November 2023 Reports
Los Flamingos 30th November 2023
On Thursday we played down the coast at Los Flamingos and were kindly sponsored by Dave Robertson.
This was our last game of the season before our presentation/Xmas night at Nina Bonita in Benalmadena.
As usual it was a challenging course apart from 1 player who in his own words “had 1 good game coming” and after saying this for quite a while it came true big style, what he forgot to mention was that several huge slices of luck would be on his side as well.
It was great to see him back in the winners circle after all his health problems and also a very welcome handicap cut was duly administered.
Results from Los Flamingos
1st, Bob Sawyer, 42pts, playing off 12.1, now 10.3
2nd, Pauline Fink, 36pts, playing off 32.2, now 31.5
3rd, Howard Ablett, 35pts, playing off 22.5, now 22.1
Nearest the pin in One, hole 4, Iain Hardiker
Nearest the pin in Two, hole 14, Bob Sawyer
Nearest the pin in One, hole 16, Phil Dodd
Santana GC 23rd November 2023
Our latest game was played at Santana and was our Champion of Champions final day, this was for all the weekly winners throughout 2023.We were kindly and generously sponsored by our happy host from the Red Dragon Andy Hassall
We had 18 players battling it out in the final with a few travelling from the UK especially for the final which was great to see. As well as the final we also had our weekly order of merit game which everyone was entered into.
On a gloriously warm November day with temperatures in the low 20’s only cooled by a cooling breeze that got up as the day went on, there were some great scores in at the end with the top 3 all shooting great rounds and all worthy of a handicap cut .
With most players coming back afterwards for the presentation and a full terrace , our master of ceremonies Bob Sawyer did what he does best and made the most of it and held court for quite a while.
Results from Santana
Champion of Champions Final
1st Mike Milner, 39pts
Weekly order of merit comp
1st, Mike Milner, 39 pts, playing off 15.7, now 14.5
2nd, Neil Tomlinson, 38pts, playing off 18.3, now 17.5
3rd, Simon Waby, 37pts, playing off 4.7, now 4.4
Nearest the pin in One, hole 2, Simon Waby
Nearest the pin in Two, hole 14, Iain Hardiker
Nearest the pin in Three, hole 10, Mike Milner
Our latest game was played down the coast at El Higueral which if you don’t know this course is a magnificent 9 hole course and well worth a visit.We were kindly sponsored by Peter and Pauline Bull.
Just to make it interesting the men played off the white tees first time round then yellows 2nd time round, the ladies played off yellows then the red tees.
Back at the Red Dragon after there seemed to be a lot of conversations about how many balls were lost and the feeling was Dennis Regan seemed to win that unofficial competition.
Results from El Higueral
1st, Simon Waby, 36pts, playing off 5.2, now 4.7
2nd, Ray Critcher, 34pts, playing off 12.2, now 11.8
3rd, Jay Cochrane, 33pts, playing off 19.2, now 18.8
Nearest the pin in One, hole 10, Kim Tomlinson
Nearest the pin in One, hole 12, Ray Critcher
Nearest the pin in Two, hole 16, Phil Dodd
Next week we are fully booked and playing at Santana and is Trophy time because its our Champion of Champions final, which is played for by the weekly winners throughout the year, this is a Stableford comp which runs alongside the normal weekly order of merit comp, we have 20 finalists so good luck to all.
The week after we are also fully booked at Los Flamingos with quite a few reserves waiting to play.
We also celebrated another birthday back at the bar after as it was Ian Ashworth’s birthday so Andy Hassall had to bring the free shots back out again which obviously put a smile on his face.
Santa Clara GC 9th November 2023
Last Thursday we played at Santa Clara and were kindly sponsored by Ian McCarthy.
When we all arrived most people noticed that there was a TV crew filming there and wondered if there was a TV star there but alas they were only there to film Jay Cochrane for the latest instalment of Bargain Brits in the sun although most thought it was for Crimewatch.
With some tricky greens because they had been micro tined some of the putts spent a significant time bouncing but this didn’t bother the winner who came in with the highest stableford score of the year no thanks to a magnificent back 9 holes of 23 pts and made the order of merit very interesting the remaining 3 games of the season.
After the presentation had been done, Bob then welcomed the newest member to the Torreblanca society’s senior section which was Simon Waby who earlier in the week had celebrated his 60th birthday, whether that was net or gross was up for discussion.
Note only did we get some birthday cake but Andy Hassall brought out some FREE shots for everyone
Results from Santa Clara
1st, Larry Byrne, 41pts, playing off 16.9, now 15.3
2nd, Robert Bungay, 37pts, playing off 28.0, now 27.1
3rd, Simon Waby, 36pts, playing off 5.4, now 5.2
Nearest the pin in One, hole 3, Jordan Abbasciano
Nearest the pin in One, hole 15, Phil Savage
Nearest the pin in Two, hole 18, Jonathan Furlong
Rio Real 2nd November 2023
Last Thursday we played down at Rio Real and we were kindly sponsored by Simon Waby.
This was our Medal Final for 2023 and also our first qualifier for non finalists for the 2024 final with the Gross and net winners in the final going through to next years final and also the top 2 in each category in the qualifier going through to next year’s final.
The course was in great condition with the greens especially tricky due to them being very very quick and also some very interesting pin positions with a 3 putt on some of them not a bad outcome.
Results from Rio Real
2023 Medal Final
Gross winner
Simon Waby, Gross 89, playing off 5.9, now 5.4
Net winner
Don Crowley , Net 84, playing off 17.9, now 17.3
2024 Qualifier
Gross
1st Ray Critcher, gross 94 on countback, back 9 of 44 shots, playing off 12.7, now 12.1
2nd, Ashley Pearson, Gross 94, back 9 of 46 shots, playing off 11.8, now 11.9
Net
1st, Viggo Gjelseth, Net 81, playing off 21.7, now 21.0
2nd, Ian Ashworth, Net 83, playing off 26.4, now 26.5
Nearest the pin in One, hole 3, Bob Sawyer
Nearest the pin in Two, hole 11, Ashley Pearson
Next week we are playing at Santa Clara with a first tee time of 10.00
The next few weeks our numbers are up and most of the weeks are full especially Santana on the 23rd November, this is our Champion of champions day and we currently have 41 names and only 32 places, the finalists get priority that week which we have 21 of at the moment so some people who aren’t In the final unfortunately will miss out.
