A good spell of warm sunny weather has made the last month of golf very enjoyable for all.

The Seniors Committee Cup was held at Bentley Golf club. 24 past and present committee members competed for the coveted trophy. Malcolm Norton won with a very good 39 points claiming his new clubs worked wonders, they certainly did… well played Malcolm. Andy Cracknell was second with 37 and John Jardine was third beating Paul Sandfield on count back with 36 points. A good day’s golf was had by all.

Events to look forward to in September; Inter Club matches away to Newton Green, The Essex and Claton, the only home match this month is against Braintree.

Sept 9 is the Monthly Stableford and Senior Cup, Suffolk v Essex is on Sept 16.

Quote for this month “You swing your best when you have the fewest things to think about.” Bobby Jones

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

Move over Parky and Clarky, we have a new scratch champion in town!

PHI7 BOY Boyland triumphed in the Medal Cup and Bell, winning both the scratch and handicap prizes, perhaps the first time this has happened. A magnificent net 67, gross 76 on the Gainsborough course could not be beaten resulting in a deserved win for PHI7. I asked him what he planned to do with all the prize money, to which he responded, “buy a 2025 diary to note down all my match commitments.”

It was a day for great scoring, with Malcolm ‘new clubs’ Norton finishing in the runner up spot in Div 1 with a nett 68 and a couple of 69’s from John Smith and Bob Filer (again.) In Div 2, El Tel Mitchell flew the flag for the older generation with a stunning nett 68. Well played everyone.

I’ve been a bit concerned about misuse of buggies and trollies recently, I understand one of our more aged members, who has already been mentioned above, had to be towed from the out of use bunker on Constable 11 after some strange manoeuvres led to a dubious exhibition of parking. Talking of parking, Mr Roloff was none too pleased when Hamish parked next to him and left the smallest of gaps for him to squeeze into the driver’s seat. I last saw him wishing he had a sun roof. It all went on that day, Richard ‘the Parrot’ Middleton returned to his car, fully psyched up in preparation for loading the Blue Middy Mobile into the back of his Qashqai, only to find the boot wouldn’t open! Several hours later, Richard was still awaiting the arrival of the nice man from the RAC. Steve Stacey had a bit of fun on Constable 15. Deciding to let his trolley make its own way down the slope, as you do, the trolley had other ideasthough, taking a sharp left turn and pelting it’s way in to a direct path to the ditch! Steve was last seen heading to KwikFit for some tracking work.

There was only one other notable competition in August with the monthly stableford taking place at the beginning of the month. There was some great scoring with Division 1 being won by Kevin Walshamassing 41 points, closely followed by Colin Dallas and Alan Finlarrrson on 39 points. There was a right battle in Division 2 between 2 of the old favourites; had they have been playing together, it would have been SbN’s version of duel in the sun. However, the early leader Lionel ‘tuck yer arm in’ Hatch was seen ripping up his acceptance speech when Ian the Bickerman came in with the same 41 points, but with a better back 9! Well done all.

The Committee cup was held on Aug 19th at Bentley GC. A delightful track was enjoyed by the 23 golfers who had booked to attend, plus Alex, who wasn’t expected but was welcomed with open arms. Many of our members speak well of Bentley and it certainly didn’t disappoint on the day. Particularly for one person, Malcolm Ping Norton, who raced to victory with a rather splendid 39 points. This included a 2 for 5 on the shortened 14th hole. Well done to Parky for organising the event, he was later heard to mutter, “this is the last thing I have to do as Captain, yippee!”

We had several Interclub matches where we experienced some better results, possibly due to the performance of the stand-in Captains of Corky the cat and myself! P6, W4, L2. The memorable events were, actually beating Frinton 6-2, despite giving gazillions of shots, and the first match against Ipswich GC. Although a somewhat windy day at Ipswich, it was warm and sunny. We had a great welcome to a track in super condition with plenty of run on the fairways. It was a shame that this match was restricted to 12 a side. The lucky 12 enjoyed a slightly different format of breakfast beforehand and a later 10.30am start, which seemed to go down well, unlike the frustrating journey back across the Orwell bridge, or not, as it was closed due to an ‘incident.’ I would like to give my thanks to all the people who play in the Interclub matches. Although they incur a cost and some travel for the away matches, they’re a great day out, a chance to play some different courses away, and normally, a bit of fun, banter and competition. JP has also asked me to thank Pete Hele for the tireless work he does arranging the schedule for these annual matches.​

We have 4 of our remaining 5 matches taking place in September, let’s see if we can finish with a flourish. We play Braintree at home and Newton Green, The Essex and Clacton away.

There were 4 swindles in August, it’s nice to see scores being recorded in the 40’s now, they’ve been few and far between since the WHS changes. The drier weather has helped with a bit more run on the fairways. Congratulations to all the winners. Commiserations to Mick the Mexican, despite 41 points, he only came second! Well done President Pete, Brian (Toby’s dad) and newboy John Crane who have all scored 42 points. There will be a further 4 swindles in September.

Coming up next month, we have the monthly Stableford and Senior Cup, played on the 9th Sept. We also have the annual Essex v Suffolk match; we need more entries for that as it’s all looking a bit sparse at the moment. If you haven’t played in this competition before, just sign up, we’ll check which County you wish to play for and make a draw accordingly. It’s a betterball competition for the annual county bragging rights. It’s always great fun. Lastly, the past Captains play their away match on the 20th September at Halesworth GC.

We have one new member joined us in August, a warm welcome to George Dudley, who does not come from Birmingham. We also have a returning member, who left us for a very short period, welcome back Colin Dallas!

Many Happy Returns to all members who have their birthdays in September.

Details of September’s schedule and all fixtures for the remainder of 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