Seniors Captains Day

Wednesday, August 31, 2016

Seniors Captains Day

Well, I think we had a fantastic Captain's Day for Jim and didn't he deserve it !!! The weather was all we could have asked for, clear, and hot with only a small breeze, to make good scoring easy on the day. (for some of you !!)

There was a lot of effort put in by a lot of people to ensure the day went well.

Fred Williams did a huge co-ordination to get the ladies to do the reception and the Raffle and Neil Pinnington to produce the Programme. 

Jean Peacock for keeping Jim in line and also managing the Putting for us. Jim's two guests from the Prostate Project must have been very pleased with the results of the day. I don't have final figures but the Raffle raised £400 and there should be some putting money added to that.

The Catering for producing what I thought was a good presentation of food, I hope you enjoyed your Victoria sponge, I certainly did.

Ian McAinsh and Pat Gilgallon did a great job as Starters.

I wasn't too happy about the late drop outs, because the Section was covering the food costs, but we got over it as Fred was on the ball!

So, to the results. We originally had 96, 94, 94 and finally 90 with late drop outs.

Nearest the Pin winners were :-

Kevin Barbour - 4th

Steve Cooper - 10th

Brian Bullen - 16th

Nearest the pin on 11 in two - Peter Wade

Putting Runner up on count back with 20 - Ray Smart

Putting Winner with 17 !!!!! - Mike Marshall

Kethrow Tray Third 37 points on count back - Jim Kerr

Runner up with 39 points - Brian Bullen

Winner with 43 points - Dave Wrench

Also important were the 'two club' winners, there were nine winners who each received £5.

Kevin Barbour (4th)

Jim Kerr (10th)

John McPherson (4th)

Fergus Moynihan (4th)

Derek Page (16th)

Peter Thomas (16th)

George Turner (16th) 

John Washington (16th)

Dave Wrench (4th)

Thanks

Peter

Brian Bullen, Nearest Pin 16

Brian Bullen, Second

Dave Wrench, Winner

Jim Kerr, Third

Kevin Barber, Nearest Pin 4

Mick Marshall, Winning Putt

Peter Wade, Nearest Pin 2

Ray Smart, 2nd Putting

Steve Cooper, Nearest Pin 10

Tuesday, August 23, 2016

Away Match v Harpenden Common, Fri. 19th Aug.

It was great to see Captain Jim out for his first match after a recent setback. The reported heavy rain did not occur until late afternoon so we were fortunate to play a course in good condition, most of the deep rough recently cut down, and just a few light rain showers. Jim and I lost on the 18th in the home match so we were keen to get a better result in the away game. We won the first hole, but lost the next two, but brought the game level on the “nearest the pin in two” when I managed to fluke it by being 12” from the hole !!!

We then spent most of the rest of the game halving holes until Capt Jim played fantastic long iron shots on the 15th, 16th and 17th to ensure that we won on the 18th. We were looking good for a match win with a win on the first two games, but this was followed by 3 halved and 3 lost games giving a match score of 4.5 to 3.5 in favour of the “Ancient Britons”.

A good carvery, good company, good course and a good Denzil joke from Jim – welcome back.

Peter

Home Match v Dunstable Downs, Carthagena, Tues, 16th Aug

The weather was set fair yet again and the golf was in the same mold with every match fought keenly to the end. The result was 5 - 3 to JOG and all enjoyed the lunch and the company.

Tuesday, August 16, 2016

Match v Gog Magog, JOG course, 19th July

As Captain Jim was recovering, William Skelding stood in as Captain. He played well and his after lunch joke was well received. A wonderful day was enjoyed by all. Hot at 32 degrees. I think we all appreciated our air conditioned changing rooms. The John O' Gaunt course looking and playing it's very, very best. Sensible height rough - we must get the women pro golfers to play more frequently. Greens not cut, so medium pace (presumably due to the heat) but still a lot of green staff preparing for British Women Open qualifier on Monday 25th. Even the articulated arm grass cutter had come out of hibernation to cut the river banks. 

The Gog Magog team went away very impressed with our club, I don't think many had ever played the old course. The two tee start ran smoothly and enabled a buffet lunch at 2.30pm - come on, it was very hot and we are seniors! 

Just for the record book JOG won 6-2, well done team.

All looking forward to return at Gog Magog on Friday 16th September.

Ken Doggrell - Organiser

Friday, August 12, 2016

Home Match v Letchworth, JOG, Tues. 9th Aug

The weather was sunny and warm with a slight breeze. Fred Williams stood in for Captain Jim who is still in recovery mode. The roll call of the sides announced Gerry Gentle on the Letchworth team and this was greeted with 'rapturous applause' from both sides !!!!!

31 players arrived on time but, it was thought that Pat Gilallon had lost his way again. However, it was realised that Pat had not been selected and it was in fact Graham Mckay who had gone to Letchworth !!

Fred and Peter Jarman got the match off to a good start for the Home team with a 5 and 4 victory. However, by the time it came to the last match it was tied at 3.5 all. Graham McKay made up for his late arrival when he and his partner Geoff Beck won 2 and 1 to secure victory by 4.5 to 3.5. 

Everyone had a very enjoyable day and the lunch was excellent with Dawn and her staff looking after everybody very well.

Away Match v Wellingborough, Mon 8th Aug.

On a fine day and a later start than normal at 10am, the JOG Seniors team arrived on time and in fine fettle. Wellingborough Seniors provide both the early morning coffee & biscuits and the welcome “halfway hut” drinks and savouries (all handmade).

