Stoke by Nayland

SENIORS

Welcome to the newsletter for

December 2022

From your Captain:

With the long hot summer truly behind us, we find ourselves returning to the prospect of soggy fairways and colder mornings. 

Despite this, I think you'll all agree that for the time of year, the greens have never been so good, for this we must give special thanks to all of the green keeping staff.

Recently we saw Glen and Corrine Jackson enrolled as men's and ladies captains and  I look forward to working with them both over the coming year.

The recent club AGM was attended by a good number of our Senior’s members.

We learned of the management's vision for the future of the Golf Club, I thought there were a lot of positives.

 I look forward to working with the new board on your behalf and give you feedback from our meetings.

Karl reported that the fees next year will rise by 3%.

Congratulations to all of you that have won a prize in our recent competitions.

Please continue to support these and also the swindle as they are both great ways to meet new friends.

It remains for me to wish you and your families all the very best for Christmas and let's all have a great New Year.

Malcolm Norton

Senior's Captain 

New Members

A warm welcome back to Graham Potter.

Senior’s friendly competitions

Throughout the year, the senior’s section hold a number of fun, non-qualifying competitions. These are various formats, typically fourball betterball, texas scramble, greensomes etc.

As  new members have joined the sections, and some of our older members reduce their golf participation, we have witnessed the numbers for the competitions dwindle somewhat.

It takes a lot of planning to book these competitions in advance, and of course, the club block out the tee times on the day, so it can be a bit frustrating when we have a lot of empty slots.

This is really just a note of encouragement to get as much participation as possible in these competitions and boost the numbers a little.

The only requirements are for 12 qualifying scores on your record during the previous twelve months. You can still play without these, but you would not be eligible to win a prize.

The first such upcoming competition will be the Texas Scramble on 14^th December. Entry is open now via ClubV1. There is no official entry fee for this competition, but as usual, we are inviting donations, whatever size, to the Sudbury Storehouse Foodbank. This is coordinated by Roger Davies. Details have been posted on the Swindle WhatsApp page, however, anyone unsure how to donate can contact Roger directly.

Wednesday Swindles

With the ‘Swindler of the year’ having been decided in October, competitions since then have purely been for fun and will be resumed for real in January.

Swindle dates for December are as follows:

Wednesday 7^th December                  Constable

Friday 16^th December                         Gainsborough

Wednesday 21^st December                Constable

Details released on WhatsApp nearer the dates.

Inter Club Matches

The 2023 season starts in a little over 3 months time. Please ensure you have registered your interest to play via the ClubV1 app.

Seniors Club Competition results

Captain’s Drive In & Monthly Stableford – Gainsborough

It was a wet and miserable start to new Captain Malcolm Norton's year....but that didn't stop the traditional gathering on the putting green to watch him nervously tee it up for the first time in charge.

As is the norm, we tried to put him off as much as we could...but not even the catcalls and whistling...or even Bob Filer's drone hovering over the tee, could stop Malcolm knocking it a creditable 178 yards down the first fairway into the right hand fringe.

That drive alone was enough to raise £168.17p (17p, really??) for Malcolm's charity the East Anglian Children's Hospice...a great start.   And well played to Paul Sheffield and Eric Fisher who correctly guessed the yardage, but donated their winnings back into the pot.

On to the Stableford competition itself.   With no run on the wet ground and greens playing very slow, scoring was not what we have become used to in recent months.   Only one score in the 40s was recorded and that was Kevin Price, who won Division 2 with a very good 42 point haul.

The top places in each division were:

Div 1

Div 2 

There were three nearest the pin prizes on offer . John Parkinson won NP on the 3rd; Rob Giles won NP on the 7th and Brian Willsher won NP in 2 on the 17th.

Hi-Lo - Constable - 16th November 

20 pairs played in the annual Hi-Lo Betterball competition on a Constable course that had taken a considerable amount of rain over the preceding days. The weather forecast proved to be reliable - it rained off and on all morning with several of the greens extremely wet - at least that the excuse being used by a number of players !

Despite the tricky conditions some extremely good scores were returned off 85% of handicap.

Congratulations to the pairing of Alan Finlayson and Dominic Watts, scoring a very impressive 46 points a clear 3 points ahead of Eric Fisher & Lionel Hatch.

Leading positions …….

1st         Alan Finlayson & Dominic Watts               46 points

2nd       Eric Fisher & Lionel Hatch                         43 pts

3rd       Allen Smith & Brian Willsher                      42 pts on c/b

4th        Colin Dallas & Ian Bickers                        42 pts

Monthly Stableford - Constable - 30th November

46 players took part in todays’ final Stableford of 2022 on a Constable course that has taken a lot of water over the past 48 hours, still playing well, but longer than normal, reflecting in some lower than usual scores.

Congratulations must go to Bill Wardle, winner of division 1 with 39 points, and Brian Willsher, winner of division 2 with 38 points.

Nearest the pin winner on the 8th was Adrian Cherry - one of only two 2’s on par 3’s

Leaders ……..

Division 1

1st        Bill Wardle                39 points

2nd       Andrew Cracknell    38 points

3rd        Alan Austin               37 points on c/b

4th        Ian McKay                 37 points

5th        Allen Smith              37 points

​

Division 2

1st        Brian Willsher              38 points

2nd       Robin Owen                 37 points on c/b

3rd        Kevin Walsh                 37 points 

4th        Adrian Beckingsale     35 points

5^th        Ray Firth                      33 points

Seniors’ Open Competitions

We have had information sent to us for a, recently announced open competition at Benton Hall, details below:

Men’s Seniors’ Open Competition - 12^th July 2023

Organised by Benton Hall Golf Club Midweek Seniors’ Section  

Benton Hall Golf Club Midweek Seniors’ Section are delighted to invite you to take part in our 2023 Open Competition

Entry Fee: £95 per pair Open to Male Players over 55 years

Included in the Entry Fee:  

Ø  18 Holes: Better Ball Competition (played off blue tees)

Ø  2 Tee start from 8:30am             

Ø  Maximum Playing Handicap: 28

Ø  Coffee on arrival, Halfway Refreshments followed by a 2 course meal

Ø  Prizes awarded for 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd and 4^th Pairs plus Nearest the Pins….and more

Registration Instructions: Bank transfer £95 entry fee to:

Account Name: Benton Hall Seniors

Sort Code: 16-16-12

Account Number: 10192720

Reference: OPEN (ADD YOUR SURNAME) 

Return completed details below via email to Stuart Mackenzie (smack49@hotmail.com) or post to Stuart Mackenzie (Seniors’ Open), Benton Hall Golf Club, Wickham Hill, Witham, CM8 3LH no later than 12  June 2023.

Please do feel free to contact Stuart Mackenzie on 07770 778641 with any queries.

Start sheet will be distributed 2 weeks prior to the competition 

Happy Birthdays in December  to the following Seniors Members  (apologies if I have omitted anyone)–

John King, John Phillips, David Jones, Mike Clare, Richard Saunders BEM, Kevin Price, Colin Pottle and Graham Mansbridge.

Many Happy Returns to You All

UPCOMING EVENTS  -  December

5^th Dec             Mixed comp with Lady Vets                                        Gainsborough

14^th Dec           Yuletide Scramble                                                       Gainsborough

Please refer to WhatsApp for swindle details in December. These will be announced on a weekly basis, with the first one taking place on Wednesday, 7^th Dec on Constable.