Advanced Handicap Midweek Short Golf

	Matches				Games		Points
	P	W	D	L	W	L
Bowdon Earls	6	5	0	1	24	18	10
Chester	6	3	0	3	22	20	6
Fylde	6	3	0	3	21	21	6
Bowdon Griffins	6	3	0	3	20	22	6
Pendle & Craven	6	3	0	3	18	24	6
Bury	6	2	0	4	21	21	4
Southport	6	2	0	4	21	21	4

Table courtesy of the North West Federation

Bowdon Earls 4 Fylde 3

Fylde: Liz, Peter H, Betty & Ian.
Earls: Tony Hudson, Francois, Steve Reynolds & Barry MacKenzie.

Fylde needed to win 5 -2 or better to snatch the league from the Bowdon team. The morning session saw Liz and Peter taking on Francois and Tony with ½ bisque to help them. It was a very tight game with the Bowdon pair pulling out a 3 hoop lead with10 minutes to go. The ½ bisque helped to give Fylde the innings back and the scores were level on time. Liz blobbed rover and gave ~Bowdon another shot across the lawn which they missed and so Liz had an easy hoop to win +1. Ian had a close game against Steve but narrowly lost. Betty struggled to master the pace of the lawn and also lost. The score 2 -1 to Bowdon and lunch. Ian hit form after lunch and beat Barry +25 in quick time. The next match to finish was Betty’s who lost -5. This meant the league was lost. The two games on lawn one were slower but Peter eventually lost to Francois – 15. Liz was last to finish beating Tony +3 and gaining a handicap reduction to 2½ . The match was lost 3 – 4 but the day was great fun and it is a pleasure to play on such lovely lawns

Posted by Liz, 17th September

Bury 6 Fylde 1

Fylde: Liz, Peter H, Ken & Ian
Bury: Graham Saunders (12), Mac Hardman (14), Geoff Young (14). Bob (24)

Liz and Peter played the sacrificial doubles and lost! Ian beat Mac Hardman with a good fight back to peg out just as the bisques ran out. Ken lost to Graham Saunders. Fylde 2 -1 down at lunch. In the afternoon Ian played Bob and was the first to loose after pulling a mountain of bisques. Liz (giving 9 bisques!) reached peg and rover before allowing Graham back in on rover and 3 with 3 bisques left. Graham played very well and using all his remaining bisques got his ball to peg. Liz had one shot which just missed and Graham finished. Ken was next to be beaten by the Bury lawns and finally Peter lost to Mac. It was a pleasant challenge to play for one last time on the Bury crown greens in the sunshine and the score of 6 -1 did not reflect some good play by the Fylde team.

Posted by Liz, 9th September

Fylde 4 Chester 3

Fylde: Ken, Ian, Leonard & Alan
Chester: Janet Davies, David Boyd, John Dawson & Helen Pickford

The matches started in pouring rain but the weather steadily improved and finished in sunshine. Ian played John in the morning and had one of his flashes of brilliance finishing the game +26 in just over one hour with John still having 5 bisques in the ground. Ken also played well against David and won +9. The doubles was last to finish (isn’t it always!) with Alan and Leonard winning +15. Leonard commented before the start that he was just going to “waste his bisques and then start playing” so the non-playing captain (Liz) allocated all the bisques to Alan and told Leonard that he had to play without them unless permission was granted by Alan to use one.

This tactic worked well as Leonard played a superb break without bisques! So 3 – 0 at lunch. After lunch Ian took on David, Ken played John, Leonard played Janet and Alan took on Helen. Ian started well but ran out of bisques (and confidence) on Peg and Rover. After about 20 minutes he regained the innings and ran rover the wrong way. Eventually he managed to run the last hoop and peg out with a +17 victory and a match winning game. This was fortunate as the other three matches went to Chester. The day was enjoyable and the new lunch idea of DIY sandwiches went down a treat allowing for more flexibility and sitting around chatting. Well done the boys

