25th CALCO CUP
BELEK 2025

Gentlemen,

This really is ‘The Big One’! We celebrate 25 years of the Calco Cup with a spectacular four-round ‘Major’ on the stunning courses of southern Turkey.

 

In September 2000, eight ‘golfers’ (in the loosest sense of the word) met at the Belfry for the first ever Calco Cup inspired by, and in memory of the late Gary Birkenshaw.

Whilst the winner, Phil Mace, would be a one-hit wonder, three of that small cohort, Mssrs Callaghan, Moyle and Hardwick are still going strong with the latter the one and only Calco Cup ever-present. 25 years later a grand total of 83 golfers have trodden the hallowed Calco turf.

The final countdown to the 25th anniversary event begins with the Loosener on 7th September followed by the draw for the first round fourballs. 39 golfers will breathe a sigh of relief at not being first out of the hat..one won’t! Eagerly anticipated will be the announcement of the handicaps. Will reigning champ Jimmy Curley be awarded more shots than he has years?? Or will the handicapper take a scalpel to the two-time winner?! Shortly afterwards the Calco’s very own bookie David Ding Dong Bell will chew on a fat cigar before releasing his opening show. Rumour has it that Mark Wallis South has already emptied the vaults of several East Anglian financial institutions to make sure he has every angle covered!

Our 40 strong field will fly into Turkey from various UK airports in mid-October where our luxurious accommodation, the Titanic Deluxe, will witness all the significant Calco moments, kicking off with surely the richest ever Auction as 40 golfers go under the hammer. Four days of intense competition will follow as players search for golfing immortality at the Golden Goose end or strive to avoid the ultimate humiliation at the Moose end! Will anyone beat Adam Davison’s single round Calco record of 45 or will someone match Guy Glover’s record low of 5 points! Let’s hope not! Will multiple mooses Callaghan, Copley and current incumbent Bell, be battling it out to avoid the antlers on Day 4 or will a new name fall into the lower reaches and suffer a nerve shredding final round? It can happen to anyone, just ask three-time winner Pete Burke!

Who will claim the ultimate prize? Two-time winner Al Sumner returns, boasting an exceptional Calco record. Rookies also have an excellent record. Will one of this year’s newcomers hit the jackpot? Of those to never have claimed the trophy could it finally be Andy Fearnsides or Robbe Fleming’s year, or, whisper it, could one Stephen Hardwick finally fulfil his golfing destiny??!

Only one thing is certain, whether it’s the ultimate in camaraderie, the fancy dress, the auction, the book, the presentation, the winners speech or the bedecking of the Moose the 25th edition will be every bit as memorable as the years which have preceded it. Time to raise a glass to the institution which is the Calco Cup. Happy 25th Anniversary.

See you soon boys

SAS, with guest appearance Benny ‘Boy’ Moyle 🙂

---

 

The Courses

 

Olympos Golf Course

 

National Golf Course

 

Aspendos Golf Course

 

Carya Golf Course

---

The Warm Up

The Sun always shines on the Calco Boys (abroad!?!) ……….
However we thought the persistent drizzle for a good hour has only wet the appetite for what’s to come 😎 

Once again the Calco Warm Up proved to be a tremendous success as many old faces met up to test their skills. Also out in force were six rookies who joined us for a great day. Just a quick thank you, as always, to our southern contingency for a fantastic effort in joining us on the day. Ten southern boys making the journey is a tremendous effort ❤️

 Once again we turned up to Howley Hall GC for the days event and shenanigans and once again they did us proud as the day ran fantastically well. The atmosphere on the first tee box was electric as Calconians went to battle.

In the first group out was our beloved Ginger Moose and with some severe sledging going on and a little moose head peering over his shoulder he managed to compose himself and drive one straight down the middle. Has Mr Copley overcome his demons!!

 We ran two competitions on the day, a team event, after the success of last years MWS format and an individual Stableford event. There was a slight change to the team event with just two to score on each hole and all four to score on hole 18. Again this proved very competitive with just ten points separating all nine teams coming to the last hole. Approaching the last Mr Woolridge’s team were leading the way by one point but after a below par last hole they managed to drop out of the top two positions! This enabled Mr Fearnsides lot to burst clear with a cracking ten points haul on the last ( even Coco himself finishing with a gross par 🤡 ). Stevie Tatts team took advantage of Team Woolridge’s collapse to sneak into second spot with a decent eight points on the last!

