2020 Dave Barton Shield

Dave Barton Shield 6th September 2020 

The Dave Barton Shield is a new competition graciously brought in by 2018 Captain Robert W. Kay and his Committee after a suggestion by your reporter ( Paul Hackett ) who felt  that there should be a Board Competition  for our under50s members on the same day as our older members had theirs . The trophy was named in honour of current member Dave Barton (pictured above) in recognition of the many years of service he gave to the club as Captain and Committee member .

Only a select 9-man field of our ‘younger’ members contested the 2nd Dave Barton Shield , sadly  a smallish percentage of our under-50 membership.That said , what quality it represented with our Club Champion and player of the year candidates Astbury , Thompson , Snape, Ralston and Mr Captain all vying for victory .
 

Matt Astbury (91/20/71) ( pictured above ) continued his trophy-laden lockdown season with a tenacious display today . Like many members , the opening trio of holes are a sterner test than usual these days and although he negotiated the opening hole to handicap he dropped a shot on 2 then compounded his sticky start by hooking his tee shot into the heavy rough on 3, punched his 2nd OOB thru the green and eventually posted a horror net TB 7 to be +4 after 3 and seemingly out of contention . Given his 2020 pedigree Matt mounted a rearguard action and slowly clawed his way back with consecutive net birdies on 5 and 6 helping his cause with a net bogey 6 on 7 temporarily halting his momentum before net birdies on the increasingly difficult 8 and 9 ( the latter a 20 foot putt ) getting him to +1 at the turn and very much back in business . He eased into the lead after two more gains on 10 and 11 before again stumbling through Amen Corner courtesy of reverses on 12 and 14 which left him holding a slender one shot lead with the Championship holes left to play . Matt has enjoyed a regular diet of getting to the green in regulation but today had only achieved that feat twice (on 6 and 10) thus could he power back to his best as he stood on the 16th tee ? Sadly not as he could only scramble a 4 to stay ahead but then crucially posted his 7th gain to get back to level par then held his nerve to play 18 to handicap to prevail on countback .
A fourth Board Comp of his incredible season and one achieved without his usual characteristic of robotic accuracy but a display of great patience and course management in heeding lessons learned of a poor start with great scrambling and his undimmed putting prowess coming to his rescue on many occasions to get an improbable W.
 

Keith Ralston (80/9/71) built on his own year of rejuvenation with his efforts today . A rollercoaster start saw him slump to a net DB on the opening hole but regroup with a welcome net birdie on 2 then lose a shot on 3 to go back to +2 . The rest of the front 9 saw Keith gather momentum courtesy of a blemish free run which included net birdies on 4 and 7 getting him to level par at the turn and in joint lead with his good chum (and #1 partner of his golfing harem) Mark Snape . A sloppy bogey on 11 doubtless hurt him and was compounded with his Amen Corner adventure beginning with a further reverse on 12 . Ralston typically bounced back with a net birdie on 14 but immediately gave it back on 15 to go back to +2 and now one behind . He played all three Championship holes to par thus achieving crucial gains on 17 and 18 which meant a net 71 agonisingly putting him in second place on countback . A superb showing nevertheless in the difficult conditions .

Special mentions ...

Andrew Moss (97/24/73) is one of our newer members who had sensationally posted a 27 point front 9 recently to give notice of his talent . Today he has contended strongly but , like most members , found that same front 9 a much sterner test . He played the first 6 holes poorly with net bogeys on 1,4 and 6 before reminding the course of his abilities with a net birdie 5 on 7 then magnificently returning to parity with a sublime net eagle 3 on the difficult 8th hole to stand on the 9th tee at level par and in the joint lead . Momentum was raging , the ‘easiest’ hole beckoned but inexplicably Moss spectacularly succumbed to give all three shots back with a card-busting 8 to fall two off the lead as he reached the turn . He regrouped well and played holes 10-12 to handicap then built on that promise with a net birdie 3 on the onerous 13th . His Amen Corner adventure ended sourly with reverses on 14 and 15 to effectively put him out of contention . Although Andrew finished strongly with further gains on 16 and 17 his net 73 finish left him 2 shots back in a still credible third place and doubtlessly mourning his 9th hole meltdown .
 

Mark Snape (80/6/74) is having a great season and today he seems to have gone out with a gung-ho attitude . He took on the devilishly difficult opening hole with a superb birdie 3 then similarly got to -2 after a net birdie on 2 to take an early lead . Inexplicably he succumbed to losing both those shots on 3 then compounded that misery with another reverse on 4 . He was to continue the rollercoaster nature of his front 9 with a gain on 7 tempered with a reverse on 8 but regrouping spectacularly with a birdie on 9 to share the lead with his chum Ralston ! Sadly his back 9 was more pain than gain with a sloppy reverse on the benign 11th followed by an net DB 8 on 12. Your observer had noted Snape sprinting back to the tee on 12 thus could only surmise that he had suffered the pain of a lost ball on that hole ... a gain on 14 was only the prelude to consecutive dollops of pain on 15 and 16 and although he recorded his third gross birdie of the day with an outrageous net eagle 3 on 17 to get back to +2 he dropped a shot at the last to finish in fifth place and a golfing adventure giving him a serious mixture of the agonies and ecstasies of our sport .

Gross Watch ...

Club Champion David Royle (78/5/73) finished in fourth position with a net 73 . His front 9 was steady with just one gain on 2 tempered with reverses on 3,7 and 9 leaving him at +2 and in definite contention . He started his back 9 well and had a blemish-free start with four holes played to regulation and  the highlight his net birdie on 12 thus standing on the 15th tee at +1 and just one off the lead . Back to back reverses on that hole and 16 effectively destroyed his challenge ... a fight back net birdie on 17 and regulation par at the last meant a fourth placed net 73 finish and the best gross round of  the day . 

Defending Champion Watch ... Sadly Matt Goodall was unable to defend his Shield because of an age-related reason that your reporter is prevented by GDPR to fully divulge .