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Planet Hastings Crazy Golf Club Open 2002

(A tribute to Stephen Potter - 'Gamesmanship' is alive and well)

Planet Hastings Crazy Golf Club Open,  September 14 2002

It was a blustery day on Hastings Seafront with cloud cover which would have pleased the England pace attack.  What I'm trying to say is that the conditions were difficult and that's what seaside minigolf is all about.  Years of practice coupled with a rudimentary knowledge of meteorology was the order of the day.  No one it seemed had both, but the two Sams and Matt Dray certainly did well to post 40's on the Crazy Golf. Unfortunately Sam G and Matt came unstuck on the mini golf where a score in the mid 40s was a bonus.

The youngsters will have their day, but not just yet as Big Top Ted McIver ground out a two round score of 84 to take an unexpected lead. Tim 'Ace Man' Davies put in an equally gritty performance to stay within one shot of the leader and Jon Angel showed his class to be within two shots.  Both Sam C the top non-BMGA player,  Michael Webb and new man on the block Gavin Masson were still within striking distance.

On to Clambers, where only two weeks ago McIver and Davies had fought out a titanic struggle for the British Championship.  First off the blocks were Jo 'If you want an argument you're only one word away', Katie and Sarah;  at stake the honour of being top lady player.  Katie took eight shots off Sarah and cruised home to win with Jo making a brave attempt, she can take solace in the fact that if this had been a test of word play she would have won by a mile.

Next up were Stephen, Josh and Sam G.  Sam G started with two marvellous aces.  Josh aced the second and the Grrr could be heard all around Clambers.  Disappointingly Stephen struggled to find his form and didn't manage an ace in the entire round.  Both Sam G and Josh did very well to post scores of 41 and 44 respectively, indeed Josh shot up the leaderboard to eighth equal with Matt Dray.

Given that Matt Dray got a seven at the first he did remarkably well to post a 46, he topped his group with British Junior Champion Robert Smith carding a 50 and Shaun a 48.

The next group all had a good chance of challenging the leaders, however only one of them had ample experience of this testing course.  Michael Webb posted the best score of the day and led in the clubhouse with three players still to come in having parred just about everything with a couple of aces thrown in.  Gavin Masson had done well in his first outing but found Clambers rather unforgiving, doing well to get a sub-50 round having never seen or practiced on the course before.  Sam C kept up his challenge again playing on an unknown and difficult course with a creditable 42.

On to the final threesome where two shots separated first and third.  All safely parred the testing first, then Davies struck with an ace at the second and McIver floundered with an uncharacteristic three.  All change at the top, Davies continued to attack and his over exuberance cost him a shot at the fourth with McIver safely parring.  Angel watched on having just bogeyed the third but still in contention, unfortunately a wayward tee shot at the fifth cost him a five where Davies and McIver parred.  Dropped shots at 7,8 and 9 added to his gloom.  At the tenth McIver took the overall lead with an ace and then relinquished it at the fourteenth with a poor three.  Angel meanwhile was recovering with two aces at 12 and 14 but he was still too far adrift.  The fifteenth proved as critical as ever, Davies the recipient of a fortunate though fair ruling from the scorer Peter Parr, got a free drop and a two. McIver got a two, but the die was cast.  Davies would never recover as he could no longer think of winning as he was too concerned about his luck on the fifteenth.  The tension mounted as both players made a mess of the easy 16th and the sometimes difficult 17th.  Both players narrowly missed aces on 18.  The scores were tied and on to the play-off.

McIver won the toss and elected to play first.   A dreadful shot ensued, strangely similar to his first round attempt.  However a stunning second shot drilled into the cup.  Davies duly played a respectable tee shot with a two-footer to play.  He struck it true and McIver started to walk to the second tee, the ball had other ideas and veered violently to the left of the cup.  Game over.  McIver justly wins another tour event.  His most successful year in terms of tour wins, however Davies can feel justly proud of his season finishing in the top three in every home tour event.  Michael Webb finished third and should also be very proud of his excellent performances this year, the pinnacle of which was representing his country and finishing top British player in Europe.

Our thanks go to David and Marian for being such good hosts on the seafront courses (as they always are) and to Ted Skelton who has manfully put up with the minigolf excesses of the PHCGC throughout the year.  An especial thanks to David for playing in the first two rounds - see you in the winter when the PHCGC moves its focus to the seafront!  And huge thanks to Chris for giving us a good deal and of course putting up with us for the last n years!!

A very successful event, enjoyed by all.  It was great to see some new faces and I hope you all come back next season when we'll be playing on four courses.

Results

'Big Top' Ted McIver and Ted Skelton

'Ace Man' gets to grips with McIver

2001 Result: 1. Mark Spry  2. John McIver  3. Tim Davies (played on Seafront Crazy Golf & Seafront minigolf)

Hastings Seafront Crazy Golf  Current BMGA record 33, Big Top Ted McIver (20/10/2001 & 24/11/2001).  Current Planet Hastings CGC record is 31, Tim 'Ace Man' Davies and Mark 'Ice Man' Spry. <review> <pics>

Hastings Seafront Minigolf  Current BMGA record 34, 'Big Top' Ted McIver (19/10/2003). Current Planet Hastings CGC record is 33, Tim 'Ace Man' Davies.  <review> <pics>

Clambers  Official (tournament play) All-comers record Tim 'Ace Man' Davies (14/9/2003).  <review> <pics>