Stoke by Nayland
SENIORS
October 2024
From your Captain:
With the arrival of autumn, we have seen a lot of rain and the unwelcome return of Dollar Spot to some of our greens. The good news is that the greenkeepers are addressing the issue much quicker than last year, and we hope they can minimise the damage to the greens.
The Gainsborough Course will have new winter tee mats. You may have noticed the stakes that mark where they will be located. The aim is to have them all in place by November 1, an ambitious plan that will mean Gainsborough will be our main winter competition course. The new tees have been measured and assessed, the tee color is yet to be decided. This is a long overdue and positive move to improve golf during the winter months.
I was part of a senior team, along with Norman Davidson, Glen Jackson, and Sir Bob Filer, representing the club at the Essex Golf Union centenary competition played at Thorndon Park. In a team stableford competition with the best 2 scores from 4 counting, we came a credible 14th out of 36 clubs with 76 points. The winners, Hartswood, racked up a magnificent 88 points.
Competitions for October include; St. Andrews Greensomes 2/10, Monthly Stableford and Millennium Trophy 7/10, Inter Club match at home v The Essex (our final one) 9/10, Guest Day October 14 and finally The 3 Captains team comp 28/10.
John Parkinson
Senior Captain 2024
Quote for this month:
“The point is that it doesn't matter if you look like a beast before or after the hit, as long as you look like a beauty at the moment of impact.”
Seve Ballesteros
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 Captain Parky enters his last month of officialdom. What a successful year he has had, both on the golf course and as your Senior’s Captain. I’m sure we all convey our thanks and give him a round of applause for his leadership, presence and sterling efforts. He can now join that elite band of Past Captains, and look forward to seeing his name etched on the Past Captain’s cup for many a year to come. May he also have great success in finding a parking space in the mornings!
During the month of October, your new VC, Graham Screwtop (formerly known as Cork) will be passing amongst you to encourage you to have a little flutter on the new Captain’s Drive in, which takes place on Monday November 4th. Details of the chosen charity for 2025 will be announced at the Senior’s Annual Meeting on October 28th. Please support him as I understand the new Captain is a great bloke!
Paul Sandfield will be able to tell us what it’s like to be well and truly Rogered! He finished the September monthly Stableford in the midst of a Roger sandwich, with Roger Fleuty taking the spoils in Division 1 with 39 points, whilst also winning the Seniors Cup. In 3rd place was the other Roger, Davies, who scored 38 points. Perhaps Paul Rogered Roger though, as he pipped him on countback to claim 2ndplace! Meanwhile, in Division 2, John Jardine, strode to victory, also with 39 points, but being too young to force a countback for the Seniors cup. The minor places in Div 2 went to Lionel (him again) and a pair of Andys, Messrs Caldwell and Wood. Roger F’s win leaves him in pole position for The Roy Tricker Bowl with just 1 game remaining. He leads with 187 points, from Andy Wood with 181. All to play for in the last event of the season on 7th Oct, which also features the Millennium trophy for all 2024 Stableford winners.
Our last Interclub match of the year takes place on October 9th, against The Essex. Sadly, the year will end in negative territory, we currently stand at W9, H4, L16. In analysing the results, it’s apparent that ourhome performances failed to live up to there normal fortress standards, having only won just over 50% of our home matches. Currently W8, H3, L3. We must toughen the course up for 2025, perhaps we could import some grass from Frinton!
The summer knockouts have been mainly completed. In the singles, The Reg Fox Cup, was contested between Alan Austin and Barry Hitchcock, with Barry emerging victorious, whilst the doubles, The Ray Firth cup, once again featured the dynamic duo of Captain JP Parky with his trusted partner Mike ‘Kelloggs’ Clare. John and Mike battled their way to success over Phil Brennan and Ian Mckay. I haven’t heard the sordid details of events for either match but congratulate all the winners. In the Desperately Unlucky Cup, the desperately unlucky Phil Hickley is set to play our resident bandido, Mick Henry, although, desperately unluckily for Mick, his form has deserted him and is more resemblant of Dick Emery than Dick Turpin. This titanic battle will take place on Thursday, Oct 3rd.
On September 16th, the teams from Essex v Suffolk contested their annual battle to claim the County spoils. The big question on the day being, ‘would the Captain impose any punishment on those who failedto make an appearance?’ With Essex being 2 players short, so thereby fielding 2 teams of just 1 player (surely not a team then,) the odds were stacked against them and indeed, they lost those 2 games by quite comfortable margins. However, they were the only 2 games they lost all morning with Essex running out clear winners by 20 holes. (Chapman rules) Everyone agreed, this, free-to-enter, competition was a great event and worthy of more entrants, make sure you have it in your diary for 2025.
The Swindle Head Honcho, Malcolm Commando Norton provided us with an update on the ‘Swindler of the Year’ and it looks like there could be an upset on the cards. Mick Henry, who’s going for the hat trick of wins said “it’s not over until the fat lady sings,” however, I fear she is suffering from a severe dose of laryngitis, that is not responding to treatment and will struggle to regain her voice before the swindle reaches its conclusion! The current leader is Colin Dallas, 226, who sits some 4 points ahead of Toby’s Dad, 222, distantly followed by the Lovely Lionel on 213, so all to play for. There are 5 swindles in October, which will conclude the swindles for 2024, although only the first 4 will be included in the annual swindler prize, that will be presented at the Senior’s Annual Meeting. In September, we saw 3 x 40 pointers, from Lionel, JayZee and Tony Tooting Carman, we also saw a 38 winning total from Mike Stairmand, how nice to see him at the top of the pile. Well done guys!
Coming up in October we have a plethora of competitions, starting with the St Andrews Greensomes on 2nd October, the previously mentioned Monlthly Stableford and Millenium trophy on 7th October, the annual guest day on October 14th, (still a few spaces left, thanks JW and Alan L.) The Past Captains have their away fixture on October 18th at Halesworth, the 23rd October sees what should be a Bogey competition against the course and lastly, the Three Captain’s Match followed by the annual meeting.
Many Happy Returns to all members who have their birthdays in October, in particular, John Simpson, who will reach the magic age of 90 on October 4th. May you have a splendid day and many more years of golf.
Details of October’s schedule and all fixtures for the remainder of 2024 can be found on the website.
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