The Mike Smith Trophy

The draw, over 7 rounds, has been done for the summer knockout: the Mike Smith Trophy.

The competition will be managed as usual on the Seniors’ noticeboard. Here is the spreadsheet for the draw, for your own handy reference:

There are some differences this year. The Committee has decided in favour of our senior-section handicap rather than WHS handicap for the knockout.

Use your Senior’s handicap, 100%, as it stands on the day you play any match.

Please ensure that you play your matches before the dates for each round. If you cannot manage to complete in time, contact Rob Taylor.

The format is match play, 18 holes. If 18 holes are unavailable, play over as many as are open. Agree between yourselves before commencing any shortened round.

Match Report for Summer League: 2 of 10 – Friday 24th March

49 cards posted (28 Div 1 and 21 Div 2).

Alister Cook – scored 35 points, and he would have been 2^nd in Division 2 but Alister is still on WHS handicap.

Cool in stiff breeze – 13 deg. C. Heavy showers

2s recorded: Ron Thornton

Division 1	Division 2
1st: Mike Bennett 34 points	1st: Ron Thornton 39 points
2nd: Mike Pigott 33 points	2nd: Alan Ranscombe 33 points (on CPO)
3rd: Alan Thomas 32 points	3rd: Richard Yates 33 points

Peter Willson reports that all handicaps were correct on the cards! Thank you, all.

Alister Cook – scored 35 points in Division 2 but is still on WHS handicap.

I have updated the leader boards.

Tee Booking for tomorrow (Thursday 30 March)

This is the tee booking schedule for 14th April, which is the date of the 2022 Senior Championship, postponed from last year. The Championship slots run fron 08:24 to 09:04

If your name is in the left column, please book for your group.

Trips

Graham Brickell has had a poor response to the Portal trip. Please contact him this week if you would like to be included.

John Hayes is organising the Padeswood and Buckley Golf Club Senior Open Tuesday 4th July. There is a group of 20 seniors booked in for this competition, 19 takers so far, therefore a vacancy for one more player.
The format is 4 ball better ball and tee times are 10:30 onwards. The cost for the event is £18 per head. Please contact John Hayes if you are interested – first come first served!

Senior Section Rules Updated

Rob Taylor has updated the Strategy, Rules and Guidelines. I have updated the page on this website.

Happy Monday Report

The format was Team Stableford.

In 5th place was the team of Steve Gosling,  Bob Mycock, Charlie Heath with +9

4th place was Peter Broady,Graham Utton, Les Fecitt  with   + 6

 3rd place was John Boyle, Ron Thornton, Charlie Hill with +5

2nd place was Steve Barlow Sammy Lee and Peter Wilson with  +4

And the winners were Richard Yates,  Les Williams  David Waggitt , Mike  Bennett with –  4

And finally

Apologies if I’ve missed anything this week. I’m in Israel, on a working holiday doing research for my upcoming book on philosophical theology. Of course, Golf is the meaning of life, but there are a few other things to go at! I will catch up with everyone when I return next Monday. I believe that the chaos caused by left-wing anarchists in Israel has been reported in UK news. Hopefully they won’t shut down the airport again! Thanks to those who have sent messages asking if I’m OK. Coincidentally, on Monday I was with my good friend Yishai Fleisher (who took this selfie), a well-known broadcaster, writer and theologian in Israel, and special advisor to the Minister of National Security. I couldn’t be in safer hands!

Andy Ward Pairs Trophy

Barry “Baz” Smith and Mark Pickles won the final of the Andy Ward Pairs Trophy today, 2-and-1 against Charlie Hill and Alister Cook.

The completion of the Andy Ward Trophy brings the seniors’ winter programme to a close.

Use of Mats

The committee has reversed last week’s decision on mats – by a vote of 5 to 3 – in favour of using mats everywhere (on the fairways and in the rough) until the club announces that we come off mats altogether.

Match Report for Summer League: 1 of 10 – Friday 17th March

47 cards posted (26 Div 1 and 21 Div 2). Weather fine, and the whole course open, but course soggy in places after several days of rain.

It was a high-scoring day, with 20 players achieving 30 points and more over 15 holes.

2s recorded: Jim Wilson.