The match started with the first drive from Algy Grimes straight at the centre window of the gazebo halfway up the first fairway – apparently this qualifies Algy to apply as a Wellingborough Senior !!!

With dry fairways and tricky greens, the local knowledge proved to be a significant advantage and slowly the scores started to drift in favour of the home side – even the suggestion of some Viagra failed to stiffen the JOG resolve, and the first two matches went to Wellingborough. Steve Cooper and Bill Walker stopped the rot (and the thought of a whitewash) and came in with a halved match. We then lost the next three matches to fairly close results but came home strong by winning our last two matches.

A final result of 5.5 to 2.5 followed by a good meal (the chef plays with the Seniors, which is an advantage) All in all a great day, good weather, good company, some good golf, and an excellent course.

Wednesday, August 03, 2016

Member and Guest Day, 2 August

A total of 34 pairs teed it up for this year's M&G Day, the guests coming from 24 different clubs from as far afield as Sheringham, Christchurch and Guildford.

Although the weather was not kind to those who battled out for the first hour, the later starters had it a little easier. The rain eased considerably which eventually provided some reasonable golfing conditions - as some of the scores demonstrated.

Results of the various skills competitions were:

For Guests:

Longest Drive on 9th was Martin Lawrence of Beds & County

Nearest the pin in Two on 11th was Fred Gardner of St Neots

Nearest thePin on 16th was John Harvey of Brickendon Grange

For Members:

Nearest thePin on 4th was Brian Williams

Longest Drive on 9th was Derek Weller

Nearest the pin in Two on 12th was Bernard Gurney

The winners on the day and new holders of the Whitbread Trophy were Derek Page and his guest Barry Sullivan (The Bedfordshire) with an impressive 46 points. Second place went to John Wade and John Marsom (Beds & County) on 42 points. Third (on countback) were Brian Williams and Martin Seaholme (Letchworth) with 40 points.

Proceeds from the raffle amounted to £280 - a record for Member & Guest Day. So special thanks to Chris and Nicky for such a good selling job and thanks to all who contributed.

Finally, thanks to starters Ian McAinsh and Bill Burrows for helping the day to go off smoothly.

Neil Pinnington (Organiser)

Winners: Derek Page and Barry Sullivan 

Runners-Up: John Wade and John Marsom

Third: Brian Williams and Martin Seaholme

Last year's winners

Saturday, July 30, 2016

Away Match v Bourn, 28th July

Well what can one say about the day. We teed off in bright sunshine, 4 groups from the first tee and 4 groups from the tenth tee. The course was in excellent condition and the greens were FAST! The only drawback being ditches and long rough. On return to the club everybody said how much they had enjoyed their game with some differing results. We all sat down to an excellent meal and then the heavens dropped. Everybody commented on the good timing and how splitting the field got us all in together. All in all, it was agreed that it had been a super day. The only downfall was that we lost 5.5 to 2.5. Still an improvement on previous matches.

Thanks,
Peter

Wednesday, July 27, 2016

Annual Stableford Trophy, Carthagena - 26th July

On a lovely day, not too hot and not too cold, 80 Seniors did battle for the Annual Stableford Trophy on the Carthagena course. With the rough still to be feared, many were snared in its grassy grip. The fairways were hard and the ball ran a long way, sometimes too far, into the awaiting bunkers!

The leaders were not troubled by all the potential dangers and made light of them.

The winner, by a margin of three points was Steve Cooper, whose big hitting game suited the course on the day. Equal second on 40 points were Johnathan Lean, Dave Hargreaves and Steve Donnelly. All the rest just enjoyed themselves.

Peter

Wednesday, July 13, 2016

Home match v South Beds, Carthagena - 12th July

Two important 'things' were missing from the rescheduled inaugural home match against South Beds: the rain and Captain Jim. Captain Jim was admitted to hospital on Saturday and is being treated for pneumonia and low blood oxygen levels. Jean reports that, despite this, his sense of humour count is well within the normal range. Perhaps some of the later matches would have preferred Jim to turn up as they completed their last few holes - and the rain to have remained absent. Actually, we all would. A card was signed by both match teams and the roll-up members and is on it's way to wish Jim - and Jean - our love and best wishes and Jim a speedy recovery.

As for the match itself: a big thank you to all who played, especially to Brian Bullen who stood in as Captain of the Day in the absence of Jim, Fred the Vice and Richard the Past. Two matches were halved (the final one and one other where the participants were, erm, sort of pathfinders .....), 5 matches were won by JOG and one was lost - giving JOG a 6:2 win overall. There was obviously too much distraction in the latter match by one of the JOG team winning the Nearest the Pin prize on the 8th.

Captain Dave Earye and members of his South Beds team commented very favourably on the Carthagena course, with only one or two ... or three or four ... or five or six ... comments on the rough. Many said they would be happy to be a member of club which had that for its only course. They were delighted too with the meal, hospitality and facilities. Well done to the green staff, kitchen and front of house staff. And thank you again to Simon and Michael for fitting this rescheduled match into a very busy programme.

It is a pre-condition to Seniors' membership for us to have a moan occasionally, but actually, we are very lucky with everything we've got here. And days like today give us and our guests great opportunities for fun, friendship and the occasional good golf shot. There are worse things we could be doing, providing we could get our name on the ballot paper ;-)

Here's looking forward to the away match on 21st September. Perhaps a time for an Indian Summer?

David Crosby, Organiser