Stoke by Nayland
SENIORS NEWSLETTER
1 March 2026
Dry January – dry February? To quote John McEnroe, you cannot be serious! Though after weeks of rain, it appears that there is some slight improvement (I hope I am not tempting fate). Needless to say, there isn’t much competition news to report: still, that’s a few bottles of wine for nearest the pin prizes saved!
However, competitive action has focussed on quality, not quantity. In the midweek stableford (not a seniors comp but a lot of seniors took part), Tony Denmead returned a very creditable 36 points, winning Division 1. But hitting the headlines was Paul Sandfield, who hit a hole in one on the 3rd – a perfectly directed pitching wedge, which took one bounce before nestling in the hole. This was the first competition to take place after the fourball betterball, which was won by Trevor Waterhouse and Ian Bickers, with a fine score of 37. Congratulations to you all.
Many thanks to all those who have answered the call to sign up to the Essex Senior Championship and John Day squads. Just to repeat the message in the extra newsletter I sent last week, we are still short of players for the Essex Seniors Team Championship, though we have had a better response for the John Day squad. It reflects well on the club if we can field strong sides for these competitions so I would urge anyone eligible, but so far undecided, to consider signing up.
For the Essex Seniors Team Championship, the maximum handicap index is 15.
The John Day Trophy is open to anyone with a handicap index between 11 and 24.
Normally, I would ask people to sign up via the Club Teams app on Club V1. However, unfortunately, the Club V1 Team Manager site has disappeared and so we cannot see who has applied. Therefore, please contact the respective captains directly, either by email or whatsapp. Contact details are as follows:
Essex Seniors Team Championship
Graham Cork grahamcork@outlook.com or whatsapp on 07773 395620
John Day Trophy
Ian McKay mckay1336@gmail.com or whatsapp on 07798 931092
The lack of the Club Team Manager site has also caused administrative problems for the Inter Club matches, as we cannot see who is available for any particular match and until the problem is resolved, we will have to conduct team selection via Whatsapp. We have a site set up, but I suspect that not everyone who wants to play is in the group. Therefore, if you want to take part in the interclub matches, please email or whatsapp me (contact details above) and I will add you. Unfortunately, only members in the whatsapp group can be considered for selection. I apologise for the inconvenience, but until resolution of the problem, this is the best we can do.
Looking forward, we have the monthly stableford – actually the first of 2026 - on 4th March, and on the 11th, the Mike Moore Florida Scramble. There still a few spots available for the stableford, but plenty of availablity on the 11th. Please support this competition – scrambles are always an enjoyable format to play in. It is also one of the few occasions when we have a shotgun start: if there are a lot of unused tees it will become more difficult to justify this in future years.
It is sad to report that we have lost three seniors recently. John Simpson was well known to, and much loved by, many of us, as evidenced by the large number of seniors at his funeral, and until very recently was a regular at the club. Paul Elmer and Jeremy (Jezza) Osborne will not be so well known, but were long standing members of the club and supporters of the seniors section. Peter Jay has posted some moving tributes to Simmo, Paul and Jezza on the website – www.stokeseniors.com . May they all rest in peace.
I am delighted to welcome Neil Kent, Matt Glover and John Carpenter to the seniors – I am sure you will enjoy your golf with us.
Finally, a quick glance at the BBC weather app, admittedly not always the most reliable guide, reveals that we can expect some reasonable weather next week, so I hope that you will be able to get out onto the course. Even if you don’t emulate Paul Sandfield’s achievement, play well and have fun.
Graham Cork
Seniors Captain