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In a heated debate at St Pierre late into the night Northumberland stars discussed whether David Beckham cost us the 1998 World Cup, Jeff “can I say just one thing” Oliver lead the case for the prosecution, supported by Ray and Ian, support for Beckham came from wounded knee Dave Langdon, Capt. Lloyd and the Kevin Fitzgibbon Trophy. tHe debate came to an abrupt end when Paul Brown turned to Ian Hixon an said “Trunks”
Ian said “what?”
“Trunks” said Paul again
“Trunks?” said Ian
“yes” said Paul
“Trunks” said Wilfy
“Trunks” said Paul again
“What about them” said Ian
“Have you brought some” said Paul
“No” said Ian
which brought this surreal conversation to an end.
Dave Langdon and Duncan Lloyd delayed waiting for Mick Perris then getting lost on the way to Gatton Manor, June 1990. They eventually arrived and teed of 5 holes behind the field.
Forgot it!
Graham Mann forgot his Scotland 2000 tour shirt.
Friday was the day all players were asked to wear their tour shirt. The shirt had to be couriered up and arrived with ten minutes to spare.
3 Putts 3 Putts 3 Putts
Ian Hixon 3 putting the last five holes of 1992 Northumberland Open at Swindon, including two play off holes to lose the championship.
A Female on board
Big Jeff Smith turned up at Monmouth with a women. ( big old thing)
Jeff insisted she played in the event.
The big five
Mick Williams scored just five points at Royal Mid Surrey June 96
Get off!
Ian Hixon, Ray Carter, Howard Preece, Graham Mann, Mick Perris, Duncan Lloyd, and Steve Creighton were shouted at by an official with a loud hailer at Richmond Park. The man insisted they got off the course immediately as they wanted to shut the park. Our brave boys played on, running between shots.
Mine’s a short
Larry Holloway turned up at Royal Mid Surrey June 1996 with a guest. The Guest was a Midget.
I Will return!
Ashley Morgan leading the Open at ST Peirre 1997 by 8 shots had to return home that evening, Ashley Drove back the following morning, a round trip of 225 miles and missed the first 4 holes.
Sick & tyred
Richard Blake woke up at the 1997 Open at Monmouth to find all four wheels stolen from his car.
One of our golfers is missing
Mick Perris was last seen checking out of St Peirre at 2am in the morning, half way through the 1999 Northumberland Open
Road to Nowhere
Defending champion Richard Blake left the trophy in the road when leaving for the 1995 tournament
Aho! There
Captain Paul Brown aiming left towards the English channel on the 8th tee at Hayling Island June 1999, then hitting the ball straight into it. The last report we had was a Pinnacle 2 was seen rounding Cape horn. This still stands as the longest drive in our history. 3,012 miles
Over the years we have witnessed many highs and lows some crazy and bizarre aspects of golf seem to manifest themselves on our Northumberland Golf days. Monday 24th Sept 2001 was one of those days, Duncan Lloyd set a standard that surely will never be beaten or forgotten by those who had the misfortune to witness the events on the first tee at St Pierre.
Duncan struggled at Monmouth on the previous day, and his game was going down hill faster than speedy Gonzales on skates. Never one to hold back in the bar, Duncan as usual made full use of the fine St Pierre hospitality on the previous evening. Called to the tee at 11.15am Duncan was in the 2nd group off. The first hole on the Old course is a monster. 584 yd par 5
Looking a little fragile Duncan moved onto the tee, he took a deep breath looked down the tree lined hole, one practice swing and he was ready. Brandishing a three wood Duncan took his stance. Lloydy seemed to dwell over the ball a little to long; finally the shoulders turned and Duncan connected with the ball, unfortunately the shot sliced along the ground into the flowerbed along side the tee.A frantic search began, considering the ball had only travelled 8 yards sideways Duncan can rightly feel aggrieved that the ball was never seen again.
