Steve has once again kindly organised our tour this year which will see us returning to St Mellion and also returning to a course we haven’t played for a while on the Sunday.
Details are as follows:
Sunday 6th July – Boringdon Park Golf Club, Plympton, PL7 4QG
Meet from 11:00am with first tee at 1:00pm.
Monday 7th July – St Mellion – Kernow and Nicklaus Courses
First tee on Kernow is at 10:35am, the Nicklaus course tee time is 10:30am.
Tuesday 8th July – St Mellion – Nicklaus Course Championship
First tee time is 10:30am.
Wednesday 10th July – St Mellion – Kernow and Nicklaus Courses
First tee on the Kernow is 10:26am, first tee on the Nicklaus is 10:30am.
Team Details and groupings for Sunday at Boringdon.
We have 16 attendees this year, although not everyone is either present or playing each day. Therefore, the format for the first days play will be “2 Best Stableford Scores to Count per Hole” with two teams of 4 and one team of 3.
Proposed running order is as follows:
Group 1 – Rob Austen / Steve Christie / Derek Craston
Group 2 – Laura Craston / Bruce Mercer / Sue Scott / Martin Sykes
Group 3 – Steve Mulford / Paul Needle / Phil Reay / Dave Scott
A mixed format for the team competition enabled our group to play as 3 and 4 balls.
The Stableford games played out as follows:
Group 1 – Steve C – 38 pts, Pete C – 34 pts, David W – 33 pts
Group 2 – Laura C – 28 pts, Paul N – 28 pts, Martin S – 21 pts
Group 3 – Reg B – 28 pts, Phil R – 27 pts, Nigel W – 32 pts
The matchplay games played out as follows:
Derek C / Chris W won 3&2 versus Rob A / Sue S
Trina B / Dave S won 6&5 versus Steve M / Helen C
James A / Phil W halved with Richard E / Matt O
The end of day score for the teams was 3.5 pts for the Christie Team and 2.5 pts for the Craston Team.
Day 2 – St Mellion – Team Competition
Group 1 – Dave S / Rob A won 4&2 versus James A / Pete C
Group 2 – Chris W / Helen C won 3&1 versus Jane W / Richard E
Group 3 – Laura C / Sue P won 3&2 versus Phil R
Group 4 – Steve C / Nigel W halved with Steve M / Paul N
Group 5 – Phil W / Martin S won 3&2 versus David W / Sue S
Group 6 – JP halved with Derek
The end of day score for the teams was 2 points for the Christie Team and 4 points for the Craston Team.
The Craston Team proved victorious once more in 2024 by 6.5 pts to 5.5.
Day 3 – St Mellion – The Championship
Challenging course conditions and classic Cornish weather was reflected in the scoring for this year’s championship. Only 7 of the field managed to score in the 20s, and the result was very close in the end. On 27 points was our 2022 champion, Chris Wain. With 28 points, but losing out on count back over the second 9 holes, was JP.
However, our champion for 2024 – also with 28 points – is Sue Scott pictured below receiving the trophy from Pete Cosford.
Steve has once again kindly organised our tour this year which will see us returning to St Mellion and also playing a new course for the tour on the Sunday.
Monday 8th July – St Mellion – Kernow and Nicklaus Courses
First tee on Kernow is at 10:17am, the Nicklaus course tee time is 10:20am.
Tuesday 9th July – St Mellion – Nicklaus Course Championship
First tee time is 11:00am.
Wednesday 10th July – St Mellion – Kernow and Nicklaus Courses
First tee on the Kernow is 10:26am, first tee on the Nicklaus is 10:20am.
Team Details and groupings for Sunday at Elfordleigh.
We have 24 attendees this year, although not everyone will be present on every day. Once again, the team competition will see Team Craston (current champions) taking on Team Christie.
The teams (before the usual Sunday evening horse trading) look like this:
Team Craston
James Austen (Sunday and Monday)
Pete Cosford
Derek Craston
Helen Craston
Laura Craston
Steve Mulford
Sue Pritchard (Monday – Wednesday)
Phil Reay
Chris Wain
Nigel Wain
Phil Williams
Gangy (Tuesday & Wednesday)
Team Christie
Rob Austen (Sunday & Monday)
Reg Brown
Catrina Brown
Steve Christie
Richard Edmonds
Paul Needle
John Pritchard
Dave Scott
Sue Scott
Martin Sykes
David Wain
Jane Wain
Groupings for Elfordleigh – first tee 1:00pm
We have 21 players for Sunday, so we’re proposing to tee off as 3x 4-ball groups and 3x 3-ball groups.
We’ve also tried to factor in buggy use and sharing thereof.
For team competition purposes, we propose that the four balls will play better-ball matchplay as normal. The 3 ball groups will play Stableford and team points will be allocated for the top 3 recorded scores. That way, we have a total of 6 points to play for on the first day. Of course, points allocation can be finally negotiated after the result in the bar on Sunday evening.
