SENIORS NEWSLETTER - AUGUST 24
Stoke by Nayland
SENIORS
August 2024
From your Captain:
Our golf courses are currently in the best condition they have been in for a long time. The weather has been perfect for grass growth– wet, sunny, and warm. I hope you are enjoying your golf on both courses and that you're ensuring you have submitted a minimum of 12 cards to maintain an active handicap.
I would like to thank all those who took part in my Charity day. Together, we managed to raise over £5,000 for my chosen charity, Parkinson UK, which is a fantastic result. The weather was great, and there was a good buzz in the sports bar before play, during lunch, and at the auction. Congratulations to all the winners.
Here are the events to look forward to in August:- Interclub matches away against Benton Hall and Ipswich, and at home against Felixstowe, Clacton, Frinton, and Haverhill.- Monthly Stableford on August 5- Seniors Medal Cup and Bell on August 14- Committee Cup will be held at Bentley on August 19. I hope you have noticed that our August Stableford will be played as three balls, instead of four balls as we have done previously. We believe this change will speed up play and benefit all participants.
Quote for this month: "Golf?! You hit down to make the ball go up. You swing left, and the ball goes right. The lowest score wins. And, on top of that, the winner buys the drinks."
John Parkinson SbN Seniors Captain
Disclaimer: The following is a light-hearted review of the previous month’s events. No offence is intended, I hope none is taken!
Full (formal) information can always be found on the senior’s website www.stokeseniors.com
All club information can be found at www.sbngolfmembers.co.uk
Well, what an exciting month July was. We witnessed the Hatch and some significant early fluttering; however, I’m not writing about Lionel, but Trevor’s Snowy owls! What a joy to behold. Trevor is going on holiday in August and he needs someone to keep tabs on his bird box. No real experience required, but the ability to download footage from webcams and make it look interesting would be useful.
On to golf.
What a superb day the Charity Day was. After several months of planning and sleepless nights for Captain Parky, all of the pieces came together on the day. A small army of helpers, including JP’s family members, were out in force early on to assist with setting up the mini competitions, selling raffle tickets, packing goody bags (kindly sponsored by the local dentist!) putting up flags and banners and generally looking at ways of getting us to spend money, not card tapping, but good old fashioned notes and coins.
There was a buzz of anticipation as the golf started. Most people were out for a bit of fun and a pleasant morning spent with friends, but a few teams fancied their chances of picking up the competition prizes, kindly sponsored by Simon Oliphant and www.cmon.golf.
In the end, the spoils went to the unfancied team of Capt Davidson, President Garnett, Auctioneer Jayzieand Martin (Molton) Brown. Runners up were pre-tournament favourites of the reemerging Allen Smith, PCWAPS Malcolm Norton, the ever-present Vanders and red hot Mark Clark. However, the real winners on the day were Parkinson’s charity, who benefitted from, in excess of £5000 collected, to add to the tidy sum already banked.
A light lunch was enjoyed by all, as the lucky winners of raffle prizes proudly displayed their bottles of plonk on their tables and looked forward to the auction. This was ‘lots’ of fun as the usual array of four ball vouchers were enthusiastically bid for, along with some non-golfing items. Many thanks to anyone who donated articles to the auction, including Rob Swan and SbN friend David Yates.
The monthly stableford and president’s prize was held featuring 49 fit and able golfers, all convinced they held the key to victory. The course was in stunning condition, in fact, the best I have seen in my time at Stoke, so no excuses, or were there? Scoring was underwhelmingly average with Division 2 being eventually won by the loquacious Lionel Hatch, scoring 36 points and usurping a disappointed Steve Stacey, who fell foul of the 12 card rule. Div 1, and the President’s Prize was won by Tony Denmead, who amassed 38 points and held off the challenge from Roger Fleuty, 37, and Simon Oliphant 36. Well done Tony, even though you support Totteringham.
The Veteran’s InterClub Tournament (VICT) was held at Ipswich GC on July 25th, featuring 10 local teams, all looking to be crowned champions. Information, relative to this event, has proved hard to come by, which I took to indicate we didn’t win, however, after some extensive research, I can reveal that SbNput up a brave, strong and competitive showing and were desperately unlucky to finish in the bottom tenth of the pile! I understand the VICT in 2025 will be held at Braintree GC.
The InterClub boys held a reverse fixture against Stowmarket, firstly, the rearranged away fixture, to which we unfortunately succumbed to a 6-2 defeat, it was however, a splendid day, played on an equally splendid course. A number of our players came away with a sleeve of TruFeel balls that only cost them £5 in the raffle. Lucky chaps, and it went to a good cause. The home fixture was held some 8 days later at Stoke on the Constable course. Looking for revenge our boys came up marginally short, but held out for a 4-4 draw. Also marginally short was Neil Ashwell’s tee shot on 8 that finished 1 inch away from being an ace. Still enough to win the coveted bottle of Pinot Noir, and it did save him a rather large bar bill! The stand out performance of that match was our good friend, Mick Henry; somewhat fraught at the constant barracking and insinuations of full scale banditry, he opted to, somewhat controversially, submit a cardfor handicap purposes and was rewarded with a nett 60 round and a 3.6 shot cut! Tears were rolling amongst the Seniors in shock at the savageness of Mick’s cut, and there was so much sympathy for his punishment. Nevertheless, stand it must. At the time of writing, we are still to play our final match of the month against Hintlesham. No doubt the result will be on the website soon after the event.
There were swindles aplenty in July with wins for Robert Ogles, scoring a magnificent 43 points, well done Sir; also myself, with a more modest 34 points, Lionel Hatch, again, with 37 points. Lionel is clearly a man in a rich vein of form. The final swindle of the month is still to be played.
How nice to see Shergar back on the swindle rostrum after his return from surgery. On that subject, our thoughts are with those who are dealing with poor health or injuries. We wish you all well and look forward to seeing you again soon.
August sees a busy month ahead, with fixtures abounding, as Captain Parky has already pointed out above. Have a great August, be you on holiday, or walking the fairways of Stoke by Nayland.
Many Happy Returns to all members who have their birthdays in August.
Details of August’s schedule and all fixtures in 2024 can be found on the website.
Club V1 is the place to go to enter your availability for all 2024 Interclub matches, you can also sign up for the team, if you’re not yet a member.
If anyone wishes to share any “amusing” stories with me for the next newsletter, this can be done anonymously, or otherwise, by emailing kevinprice@btinternet.com