Dave Barton Shield 7th September 2019

Dave Barton Shield 7th. September 2019

Dave Barton Shield Contenders

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 in recognition of the many years of service he gave to the club as Captain and Committee member . 

A ‘select’ field of 14 competed for the honour of being the inaugural winner ...

Former Secretary and long-standing Committee man Matt Goodall (78/10/68) only just scraped into this competition given that he had an impending birthday which would have taken him into the Seniors Trophy . Today he started confidently with a net birdie on the opening two holes and although he suffered a reverse on 3 he played the next 6 holes blemish-free and helped himself to further gains on 5 with a 5 on 12 getting him right in the mix now just a shot away .gross birdie on 9 to get to the turn at -3 and a two shot lead . Goodall consolidated playing to hcp until suffering consecutive reverses on 13/14 but curiously none of our younger generation were able to take advantage of the slip at that moment and he remained 3 shots clear with a trio of holes left . A crucial net birdie on 5 kept him a stroke clear after a late move by Luke Dunlop but he held his nerve and managed another net birdie on the final hole to win by two strokes . The handicapper acknowledged his efforts by cutting him 0.4 to a new mark of 9.3 . .

 Luke Dunlop (86/16/70) has had an encouraging start to his Alty career and today he has again shown his undoubted talents . A quality start saw him get to -2 after just 4 holes courtesy of consecutive net birdies on 2/3 . Things went a little awry to the turn with a gain on 7 but reverses on 5 and 9 to get to the turn at -1 and two away from the lead . He performed well in the initial homeward holes with a superb net birdie 4 on 12 to get within a stroke but he sadly dropped 4 shots in the next trio of holes with reverses on 13 and 15 and a net double bogey 7 compounding proceedings meaning that he found himself 3 shots behind with just 3 to play . To hid credit he immediately bounced back with a magnificent net eagle 2 on 16 and t hiollowed that with another gain on 17 Rostand on the final tee just one shot behind Goodall and poised to take advantage of any slip up. Unfortuna tely he  could only play 18 to hcp which gave him a finishing score of -1 and in second place . A fine effort nevertheless !
 

Nick Lewis (92/18/74) has had a very good season , picking up the second Board Competition of his Alty career (Tommy Barlow) then a strong second in the Golden Jubilee which have helped cut his handicap significantly a few weeks earlier . Now operating at 18 hcp hw has again contended strongly and performed well. He started with a sloppy reverse on the opening hole, got the shot back on 3 then played the rest of his front 9 to hcp apart from a net bogey 6 at the deceptively arduous 8th to find himself +1 at the turn and 4 off the lead . Homeward bound , he immediately dropped another shot on 10 but regrouped well to get to level with net birdies on 11 and 13 then played the difficult 14th to his hcp thus must’ve felt +he had momentum standing on the 15th tee , a holes which  he had a good record  . Sadly , Lewis ,(who is one of the few players who operatt using a driver ) hits a straight and relatively long ball but his accuracy totally deserted him as he laboured to a net triple bogey NINE which abruptly ended his challenge . He played to hcp for his final trio of holes and ( given the dominance of the leading pair ) he still registered his third top 3 finish of this years’ majors finishing on +3 on countback .

Special mentions ...

Stuart Mason ( 87/13/74) was perhaps considered as the favourite for this competition given his stellar start to the season . Any ambitions to justify that favouritism were to be immediately dented with a net double bogey 7 on the opening hole but he regrouped well , playing his next couple of holes to hcp then fighting his way back up the leaderboard with three consecutive gains on 4,5 with his highlight on 6 with a gross birdie 3 to get to -1 and in a challenging position . Sadly he was to suffer consecutive sloppy reverses on 8 and 9 to get to the turn +1 and thus 4 away from the summit . He was to lose further ground on his back 9 with his solitary gain on 13 rendered insignificant with reverses on 10,15 and 18 to finish 4th..
 

Nathan Butterworth (84/8/76) has also had a great season but his net +5 included him dropping shots on eIght of the easiest ten holes ... 

Overall it has to be said that our younger generation did not compete to a high level and their collective back 9 effort was much below their usual standard . That said , our beloved course is deceptively difficult at times which makes it a pleasure to play and a good test ! Not surprising at all that the most battle-hardened ( and oldest) competitor took the trophy ! 

Gross Best ... Matt Goodall (78/10/68) put on a Champion show today !