If you missed the recent club newsletter, advice on where to leave bunker rakes has now changed. Instead of leaving rakes in the bunker, they should be left outside the bunker and away from the direction of play. See below, as an example, where the rake has been left on the Carthagena 18th.
The day started well and the promised rain kept away when
the Captain and Organiser teed off at 8.30. Other than a few dribbles of rain,
it was a sunny, but sometimes windy day. The course was in great condition and
was complimented many times by the opposing Captain Peter Robson and partner (Dave Nero). In
such conditions there were no excuses for not playing well. Unfortunately, the
Organiser hadn’t read the script and played abysmally. Captain David played
very well and kept us in the game which other than on hole 4 when we went 2
down, was level or 1 in it either way. The killer punch was hole 14 when
Dave Nero was in the trees on the right and hit a 5 iron through umpteen trees
to land the ball just off the green. His regular chip and putt secured a par
and going 2 up.
Captain David gave us some hope with a shot to about 3 feet
on the 16th for a birdie and nearest the pin prize. Sadly, after an
enormous drive on the 17th, yours truly duffed the second, third,
fourth and fifth shot to leave Captain David having to hole from 12 feet for a
par to take the game down the 18th. Unfortunately, the ball shaved
the hole for a 2 & 1 loss. A pretty good result bearing in mind Dave Nero
played pretty much par golf on the back 9.
As always, the food was excellent. “Chicken and chips” (they
really must get bigger plates for this meal) and Pavlova for dessert.
As mentioned, Captain David won the JOG nearest the pin on
the 16th and Captain Peter Robson won for Leighton Buzzard on the 4th.
After the speeches, it was revealed that the final score was
a 4-4 draw, so honours even. I’m sure everybody is looking forward to the away
match on 13th July when we need to master the somewhat quirky, but
testing, Leighton Buzzard course.
Final scores:-
David Barlow and Trevor Darrington – Lost 2 & 1
Nigel Underwood and Tony Lloyd – Lost 3 & 2
Dave Wood and Graham Gadsden – Lost 4 & 2
Ian Maddison and Terry Domagala – Won 2 Up
Steve Luckman and Paul Hammond – Won 5 & 4
Richard Westergreen-Thorne and Neil Pinnington – Won 2 Up
Tony Goodson and Michael Newstead – Lost 3 & 2
Paul Life and Steve Mathers – Won 1 Up
The only question now is, has Neil Pinnington found his car
keys yet??
Thirteen past senior captains and committee members braved blustery conditions on the challenging Rutland Water golf course and only one managed to complete the course without dropping a shot.
Bill Walker was alone in never missing a fairway, never finding the water, never losing a ball and never missing a putt on the difficult greens.
But that was because Bill, nursing a back injury, was dosed up with pain killers and caddying for Richard Coventry.
The rest of the field didn't fare so well.
In fact it was such a difficult day that Dave Wood won the champagne with 27 points.
Nearest the pin prizes were won by Richard Coventry and Fred Williams.
Many thanks to Steve Mathers who organised the day for us.
For those of you who are signed up for the Away Day at Rutland Water on Sept 3, you are in for a treat. And if the golf isn't going too well, you can always admire the amazing views of Rutland Water from most of the fairways.
I'm told it is one of those courses that rewards golfers who have already played it once - so watch out for the 13 who played it on Thursday and know their way around!
Nick Schumann's funeral took place at North Hertfordshire Crematorium on Tuesday at a service attended by a number of JOG Seniors. A theme of the service was Nick's career which took him all over the world. Algy Grimes found this article written by Nick for the blog after our match against Gog Magog in July 2022. We reprint this anecdote, about his time in Hong King, as a tribute to the great man.
So, here we go with my first attempt at writing a match
report ... which may be a challenge as I generally have to ask my partner what
hole I’m on, let alone make a conscious note of who played where and how. I guess we’re all increasingly entitled to a few “senior” moments.
Match 1 (Captain David Barlow / Steve Mathers v VC Derek
Tilley/Ian Milloy)
Our opponents Derek and Ian got the game underway with Derek
hitting a good drive down the fairway, followed by Ian who hit a long ball just
short of the trees on the right. Captain David then led the way with a fine
drive off the 1st, leaving a respectable opportunity into the green.
I followed with a somewhat wild “thwak” just short of the trees on the right
too, leaving just about enough space to get a (hit and hope) shot into the
green if I breathed in. David went first
but caught an unfortunate bounce into the bunker on the left side of the green.
Derek hit his ball short of the green, and Ian caught the trees, leaving a
difficult chip out, and then onto the green. I stepped up, closed my eyes, and with
an uncontrolled 8 iron somehow managed to get it to run through the back,
leaving an awkward little wedge back to the hole. Fortunately, I managed to
chip on, leaving a short putt for the point. At this point I’d like to
highlight that for the remainder of the game David played some majestic golf,
despite carrying a 15 stone casualty on his back, though I did at least
complete the scorecard correctly. We led at the turn 3 up, adding a further
point on the par 3 11th (not sure how, but according to the
scorecard that 3 was down to me).