Division 1	Division 2
1st: Martin Franks (on CPO) – 35 points	1st: Ron Thornton (on CPO) – 36 points
2nd: Grahame Brickell 35 points	2nd: Stuart Baird 36 points
3rd=: Mike Pigott Paul Foster 34 points	3rd=: Eric Cox Dave Craggs Jeff Ashurst 34 points

Alister Cook scored 36 points, and would have come second in Div 2, but Alister is still on WHS handicap, having not yet submitted a sufficient number of Friday-league cards for a senior handicap.

Note that 5 incorrect handicaps were submitted, once again causing extra and unnecessary work for Peter Willson, who, with the patience of a saint, does not disqualify the offenders.

Handicaps

As noted, incorrect handicaps are still being used (at least two per week). The senior handicap list is pinned to the senior noticeboard. I have also now published it on this website. See the new heading Handicaps, on the main menu. I will update the Handicaps page every time handicap sub-committee reviews it.

A general note on senior handicaps:
Things would be simpler of course if we all had just the one handicap to our name: the WHS handicap. However, many of our senior section are 5-day members who do not play in the weekend competitions off the white tees, and some seniors rarely play 18 holes. Furthermore, WHS handicaps are never adjusted in the months from late autumn to early spring.

All in all, the Committee has decided it is fairer to maintain our own handicapping, although we do encourage you to submit some WHS-qualifying cards every year (even if only over 9 holes) to maintain your formal handicap, which is used when playing other courses, and in inter-club matches.

To maintain senior-section handicaps, the Handicap sub-committee, led by Bob Mycock, assisted by Paddy Moran and Mark Pickles, took over the system and the spreadsheet put in place and managed by Rob Taylor. The purpose of the sub-committee is to ensure that everyone has a chance of winning, this includes members who might be recovering from illness or injury. The sub-committee meets about once a month.

Rob Taylor, as Secretary, still takes an interest in handicaps, as he does in all aspects of the senior section. He reports that our handicapping is working well, and that about 90% of players in the winter league had at least one ‘podium’ place, i.e. came first, second or third in the Friday competitions.

Warrington friendly match (Away)

John Armstrong has now announced the team for the away match against Warrington on 5th April. John has made several changes to his initial draw for the team and for the substitutes due to unavailability of some of those named. Peter Broady will be captain for the day.

Here is the team:

Start on 1st Tee	Start on 17th Tee
1. Peter Broady and Ken Pearce	6. Mike Pigott and Andrew Cox
2. Steve Gosling and Peter Willson	7. Paddy Moran and Colin Crail
3. Mike Bennett and Mark Pickles	8. Andy Timms and Stuart Baird
4. Mervyn Roberts and John Higgins
5. Paul Collins and Dave Meir

Reserves: John Hayes and Bob Mycock

John Armstrong had emailed the details to all team members, including timings and payment details.

Other News

We do not need to book any tees tomorrow (Thursday) evening because two weeks hence (Friday 7th April) is Good Friday, and therefore no senior match.

On the 14th April, we play the 2022 Championship (postponed from 2022 due to the drought and irrigation issues).

The 2023 Championship will be played on Friday 8th September. 8th September was the only available Friday in September due to a flurry of interclub matches throughout the month.

Reminder:

If you would like to be in the draw for this summer’s Singles Knockout – The Mike Smith Trophy – please make sure your name is on the list on the Seniors’ noticeboard before the end of March.

Newsletter Editor: Mark Pickles

As we look forward to the main golfing season, we are going to graduate to summer conditions by ceasing to use mats in the rough. Use mats on the fairway until April, but do not use mats in the rough.

The summer season will be as full and varied as always, if not more so (with extra away venues). Here are a few reminders for those who want to participate, and enjoy to the full, the impressive range of events organised by the Committee:

• Remember to add your name to the list, on the Seniors’ noticeboard, before the end of March for the Singles Knockout: the Mike Smith Trophy
   
• Remember to contact Grahame Brickell if you wish to book your place on the two-day-one-night trip to Portal, Tarpoley. Grahame requires your £35 deposit before the end of March.
   
• Remember to add your name to the list of players who are available to be drawn (by John Armstrong) for the inter-club friendly matches.
   
• Remember always to check your handicap on the Senior’s noticeboard before filling out your card on Fridays. (Peter Willson tells me he’s still getting a few incorrect handicaps, which means he has to spend time recalculating the correct Stableford score of the offenders.)
   
• Remember to bookmark lgcseniors.com on your personal computer or your phone, or better, use the ‘follow’ feature on this website (for automatic emails for new content). I am going to stop sending out mass emails in April.

