The Road to Woodhall Spa

Every year, the club nominate two members, one male and one female, to take part in ‘The Race to Woodhall Spa’, a competition run by England Golf. Selection is based on a points system for performances in competitions over the year, and for 2026, the nominees were Kevin Price and Lesley Hitchcock. Playing in a regional qualifying round at Colne Valley, they each finished 4th overall, but Kevin won his division, thus automatically qualifying him for the final. This takes place on 11 August on the extremely challenging Hotchkin course at Woodhall Spa. Mark Clark has kindly volunteered to caddie for Kevin on the day, so he will have the benefit of a wise and capable head to guide him. Let’s hope it rubs off! All the best, Kevin.

Competitions

The highlight of the month was the Seniors Club Championship, played over two rounds. Being a medal competition, there is always the possibility of a mighty card-wrecking score, and this year was no exception. I will spare the blushes of the identity of the gentleman who was 7 off the tee (but still qualified for round 2!). Congratulations to John Parkinson, who once again triumphed with the lowest gross (154) and to Mark Boyland, who had the lowest net (144). The monthly stableford saw some decent scoring from a much bigger field – well played Phil Boyland, who just edged Bill Wardle on countback, while Brian Roloff comfortably won Division 2, also with 39, 3 ahead of VC Kevin Walsh.

As we battle through extreme heat it is hard to recall that our match at Chigwell in the Essex SeniorsTeam Championship was played in chilly, damp conditions – and even this was an improvement on the forecast! Sadly, our golf was about as sparkling as the weather and we went out 10-1. This was a marked turnaround from the success in the previous round and demonstrated the huge advantage of a home draw– only 2 out of the 8 matches were won by the away team, and one of those went to a playoff.

Interclub Matches

Five matches were scheduled, but the likelihood of very high temperatures on 24th June meant that our match against Gosfield Lake has been rescheduled to 7 October. Of the four that went ahead, results were mixed. We had an excellent away win against Frinton, a place where we have had some heavy defeats inrecent years, and a tight 4 ½ - 3 ½ win at home to Benton Hall. In between, however, we suffered defeats at Colne Valley and Felixstowe. Going into July, our record is played 16, won 7 and lost 9. However, as mentioned in last month’s missive, most of our matches during the first half of the season are away from home: of the remaining 14, 10 are at Fortress Stoke, so great things are expected from the team!

Signing In For Stableford Competitions

Those who wanted to play off the white tees in recent competitions will not need reminding of theproblems getting the system to record this option, with the result that the pro shop had to enter the scores manually. This is a Club V1/HDID issue: we have notified them about this and hopefully it will be resolved in time for the next Stableford on 15 July. I realise that this is a step backwards from the old system, but for the time being we are stuck with it. If the problem hasn’t been fixed in time, we will face the same problem and once again the pro shop will need to enter White Tee players’ score manually. Frustrating for all but please be patient – this is something entirely out of our control, but we are working on it!

Senior Captain’s Charity Day

This will be taking place on 27 July. Entries will be opening soon, and I hope that we will see as many of you as possible for what is always a popular event – much more than just a stableford comp! As always, there will be a lunch following the golf (at which I hope to be joined by a representative from my charity, Bowel Cancer UK) as well as a raffle and an auction for a variety of items. If you have any items that you can donate for the raffle or as auction items, please get in touch. Your support is much appreciated.

Enjoy your golf and I hope to see you in the clubhouse soon.

Graham Cork
Seniors Captain

Tel: ​07773 395620
Email:​grahamcork@outlook.com