In attendance: Tony Lloyd (TL), David Barlow (DB) Algy Grimes (AG) Richard Westergreen – Thorne (RWT) Barry
Donovan (BD) Jonathan Lean (JL), Nigel Underwood (NU)
Apologies: Dave Wood (DW)
Minutes previous
Agreed
Matters arising not covered elsewhere on the agenda
Competition Abandonment Procedure. The final draft will
be passed to the General Manager for consideration
Captain's report (TL)
On June 20 I had the pleasure of helping unveil the
new warm up area to members as Gordon McLeod made videos of myself, Peter Wade
and Jackie Lansdown christening the new facility. It’s a landmark moment for
the club and one which I will certainly be using to the full.
The official dedication ceremony of the Morgan
Darnell Practice Area takes place on Friday at 5pm when I aim to be there.
On June 21 all four captains joined forces to take
part in a 36 hole Longest Day challenge which raised over £2,000 for the
Alzheimer’s Society. I got some gentle ribbing for not doing 54 holes
as in previous years but in the middle of a heatwave I found 36 holes more than
enough. I am very grateful to everyone who supported us and gave so generously.
On June 23 I attended the house and social
committee when subjects discussed included halfway house facilities, the pool table, clubhouse furniture
and the introduction of course marshals which is now being steered by Andy
Kirton.
I was unable to attend the golf committee on June
24 because of other commitments but I was briefed afterwards by the chair Paul
Hitchcock who reported to me that the main topic of conversation was around
golfing etiquette and how we can improve standards which are perceived to be
falling. The matter will be raised at Executive Board level and the golf committee
will be bringing forward a proposal for them to consider.
I am grateful to RWT who attended the Captains
Committee on our behalf as the meeting clashed with our away match at Brocket
Hall.
Finally, it was a pleasure to present the prizes at
the annual stableford competition, now enhanced with divisional prizes. My
thanks go to Nigel for the work he put into this with what may possibly be a
record field of 108 entrants.
The matches continue to go well thanks to Algy and
his team of organisers. Thanks also to Barry for keeping on top of the new
system of match payments.
Treasurer's report (BD)
The financials position as at 13/7 is a bank
balance of £9.7k. This follows a payment from the main club following a full 6 month
review with the outsource Finance house. A summary will follow.
We continue to work with Wendy in smoothing the way
of the new processes – particularly for Matches.
A meeting with AMGL is due next month to ensure their
part of the process is working correctly.
C/Fwd from the last meeting, clarity over non
reciprocals is needed as organisers and myself are unaware of contact
details for each club.
No progress yet on the 2026 tour. I have had a
first discussion with the agent – so hope to prepare some costings and options soon.
It was agreed that options for a tour in 2026 will
be circulated to members at an appropriate time once further details were
available. It is likely to be around the same dates as in 2025 and be and be
for two nights.
No progress on sorting our SUMUP machine. David
Barlow has kindly volunteered to demo his machine. Work commitments
have unfortunately delayed this.
Bank Account. No further action on this. Not
currently the priority. Costs are £4.25 per month.
It was agreed that options for a
tour in 2026 will be circulated to members at an appropriate time.
Action
Point: The Secretary will follow up reciprocal
arrangements with other clubs when contacting them just after our AGM next year
so we have clarity prior to the start of the match season.
Vice Captain's report (DB)
Nothing to report this month.
IPC report (RWT)
Nothing to report.
Secretary's report (RWT)
We have gained four new members this past month.
One is a current club member and friend of a senior, one a recent new member to
the club, one a current member of the club who is retiring and a club member who
is reaching 60.
I have submitted our calendar for 2026 to the Golf
Committee who are coordinating the club diary for 2026 which they will be starting
in September. I am awaiting confirmation from the Ladies of the dates for the
matches with them and Northampton asked if we could play at their course
a day earlier than arranged. This means we will not have the annual issue at
Northampton of clashing with a club booking for a prom so that we need to eat before we
play.
I circulated amongst the committee where I had got
to with The Bedfordshire GC regarding playing them from 2027. We now need to
agree amongst us who will lead the next step and arrange for two of them to come
across, play a round, and get to meet us. We also need to look again at our
provisional 2027 fixture list to see where they could fit in.
I continue to get a variety of responses from
members to the Newsletter each week and it is gratifying to see a big spike in the
signing up for competitions straight after it is published. At least some people are reading it!
