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Seniors Reach the Final!

By Tom James

Victory in the final league match of the season against Reddish ensured New Mills reached the final of this year’s Manchester and District Seniors' league.

Needing 5 points to ensure a place in the final on Thursday 22nd September a victory from Keith Wright and Phil Smallman together with a win by Bill Sutton and Graham Elliott and a half by Dave Holt and Arthur Oliver was just enough to ensure that the team will go to the final at Dukinfield to play against Dukinfield, Shrigley Hall and Macclesfield.

The team to represent us in the final will be as follows:
Bill Sutton and Graham Elliott
Keith Wright and Phil Smallman
Dave Holt and Alan Blakeman
Dave Good and Trevor Jones

Reserves: Tony Jones, Pete Christian and Tom James

The format for the final is as follows:

Each club fields 4 pairs who play against players from the other clubs. The aggregate of the best 3 pairs is totalled and the team with the highest score are declared the winners.

Good luck to the team and well done to all the other players who have done their bit throughout the season to enable us to reach the final.

Seniors versus Dukinfield 23rd June

by Tom James

Having never played the course before I was looking forward to this match especially since we had enjoyed a narrow victory just a few weeks ago at home. Did I get the spelling slightly wrong? Where were we playing? Was it ‘Duck in Field’? Not sure I saw any ducks, but it was certainly wet enough for them!

Despite the atrocious conditions New Mills managed a creditable 4-4-draw with victories for Clive Garside and Alec Holland; Pete Christian and Tony Broster; Bill Sutton and Richard Boffey and Tom James and Alan Blakeman. Let’s hope for drier conditions at New Mills when we entertain Macclesfield next Monday!

New Mills Senior Team draw level  

by Steve Price

After a slow start to the season the senior team have now managed to have won as many games as they have lost against other clubs. The victory at Avro (four and a half to three and a half) on June 11th ensured a respectable record of play for this stage of the season. The league games were halved (4pts-4pts) which also means we are keeping a high position in the Manchester Senior League.

The Avro course was in fine condition as was our golf, with wins for Bill Sutton/Graham Hawkins, Keith Wright/Steve Price, Dave Good/Alan Blakeman, Harry Howe/Mike Blake (6 & 5). The hospitality was great and the food almost as good as that at New Mills!

Not quite revenge at Chapel - Thurs 19 May

After days of rain and wind it was a relief to visit Chapel golf club with a team hoping to reverse the defeat in March. The sun emerged and a strong Senior side showed good form in the early holes. Keith Wright, who chipped in from 30 yards for his “two” went home richer,and his partner Mike Blake helped to win their match comfortably. Other wins by Tom James and Pete Christian as well as Dave Good and Peter Griffiths (again) allowed us to halve a fixture which ought to have been won (had not the Chairman and Alan Blakeman lost a 4 shot lead over the last 7 holes).

Anyway-always look on the bright side- it’s Dukinfield on Tuesday followed by a league game against Avro on June 9th.

Senior's Match v Shrigley Hall - Tue 10 May

New Mills lose League game but win Friendly by Tom James

The Seniors played their second league game on Tuesday 10th May against last year's League champions Shrigley Hall. Sadly they lost the league match by 5 points to 3 with only Dave Good and Harry Howe winning their game. Graham Elliott and Alec Lyndsey halved their match but unfortunately Tony Jones and Dave Holt and Pete Christian and Mr. President both lost.

However, all was not lost as when the remaining four fixtures in the 'friendly' games were taken into account New Mills won the friendly fixture winning 4 of the 8 games, losing 2 and halving 2.

Clean Sweep for New Mills Seniors - Tuesday 3rd May

by Tom James

At long last a comprehensive victory for the Seniors! The windy conditions proved too much for the visitors as New Mills completed an 8-0 victory against Reddish Vale.

This was the first league match of the season and the 4 pairings of Mike Richardson and Mr. President (5 and 4); Tom James and Mike Howard (3 and 2); Bill Sutton and Keith Wright (6 and 4); and Harry Howe and Trevor Jones (6 and 5) secured maximum points for the home team.

In the four friendly games there were equally impressive wins for Dave Good and Mike Bryant; Terry Johnson and birthday boy Andy Lyndsey; Arnie Merrick and Pete Griffiths and Harold Tague and Bernard McGrath.

The next game is an away match at Stamford on Thursday 5th May. Let’s hope we can achieve a similar result to this one!

