santana

Santana has always played a big part in our golf society, only price keeps us from play it on a more regular basis. A big tournament with a large field of over 60, Santana was the place to hold the Torreblanca Open. Paul Richmond narrowly missed out on the Masters two years ago after scoring 42 points at Parador Eric Chapman pipped him by one point. Sponsored by Bob Evans of Costalock Paul took this title in style with 38pts playing faultless golf, David Hunter took 2nd with Mike Wright 3rd on 35pts. Thanks again to Bob and Debbie from Costalock and well done to Paul a Major at last.

July 24th Flamingos Golf Sponsored by Costa Del Sol Golf News

A great day was had by all at Flamingos golf, organised by Ed from the Costa Del Sol Golf News, it was  a triumph. These things are usually won by a number of 28 hcp Spaniards who also run off with the nearest the pin and longest drive trophys too. However Ed managed to weddle them out and the prizes went to the proper winners, we can't wait for the next event Ed.

July 31st Cabopino The Torreblanca Monthly Medal Competition

August 7th The Torreblanca PGA Chamionships at Santana

'School boy error costs Monty his first Major at Santana'

2007 Torreblanca PGA Champion John Hicks finished a comendable third with 35pts, just missing out on defending his title, but that wasn't the biggest story of the day.

Monty Caveney sat on the 18th tee leading a large field of 56 at Santana with the world at his feet and the PGA Trophy within his grasp. With 36pts in the bag and 1 hole to play, he looked favorite to lift the first Major of his career and the last Major of the year. But a school boy error cost him the Championship to Timo Juhala, the flying Fin who won the Torreblanca PGA with 36pts  because of lower handicap.

After a fine tee shot on the 18th it all went to his head and Monty went for the green with his second but unfortunately slashed it into the water and went on to blob the hole, leaving Timo to lift the coverted Trophy , unlucky Monty just not to be but well done Timo.

 

August  14th Guadalhorce

We couldn't resist the summer price of 70 euros including a buggy at one of our favorite courses Guadalhorce. If it wasn't for the miserable starter Carlos we would probably go there more often

August 21st Rio Real

It was great to play Rio Real in our summer schedule a big turnout we had for such a wonderful course. Walter Harrison stepped up to the mark scoring 37pts  just pipping Pat Gallet who also scored 37pts, Walter won because he holds the lower hcp. Mike Wright came in third with 34pts. Paul Richmond took the Longets drive with Howard no e in Davis taking the nearset the pin.

Mike Picking up his third prize

August 28th Santa Clara Monthly Medal Competition

Micky B stood tall today as he scooped first prize and a chance of the Champion of Champions title at the end of the year, they will all be shouting his gnome back at the bar. Mick Scored 35pts with Timo and Roy Ingham coming in 2nd and third respectively with 34pts. Gina Wilson won nearest the pin on the long par 3 , 12, well done to Gina with Bob Evans the longest drive winner on the day, Mick said to eddie I'm not happy, he replied well which on are you then?

September 4th Santa Maria, Individual and team Yellow Ball

Forty odd points usually takes the spoils at Santa Maria and this week was no different, Pat Matthews amassed a massive 42pts to take first prize and the nearest the pin prize, Micky G promptly cut him three at the prizegiving. Yet again is was only second for the Southern Capt Monty Caveney, but a good day and a great score of 39pts. Uta took third with 39pts and is now playing off 27, well done Uta.

Today was also team yellow ball with Arthur, Robin and Brian coming in with 70pts and first prize, Tosser of the day (golfer who loses yellow ball the quickest) was Pat Gallet who plays off 9 and lost the yellow ball on the first hole, 'What a Tosser'

 John and Ricky fighting over the PGA Trophy......

Septmber 11th El Chaperal

Micky 'keep it short' Blanchard has now won 2 weeks out of three, with his hcp plummeting to 11, well done that man. Mick Scored 37 pts the same a second place Arthur Cascoe, Society rules state, in case of a tie the shorter bloke wins..... I mean the lower hcp wins. I had the pleasure of playing with big Bob Sawyer who came in 3rd and what a player, he scored 36pts off 9 now cut to 8. John Cockerill played today 'what a guy' and have you noticed his uncanny resemblence to Republican Candidate John McCain... By the way they have never been seen in the same room together...there's one to think about !

