Attendance:
Algy Grimes (AG), Jonathan Lean (JL), Bill Walker
(BW), Richard Coventry (RC), Richard Westergreen – Thorne (RWT), Andy Shilton
(AS)
Apologies: None although Tom
Simm (TS) was on leave and not able to attend for the first item.
Mike Tipper (TP) attended the first part of the
meeting and outlined some of the events planned for 2023 as part of the club's
75th Anniversary Celebrations between Saturday 17th June
and Sunday 25th June. AG had attended a club Golf Committee meeting
earlier in the week and, as part of the discussion, was able to outline some of
the ways that the seniors could be involved.
Minutes previous and matters arising
Agreed with a correction to the date of meeting on the notes.
Captain's Report (AG)
Our interclub matches have been happening with some regularity. The
first saw us open with a creditable performance at Bedford & County
Golf Club, which included a hole in one for our team by Terry Sweeney. We
narrowly lost 4 ½ to 3 ½ not bad for our first away match.
The next match at home to Saffron Walden resulted in an honorable draw
of 4 all. Played on a wet day which didn’t spoil things too much, everyone paid
compliments about the food and condition of the course.
Next up was Wellingborough at home, after having to wait for a 4 ball of
other JOG members who decided to tee off at 8.27am (well it’s not 8.30am was
their comment), we got underway and resulted in a 6 – 2 win for JOG. Again, we
received fulsome praise for the state of the course and the greens from many of
the Wellingborough players (whilst bemoaning the current state of their
course).
The Rex Bullock Trophy was played in warm spring weather, high scores
and a hole in one ... what more could you ask of a Seniors competition. Twenty
golfers scored 36 points or more and the top four players came in with 39
points. Just missing out on a podium place, but with a hole in one on the
Carthagena 2nd, was Peter Jarman. In third place was Ian Riches, in second was
David E J Price, but the winner on countback was Glyn Roberts. With scores
going towards the Seniors Golfer of the Year competition, the race is on. Eighty-one
golfers took part in the competition.
Our next match was against Aspley Guise & Woburn Sands, not a lot to
say about this because we lost 7 – 1 and our 1 was two halves! The return
match some nine days later at Aspley Guise saw us come away with a draw. However,
two of us had biscuits or chocolate bars stolen from bags while on the course,
very large crows were the offenders.
Away at Dunstable Downs we managed a win of 4 ½ - 3 ½. The weather was
chilly and windy but became sunny within 40 minutes. The course was good but
had some hardness in the greens. As usual, the comradeship with the Dunstable
Downs players was excellent and the carvery was exceptional. (We do eat well!!).
At home to Cambridge Country Club (formerly Bourn), as a team the JOG
Seniors were less than successful, and I have to report that we suffered a whitewash.
Our only hope is that we have a return match in July when we play for “The
Scroll” which they have held now for a number of years.
Scoring in the Ken Robinson Scramble was very close, with only 10 points
separating the 21 teams. Eighty-four seniors played for the trophy on the John O
Gaunt course in mild conditions with a couple of showers thrown in. The winning
team of Stephen Collins, David Crosby, Richard Knell and Alban Macdonald scored
a very impressive net 55, consisting of 5 birdies and only two bogeys, the rest
being pars. In second place, on net 57, were George Burnham, Tony Goodson, Paul
L Jeeves and Andrew Wellings and in third place, on net 58, were (Club Captain)
Rob Bage, Alan Kirkham, Paul Marshall and Jim McIlwaine.
Annual Medal and Jubilee Cup
A close fought annual medal for the John Freedman Trophy ended with Paul
Jones victorious on net 63 with one birdie, eight pars and six bogeys. In
second place, beaten only on countback, was Jim McIlwaine, who won the Jubilee
Cup for scoring the most Stableford points for those with playing handicaps of
21 or higher. In third place, on 64 points, was Bill Walker. Commiserations to
Dick Cobb who carded a 10 on the first but clawed his way back to net 65, just
missing out on a podium place. The best gross score, 74, was recorded by Chris
Saunders. Congratulations to Geoff Elcome who scored the only eagle of the day
on the third. Ninety-six players competed for the trophy on the Carthagena
course. Early starters had to contend with prolonged showers but the day turned
fine and warm for many.
