Thirty-seven members entered the Summer Meeting at Newark Golf Club, now in its second year of new ownership. Some changes were evident as we met in the clubhouse, which has a new open plan layout and has the Pro Shop re-located within the main building.
Fortified by bacon rolls, the players set out for the morning Stableford over the 'new' layout - the club having reverted to a previous layout with what had been the 10th hole now the 1st hole and the back 9 starting from what had previously been the 1st hole. As might be expected following the prolonged dry spell, some of the fairways were showing the effects of the lack of water with some areas very dry and dusty. However, the course was still very playable, with excellent greens. The scoring reflected the benign conditions, with 10 players scoring 36 points or better and 29 achieving 30 points or better.
Following the usual sandwiches and chips lunch, 17 pairs competed in the afternoon Greensomes. The pattern of excellent scoring was continued from the morning round, with 9 pairs returning scores of 36 points or better and all but one scoring more than 30 points. Once all of the cards had been returned, the benefits of using Golf Genius were again demonstrated as the system created the leaderboards for all of the trophies as the scores were entered.
Gary Ridsdale was a convincing winner of the Denys Field Scratch Cup, with his scratch score of 35 points five points clear of Stu Butler and Paddy Mournian on 30 points. The competition for the National Playing Fields Handicap Cup was much closer, with three players - Sion Lewis, Farrukh Bajwa and Stu Butler - on 39 points, Andrew Francis on 40 points and a delighted Bernie Vickers the winner on 41 points.
Four ladies were also competing for the Ladies Cup and the Pru Riddiford Bowl. In a very tight competition, Jackie Francis repeated her 2024 success in both trophies, winning on countback from Alex Mournian after both players returned a score of 32 points. Finally, the Greensomes competition in the afternoon saw Paddy and Alex Mournian in second on 40 points, just pipping Farrukh Bajwa and Sion Lewis on countback, but the runaway winners of the Sassoon Cups were Peter and Pauline Dignan with 47 points.
The full results can be be viewed by clicking on the links to the Individual Stableford scores and the afternoon Greensomes scores.