September 18th Guadalhorce

Guadalhorce looked great and played very well and the scoring showed with JJ Junior punching his weight with a massive 38pts. Jason pipped Norman Tillbrook who scored 37pts and would have probably won on any other day. Pat Matthews took 3rd with 35pts with Bob Evans taking the longest drive and the nearest the pin honours. Jason was so delighted with the win he dribbled down his shirt........well done son.

September 25th Cabopino Torreblanca Monthly Medal Competition

Monthly winner and going into the Champion of Champions Trophy in June is Eric Chapman with 34pts, a relatively low scoring day at Cabopino with a small field of 32. Eric ran out the easy winner with forever the bridemaid Ricky 'Monty' Caveney coming in 2nd with 31pts, Gail Mardle took 3rd with 29pts. A big thankyou goes out to Robin Wheeler who Sponsored the day, thankyou Robin. If anyone would like to sponsor a future event please let Neil, Mick or Eric Know.

October 2nd Calanova Texas Scramble

Nobody wanted their hcps cut before the Granada, so it was agreed, Just a gentle Texas would do, just a bit of fun before the North took on the South in the 3rd Torreblanca Ryder cup. Minds must have been elsewhere as scoring was pretty poor. Winners on the day were Ian Robinson, Peter Drew, Terri Drew and Robyn Wheeler with 62.9 ( 72 minus their hcp of 9.1)

October 7th-9th The 3rd Torreblanca Ryder Cup Escape to Granada

Once again 40 of our members and w.a.g.s took to Granada for our annual tribute to the Ryder Cup North v South. With the North winning the last two in Cordoba and Jerez the South had to pull something special out of the bag in 2008.

Day 1 -  Santa Clara Golf - Fourball and Foursomes - Matchplay

New Southern Capt Ricky 'Monty' Caveney rallied his troops on the first day of Fourball and Foursomes matchplay but came up short with the North taking an overnight lead of 12½ - 7½ at the beautiful Santa Clara golf club in Granada.
The North were jubilant during the evening with another famous win on the cards from the men north of Watford.
Scenting victory for the 3rd year running Northern Capt. Steve Rawnley-Hall 111 sent his men to bed. Ricky ' Monty' Caveney sent his men to the bar for more beer and bonding, the writing was on the wall.

Team South Captained by Ricky 'Monty' Caveney

Sponsored by Cruzcampo

Team North Captained by SRH 111

Sponsored by Gravy

Day 2 - Medina Elviria Golf - Singles Matchplay

Never in the history of Torreblanca Ryder cup has a team come from behind to win on the last day. However the tide turned with the North over confident the South on the Cruzcampo, the South bought home seven out of the first nine matches, all square with eleven matches still on the course, what a finish we had in store.
Monty Bordelon shot a one under 71 to halve his match with Northern Capt. SRH111  to take the South into the lead at 17½ - 16½, every match after that was crucial for the teams.
Ian Ashworth and Jamie Oliver won the next two points for the North taking them into the lead by 1 with four matches still on the course.
Len wood won the last four holes for the North to halve his match against Chris Lawrence, with Neil Juniper winning his match against Les 'The Silver Fox' Malpass the North had it by ½ with two matches to go.
In the next match Robyn Wheeler from the South stood on the 18th tee 1up against Bill Giles, this point was crucial, Robyn birdied the hole only for Bill to chip in for an eagle, halve the match and win the Ryder cup for the North, what a finish.
It really didn't matter anyway as Monty Caveney, Southern Capt, lost the last match bringing his combined points total for this trip to 0, but 'what a guy'
So there it was, another win (although close) to the North 21 - 19.
Next years trip is already in the planning, possibly Cadiz, possibly Sevilla, possibly Aberdeen, lets hope it's as exciting as this one was.