On the Inter-Club Matches page, I have created a list, supplied by John Armstrong, of all the members who are available to play in the Inter-Club Matches. Throughout the season, John will try to give everyone who wants to play an equal number of home and away matches. See the Senior Section Calendar page for the planned matches.

Senior’s Calendar

Rob Taylor has updated the calendar spreadsheet, which I have placed on the Senior Section Calendar page.

Winter League:

Congratulations to Paddy and Phil !

The 10th of the 10 matches had to be abandoned due to snow and ice last Friday, meaning that Paddy Moran and Phil Perry could not be challenged at the top of their respective divisions.

Winter League Final Results:
Division 1
1st: Paddy Moran – 167 points
2nd: Michael John  – 166 points
3rd= Martin Franks and Grahame Brickell  – 165 points

Division 2
1st: Phil Perry – 159 points
2nd: Alan Thomas – 156 points
3rd= Richard Yates – 155 points

See the Leaderboards page for more details, where I have now listed all who played at least 5 games in the Winter League.

Well done all who made the prizes, in a very competitive season with some good-quality golf. A special mention to Colin Hughes, who although aggregating 159 points to match Phil Perry in Div 2, did not – according to the powers that be – have his senior handicap bedded in until part way through the winter league.

Summer League Begins

This Friday (17th March) we go straight into the summer league.

For the summer league, do not play off mats in the rough. We are obliged to continue to play off mats on the fairways, until April, but, we are now playing out of the rough without mats. You can clean and drop the ball within six inches, until 1st April, following which you must play the ball as it lies in the rough.

To help with tee booking for the summer season, David Craggs (and his tee-booking deputy Grahame Brickell) requests that I publish the booking schedule every week.

Here is the booking schedule for tomorrow (Thursday 16th) to reserve tees on 31 March:

Please note that we have a Handicap Committee meeting tomorrow (Thursday). And so before you go out on on Friday, consult the Senior noticeboard before you write your handicap on your card.

Slow Play?

David Craggs has taken seriously the appeals to the senior section to speed up play. He has become an athlete, no less!

Pictured are three generations of Craggs taking part in the High Legh 10K run on Sunday 12 March.

David competed with his son Andrew and grandson Daniel. Thankfully the weather was good on Sunday!

Daniel, age 15, got round in 42 mins. Andrew, age 49, 52 mins, and Grandad Craggs, age 75, a very respectable 72 mins.

Well done, David! 10k runs are like golf: it’s a great achievement to beat your age!

David tells me he’s looking forward to next year’s race, but there is another way to speed up your golf, David: hit the ball straighter 😉

Senior Open Competition at Vale of Llangollen Golf Club

In January we advertised the Senior Open (4BBB) at Llangollen, for which Ron Thornton had agreed to organise a senior-section outing by block booking some tee times. Ron has not received sufficient interest to do this. However, Grahame Brickell tells me there are still tee times available early afternoon. If anyone would like to play in this open event on Thursday 1st June, contact Grahame, who will try to arrange for our members to play together.

Cost is £55 per pair.

And Finally

Here is an article sent in by our loquacious Secretary, talking balls.

How many Balls for a Two? How Many?

Reporter: Rob Taylor

Oh deary me!

The new committee met back  in November and cogitated on the prize given for a “two” scored on a Friday game.

The cheap balls ( all we could afford way back then) were a bit of a damp squib now.

We toyed with expensive balls ( Yay! We hear you all shout) but, no – too expensive and generally of little help to most of our players.

What we needed was a collector’s item – a ball that would stand out from the crowd. A unique offering, something others would notice and comment on.

The idea was nurtured, costed, decided on and a stock purchased. The Senior’s rather unique “Two’s Ball” is ready in the cupboard for the coming season.

Now, a-lackaday : a foul rumour spread like wildfire through the ranks.

Only 2 balls per “Two” scored; These items are too expensive to fritter away.

Well, not truly a rumour. Our benighted Treasurer stamped his mighty foot and we all cowed and agreed – two it would be ( spoilsport) .

But then: Well again. The abacus has clacked, the runes have been tossed and – thankfully – the number of two’s scored have been below expectation.

The mighty Treasurer ( the keeper of the purse) spoke again – VERY LOUDLY –  and he has said ( and we quote verbatim):

 “ They shall have three balls!”

So there you have it – you shall receive 3 balls ( a whole sleeve) for every two scored both for this session ( Winter), the summer session to come and even into the Autumn Session.

Hooray ! – except for some of us who have not managed a two in 6 years.

