Seniors away match vs Cambridge Country Club (Bourn) July 30 2021

Derek Young, match organiser, reports on the day’s action

Today the Seniors played their old adversary Bourn Golf club who have now become the Cambridge Country Club. Although the weather forecast gave rain all day the majority of the team managed a reasonably dry round. The teams play for the Scroll, which Bourn have held for a number of years, and although our skipper, Bill Walker, played a Captain’s innings, with Peter Wade and Richard Knell the only other winning pair and Jonathan Lean and Ray Smart halving their game, we lost again. With only two and a half against their five and a half they managed to retain the Scroll. Andy Brown won nearest the pin, claiming his bottle of red wine.

Dining was very much alfresco, as their facilities are still very much open air.

It’s a small world, as John O’Gaunt’s Sam Standen found when he met up with and played an old friend, Malcolm Hayes, whom he played football with some forty years ago.

We have improved on the result from the last time we met and can only hope that next year will be our year.

Seniors vs Gog Magog Elders at home Tuesday July 27 2021

Organiser David Crosby reports on the day’s action

"And then there were 11...". Just 11 of the original 16 selected for the match vs Gog Magog Elders eventually played. And even 2 of the 3 reserves pulled in also pulled out before the day. All for good reasons - but 7 changes in total!! No wonder I'm getting old. No wonder I made the silly mistake of having two copies of the team sheet saved which, apparently, I randomly opened to make the necessary changes to personnel and their handicaps. In future every golfer will have a WHS app on their phone which will 'Ping' when their handicap index changes. Do I digress? Sorry.

Despite the meltdown above, Bill and David started flat out. Well - Bill was flat out, doing a great impression of an extendable ball retriever when David found his drive in THAT tree on the right of the first! Some traditions do not change. Despite being 2 up after 2, I did not let Bill down and helped him to a defeat 1 down on the last. Expectations for next year are great however as Algy and Andy Shilton won 5 and 4. Last minute stand-in Jack Shepherd with all-original Terry Sweeney delivered another loss with Neil Pinnington and Chris Roy squeezing a half. Then the sun shone. Steve Collins (about whom more later) and Ian Riches overpowered their opponents 4 and 3 in such a way that they ran for cover after the 16th and got their meal before us! The Honoraries, Jonathan Lean and Richard Westergreen-Thorne, peaked by delivering another half before Colin Newbury and Tony Goodson cancelled out our 1 down loss with their 1 up win. John O'Gaunt are leading 4:3! But all good things come to an end and Greg Whitecross and Jim Peacock came to an early end losing 2 and 1 and just playing the 18th for fun.

4:4 was the final result (phew!) - and we all had fun. Andy Powell won the Elders NTP on the 4th and sank his putt. Steve Collins won the JOGS NTP but, when asked about his putt, declined to comment. A ham, chicken and leak pie was followed by a summer fruit dessert - and we sat at round tables in 8s!! Is the world becoming normal again? I do hope so.

Thank you to the reserves and the reserves reserves. Thank you to our worthy opponents. Thank you - again - to Michael and the Greens and F&B teams for delivering almost everything we needed for a perfect day. I gather Bill has ANOTHER lesson on Thursday ..... Oh well! Bourne next.

Lady Captain’s Day July 25 2021

Members of the Senior Section were proud to be part of Anita Isaacson’s Lady Captain’s Day either as helpers, participants or both. And Seniors Section Vice Captain Algy Grimes was on hand to take a few photographs of the day. Here we present a selection.

 

Hon Sec Richard Westergreen-Thorne helps set up the putting competition with Anita

Seniors Section Captain Bill Walker tests his putting skills

Jim Peacock on the putting green

Tony Lloyd tries his luck

David Price has more success

Tony Lloyd enters the chipping competition 

Jim Peacock learns that he has won the chipping contest

David Price receives his nearest the pin prize from Anita

Bill Walker and Phil Farrow receive their prizes for the best back nine score of 24 points

Return of the Roll-Up Thursday July 22 2021

 

Richard Herbert is first to join Seniors’ Captain Bill Walker

The Roll-Up is back. The popular twice-weekly competition, which is run by the seniors but open to all, returned on Thursday July 22 after an absence of 15 months thanks to the relaxation of Covid 19 restrictions. 

Twelve players turned out for the occasion, meeting on the patio between 8.30am and 9.15am, armed with a clearly marked ball and £1. And with roll-up veteran Steve Cooper taking a well-earned rest from organising the event, it was left to Seniors’ Captain Bill Walker to make the draw.

Then it was on to the Carthagena first tee where three four-balls celebrated the return to normality. First off were Seniors’ Captain Bill Walker, David Crosby, Ian Riches and Pat Gilgallon.

The worthy victors, however, of the four-ball better ball format were Richard Herbert and Steve Cooper with 47 points. 