 Team prizes sponsored by the Calco Cup, full team scores below.

 

The team event is great fun and keeps everyone interested till the end not wanting to let your team mates down. However the Calco Challenge Cup is an individual event and I’m sure that’s where your interests lie in how you performed on the day, let’s see where you finished! Is there a stand out Golden Goose or a nervous moose amongst us!?!

MWS, Stevie Hardwick and Charlie Porter all found some form on the warm up day coming in with 40 points each. MWS taking the spoils with a back 9 of 24 points. Hardwick second with a back 9 of 22 points and Charlie picking up the final money place with a back 9 of 19 points. A massive improvement from Wallis on last year’s performance and rumours abound of the hard work he’s been putting in over the last 12 months which looks like is starting to pay off. No doubt will now be on the watch list for Bell’s Bookies 👀, if he wasn’t already! After a very average performance two years ago in Spain another jumping out of the pack is Charlie Porter. A very steady player who is certainly looking to peak at the right time. Sharing a buggy with El Prez on the first day who will be keeping a close eye on him 😀. Another good warm up performance from Robbe Fleming even after a ‘Hard Days Night’ with the Bootleg Beatles. Is this the Big Man’s year, one of my favourites with 3 weeks to go! El Presidente looked remarkably solid despite being on a two day bender, proper Calco prep 😀. Solid performances from the next 18 players with only four points separating them all. Huddled in that bunch included regulars such as  Doigy (great to have him back), Silent assassin, Fozmeister, Tatts and reigning champion Jimmy Curley. Some other notable ones were Sean Forster, Alan Sumner and Damien Thorngate, it’s good to welcome these three back and I’m sure they won’t be far away.

 Now looking at the lower echelons , with a few moose droppings appearing, we have a few surprises this year. Simon Woolridge, Ian Warren and Gav Whitworth all well below par on the day which is very surprising as all three have had very good seasons, Ian winning the Order of Merit at Howley Hall GC, fantastic achievement. I’m sure this is just a blip and as they say ‘cream always rises’ 😀. These three will still take comfort knowing that there were still a good nine or ten players below them. One Andy Fearnsides surrounded by moose dung, surely not!! A couple of our serial mooses Ginger & Calla were once again found to be wanting and ended up in the bottom five. Surely no moose abroad 😉. However the bottom three positions on this year’s warm up were all taken up by rookies. I believe Nick & Andy Lambert were both affected by nerves on the day as I’ve played with them and there’s massive potential with both. Still time to make a few tweaks lads. Rock bottom on the day and as big a surprise as Coco winning it was Tony Dent,  ‘Hi my name’s Tony and I’m a C—T’ 🤣. Now this guy can play and what a cracking lad, no doubt in my mind this man will raise his game when it really counts!

 

Other prizes on the day:-

 Nearest Pin – Hole 8 – Darren Mountain          £100     –              Sponsored by Graham Copley
Nearest Pin – Hole 18 – Ben Yeadon                  £100     –              Sponsored by Mark Wallis (South)
Longest Drive – Phil Lister                                     £50       –              Sponsored by Daz Burley
Best net Par 3’s – Chris Ramm/Adam Davison £50   –              Sponsored by Daz Burley

I’d just like to say a big thank you to you all for making the warm up an absolutely cracking day. I hope you all enjoyed it as much as we did. Magic Mike from Heckmondwike (AKA James from Batley) entertained us through the evening and I’m sure you’ll agree a top class performer with plenty of tricks up his sleeve, there’s only two Jimmy Curleys!!!

 A cracking draw lies ahead for the first day boys, time to bring it on, no more talking, A game at the ready.

 Bring on the Turkish delights!

 All the very best Calconians

 The Committee

 SAS, Foz & PLB (Yellow card)

---

Warm Up Results

 

---

Calco Cup 2025 Information

 

---