JLO’s August Report

It has been a very productive summer season.

Our Junior Open was held on August 24^th with an entry of eighty juniors from Durham and N. Yorks. The weather was good to us and Wearside looked at its best. It was most encouraging to observe these accomplished young golfers who were polite and respectful to the ten members helping me to run the event. We had two gentlemen going round the course in buggies acting as marshals. They reported that all was well.

Ages ranged from nine to twenty years. One tiny little girl from Consett playing off 27 handicap and only nine, came in with 38 points!! 

Wearside Juniors played beautifully. Matty Hopps won Best Boys’ Nett

with 44 points and was the winner of The Bert Pearse Trophy. Michelle James took Girls’ Best Nett with 44 points also. Lindsay Curry won longest drive on the 17^th. Best Boys’Gross went to a boy playing off 1 handicap who came in with a gross 71!! Many of these youngsters and parents had never been to Wearside before and all said they had thoroughly enjoyed the day and would come again. Alan Archer was invaluable for his computer skills. A full result sheet was compiled by him and was e-mailed to all sixteen clubs that same evening so those playing in the Tyneside Open the following day had handicap adjustments immediately.

Our Junior Team did extremely well coming in second in the N.E.  League to Boldon who have an extremely strong side. I am more than delighted with this result as two members of last years team were not available. We played David Archer and Matthew Hopps, neither of whom had previous experience of league match play. I feel that the experience has stood them in good stead as David has reduced his handicap from 28 to 17 and Matty from 28 to16. Both boys have worked hard with great commitment.

Ten of the juniors registered with the new Race To Rockliffe pilot scheme (of which we are part) and have travelled around the county to many of the R2R Open Days (eleven in total) Matty and Lindsay Curry took first place at Houghton in their respective categories and David took second place. Matty went on to win also at Southmoor. With Lindsay and her Dad getting to the final of the Bader Cup in Portugal in November, Susan Naisby and Michelle winning third place at Fulford and Craig Wagner and Matty Hopps taking fifth. It has been a good month for Wearside. The Fulford event was an adult and junior combination, adults being over eighteen years. This is the second year we have entered Fulford and feel it is a wonderful opportunity to play a championship course for £34 a pair.

Out of our group of younger juniors, four have now got a handicap of 36 and two of them valiantly entered our Open Day playing off 28 and the white tees.

The younger juniors approaching handicap are being encouraged to come to our Trophy Competitions and they play in a small event off the yellow tees behind the older players. All of these players have to be nurtured as we will lose four of our team over the next two years.

Craig Wayman has made an excellent Team Manager this year and has given me huge support and encouragement. He will be sorely missed next year.

Joan Lilley (JLO)

Southmoor Golf Club are looking for entrants to their Junior Open  - see below:-

Free-to-enter tournament this Saturday for juniors in Northumberland and Durham

The Wynyard have donated an appealing first prize for the Northern Echo Northumberland and Durham Junior Open at South Moor this Saturday (July 16).

The winner receives a free hour’s golf lesson from David Leadbetter Academy expert Andrew Nicholson and a free fourball at The Wynyard, home of the Durham County coaching programme.

The Junior Open is free to play in and it is for players aged 16 and under with handicap limits of 28 (boys) and 36 (girls).

Junior Liaison’s Report.     June 4^th 2011

Kieron is proving to be a popular coach with the juniors and their parents. I recruited ten younger boys for his group which is held from 5 – 6 on Tuesday evenings and Saturday mornings. This is going extremely well, in fact so much so that I have been approached by several members asking for their son/daughter to join. Some are only 4 years old and I have been asked by the parent “Is this too young?” How young is too young I ask myself? I have referred them to Kieron who might create a spot for these ‘tinies’.

Joan Lilley

Junior Results.

9^th   May v Ravensworth (Away)                                                                            3 – 7

19^th May v Boldon ( Home )                                                                                    4 -  6

26^th May v Houghton ( Away )                                                                                4 – 6

2^nd   June v Chester le St.(Home)                                                                          8 – 2

31^st  May Five Man Team Knockout v Ramside (Home)                                    4 – 1

Whilst the results may not be exactly what we could have hoped for, they are encouraging and are showing the depth of quality we have in our Junior Section.

Craig Wayman is making an excellent job of his role as Team Manager taking, what I regard as many difficult decisions in team selection. Craig has been playing young David Archer and Matthew Hopps in some matches. These boys are a credit to the club as they only took up golf last season and have had some excellent individual results against older and more experienced players. Amy Faulkner, aged 14 yrs came 2nd in the girl's section at the DCJGS event at Blackwell Grange on Sun 22nd May, whilst Matthew Watson, aged 11yrs played brilliantly to come 1st in the boy's section. Matthew is a member of both Wearside and Beamish. Both juniors showed great poise and committment to finish so well in the strong winds on the day. players.