Fylde coast golf round-up: Open week at Knott End and lessons to learn from Royal St George's

The week finished in style on Sunday, with the annual 36-hole competition for the Wyreside Trophy.

There was a home winner in the form of Luke Walker with 70+67=137. Knott End players also took second and third places: John Carr (69+68=137) and Simon Older (71+68=139).

The best gross prize went to Fleetwood’s Chris Boyes (71+71= 142). The best morning nett score was Steve Richardson’s (Knott End ) 69 and the best gross a 70 by M Hanson of Morecambe.

In the afternoon, Wayne Mayman of Knott End had the best nett (70) and Fairhaven’s Lee Williams the best gross (71).

The club was supported by visiting captains from Fleetwood, Blackpool North Shore, Fairhaven, St Annes Old Links, Lytham Green Drive, the Fylde Captain of Captains from Blackpool Park, and the Captain of the Society of Lady Golf Captains and the President of the Fylde Society of Captains from Knott End.

The Senior Men’s Open on Tuesday was won by J.Messaro of Lytham Green Drive and P. Kaila (Preston) with a score of 24+23=47. The Fleetwood pair of J. Jackson and M. Cashman also scored 47 (25+22).

The Ladies Open, held on Thursday, is made all the more popular by the scrumptious homemade cakes at the halfway house! Dorothy Scholes (Walmersley), Rita Towler (Harwood), Christine Burrows (Bacup) and Barbara Pilling (Rochdale) were the winners with 123.

The Longridge quartet of Linda Collinson, Lisa Walling, Sam Scanlon and Nicki Detko (122) were second, while Fylde coast players formed the third-placed team on 121: Lady Captain Felicity Lawson , Linda Fearn, (Knott End), Irene Ellacott and Sylvia Hayes (Blackpool North Shore ).

This week’s top tip from Alastair Taylor, teaching professional at Herons’ Reach Golf Club, is to learn from the best players as The Open gets under way...

You will see some very different strategies from the players to tackle the Royal St George’s course this week.

Undoubtedly, some players will be aggressive with their driver but others will hit different clubs from the tees to avoid the bunkers. But the real question is: do you have a strategy to play your home course?

Many golfers play the same course most weeks but simply hit the driver off every par four and five, then just find the ball and go again.

Take a few minutes and imagine playing the holes from green back to the tee.

This may mean that to leave yourself your best yardages into the green you don’t need to hit a driver or even a 3 wood from the tee.

This is something I do in lessons and very often it amazes players how much easier a hole can play by hitting something as short as a7 iron from the tee.

Better strategy often results in fewer lost balls and so reduces the number of penalty shots during your round.

So try to build a strategy that can be flexible from the tee, then stick to it for a few rounds and see how your scores change.

To contact Ali, email [email protected] and watch his YouTube channel AliTaylorGolf for more free tips.

Winner of the Freda Fletcher Salver at Fairhaven GC’s Ladies’ Summer Meeting was Sue Prater with a 77, while the best gross prize went to Vanessa Barrow (84)

Sue was also division three winner, while Julia Dixon won in division one and Gill Jakeman in division two, both with 75.

Paula Leah won the nine-hole stableford with 19 points.

Overall winner of the Men’s Captain’s third qualifier was Chris Plant with 67.

Division one winner, Peter Shirtliff 69; second, Jack Kenmare 69.

Division two winner, John Keohane 69; second, Dave Cartmell 71.

Division three winner, Charles Sykes 69; second, Howard Monks 70.

Thanks for reading. If you value what we do and are able to support us, a digital subscription is just £1 for your first month. Try us today by clicking here