A disconsolate Duncan returned to the tee too reload.As always, Duncan went through his pre- shot routine, unfortunately his 2nd attempt to tee off also took the shape of a well known fruit, this time he had missed the ball completely. As they watched in horror a stoney silence fell over the assembled Northumberland stars. At this point Duncan felt a change of tactics may helped his cause, he returned to his bag, and pulled out an iron. There seemed to be a deep depression hanging over the whole course as once more Duncan took his stance, the gallery held its breath, “come on Duncan”. His third attempt to tee off produced an explosion as he hit the ball the turf & tee all together, the crowd looked down the fairway to pick up the flight of the ball. When the dust had settled it was not good news, the ball had moved only one inch forward and slightly to the right.
At this point having played 4 shots and still 583 yds 2 feet 11 inches to go.Duncan with great dignity picked up his ball waved his left arm and trudged sadly off down the hole. Never once did he stop to look back.
Image: Here we go
1990 Ray Carter
This was our first visit to the Rolls and I can remember being on a diet at the time and my deadline was to get below 12st before Monmouth, I had convinced myself I would not win unless I did. Well the diet target was achieved. Nick Faldo was in his prime and we all tried to emulate his style, my handicap was 18 or 19 and at the time and I did not use a wood due to a large tree seeking slice, Reg Marsh kept telling me I had to use one to become the complete golfer, finally I agreed and decided if I was to have any chance of winning I must use a wood and control the slice. Well all went to plan and after two rounds at Monmouth I had a 4 point lead. During that evening I acted as the bookie and issued the odds, Dave & John Allen were my closes pursuers, more pressure was heaped on me as I stood to lose £75 if either Dave or John beat me. Day two was at Coleford and I must admit I had the feeling of impending doom, and I knew Dave and John would egg each other on. My worst fears were soon realised as Dave played really well and by the 9th my lead had gone and I think Dave was one ahead. As it happened I was playing OK and I remember giving myself a good talking too, the jeest of it was keep going, do not change your game Dave cannot continue to play at that level. That’s exactly what happened and gradually Dave faltered and by the 15th I was back in front and finishing the stronger and I went to go on and win by 3 or 4 points, and I was very proud to pick up the coveted trophy.
1992 Dave Allen
Seeing Scott Hoch miss a short putt at the 10th hole at Augusta and witnessing Nick Faldo sink a 30ft putt at the 11th to lift the Masters trophy in the play off reminds me of my dual with Ian Hixon at Swindon in 1992 which I won, to win my Open Championship. Ian Hixon known fondly as the nearly man at the time for his consistent performances but failure to win, led after 36 holes at Monmouth. I was lying 4 points adrift, Monmouth’s Greens had been playing reasonably fast, but this was nothing compared with the undulating lightning fast greens of Swindon. I had managed to draw level with Ian at the 18th despite being the last person in bed the previous evening (ask Lee Cook). Nerves got the better of me as I stood on the 1st extra tee and I could only drive along the ground, I managed to half the hole with a bogey, as Ian emulated Doug Sanders missing another short putt. A half at the 2nd with a par, was followed by a 30ft birdie putt at the 3rd to win the play off ( if you do not believe me its all recorded on camcorder ). I was proud to win our most coveted trophy and hope to be in contention again this year I feel a few former winners will also be in contention, and I would like to wish everyone good luck.
Richard McKinlay 1988
I remember my win in the first ever Open in the Autumn of 1988 at Silvermere
but only just. I think between 14-16 players turned up, and most of them are still with the society, we all played off higher handicaps than we have today, all except mine, which has risen by 4 strokes to 27. It was laugh a minute on the first tee as we all stepped up one by one, until that moment I did not realise just how many ways there was to hit a bad shot. The only balls hitting the fairway were strays from the range. I can not remember any of the golf from the morning round but I was incontention and went out in the last group.