Action Point: TL will be our link for contact with The Bedfordshire Golf Club
Competition Secretary's report (NU)
Two competitions have taken place since our last meeting.
The Annual Stableford Trophy attracted 108 entries. The winner was Michael
Etwaroo with an excellent 44 points, Kevin Barbour was second with 41 and Dave
Wood third with 40. This competition saw the introduction of “Divisional
Prizes”, won by Steve Hobigger, Dave Wood and Michael Etwaroo.
Tuesday 15th July saw the Reg Batson Medal
Trophy with a full field of 42. Many found the rigours of medal play, white
tees , the JoG course and a stiff breeze very challenging, but a very tight
finish resulted, the top four all on 69. Winner on countback was Barry Donovan,
second Dominic Murphy and third Peter Jarman. Very unlucky to miss out in
fourth was Keith Fuller on the same score.
Next up we
have;
· Member
and Guest Day on July 29th. A full field of 48 pairs with a two tee
start on July 29th. Catering
arrangements confirmed with Paula as previously outlined.
· Senior
Captain's Day on August 5th. Full field of 100 with 6 on reserve
list. Shotgun start at 9.00. Timings and playing groups will go out later this
week after one or two tweaks.
· The
Bailiff Shield on August 19th. 99 entries to date (although I
already have 3 or possibly 4 extra starts available) so officially 3 space
spare at the moment. There is a reserve list set up too.
Ongoing issues:
· No
progress to report on inclement weather procedure; I am waiting for a quieter
time to get Gordon’s ear.
· Handing
in cards has been much improved the last 2 competitions. Intercepting the last
2 matches to finish and wrenching their cards from them makes a huge
difference!
· jogscomps
email address……..I may have solved this….
· With
such large numbers do we need to consider, probably for next year now, booking
more start times ? We can get through this year on an ad hoc basis.
· Slow
play including email sent after the
Stableford last week.
· Annual
Stableford Trophy. We slipped up by not announcing a one prize only rule BUT (
and I have canvassed quite widely on this) a lot of support for divisional
prizes. I propose that, from next year, that competition is played as a
divisional competition. There would be an overall winner, obviously, then 1st,
2nd and 3rd in each division. It would mean paying out
around £60 extra in prize money depending on prize levels.
(see below)
Match Secretary's Report (AG)
Since our last committee meeting, the Seniors team
has played only four matches, securing one win and three defeats. The highlight
being a 5.5 to 2.5 win at Northampton, otherwise the losses were 5 – 3 at home
to Letchworth, 5 – 1 loss at Brocket Hall and a 6 – 2 loss away at Leighton
Buzzard.
The running totals now stand at Won 7, Lost 9, and
One Half, we have taken a downward step with this month’s losses. It is still
an issue with the discrepancy in the number of shots we receive compared to our
opponents.
Tranche 4 selections have been made and we have
full teams, although one or two matches are close to the required player
numbers. Following the appeal for more players there were one or two comments
as to why they were not selected after coming forward. The reason was that we
actually had just enough and the appeal was in case of withdrawals, then their personal
percentage of selections came into being. With Tranche 5 now open until 9th
August, there is plenty of time for people to sign up.
The actual numbers so far being;
Gog Magog – away – 15
Harpenden Common – away – 8
Luffenham Heath – away – 12 (includes two jokers,
we didn’t close that option off!)
Millbrook – away – 13
South Beds – away – 12
Bedford & County – home – 10
Let’s hope we can pull the results round a bit, at
least with the five away matches at the end we receive their team first, so I
will ask the organisers to try to match handicaps where possible to try and
even up the shots.
Trophy Custodian's Report (DW)
Please accept my apologies for being unable to
attend the meeting. I have a previous arrangement to play 3 days at Forest Pines.
Swap days:
With help from RWT I have put together a
spreadsheet of requirements for arrangements for Swap Days. I am working through my
list for both clubs and will report back to the committee once I have collated
the results.
I have been in contact with the organisers Robert
at Newmarket and Darell at Stoke Rochford. We are in agreement regarding the
reciprocal payment of the meals. John O’Gaunt: 2025
The date and Tee times are booked in the Club Diary
and confirmed by Nigel Tarn. Paula has agreed the menu choices for the meal at
John O’Gaunt at a cost of £25.00. I have sent the choices to Rob Hicks
requesting that he choose one main and one dessert.
The choices are:-
Breakfast:
1. Bacon
roll with tea and coffee
Main Course (choose one):
1. Chilli
with Rice Nachos and Sour Cream
2.