The next match was away to St Neots where again JOG came second, losing
7 – 1. Well done to our IPC Bill Walker who is on a hot streak and Sam Standen
for the only win.
Harpenden Common and Saffron Walden are to be played between the time of
writing and the meeting.
We have had a few problems of players having to pull out of matches and
competitions late on due to Covid, but for the matches we have had plenty of
reserves.
Golf sub-committee met on Monday 16th. Among items discussed was the club’s 75th Anniversary next year. It is proposed that during the week from
18th to 25th June there will be a number of events to celebrate. As a result of
this it means we will have to move the home match against St Neots because
there will be a Seniors Section Competition on Tuesday 20th and the Club Seniors
Championship on Friday 23rd .
Although it was reported last meeting about Alternate Day competitions
being possible, this will not be the case at JOG.
Lastly, I would like to confirm that Rob Bage, Hazel House, Holly Gordon
and I will be playing a longest day challenge on 22nd June to raise funds for
our respective charities.
Vice Captain's Report (JL)
JL went through the list of members who he has been in contact with
regarding health and other medical issues.
Treasurer's Report (RC)
As discussed with MT above there remains the issue of income and
expenses for matches and competitions not being resolved with the club. Whilst
the funds in the bank remain healthy at the moment cash flow could become an
issue if this is not resolved as we have more home games than away games at the
start of the year.
Secretary's Report (RWT)
Since the
last meeting I have been able to complete the draft calendar for 2023 and send
a copy to Michael Grace for him to incorporate within the club calendar. I needed
to make three assumptions in the draft forwarded to Michael around external
events and coursework. The key one is the date of the Senior Captain's Day as we
are not able to use our normal time slot due to an external competition on that
day. Michael has to juggle several one-off events next year due to the club 75th
anniversary and the additional external events but assures me that we should be
fine. Given the extra constraints Michael will need to contend with he is
starting the club calendar earlier this year so we should get plenty of notice
of any issues.
Senior membership
numbers have not changed since the last meeting and seem to have settled for
the year, particularly as we are not having new members joining the club at
present. I scan the list of entries to our competitions every so often to see
if we have any new people signing up to play.
The Swap Day
has 37 entries at the time of writing, and I hope that we will be full by the
time that we hold the event. At the meeting I would like to quickly confirm the
arrangements and agree prizes, etc. which should align to those on the Away Day
which I am pleased to see is full.
There are no
members queries to report and raise at present and if any come in prior to the
meeting I will raise them at the time.
You may have
seen in the latest Newsletter that I forgot to circulate the details of the
open event coming up at Letchworth. This reminded me that I have had very
little in the way of information about events at other clubs this year. They
all seem to have switched to advertising online and getting entrants that way.
The roll up
rota continues to work well and we need to make sure that when the box that was
outside the pro shop is relocated/dispensed with then we find a new home for
the key.
It is
pleasing to see that the blog is being viewed widely each week and Tony
continues to update me on the number of hits that we have. It seems that there
is a strong link to the Newsletter being published and people looking at the
blog each Sunday. We hope that the new club website will allow an easier way to
upload items and make it easier for members to navigate and find articles.
At the
meeting a potential new home for the roll up key was discussed as was
publicising coaching sessions by TS and his colleagues via the weekly
newsletter.
Competition Secretary's Report (JL)
Since the last meeting we have had the following competitions.
The Rex Bullock was played on 12th April. Winner was Glyn Roberts with
39 points. 81 entries which is the maximum on Carthagena with a 2 tee start at
9-minute intervals. As there was a reserve list I have made future relevant
competitions a 1 tee start to maximise entries.
