The Angel of the North stands above the 16th tee of Ravensworth Golf Course, but even that guardian was not enough to prevent the Woodham Men's Scratch Team, sponsored this year by Turners of Sedgefield Ltd, from posting an impressive 8-6 victory in their North Durham Golf Union League match on Tuesday 1st June 2004.

Probably the performance of the day came from James Ivil who kept his unbeaten record but had to show true grit, to come back from four down with five to play, to win 1up. Lee McCavanagh won 1up in another of the four matches that went to the 18th green.

There was a good win for Shaun Goad by 4&3, the remaining Woodham points came from halved matches for Peter Moralee and Mark Hodgson. Tony Stafford and John Banks both lost tight matches by 3 & 1.

Club Captain, Steve Haslam said "The lads were fantastic, it was a really tough course to play away, their resilience shone through again, it was another good result".

On June 1 the Woodham Juniors Section Team continued their progress in the league away to Eaglescliffe GC. Although Woodham lost 6-4, this is an excellent result against a top-of-the-table team, especially as many of our team had never played Eaglescliffe before.

The standard of play is improving with every match as experience is being gained both at Woodham and in playing other varied courses.

Congratulations go to Club Captain Steve Haslam and Ladies Vice Captain Lesley Mullen who won the Durham City GC Mixed Open on Saturday 30th May 2004 with 39 stableford points.

Lesley also tasted success at the Wearside Ladies Open 4BBB where, with Jean Sutton they secured second place. Jean Sutton kept up her excellent run of form by romping home to win the Ladies Section Marie Curie Stableford on Sunday 30th May with 46 pts, seven ahead of her nearest rival, Margaret Nisbet. Another in form player, Lesley Mullen secured third place on 37pts.

Sutton Hoo - That's a long lost treasure store and it seems that Phil and Jean Sutton have hit a rich vein of form as they continued their recent good play with a victory in the Whitsun Mixed on Monday May 31, 2004. Their score of 43pts was equalled by John and Roz Railton but Phil and Jean had the better back 9. Brian Harrison and Olivia Angus filled third spot.

It was the first taste of defeat for the Woodham Mens Team this season as they went down 3-1 away to Hobson GC, in the Durham County Clark Cup team event on Sunday 30th May 2004.

Peter Moralee scored two under gross and still only came away with a half from his match with the Hobson Club Champion. Peter had been four down with five to play, so it was a very hard fought and well deserved half. The other Woodham scorer was James Ivil who halved. The remaining team members were Michael Greener, Gavin Atherton and Junior section member, Mark Borsberry. A glum Club Captain Steve Haslam, said "I am not used to losing but as ever with all good managers, at least now we can concentrate on the league"

Congratulations to Liz Nelson and Tracy Pearse who have received word from the English Ladies Golfing Union that they have qualified for The Coronation Foursomes Area Final at Arcot Hall (Northumberland) on 24th June 2004. Their score at Woodham in the Coronation Foursomes qualifier was a nett 71.5 & this has been good enough to secure their place at Arcot Hall Golf Club. The winners of this area final go on to play in the national final at St Andrews (Jubilee Course) in September. Drawn at home against Roseberry Grange GC the team of Mark Borsberry, Peter Waters, Steven Dart and Sean Kay all had convincing wins. This, added to the walk-over allocated to Craig Johnston, gave the team a 5-0 win and a place in the second round. In the Seniors Section John Loftus, Edward Spence & Robert Donnelly won the May Texas Scarmble with a nett 65.1. At the end of May the Gordon Brooks Trophy went William Wright with 42pts in the stableford, Andy Durkin was runner up.

Stressholme GC

The Martin Peacock pairs competition was played on Sunday May 30 in the form of a 4BBBB Medal. There was some excellent golf played and the weather played a big part in the good scores recorded.

Results: 1st Lee Gudgeon and Stu Goodwin 63; 2nd Ashley Peacock and Scott Martin 64; 3rd Ben Clarke and Ray Danieli 65; 4th Kevin Peacock and Dean Martin 65. Paddy Byrne.