Seniors v Wellingborough away Aug 10 2026

 Organiser Paul Jones reports

It was a lovely sunny morning when I set off from Northampton and I was grateful that the sun hadn’t reached its full height as another warm day was forecast.

This is obviously a very popular fixture as Fred Williams turned up despite not being on the team-sheet, so we had a slight dilemma. Certain players could have used current form as an excuse to stand down (no names mentioned) but Algy magnanimously agreed to let Fred play as Fred was car sharing with Tariq. 

On paper, the two teams appeared to be quite well matched, as the JOG team were only giving 10 shots to our opponents. The average Handicap Index for Wellingborough’s players was 18.6 and ours was 17.2.

Fortunately, I had the luxury of having a draft version of their team, and this time it wasn’t too difficult to try and create matches that on paper could be close.  Only two players overall received more than 10 shots (one per side in the same match)

By the time we finished our coffees and introductions and got outside, the temperature had ramped up and there were only light blue polo shirts to be seen.

As the organiser, I was paired with Captain Barlow and unsurprisingly he was the “scratch” player in our group, so our opponents were getting 6 and 5 shots and I received 10.

 An historic, quaint stone summer house (gazebo) built for King Charles I and his courtiers stands directly in the middle of the first fairway and the first requirement to playing this hole is to not hit it. Dave led us off and hit a good tee shot. My strategy to miss it was to “grub” a seven wood about 70 yards into the trees on the left.  Dave’s second shot found the bunker so we were 1 down to their Captain’s par.

On the second Dave hit the best drive of all of us but was unlucky to find the fairway bunker. The other three players all went left and I was in the middle of the 17^th fairway. Dave’s bunker shot put him in trouble and he put his third into the greenside bunker. (3 bunker visits in 2 holes this looked ominous) From the 17^th fairway I played over the trees clearing them by inches and walked towards the green. Dave and I were very pleased to see my ball about 4 foot from the hole. It was eventually conceded for a birdie so I didn’t have to face the frustration of missing a birdie putt.

This seemed to spark our Captain into life as he won the next two holes with pars, winning the nearest the pin award on the 4^th.

I won the 5^th thanks to my shot and the next three holes were halved, David getting a par on the SI 3 hole 7^th despite our opponents both getting shots.

I won the SI 1 9^th with a par so we were three up at the turn.

We lost the 10^th then on the par 3 11^th I hit my tee shot to 4 or 5 feet.  Dave and one of the other team members secured their pars, so my moment for glory was upon me.  Earlier I had had putts to win holes after Dave had secured a half and I was over-hitting them so, subscribing to the “don’t be short” school of thought, I tried to treat it like a normal putt and it dropped in.

The next few holes were a bit scrappy with 3 halves and a loss. Earlier in the round I had thought about advising Dave that a particular hole would be a good one to use his driver and I wasn’t brave enough to say anything. So we were stood on the 16^th tee facing three holes that I have never played well.  Dave pulled out his driver and a little voice inside me blurted out loud “I don’t think that driver is the best club for this hole”

Where did that bravery come from I thought, how dare a 19 handicapper tell our esteemed Captain how to play golf.  I’ll let Dave tell you what he thought and did but I was last to go and I changed my club and tried to play safe.  Fortunately, I got a good bounce from out of the trees and found the fairway but I had only covered half of the 300 yards on that hole.  I hit my second shot (my fourth good shot of the day) onto the green and we closed out the match.

I think everybody messed up the 17th and Dave finished with a par on the 18^th just to prove that cometh the hour he would have been there.

We showered, changed and could have read “War and Peace” and watched Titanic on video as we waited for the other groups to come in.

The second match went to Wellingborough and the third match featured Steve “keep right on” Mathers who had a lesson last week and had fixed his game. Dave and I put our mortgages on him (I paid mine off about 6 years ago) but alas it didn’t work out and probably a further lesson will be needed.

The next match featured Fred (can I play please) Williams and Gerry (who wins every match, except when he plays with me) and they delivered a point.

Due to the 2 tee start, match 6 was next in and Tony and Graham delivered a point.  Tony got off to a flyer then Graham woke up and they gelled very well.  Tony also won the extra prize that was up for grabs for both teams i.e. nearest the pin in two on the 18^th.  Extra credit as this was that group’s second hole

Match 7 went Wellingborough’s way

Match eight featured Chris Roy and Rob Ebsworth and Chris managed to recover from his long walk to the 17^th starting tee and they delivered a point.

Only the result from match 5 was needed and we couldn’t lose.  Dave was convinced that we would be coming away with a draw but Daniel, who was the scratch player and giving “The Judge” 20 shots, and Oz, who was getting 13 shots off Daniel, came in with a valuable half point.

We then feasted upon a “luxury buffet”. One of the Wellingborough members suggested that the phrase was subjective but I have to say we really enjoyed it.

Wellingborough’s Captain gave a short speech and presented the individual awards (Tony and Dave picked up nearest the pins as previously mentioned) and he then invited Dave to announce the result which was a 4.5 to 3.5 win for JOG.

The individual match results were:

David Barlow (Captain)	Won 3 & 2
Paul Jones
Paul Jeeves	Lost 3 & 2
Tariq Bhatti
Stephen Mathers	Lost 5 & 3
Paul Life
Fred Williams	Won 2 Up
Gerry Degaute
Mehmet Osman	Match Halved
Daniel Emkes
Tony Walters	Won 3 & 2
Graham Gadsden
Michael Newstead	Lost 2 & 1
Barry Donovan
Rob Ebsworth	Won 4 & 3
Chris Roy

 

We then went on our merry way after a really enjoyable day.  I rushed home to wash my shirt as I am playing in the home match tomorrow.  If you are playing in this match, I suggest not standing down wind of anyone that played today just in case operating a washing machine is not in the skill set of a senior golfer.