Winning team with The Torreblanca Ryder cup Insert Pik 

October 16th Guadalhorce

I thought this weeks competition might be a bit subdued as we were fresh from our Ryder Cup exploits in Granada, however things got off to a suprising start with Eric Chapman had to be pulled off irritating starter Carlos before he rammed a 7 Iron up his arse, I think it was something he said that gave Eric the hump.Thereafter things calmed down and David Hunter went on to win with 39pts and pipped our very own Derek Jones with 37pts, Uta Wenborn coming in 3rd with 36pts

October 23rd Texas Scramble Cabopino

Peter Bull, Arthur Cascoe, Bjorn Peterson and Ian Ashworth triumphed in this months Torreblanca Texas Scramble at Cabopino with a very good 58.5 (67 minus their hcp of 8.5).  Second place was The northern Capt SRH 111, John Hicks, Eric Chapman and Chris Lawrence, although I believe Mr Hicks was heavily relied on throughout. Steve 'Popeye' Popjoy took the longest drive trophy with who's the daddy John Hicks taking the nearest the pin.

October 30th Parador, End of Month Stapleford

Parador usually springs a high score and this week at Parador was no different, I came in with a score of 37pts with high hopes of a podium finish, with my playing partner Timo with 38 pts we though we might have it in the bag. Timo's 38 only managed him 4th spot with my 37 well down in the pack at 8th. Disappointment all round, if I'd only managed to score more than 12 pints on the front nine.........Pat Matthews conjured up a fantastic round netting 41 points to take first place. A special mention to Bob Sawyer, Bob was only 6 over for the day but that still only manged him third spot, with Ian Ashworth taking second on 39.

November 6th El Chaperal

Howard Davis scored 34pts and just edged out Eric Chapman and Mike Wright both scoring 32pts respectively. A beautiful sunny day was spoilt by difficult windy conditions, this didn't seem to worry Howard who has got more things on his mind like his beloved Arsenal leaking late goals..........especially to the Mighty Spurs. Norman Tillbrook took the longest drive with Steve 'Popeye' Popjoy nearest the pin. Have you thought that Northern Capt. SRH 111 and Pik are related ?

November 13th Alhaurin

One of our favorite courses..........Alhaurin was in great condition, Pat Matthews once again blew away a big field to take the spoils with 39 points, Pat has now been cut 5 shots in three weeks, so we shouldn't see him back on the leader board for some time. Long time leader and bloody nice bloke Robyn Wheeler came in second with 36 points and if you can see why he's one of my tips for one of next years Majors. X Factor winner Leon came in third, but with his new single just released he probably had other things on his mind. Guest prize went to Nick Sawyer (pictured below), the lads were out again for their End of Season King of Spain Trophy. It should have been all over before they even got to Spain as Nod was running away with things for most of the season. Jeff informed me though that Nod was leaking shots everywhere and had to call a plummer mid-way through the year, watch this space for the P.T.C 2008 Winner

November 20th Calanova, Team Yellowball

Now Don Manolo is back in charge at Calanova it looks like Calanova will play a big part in next seasons fixture list. A tough course to play and even tougher when playing team yellow ball. The object of the game is return to the clubhouse with your ball, the team with the highest score and their yellow ball intact takes the prize. The lowest handicapper in your team plays first and so on, when you have the yellow ball your stapleford score counts double for your team. If you don't score on the hole with the yellow ball your team can still score with someone else. When you lose the yellow ball you're out of the game. Extra prize are for 'Tosser of the week', this goes to the player who loses the yellow ball first. Famous past winners are Pat Gallet and Robert Mardle to name but two.

December 4th Los Flamingos

The Torreblanca Christmas Classic

Peter Bull romped home at the Torreblanca Christmas Classic held at Los Flamingos
Christmas Champion and X Factor winner Leon Dore couldn't be there to defend his title due to work committments in the UK.
Peter Bull amassed a huge 42points around the wonderful Los Flamingos course, which was in great condition and was promptly cut 4 points by the handicap secretary Mick Gillingham back at the clubhouse.
This year we joined up with Ed and John at one of the very well organised Costa Del Dol Golf Magazine tournaments, and what a success it was.
Nearly 100 players entered the event which was heavily subscribed by the Torreblanca Golf Society.
The prize giving presentation was held at the Tamisa Hotel, we had a wonderful evening entertained by Peter McCray, the food was fantastic thankyou John and the team for a great day.