The roll-up will continue every Tuesday and Thursday when there is not a seniors competition. Volunteers are encouraged to take their turn at making the draw in the coming weeks. Meanwhile, many thanks to Anthony Bell who kept the camaraderie going by organising the Tuesday Group while the roll-up was out of bounds.

Bill and the Seniors’ Section Committee members will be canvassing members for any suggestions on how the roll-up might be improved.

Steve Cooper, long-time organiser of the roll-up, puts in his £1

First on the tee: Pat Gilgallon, Ian Riches, Bill Walker and David Crosby 

Peter Salmon, Tony Goodson, Steve Cooper and Richard Herbert 

Nick Schumann, Jim Kerr, David Barlow and Richard Coventry

Winner Steve Cooper, left, and Richard Herbert, right

Annual Stableford Trophy July 20 2021

Winner: Lawrence Wilson

The Seniors Annual Stableford Trophy took place in hot, dry conditions with the temperature reaching 30C, high enough for some of the 91 entrants to drop out.

Congratulations to Lawrence Wilson, who won with an impressive 41 points, taking him to the top of the Golfer of the Year table. In second place on 40 points was Philip Odell and in third place, also on 40 points but pipped on countback, was Michael Tomblin. Commiserations to Ralph Black, Geoff Elcome, David EJ Price and Richard Herbert who just missed out on a podium place with 39 points. Ralph recorded four birdies including twos on the 6th and 13th.

David Crosby recorded the only eagle of the day, a two on the par 4 14th.

 And finally: Three balls on the fairway of the first hole on Carthagena. Jonathan Lean, right, Richard Westergreen- Thorne, left, Tony Lloyd, foreground. What a great start. Surely the three amigos would go on to make par. Sadly only Jonathan lived up to the early promise with a four. 

Caption suggestions please to tonylloyd2016@gmail.com or post a comment on this blog. A bottle of wine for the funniest. Terms and conditions apply! The blog editor’s decision is final.

Reg Batson Medal Trophy Tuesday July 13 2021

 

Winner: Rob Bage

Congratulations to club Vice Captain Rob Bage, who won the Reg Batson Medal Trophy for the second year in a row with an impressive score of net 69 on the John O’Gaunt course.

Rob, playing off 11, recorded an impressive birdie (on the second) seven pars and 10 bogeys.

In second place was Michael Case with a net 70 and in third was Brian Bullen on net 71. 

Commiserations to Alan Kirkham and John Whitbread who returned net 72.

Thirty-one players competed, having played well in the Annual Medal and the Rex Cleaver Medal. The top 30 in both competitions, plus the Seniors’ Captain, and last year’s winner were invited to play. 

JoG Seniors vs Knebworth away, Monday July 12 2021

Organiser Malcolm Lee reports on the day’s action

One of the very few benefits of covid restrictions was that the day started well with a relatively traffic-free quick journey south.

The course was immaculate and the weather, so different from all of the professional forecasts, was completely dry, sunny with some cloud cover making it pleasantly warm but not hot and with just a light breeze. A 3-tee start meant that waiting around before and after play was kept to a minimum. 

The ball height second cut meant that running into that area the ball was easily found and “easily” playable. For those who may have strayed a few feet wider it was a much different story. The difficulty for most, including the home team, came with the extremely slick greens. Coupled with delicate breaks on the putt,  anything missing the hole mainly ran on making a teasing return putt.

Hence, unfortunately,  the score was 5-3 to the home team, but David Crosby and late call-up Ralph Black scored  a very good 4-3 win. Other JOG winners were Steve Collins and Keith Fuller 2-1, Derek Young and Algy Grimes +1.

The day ended with Knebworth’s hospitality of drinks in the sunshine followed inside with bangers and mash, then chocolate brownie with chocolate sauce and ice cream, plus wine and tea or coffee.

 

Pathfinders check out Rushden Golf Club

 

In preparation for the Seniors’ Section away days in 2022 Captains past (Jim Kerr and Richard Coventry) present (Bill Walker) and future (Algy Grimes) undertook a pathfinder mission to Rushden Golf Club to consider it as a possible venue for the Past Captains’ and Seniors’ Section away days next  year. We found it to be a quaint little Golf Club. Our Host opened their club house specifically to welcome us; the club house is normally closed on a Monday. Nevertheless, we were provided with breakfast, teas and coffee on the ninth tee and a beer when we finished.  The course itself was interesting and beautifully presented. It was a course of 2 halves. The first nine holes had a woodland nature then the 10th onwards turned more open and links like, starting out flat but becoming more undulating towards the end. The 9th at the back of the Clubhouse is a scenic par 3 with a split level tee leading to a sloping green with a shrub-filled valley in between. Tables and chairs were situated at the back of the tee where we paused to drink our coffee and let a following four ball of members through just to see how the locals played the hole. It didn’t help! Check out the Rushden Golf Club web site for lots of pictures.

 

Overall, Rushden GC is a lovely welcoming little club with an excellent course and a very friendly atmosphere.  It is a little gem for an away day venue and we look forward to returning there next year.