Steve off to a flier

Steve Costigan, Crompton and Royton captain

GOLF: STEVE Costigan will be at the helm of a happy ship at Crompton and Royton in 2014.

“The course is in good condition and membership is holding up. We are certainly keeping our heads above water,” said the 49 year old.

The father of two sons, Daniel (24) and Sam (14), Steve was a member at North Manchester for six years and is in his fifth year at Crompton and Royton.

A sales manager for a double glazing firm in Heywood, he lives in High Crompton and plays golf off a handicap of 12, having been a career-best 11.

But the major prizes at North Manchester and Crompton and Royton have eluded him: “I’ve won plenty of competitions, but none of the majors,” he said ruefully.

His role as captain of Crompton and Royton will take up much of his time over the next year and Steve is keen to enhance the status of the club’s scratch open competition, the Royton Sword, which will be held in July.

“It was a really prestigious event in its time but, like everything else in golf in the last five years, it has lost a little something,” he said. We hope to build it up again and attract some really good-category players.”

As for the members’ own ambitions, Steve is hoping to see Crompton and Royton match, or even better, last summer’s success in the coveted Dunham Forest Trophy. The club reached the quarter-finals in 2013.