1st Place Peter Bull 42pts
2nd Place Ian Ashworth 39pts
3rd Place Neil Juniper 39pts

December 18th Calanova, End of Month Medal

After taking time out form his election campagin, Arthur (Ombama) Cascoe now qualifies for the Champion of Champions cup at the end of the season. He romped home with 35 pts at Calanova, closely followed by I say Ian Ashworth and Micky Blanchard. A model of consistancy Arthur blasted his way to the winning post with a big score on the front nine and the rest of us being total rubbish, but well done Arthur

December 20th Inter-Society Cup Calanova

Current holders of the cup, The Torreblanca Golf Society entered the Calanova Inter-Society Trophy with some confidence, hoping to retain the trophy won in 2007, some of the lads pictured below. On a beautiful day at Calanova it was not to be, with tees as far back as they can go our merry group just couldn't get going. Thanks to Manolo for the invitation and thanks to Monty for putting the tees so far back.....tosser !

December 26th Putting Competition Adventure Park, Dunnes

Boxing day in the Costa del Sol and what to do, well just before we tucked into the left overs we took a trip down to the crazy golf putting centre near dunnes in Fuengirola. What a great day we had, it was El Scorchio, (tee shirt weather), Jack Wilson came away with the honours going round the tricky course in 54 shots. First prize was to buy the first round, cheers Jack !!

Winner Jack pictured below with Garry, Mark and Brody

December 27th, Atalaya Park

Twenty four of the the society took up the challenge of playing with Ed and the Costa Del Sol golf news team. On a very chilly day we took on a bunch of spaniards with dodgy handicaps and unlike at Los Flamingos we came absolutley nowhere. I had the pleasure of playing with Chris Lawrence a master of talking while you are playing a shot and who thinks etiquette is a brand of cat food, need less to say it was great to get back into the club house and watch all the winners playing off 28 pick up all the prizes, we're not bitter !! By the way those who havn't played the old course at Atalaya should give it a try it was well worth it.

Leon, pictured below was one of those who missed out on all the Xmas fixtures, X Factor gigs taking him to the UK, see you in the New Year Leon.

January 8th El Chaperal

January 15th, Calanova Individual Stapleford

Eddie Merriweather, pictured here with his putting coach JJ. Big Eddie has been struggling with his putting this year and was lucky to bump into putting guru JJ at Calanova this year. JJ gave Eddie a few tips on technique, confidence and how to roll a cigarette while putting at the same time, I KNOW, I WAS THERE !! Lucky for Eddie he didn't take any notice and went on to take First prize with a winning score of 33pts, now cut to six. JJ who scored only 5 pts on the front nine was still trying to show Eddie how to suck eggs back at the club house. I managed second place with 33 pts and it should have been a lot more if I hadn't been laughing so much, JJ said to Ed on the 18th Green, I hope you learned something today son.... we all did JJ !!!!

January 22nd, Cabopino Texas Scramble

Having played Cabopino for a number of years now it is very difficult to guage what condition the course will be in. I have to say at the moment the course is the best condition I have ever seen it. We had a little Texas Scramble with the winning team , Darrell Wallis, Gina Wilson, Jack Wilson and Terry Harrison scoring a gross 72 minus their hcp, coming in with the winning score of 62.5. Second place with 63.4 was John Ives, Neil Juniper, Stuart Wood and Pat Matthews.

January 29th El Chaperal End of Month Medal

After a rather embarrassing start to the day where Pat Gallett told the Director of golf Domingo he couldn't park in the members parking, Andy Hassall, (apparently it's a silent 'H') won the day and qualifys for the Champion of Champions trophy with 35 pts. Mike G proptly cut Andy by 2 and is now nearing his proper hcp. Celebrating his win Andy said he'd buy everyone a drink......tomorrow? Mike Wright came in with 32pts enough to get him in second spot with Dave Harris Taking 3rd with 31pts. Eric Chapman won the nearset the pin trophy with Ian Ashworth punching his wight with the longest drive...

Hands up if you want the Car Park attendant's job at Chaperral.......!!