The running order is as follows:
Steve Christie, Pete Cosford, David Wain
Laura Craston, Paul Needle, Martin Sykes
Reg Brown, Phil Reay, Nigel Wain
Derek Craston & Chris Wain vs Rob Austen & Sue Scott
Helen Craston & Steve Mulford vs Trina Brown & Dave Scott
James Austen & Phil Williams vs Richard Edmonds & Jane Wain
He may have been wondering whether he would ever slip the Champion’s blazer on once more – it being a long 16 years since first winning the championship at China Fleet. However, the long wait is finally over as Pete Cosford scored a very creditable 34 points around the Nicklaus Championship course to win by 3 points with Chris Wain finishing in second place. Chris, of course, was our 2022 champion and as such presented Pete with the Champion’s Blazer and the Harris Hat of Glory.
2023 Champion
Records for the rest of the 2023 tour are sketchy, but we do believe that Pete also secured the longest drive award on the 18th, whilst Fay secured both Nearest the Pin (on the signature 11th hole) and Nearest the Pin in 2 (on the 5th hole). We also believe that the Team trophy was retained by Team Craston – probably by virtue of an overall draw, although possibly because they forgot to bring the trophy with them.
This year sees the tour return to where it all began. It also features a return to the classic team battles of the past with Team Craston taking on Team Christie.
The teams and order of play for the first day have been drawn from the 2023 Harris Hat of Glory – which this year features a fetching Navy and White design (see below).
Team Craston
Fay Austen (Tue, Wed)
James Austen (Sun)
Rob Austen (Sun, Mon)
Pete Cosford
Derek Craston
Laura Craston
Richard Edmonds
Steve Mulford
Martin Sykes
Team Christie
Steve Christie
Bruce Mercer (Mon)
Phil Reay
Gangy
Sue Scott
Chris Wain
David Wain
Jane Wain
The day 1 running order (subject to confirmation by the captains) is as follows:
James & Steve M (alternate holes) will play Sue
Rob & Laura will play Gangy & Phil
Pete & Martin will play Chris & Jane
Derek & Richard will play Steve C & David W
The day 2 running order could be something like this…
Pete will play David W (who may also be joined by Gangy)
Ten players gathered for our spring away day which was very well organised by Steve Mulford. Old fashioned English spring weather greeted the players but, thankfully, most of the round was completed in dry conditions.
Richard Edmonds took the individual prize with an excellent 36 points, followed by Steve Christie with 33 and Dave Scott with 31. Individual prizes went to Sue Scott for nearest-the-pin on the 6th hole and Dave Scott for longest drive on the 17th. Unfortunately, nobody managed to hit the green in two on the short par 4th.
Onwards to St Mellion in June, and fingers crossed for sunny weather!
A return to a former Cornish venue at Lanhydrock, saw 14 participants enjoy 4 days of reasonably clement weather.
Day one saw the defending Craston team take on the other – perhaps now to be know as – Harris team.
In the 4 BBB matches Derek led the way with Bruce Mercer beating the Davids Scott/Wain.
Late arriver and morning winner at Bigbury, Chris Wain teamed up with Sue Scott to overcome Paul Needle and new boy Steve Smith.
Lastly the 3 of Laura Craston, Steve Mulford & Martin Sykes with 77 points overcame Peter Harris Phil Reay & Jane Wain who scored 72 leaving Derek’s team with a 1 point lead in the event.
Spot prizes were gained by Dave Scott for NTP on hole 11 and Steve S open hole 15.
NTP in 2 went to Steve S on hole 8.
Longest Drives on hole 18 went to Chris Wain & Laura Craston.
A delayed start to the St Mellion Open Championship on the Monday, saw the majority of the field scoring a respectable range of points between 25 & 33. However, the standout performance came from Chris Wain with a gross 72 and 41 points.
Runner up on 33 points and countback was Dave Scott, followed by Bruce Mercer on 33 with 19 points out and a few left behind on the last three holes.
Chris took NTP @ 11 NTP in 3 (sponsored by Paul Needle) at the 4th and longest drive on the 18th.
Laura repeated her ladies Longest drive and other spot prizes were Derek with NTP on 15th & Peter NTP in 2 on the 1st.
With no 2s recorded on the first day Chris’ effort on the 6th, Derek’s on the 15th and Sue Scott’s on the difficult 17th shared the pot.
In the much missed absence of Trina and Reg the presentation honours were undertaken by previous winner Dave Scott.
2022 Champion Holder
Tuesday brought a resumption to the team event with guests Gangy and Paul East joining us.
Results went as follows:
Derek & Laura Craston lost to Chris Wain (&Phil)
Paul Needle & Martin Sykes beat David Wain & Gangy 3/2
Steve Smith & Paul East halved with Peter Harris & Sue Scott
Bruce Mercer & Steve Mulford halved with Dave Scott & Jane Wain
Chris swept the spot prizes – NTP on the 6th & 11th, NTP in 2 on the 14th and LD on the18th.
He also carded two 2s (6th & par 4 16th) leaving Sue Scott to claim the ladies LD.
Wednesday saw a revisit to much loved Looe for the singles to conclude the team event with the Craston team one point to the good.
Jane Wain shot off first and evened the match with a 4 & 3 win over Gangy
Order, however, was restored with Steve Smith beating David Wain 4 & 3 and Derek overcoming Sue.
Laura then lost to Peter and Martin to Phil leaving all on the last pairings.
With Paul Needle overcoming the injured Dave Scott all came down to “sacrifical lamb” Steve Mulford against the new champion (and very much in-form) golfer. In the late arriving torrential rain Steve managed a half to retain the team trophy.
With regards to spot prizes, Chris stepped back and they were awarded as follows:
