Notes of the Senior Section Committee Meeting
25th July 2022
Attendance:
Algy Grimes (AG), Jonathan Lean (JL), Bill Walker (BW), Richard Coventry (RC), Richard Westergreen – Thorne (RWT), Andy Shilton (AS)
Apologies: Tom Simm (TS) was not able to attend.
Mike Tipper (TP) attended for one item and discussed with the committee the clubs 75th anniversary plans, Club Captain’s Day, Senior Captain’s Day and a number of mutual topics of interest which the committee raised with him.
Action:
It was agreed that AG and BW would follow up a number of these matters with MT and Robert Bage (RB) and would agree a date to meet with them to do so.
Minutes previous and matters arising
Agreed with no matters arising not on the agenda.
Captain’s Report (AG)
Our match at home to South Beds was played on 24th May and was in some fine weather with a win to JOG 4.5 – 3.5 a good result for us.
Millbrook followed on 31st May, there is supposed to be fine weather around this time each year, oh no not today, play halted for a while caused by a hailstorm that saw the greens turn white. The opposition obviously wanting to win made the captain (me) putt through a puddle on the 14th which surrounded the hole. That seemed to set the tone of the day with a JOG loss of 5 – 3.
Rex Cleaver Championship Trophy was next up for the Section, what a superb display by Peter Imray winning both the Nett and Gross (Bessant East Trophy) Competitions. Nett 66 and Gross 77.
Leighton Buzzard visited on 13th June; the team sheet showed we were receiving a total of 72 shots while giving them 79 shots, the closest we have been to our opposition this season. A total of 8 gross birdies in the first game must be a record. The result was a win for JOG 4.5 - 3.5.
The following two days (14/15th June) saw England Golf Seniors competitions take place with various Senior Section members being hosts or ball spotters and helping out in other ways. A good couple of days for JOG.
The annual Past Captains away day took place at Rushden on a rather hot day, whilst there were two past captains in 2nd Fred Williams and 3rd Bill Walker, it was the current Captain that won on the day with 35 points.
St Neots visited us on 21st June following a number of dropouts the organisers of both teams had their work cut out to fill the numbers. A special thanks to Malcolm Lee for stepping in as a late replacement after my call to him at 7.30am on the day. Despite St Neots having a 20-shot advantage, it was a good win to JOG 4.5 – 3.5.
Longest Day 54-hole Challenge was played by the 4 captains on 22nd June. Despite suffering a back injury I managed to complete the course. My thanks to my fellow captains for the pills and potions to help through it and good luck to Jonathan for next year. It was very nice to have a few people waiting for us at the end of the third round, including applause from the terrace. At the time of writing, I have raised £2,112.00, thanks to everyone that contributed.
Our next match saw Letchworth come to JOG on 28th June. I was unable to take part and Jonathan took the reins to Captain the team. The result was a draw 4 all, and apparently Jonathan had a hilarious joke so I may enrol him as a script writer for me!! The two tee start or lack of it was a point of issue with Letchworth, so much so that emails of complaint to JOG have not gone down well with some of the General Committee.
The Reg Batson trophy played on 12th July saw some very good scores, especially by the leading players. The winner was Dominic Murphy who scored a brilliant nett 59. “ I have never won anything before” he said when I presented the trophy so he certainly deserved it with that score and the round of his life. Peter Imray deserves a mention (I have heard that name before) for the best Gross score of 76. To take a quote from the blog; An honourable mention goes to Andy Shilton for his opening 6 pars on the trot. According to Andy: “Standing on the 13th tee I was 5 over par. Needless to say, there was plenty of colourful language as I did the last 5 holes in 13 over par” Always next year Andy!!
We played the Swap Day with Northampton on 18th July on one of the hottest days of the year. Due to the weather forecast we had about 17 players drop out. All I can say is they missed a great day. The heat was managed with plenty of fluids, umbrellas and trees providing shade. Playing with David Streatfield we were the ultimate winners with 42 points. The hospitality at Northampton was second to none.
75th Anniversary Committee on 2nd July discussed the plans for celebrating next year’s anniversary. The Seniors have Tuesday 20th June for an event, so far referred to as Senior Section Club Championship. What do we want to call it?
It was confirmed at the meeting that we will in fact be playing the Rex Cleaver Championship Trophy on that day and it has moved by a week in order to be part of the club celebrations.
Vice Captain’s Report (JL)
Nothing to report except that JL continues to keep in touch on our behalf with any members who are brought to his attention.
Treasurer's Report (RC)
RC outlined the current financial position both for the section finances and the captain’s charity pot. There are no issues to report and the arrangements for the transfer of funds between us and the club are now up to date and working effectively.
We play most of our home matches in the earlier part of the season and so we will have an influx of funds as we play predominantly away fixtures for the rest of the year.
Secretary’s Report (RWT)
Events and activities continue to run smoothly although the high temperatures this week have obviously caused us to have to rethink and rejig our plans.
The Swap Day seems to be a very worthwhile addition to our annual programme, and we should look to ensure that this continues as a feature of what we do. Having had the experience of the first venture it would seem to be something ideally suited to find a member to volunteer to organise our swap with St Ives next year.
I will ask Michael Grace if there are any dates that are possible for us to rearrange the Annual Stableford. There are not many Tuesdays left this year we have not used but I hope we can find something that works.
The events of the past few days also raise the issue of what we should do if there are future government Level 4 health warnings as this raises extreme heat to the same level as thunder and lightning, torrential rain, etc. This is something that we should discuss and agree an approach as seniors. It is one of those things where there is no right answer and as several people said to me ‘you are damned if you do and damned if you don’t’.
My view is that this was the first time this had happened, and it was us this time impacted but it could be a club event or ladies’ event in the future so a club wide strategy would be helpful rather than leaving it to individuals to have to make such decisions. I would propose that we raise this with the Golf Committee for consideration.
In the end all those signed up for Northampton were given a free choice and 23 members made the trip. We cancelled the Annual Stableford and by that time over 20 had already withdrawn because of concerns. This seemed to be the right call and of the emails I received which numbered around a dozen only one person felt that we should have run the competition on Tuesday.
On other matters you will have seen that the calendar has been finalised with Michael for 2023. There were a few last-minute tweaks to fit in with the club diary but all is now settled. Several changes have brought events closer together than I would have liked but I hope we can do some juggling for 2024 to move some things back to where they came from.
No new members to report and I do keep an eye on those who sign up for our competitions to see if somebody new shows an interest.
The blog continues to go from strength to strength and the number of hits continues to grow.
Although it seems a long way off the Annual Dinner, collection of trophies, etc. will soon need to take shape and I suggest that we invite Dave Wood to our next meeting.
Action: RWT to invite Dave Woods to the next meeting.
Comp. Secretary’s Report (JL)
Since the last meeting we have had the following competitions.
The Rex Cleaver Championship Trophy on 7th June had 64 participants and 6 withdrawals. It was won by Peter Imray with a nett 66.
The Reg Batson had 31 participants with one late withdrawal and was won by Dominic Murphy with a nett 59!
When the Annual Stableford closed for entries, we had 98 participants. Worth doing a 1 tee start, therefore.
I will liaise with Tony Lloyd regarding taking over the Competitions next year once the diary is finalised.
Match Secretary’s Report (AS)
Interclub Matches
The final batch of selections for the last 6 matches has now been completed and circulated in the Newsletter of 17th July. I’m reasonably happy with the selection process though some people look rather skewed towards home as they didn’t put in for any of the last batch of which 5 of the 6 were away.
To date only one person has identified that they can’t make the matches they were down for. It is anticipated there will be more.
We have a significant shortage of players for the match at South Beds on the 14 September. We can currently field a team but have no reserves. RW-T has put out a call to arms in the Newsletter for the 24th. We will see how the response is.
Match Results
Meanwhile matches are continuing and without major incident. Results are getting better. We have played 7 matches since the last report beating Harpenden Common 7-1, Losing to Saffron Walden 5 ½ - 2 ½, beating South Beds 4 ½ - 3 ½ , losing 3 - 5 to Millbrook in our inaugural match, beating Leighton Buzzard 4 ½ - 3 ½, beating St Neots 4 ½ - 3 ½, finishing all square against Letchworth. So played 7 won 4 lost 2 drawn 1 for the period. Overall, the season stands nicely balanced having played 15, won 6, lost 6, drawn 3 with 11 matches to play.
Match reports are going promptly onto the blog and although written in a variety of styles they remain pleasingly amusing and in the spirit of the games.
Things to improve.
The new website gives us some potential for improvement in the coordination of the Interclub matches but at the moment the new site is a straight lift and shift of the old structure and content.
I think we are now doing better on post-match comms and tidying of the Finances from our side. The Treasurer will have a view on the club finances.
Other observations
The turnover of players selected for games has been absolutely fine with the exception of the game against Leighton Buzzard where we rounded up 4 additional subs and still had 5 withdrawals.
Generally, unless there are contrary views everything remains under control.
Immediate Past Captain’s Report (BW)
The IPC brought one matter of complaint against a Section member to the Committee members’ attention. The matter has been dealt with at Section level.
Member and Guest Day arrangements
AS outlined the plans and some of the costings and it was noted that Ian Riches will be overseeing the arrangements for the last few days and on the day itself. JL will close the competition at the end to allow the results to be published.
Senior Section Captain’s Day.
JL ran through the programme for the day:
This will be a shotgun start in groups of 4 with 7 groups starting 5 minutes early on the 2nd, 5th, 6th, 9th, 13th, 15th and 17th tees. Therefore, a maximum of 100 entrants.
£5 entry fee consisting of £4 for the competition prizes and £1 for the 2s club.
Raffle tickets to be sold in the foyer on collection of cards. Lorna Jerome has agreed to provide 3 volunteers to hand out cards and sell raffle tickets. 4 raffle prizes of bottles of wine.
NTP on 4th, 10th, 12th (in 2) and 16th with prizes of bottles of wine.
Rob Bage and Mike Tipper to be invited to enter for the Captains v Vice Captains competition. These to tee off on 1st and 17th tees. Do we charge Mike Tipper?
No putting competition as it is too complicated with a shotgun start. However, Tom Simm will provide a virtual NTP in the pro shop. First go free and £1 per go thereafter. This will run from 1pm to 3pm. Bottle of wine to the winner.
Note: Total 9 bottles required.
Negotiating with Amy regarding price for providing sandwiches, chips and cakes on completion. Currently the price for this is £9.50 per head. Is this affordable?
Guess Algy’s drive on the 1st tee. Distance and left/right/centre etc. We need someone with a Range Finder. £1 entry with the winner getting a bottle of wine. This makes a total of 10 bottles of wine required.
Also, possibly a roving refreshment buggy on a sale or return basis.
All other suggestions welcome.
Joining age for the seniors
The joining age to participate in seniors’ events is currently ‘in the year of your 60th birthday or older’. The committee discussed whether we should consider lowering this age to 55 and above to bring us in to line with Golf England, many of the clubs we play matches with, and our clubs own ‘seniors’ competition.
After discussion it was agreed that the club should be contacted to ascertain their views on the matter and that the current members of the seniors be canvassed as to their views. It was agreed that this canvassing would take place in time for discussion of the outcomes could take place at the next meeting.
Action: RWT to circulate to members and BW to compile the feedback. After the meeting it was agreed that a simple questionnaire would be the best way to canvas members views.
Charity events at JOG
AG outlined that the club are looking to pull together the various charity days and fundraising that takes place across the year and that this is currently being discussed by the club committee.
Charging policy for our visitors at nonreciprocal matches at JOG
It was confirmed that in the case of the clubs we play where there is not a reciprocal arrangement in place, we charge the visiting club the cost of the meal when they visit JOG.
Date and time of next meeting
Thursday 1st September at 2pm