Posted by Liz, 20th August

Fylde 7 Griffins 0

Fylde: Betty Bates, Ken Harper, Alan Morton & Ian Theakstone
Griffins: John Saxby (c), John Wilkinson, Rupert Webb & Chris Lewis
Liz decided to be non-playing captain thus maximising the number of bisques and this proved a good move. In the morning the two singles matches Ken vs Chris Lewis and Ian vs Rupert Webb both finished very quickly with scores of 26-6 and 26-0 respectively. As these four were paired against each other again in the afternoon they started the second matches before lunch. The doubles match Betty and Alan vs the two Johns went to time with Betty and Alan managing to hold on to an early lead despite John Wilkinson eventually getting to grips with the Fylde lawns and pulling out a splendid break. The score 18 -16 on time. After lunch Betty took on John Wilkinson and Alan played John Saxby. The first game to finish was Ken vs Rupert – 26 -8 to Ken who played well all day despite deciding that penult was the next hoop in order after hoop2! Alan’s game against John was the next to finish with a fine win for Alan 26 -4. The game between Ian and Chris Lewis on lawn 5 was very entertaining from the distance of the pavilion as Rupert and Liz watched their prodigies struggling to finish the game. Ian came out the eventual winner 26 – 22 after Ian pegged out one ball and struggled to hit in with the other whilst Chris crawled round from 2 to penult. The final game between Betty and John Wilkinson was also very entertaining with John putting together some good breaks on an unfamiliar lawn and Betty hitting in on nearly every shot. The final score 20 -19 to Betty. The day was pleasant with good weather and plenty of aerial activity from Blackpool Airport presumably due to the Ladies Open Golf Tournament. We were also entertained in the morning by Trench-man Philip digging holes for the proposed new shelter and in the afternoon by Steve, the gardener, mowing all around Betty as she played! Well done my boys!

Posted by Liz, 30th June

Fylde 4 Southport 3

Fylde: Liz (c) Ken, Alan and Ian
Southport: Terry Foster, John Taylor, Eileen Gallagher and John Mawdsley
And the rain came down in torrents! The captain arrived to find all the lawns set up and “the boys” waiting anxiously. There are puddles on the lawns they cried. We decided to see how it went and that we would play the singles first in the hope of getting a result by lunchtime in case the conditions became unplayable. As it turned out the water was only surface water and forking by the out-players drained them. On lawn 2 Fylde outplayed the opposition with wins for Ian vs John Mawdsley (+14) and Ken vs John Taylor (+26). Lawns 1 however saw two very close matches which were both won by Southport. Eileen beat Alan +2 and Terry beat Liz + 3 after Liz roqueted Terrys peg ball on to the peg (it was very close-honest) leaving her with no continuation shot. So lunch arrived ably served by Martin with the score all even at 2 -2. The rain eased slightly during lunch but started again with a vengeance as we started the afternoon games. Southport will be flooded by now – were the comments from the visitors. Liz and Ken played the doubles against Terry and Eileen on lawn 1 and had the comfort of the hut to sit in. Lawns 2 saw a quick demolition of John Taylor by Ian (+26 for the 2nd time). Alan struggled with the conditions against John Mawdsley and lost -11. This left the doubles as the decider. It was a very close game and the lawn was beginning to get wet. Liz and Ken came out the eventual winners +2 on time. Match score 4 -3 to Fylde. Man of the match – Ian. Loser of the day – the weather – it did try to flood us but failed! I have never played croquet in such persistently bad conditions and the lawns survived – YES! Cheerful example to us all John Taylor who lost both matches -26 giving 26 bisques and still sat in the shed smiling.

Posted by Liz, 17th June

PENDLE AND CRAVEN 5 FYLDE 2

Pendle: Robin Delves (10), Peter Dew Hurst (18), Andrew Webb (4.5), Abdul Ahmad (7)
Fylde: Peter Hallett (8), Leonard Ainsworth (18), Alan Morton (20), Ian Theakstone (20)
The team discussion on the journey to Earby focused on the weather as heavy rain was expected. However, there was a ray of sunshine as Andrew was spotted entering the Earby pie shop at 9-25 a.m. Had he given up his fitness regime? Would the pie affect his play? (It was later revealed that he had purchased a sausage roll)
DOUBLES
Peter and Leonard lost -3 to Robin and Peter D. The game was a close affair with Pendle ahead as time approached. Peter H Put in a nice break to be within one point as time was called. Peter D made a further 2 hoops in the Pendle time turn.
SINGLES
Ian fought hard against Abdul but the latter’s experience showed and he won the 26-19 Alan got off to a good start by taking K to Rover in his first turn after Andrew had missed a roquet. Andrew eventually got going and had set up a break when his approach to Hoop 6 was over hit and he had to concede the innings (was this the sausage roll coming back to haunt him). Alan hit in and took his second ball to 4 back and eventually winning 26-7 within time.
AFTERNOON SINGLES
Andrew v Peter -Andrew won +4 on time Abdul v Leonard -Abdul won +10 Robin v Alan. Robin won +1 on time. Alan had both balls for Peg with Robin for Rover with Red and 3 back with Y. Robin in his time turn ran all hoops and peeled red through Rover. There was a ‘hoop roquet ‘law query which was eventually solved by Liz some 55 miles away (no Abdul to consult) in a ‘phone a friend’ situation. Robin got one ball pegged out leaving Alan to make a 12 yard roquet to enable setting up for a peg out to win the game. He didn’t and Robin won 25-24. Peter v Ian -Ian won +7 - Ian took advantage of wrong ball play by Peter and took his first ball to Rover. Peter got back into the game with Ian finished strongly, pegging out with 4 bisques to spare.

Posted by Alan, 10th June

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