I remember trying to stay in touch with Ray Carter who was in my group and was my idea of the eventual winner. I thought I had a serious chance with about five to play, I had caught Ray and the news from the roving reporter (Dave Allen) was good from the scores up ahead. I think I held a small lead as my group reached the last few holes, Due to fading light it was agreed to finish on the par 3 17th at this point I had a one point lead. Only Ray and the lake stood between me and victory, all the players were gathered around the green. I just needed to clear the water and somehow I did, What a relief! I think we both made 4’s and victory was mine. I was chuffed I had reached my peak at last. The Open had just begun and was to reach it’s peak a few years on.
Ian Hixon 1994
I received a call from Ray this week asking me to write briefly about my win at the famous Rolls, although you would think that this was a reasonably easy task, upon thinking about it was very difficult to remember exact key points that I recalled from that years tournament. I recall the fantastic round I had in the morning which set the platform for the win with 45 points, I felt that from that point all I had to do was keep my nerve and play some consistent golf. I had experienced going very close the year before and the memories of the final hole at Swindon where my bottle went, followed by what I can only say is the most pressurised situation I have ever experienced playing golf with the play-off, culminating in the miss of an 18” putt to win . I knew it was important that if I was going to go the distance this time I needed to do my best work early . Fortunately things went to plan that year. My best recollection of the round was the 18th at Tracey Park, by then I knew I was there and walking the final hole with a “GRIN” from ear to ear.
AMAZING GOLF DAYS
From time to time we will look back at previous golf days where strange but incredible things happened. Today we take you back to June 1996 venue Royal Mid Surrey.
Odd things started to happen a few days prior when Larry Holloway phoned to say “he would like to bring along a friend”
“that’s great came the reply”
“only problem is” said Larry “is that he is a midget”
This sent the Academy scurrying for the club rules but it appeared we have no policy on Midgets, Dwarfs or particularly small people, so the little man was welcomed by one and all.
Going to Mid Surrey is like going back in time, the halls are decorated with glorious events from the clubs history, women are not allowed in the bars and everyone working there must be over 65.
This day was a sensationally hot day with temperatures in the 80s. Texas scramble was played during the morning, but the main event was a one round Stapleford competition on the outer course in the afternoon. Amazing fact No 1 was that Mick Williams returned an all time low 5 points, when asked how many balls he had lost, poor Wilf,s comment was “losing them , I was giving em away”.
Amazing fact No 2. Rumours swept the course that Neil Hawkswood was on a charge, yes that’s Neil Hawkswood on a charge, Neil who never normally troubled the leader board scored 41 points a fantastic effort. But on this amazing day 41 proved to be good enough for 2nd place only. News that the midget had lost his ball in the rough on the 5th hole, and his playing partner Larry had lost the midget in the rough on the 5th hole, only amazed us more.
Amazing fact no 3. It was Larry Holloway was walking tall scoring 44 points to win the day, a score he was never came close to before or after. Things didn’t end there as during the evening an elderly gentleman was carried in full dinner suit by three other old codgers through the corridors apparently he had to vote in a club election.
So as we settled into the bar after dinner for a relaxing drink, champion Larry was itching to move on as there was no fruit machine. Darts at the Jolly Wagonners, Cranford was the appetising alternative, the midget was keen to go but said he only got one throw as he could not reach the board to get his darts out.
Amazing fact No 4 is that Dave Allen and Leigh Cook went along, and finally to complete the day Larry, Leigh & Dave ended up in an almighty brawl at the pub.
Conspiracy Theory
Some believe the whole day was set up, was there a conspiracy? You must agree there are many unanswered questions, ask yourself, Who was the old man carried through the corridors?
Why did Larry bring a midget?
Who was the shadowy figure on the grassy knoll behind the 13th green?
In such heat why didn’t Terry Blacktop’s head go red
Why did Dave Allen leave early ?
Perhaps we will never understand the events of this day, but we have to agree this was one amazing golf day.
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