Chicken curry with rice and naan
3. Trio
of sausages with mash caramelised Onion Gravy and seasonal vegetables
Desserts (choose one):
1.
Seasonal crumble
2. Sticky
toffee pudding
3.
Pavlova
I await a reply from Rob as to their chosen meal
Newmarket: 2025
The Date and tee times are booked at Newmarket from
10 am to 12.10am. Rob has sent me the Newmarket menu choices at the
agreed price of £25.00, as follows:-
Breakfast of Coffee and Bacon Roll
Sausage and mash
Cottage pie
Chicken and Chorizo in a tomato sauce
For dessert,
Brownie
Sticky toffee pudding.
Lemon Roulade
I am minded to go for the Cottage Pie and Sticky
Toffee Pudding, bearing in mind the October weather, but am happy to go with
the Committee’s majority decision.
I have advised Rob that we will be charging our
members £28.00 to include cost of prizes – he will be arranging the same for his
members with the cost being taken out of their club bar cards. He brought up the subject
of staff gratuities and that his committee would not sanction this being taken from
the bar cards. I have suggested that gratuities can be collected at the meal min
the time-honoured pint glass method. He has agreed with this.
I have yet to arrange for a club representative to
welcome the Newmarket players to John O’Gaunt on the day.
We should advertise the Swap Day before the end of
July in order to ensure we achieve the 40 required players. Nigel has a
place-card in the competition diary to open on 20th July at 8am.
We require a competition entry to be created. We will also require an entry reserve list in the
Competition Diary. I will liaise with NU regarding content, calling
upon his expertise in this.
The notice should include the following:-
Entrants to let me know if they need a buggy so
that I can allocate and team them up to share buggies. (Richard has provisionally booked
all buggies at Newmarket). I will ensure that buggies are reserved at JOG.
E mail me with any dietary requirements and if they
are travelling with anyone else so that I can pair them up on the same tee time.
The golf will be a first tee start.
4BBB.
No “Gimmees”
Play off Yellow tees
85% of Course handicap
Prize for winning team.
Prize for nearest the pin x 2
Stoke Rochford: 2026
Provisionally in the Club Diary for 5th October
2026.
RWT has previously invited the club Captain and
their swap day organiser to a round of golf at John O Gaunt to set things in
motion and to discuss arrangements. I have asked Darrel and Steven Major for their
availability. I will arrange the round when I have their response. Following this meeting
I will commence with the finer details of the swap day. I still await their reply.
Trophies:
All trophies are accounted for and are either in
the trophy cabinet or residing with their respective competition winners.
Seniors Member and Guest Day, July 29th 2025 (NU)
NU went through the arrangements for the day and
clarified key points.
Senior Captain's Day Arrangements (DB)
DB outlined the arrangements for the day and the
committee agreed some final points regarding the arrangements.
Away Day and Past Captains Away Day 2026 (AG)
AG announced that he had booked Rutland Water Golf
Club for the Past Captains Away Day on 4th June 2026 and the same
venue for the Away Day on 3rd September 2026.
AG was thanked for his efforts in making these
arrangements.
Divisional prizes in senior competitions
The trial of divisional prizes in the Annual
Stableford was deemed a success but that it needed to be tweaked. The committee
agreed that there should be an overall winner, three divisional prizes for each
of the three divisions and a one prize rule.
It was agreed in principle that all GOTY
competitions except the 3 clubs and a putter could be expanded in this way.
Action Point:
NU to bring a proposal to the next meeting. This to
include which competitions it would apply to in 2026.
.Calendar 2026
After discussion it was agreed that a decision on
which clubs we pay in 2026 needs to be confirmed by October 2025 and this will
be an agenda item for the September meeting.
Handicaps in Knockouts
A suggestion had been made that participants should
play off course handicap difference in Senior Section knockout Competitions.
After discussion it was agreed to continue with the current arrangements of
full handicap difference.on the course of the day.
A discussion also took place about shot
differentials when males play females in knockouts. There is a calculator for
this on IG and the pro shop can also help. It was agreed that this needed to
continue to be publicised to members.
It was also confirmed that the yellow tees on the
course of the day would continue to be used in knockouts.
AOB
None
Dates of Future Meetings
Thurs Aug 14
Tues Sep 16
Thurs Oct 16
Thurs Nov 13
Thurs Jan 13 2026
Thurs Feb 3 2026 (AGM)
. Well done Steve (for listening to me ) and Jonathan too.