The Ken Robinson Scramble took place on 3rd May. Thanks to Richard
Westergreen-Thorne and team for running this on the day in my absence. 21 teams
of 4 took part and it was won by Stephen Collins, David Crosby, Richard Knell
and Alban MacDonald with a net 55!
The Annual Medal and Jubilee Cup took place on 10th May. There were 97
entrants but 2 late withdrawals reduced it to 95 who actually took part on the
day. This was won by Paul Jones with a net 63. The Jubilee Cup was won by Jim
McIlwaine with 43 points.
As decided, I have now changed the Rex Cleaver Championship Trophy and
the Annual Stableford to be a one tee start at 7.30 with a limit of 102
players. If these fill up, then I will change future relevant ones to be the
same format.
Early days I know but at the moment the leader of GOTY is Bill Walker.
Not trying to put any pressure on though!
I continue to follow up leads to find a Competition Secretary for 2023.
One matter to be decided is our policy on late withdrawals and refunding
of entry fee. I know we have had some late withdrawals for good reasons, but I
would like to propose that we have a blanket policy of any withdrawal less than
72 hours before the event start – this will generally mean by midnight on the
Saturday before the event – will not have the entry fee refunded.
It was agreed at the meeting that if any participant withdraws within 72
hours of a competition, then the entry fee will be donated to the Senior
Captain's Charity.
Discussion took place about the challenge of drop outs leaving incorrect
numbers for team events on the day. JL has been dropping out of the competition
if this happens and it was agreed that this was unfair on him to continue to do
so. It was agreed that in future the last people to enter a team competition
would be those ‘at risk’ of not playing if problems arose at the last minute.
Match Secretary's report (AS)
Interclub Matches
Matches are progressing steadily and this week we have Harpenden Common on Tuesday and Saffron Walden the next day.
Match Results
We have played 3 games since the last report and continue to struggle for positive results. We were humbled by an 8-0 whitewash at home to Cambridge Country Club and a 7-1 drubbing away to St Neots. In between we have had a respectable draw at Aspley Guise. Generally, we are giving away many points to the opposition every game and it leads to concern that because we don’t put cards in routinely our handicaps are not as representative of current form as the opposition.
Match reports are going promptly onto the blog and I think they are pleasingly amusing.
Things to improve.
The latest selections were completed and I provided the Excel Spreadsheet and a PDF, this seems to have been successful as there were far fewer queries. We still await the new web-site to allow us to understand if we can improve the access to the Interclub matches information.
I still need to improve some of the Match Organiser communication (with me and Treasury), particularly closing down the post-match tasks.
Other observations
We are experiencing a high turnover of players for games, generally I am having to find a couple of extra reserves each game. That said we have been able to field teams every game. We have also been able to find reserves for Millbrook and Leighton Buzzard which have been problematic.
Generally, unless there are contrary views everything remains under control.
Immediate Past Captain's Report (BW)
BW reported that he had dealt with one inter member issue since the last
meeting.
Member and Guest Day arrangements
AS is organising the day and the various arrangements were discussed and
agreed. Following the meeting AS, JL and RWT agreed a note to go to all members
outlining the arrangements for the day to be circulated via the newsletter.
Swap Day arrangementsRWT updated the meeting on the arrangements and reported that Robert Bage and MT have kindly offered to meet and greet the players from Northampton when they arrive on the day.
Calendar 2023
It was confirmed that the draft of the section calendar for 2023 has
been given to the club to form part of the planning of the club calendar for
2023. Any changes will be reported back to the committee and the additional
competition and move of the St Neots home match will need to be factored in.
Memorials and Legacies
A discussion took place and AG and AS were able to update the committee
on progress. This will be returned to at the next meeting.
Use of Honorarium and Bar Card
It was proposed that the
card should be used for expenditure by the Captain over and above that which
would be ordinarily incurred by a general member.
Clothing
It was agreed
that RC should discuss with TS the possibility of handing over the purchase of
seniors clothing to the pro shop. RC to report back with progress.
Date and time of next meeting
21st July 2022
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