Stoke by Nayland

SENIORS NEWSLETTER
January 2026

Welcome to the last newsletter of 2025. I hope you all had a good Christmas and are looking forward to renewing the struggle against the golfing gods in 2026, although with some chilly weather forecast, winter may finally be arriving.

December is a quiet time for competitions, with just two on which to report. The monthly Stableford saw a very healthy turnout of 48, with very close finishes in both Division 1 and Division 2. Congratulations to Phil Boyland, the only player to score better than handicap, who triumphed in Division 1 with 37, edging out Tony Denmead, Stephen Tree and Mark Clark by a single point. Division 2 saw a similarlyclose finish, Roger Fleuty winning with 33, one ahead of John Crane, Stuart Lawson and Charlie Hunter.

Our final competition of the year was the Yuletide Scramble, which saw some very impressive scoring. Well played Dick Lumsden, Graham Vandervord, Ian McKay and Neil Ashwell, who won with a net 58,although only beating the team of Stephen Tree, Mike Webley, Colin Pottle and Kevin Jones on countback.

Before leaving reporting on competitions, just a note about slow play. Can we all make it a new year resolution to speed up? Some of the rounds in the December Stableford were taking well over 4 ½ hours, and, while I appreciate that winter conditions can contribute to rounds taking longer, 18 holes in almost 5 hours is pretty tortuous, especially if you are standing in the cold waiting.

Our first competitive action in 2026 is the Stableford on 7th January. One major change that we are making for the new year is the split between Division 1 and Division 2. Recently, we have seen considerably more players in Division 2 (almost 1:2 in some cases), with the result that the allocation of prize money has been heavily skewed against the Division 1 players. Therefore, with effect from 1stJanuary, the cut off point for Div 1 and Div 2 is changing from 16.4 to 18.4 WHS index. Hopefully, this will result in roughly equal numbers in each division.

Away from the course, I realise that there has been a lot of frustration concerning the balances on the range ball machine. I understand from Liam Clayton that we are waiting for an installation date from the supplier and once the new machine is up and running, the issue of balances will be addressed. In the meantime, if you wish to contact Liam on the subject, his email address is liam.clayton@stokebynayland.com . If emailing him, please cc me at grahamcork@outlook.com so I can monitor the situation.

It just remains for me to wish you all and your families very happy New Year and I look forward to seeing you on the course or in the clubhouse soon.

All the best,
Graham Cork
Seniors Captain