First win for Seniors

by Steve Price

On April 26th the senior team chalked up a first victory at home against Mellor. The team performed well to win four and halve three of the eight matches. Don Cooper and Dave Good both shot “twos” as well as winning in their respective pairs. Trevor Jones and Harold Tague were a welcome addition to the team,while Keith Wright also made his first appearance of the season to good effect.

The Mellor players seemed impressed with our refreshments, many having already tried them in the Devonshire Arms! The next game is away to Buxton.

GLORIOUS DAY V GLOSSOP

The Seniors third fixture of the 2011 season was eagerly awaited by players (some of whom were there so early there were questions asked as to whether they had sleeping bags in the boot). On a glorious day, against a very good side, The New Mills team put in a good performance but were shaded out of it by one match yet again. Once more Harry Howe picked up the prizes - this time for the twos pool!

The winning matches came from Harry and Terry Johnson, Bill Sutton and Peter Griffiths, and Steve Price and Andy Lindsay (the latter playing a blinder on his debut fixture).

Graham Hawkins' entertaining speech was supplemented by Liz’s cordon bleu Shepherd’s pie. Brill!

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No Tie at Disley - 13 April 2011

The second senior game of the season ended, as in 2010, in a narrow defeat for 20 New Mills players. This years game began under cloudy skies and a cold breeze, and ended in April sunshine which dried out the fast Disley greens causing us many problems. The final score was Disley 5.5 games, New Mills 4.5 games. The winning pairs for the away side were, Bill Sutton and Mike Bryant (4&2), Mr President and Steve Price (7&6), Graham Elliot and Peter Griffiths (1up), Phil Smallman and Neil Atkinson (7&5).

A pleasant meal and drinks made us feel slightly better in time for Tom James' speech of thanks (the team resplendent in jackets and ties). We hope for a better result at home to Glossop Seniors on Tuesday 19th April.

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New Mills senior team lose opening game

On a cloudy first day of the season 16 senior members took on neighbours Chapel at Shaw Marsh. The result was a narrow loss for  New Mills by 9 points to 7 points. The winning heroes for the home side were Dave Holt and Arthur Oliver, Arnie Merrick and Rod Taylor (despite giving loads of shots away to the opponents),and also the ever dependable Bill Sutton and the laconic Peter Griffiths!

The Chapel players were suitably impressed by the good value meal served by Liz (which she amazingly produced on the same day as moving house!). Three players shared the two's pool money - Tom James, Arnie Merrick and Mike Bryant. The Chairman thanked the seniors for turning out in good time, however his attempt at a joke was not universally applauded.

NEXT LEAGUE GAME AT DISLEY ON APRIL 13th.

SENIORS STRUGGLING AGAINST OTHER CLUBS!

The Seniors haven't made the best of starts to the 2010 season either in friendlies or league matches.

To date we have played 13 games and have only managed to record two wins. One against Mellor at home and the other against Macclesfield, also at home. However, we have also had two drawn matches one of which was also a league match at British Aerospace and the other against Stamford at home.

After having made the final play off in the Manchester and District Seniors League over the past couple of seasons the prospects of repeating that again this year don't look too promising with defeats already to Reddish Vale at home and Shrigley Hall both here and away.

A minor miracle is now needed in our last two games against Reddish Vale and British Aerospace!
Still, however, the games are always played in the right spirit and we are never short of people wanting to play. So many thanks to everyone who has played this season for their support for the club.

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Home match versus Stamford July 6th 2010

Written by Tom James

A good result for New Mills Seniors in that the match was drawn. Most of the games were typical of ours and went right to the last hole. Starting on the 10th the first nine holes was a real see-saw affair with yours truly and former work colleague Ged Armitt first leading and then falling behind. At the end of the back nine we were one down but from there on in things went from bad to worse and with just 6 holes to play we were 4 down!

However, a spirited recovery meant that by the 7th with just two to play we were back to all square and the opposition were clearly rattled. Then an incredible chip by Terry from off the green on the 8th meant we were one down with just one to play. All four of us hit decent drives against the wind on the par four 9th hole, Ged and Ken decided to go for the green whilst Terry and myself played more cautiously and laid up. Neither Ged nor Ken were in the best of positions but were safely over the ditch whilst Terry had left himself a nigh on impossible shot to the green from just behind the wall to the left of the stream.

My pitch onto the green put us in pole position with a fairly straightforward 4 foot putt to win the hole. First problem! Terry's lob wedge landed him on the green and he safely two putted for a five leaving guess who to sink the final putt, win the hole and square the game. Needless to say the pressure was too much and the put lipped the hole to leave the game lost and as it turned out the match halved! Oh what might have been! Still, that's golf!