'Tournament Newbies' no longer

Isn't it good when an idea comes to fruition?  A while ago, Nigel Clogg suggested that we allocate one of the GC winter tournaments solely to HWCC members who had little or no experience of tournament play.  This happened today when Carole Lawther, David Parkin, Mary Whimster, Mike West and Will Noble joined Nigel for a "proper tournament" of Advantage GC.  

Run to normal tournament standards -- rules, referee, order of play, calculated starting scores, leader board -- the day provided the entrants with experience of how a day's competition unfolds, in addition to all the tactical and skills practice in five games for each person.  But the atmosphere was also friendly, with time for people to ask questions between (sometimes during!) games and reflect on their experience (sometimes over cake!)

The tournament manager also got extra experience, of using shortened games and a newly-created scorecard, courtesy of Ian Shore..  

Congratulations to Mike, who won the event narrowly ahead of Nigel, and to all six players who kept cheerful and focused despite the very chilly breeze.  We hope that today will have given them a taste of tournament play that they will want to take forward in the future.  Thank you, Nigel!

Chris Webbley 

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