From the 12th onwards, Millbrook came back at us,
gradually chipping away, so by the time we played the 15th we only
held a 1 point lead. We halved the 16th (I found a tree followed by
a hole – not the one where the flag goes), but thankfully David managed
to muster a 5. On the 17th both of us managed to get good drives
away, whilst Ian pulled his shot left, never to be found again, and Derek
leaving his tee shot short. With both of us then getting onto the green and
below the hole for 2, we managed to secure the par, and the match 2/1.
I gather a closely fought contest, but Millbrook managed to
squeeze ahead early on and managed to maintain the lead until the end, despite
Kevin and Richard’s best endeavours
Quite an impressive performance here by David and Michel,
who dovetailed throughout the match, to close an early, and admirable 4&3
result against an evenly matched opposition.
A tough match with Millbrook taking and retaining an early
lead right up until the 18th, with Tony pulling a par out of the bar
to halve the match. An important addition to the overall score.
Millbrook were coming into the match with a 10-stroke
advantage, and got off to a strong start, taking a 3-point lead by the 6th.
Unfortunately, Chris had to retire with back pain (Chris, we all hope you’re
ok, and back to fighting fitness soon), so Paul bravely carried on the fight
alone. Given the challenges faced, despite a loss, it was an impressive
performance.
This match was always set to be close based on the evenly
allocated shots. Steve and Peter led the way, but the match tightened up at the
halfway stage, though 2 birdies from Peter (another impressive performance)
helped the JOG team pull away, and close out a 3&2 win.
The second match to lead off the 17th hole, Paul
and Tony conceded the first, levelled up on the 2nd (18th),
and then went down 2 on the following 2 holes. Then the grit appeared, and over
the next 7 holes fought to turn it around to a 1-point lead, after which they
jumped on the pedal, and by the 14th had secured another 3&2 win
for the team.
This was the final match, and potentially one that the
overall result resting on. Up steps the new JOG Seniors “dream team”. It’s
great to see an intrepid pair made up of a pensions actuary and a window
cleaner go into battle (together), and pull out a tremendous 7&5 win, with
Paul netting 3 birdies and Gerry 2 net birdies to seal the victory in style.
Excellent performance.
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The start of the day was wet and overcast but hopefully it was going to brighten up and Captain David would continue his winning streak of match wins.
In the first match myself
and David knew it was going to be a challenge to win as we halved the first hole
in birdie 3s against South Beds Captain Simon and his partner Andy. The match
continued to be close until David, who played very well with pars on holes 6
& 7, took a 2-up lead at the turn.
The weather did
brighten up and fortunately for us Simon & Andy didn’t capitalise on their
chances on the back nine, so David and I triumphed on the 15th hole
(another par from David!) and the first match win for JOG with a 4 & 3
result.
The second match of
the day also went our way with Paul & Barry winning 4 & 2. Although I
was told later by our opponents it was Paul’s endless dad jokes that wore them
down. (a tactic I understand Paul uses to great effect).
Now we were comfortably
sitting in the clubhouse waiting in anticipation for the remaining match results,
but we lost matches 3 & 4. A JOG win in match 5 (Steve & Michael
dovetailing well) and a loss in match 6 meant we were tied 3 all.
Captain David was now looking
a little nervous that his winning ways were possibly coming to an end but up
stepped his namesakes David Trotter (who played out of his skin) and David
Tamsitt with their able partners Algy and Jeff both with stonking 5 & 4
wins a piece, so the overall match was won by JOG 5 & 3.
South Beds captain
Simon’s speech after our lunch was very complimentary about the course and meal
and how enjoyable the day had been.
Match results:
#1 David Barlow & Chris Dennis – WON 4&3
#2 Paul Hammond & Barry Donovan – WON 4&2
#3 Steve Luckman & Nigel Underwood – LOST 2-Down
#4 Graham Gadson & Gavin Little – LOST 2&1
#5 Steve Mathers & Michael Newstead – WON 4&3
#6 Paul Jeeves & Tony Walters – LOST 2-Down
#7 Algy Grimes & David Trotter – WON
5&4
#8 David Tamsitt & Jeff Thompson – WON
5&4
Nearest the pin prizes were Paul Jones (South
Beds) and Algy Grimes (JOG)
On a cold, overcast, but thankfully not overly wet Tuesday morning, JoG's Seniors finest gathered together to do battle with Harpenden Common on Carthagena. The course had improved with the rain of the previous few days but not sufficiently to belay a request to the club's powers-that-be to allow us to offer pick and place on the fairways for this match only.
Results
David Barlow and Peter Imray lost 3 and 1
Paul Jones and Jeff Thompson won 5 and 4
Barry Donovan and Tony Thurgood lost 2 down
Tony Lloyd and Tony Walters won 3 and 1
Neil Pinnington and Richard Cobb won 4 and 3
Jed Isbell and Steve Luckman halved
Tony McLean and Rob Ebsworth won 2 and 1
Paul Hammond and Paul Jeeves halved
