New Mills Golf Club

Winter League Winners 2010

Joe Bowers and Paul West won the Winter League Final on Sunday 11 April 2010 beating Simon Belt and Ian Russell on the last hole!

Joe and Paul have played in various competitions at New Mills over many years, but Simon and Ian are a little new to the more competitive side of golf at New Mills Golf Club. Indeed Joe has been playing golf at New Mills since he first got hooked after getting this first 'proper' clubs for his tenth birthday, with the competitive edge provided by his cousin Gavin, and uncle Ian, who were heavily involved in competitive golf matches and competitions at the Club.

This was Simon and Ian's first year in the Winter League - Ian only joined the Club in October 2009, and as they admit, it was more of a way of meeting other Club members through the Sunday morning competition. However, as the League matches progressed and they found themselves in with a chance of getting through to the quarters finals, their focus and concentration levels increased. Although they didn't win their Division, they did mange to get through as runners up and into the knockout phase, which they only just scraped through to get to the final - in fact they had to play three extra holes in the semi-final to acheive a winning outcome.

The real story though was not the improvement in performance by Simon and Ian, but the winning success by Joe and Paul, especially Joe Bowers. This website has already reported on the rapidly developing talent of Joe Bowers - see Joe Bowers - On Top of His Game. And Joe says, "Seeing some of the great young players up there now bring back very fond memories of my time as a junior at New Mills. A couple of years into playing, I started to realise that I could, if I tried, be half decent if I put my mind to it - so that’s what I did, practising day after day in the summer holidays."

Joe continued like a old Pro "I tried and tried and practised and practised and saw the shots fly of my handicap. As D&C league matches and junior competitions went by, and as a single figure handicap rapidly approached, things started to turn slightly more serious. I played in many competitions when I was younger, and one of them was the gents Winter League. This year’s Winter League competition proved to be a favourite for me and my partner Paul West, as we walked away with the title - a victory that I am very proud of, as some of the games I played were won in the most hideous of weather."

The reason for Joe's confidence became apparent when talking after the final, "Six months ago, whilst talking to a friend who’s currently on a lacrosse scholarship in the States, he told me he would have a word with the golf coach of his University to get me a little bit more info on the subject of American Golf scholarship. An hour passing on his Email address to the golf coach, I had received an email from him telling me of his interest in me. Things have worked out so that on August 11th I’ll be landing at Charlotte International Airport, heading for Lees-McRae Collegein Banner Elk, North Carolina, on a 4 year golf scholarship whilst doing a Sports and Fitness Management and Administration degree."

Joe and Paul are deserved winners of the Winter League and I'm sure everone in the Club wishes Joe all the best with his scholarship and look forward to seeing an even better Joe return to pass on a few tips to his old adversaries and friends.