Rob Taylor

Newsletter Editor: Mark Pickles

Graham Brickell – our energetic golf-trip disorganiser – has reorganised the trip to Portal, Tarpoley. The dates published several weeks ago have been been put back a week, from 6th and 7th September to Wednesday 13th and Thursday 14th September.

The reason Graham needed to make the change is because the original dates conflict with the Abergele Open Week, at which Peter Broady has organised his annual trip on Thursday 7th September. Some members of our section would understandably like to participate in both of these annual highlights of the Zimmer Tour.

Here are details of the trip as previously advertised, with the new dates and tee times.

Overnight Seniors Trip to Portal, Tarporley, 13th/14th September

Coming in at £190 for half board in a single room for 2 rounds of golf (different courses). £140 for shared room. This is the best deal I [Graham] have found for this year’s away trip .

If we get 20 takers, we are awarded one free space, which I’ll work into the budget by buying either beers or wine with dinner. And at 20 takers, we receive a free sleeve of balls each: ‘Unsung Heroes Limited Edition Balls’

Macdonald Portal Hotel Golf and Spa – 1 Night, 2 Rounds, Half Board.

Wednesday 13th: Championship Course – 18 Holes, Tee off from 12:30

“The Championship Course opened in 1990 & was named ‘Golf Course of the Year’ in 1995. Designer Donald Steel has created a challenge that is characterised by unique and distinctive holes; expansive water hazards and cascading waterfalls are among the tests. The signature is typical of Steel’s magnificent 7,000-yard plus layout – the long third tips the scales at 607 yards, with a green guarded by a beautiful lake”.

Thursday 14th September: Premier Course, tee off from 08:00. (Apologies for the early tee time, but the next available slot is not until the afternoon.)

Please advise, me, Graham Brickell, if interested via a message through the IG messaging system.

To book your place, you will need to give me £35.00 deposit before the end of March

Trip Organiser: Graham Brickell

Match Report for Winter League: 9 of 10 – Friday 3 March

48 cards submitted (25 Div 1 and 23 Div 2).

Winner
1st: Martin Franks – 36 points
2nd: Mark Marsland – 32 points
3rd: Dave Meir – 31 points

1st: Andrew Ransom – 37 points
2nd: Eric Harper – 36 points
3rd= Eric Cox, John White, John Higgins – 35 points

2’s prizes: Andrew Cox, Mike Pigott, Eric Harper

Paddy remains leader of Division 1, despite missing round 9 last week. And Phil Perry remains leaders of Division 2 going into the last round this Friday.

There are a handful of contenders in both divisions who could take the lead. But with snow forecast, and temperatures around zero, it remains to be seen whether or not round 10 is voided due to temporary greens. If so, the current leaderboard will remain unchanged, and Paddy and Phil will emerge winners of the season.

Next week I will upload the spreadsheet of all players and their total scores for the season.

Summer Knock out – The Mike Smith Trophy.

Reporter: Rob Taylor

Hey oop lads!

“A bit early” I hear some of you shout?

Well . . . your ever wise and forward-thinking Committee have ruled that we need to get this off the ground a bit earlier this year .

There are so many of us now – and hopefully the numbers will continue to grow –  that we need more time to get things done in an orderly fashion.

The longer we can spread the rounds over –  the less stress and aggro for all involved. Easy!

 Kapisch?

So here’s the thing. As from today ( Wednesday 8^th) a brand new pristine

ENTRY  LIST

has been neatly pinned to the Notice board in the locker room.

All you need to do for now is FILL YOUR NAME INTO one of the slots.

This years entry will be an opt-in only affair ( 2023 rules) .

Only those that opt-in (by filling their names onto the sheet in time ) will make it to the draw.

The list will remain on the board for 3 full weeks – until Wednesday 29^th March at least – but don’t use this as an escape clause – strike now – while iron is hot!

The rules and the final draw will be published onto the Seniors Website under a new heading – “Knock-outs”. This will all be in place by the start of April when we aim to kick off the 2023 Mike Smith Singles Knock-out Trophy .

Rob Taylor

Romiley Trip: 26 June 2023

Message from Jim Lindsay

Dear All

I’ve been persuaded against my better judgement to organise another Golf Day. Everyone seemed to enjoy our last outing at Romiley in October so I’ve provisionally booked 12 tees at Romiley again, for 26 June.

The tees start at 10am.
The cost is £26, a competitively priced green fee for a good course in summer.
The package I’ve booked is as per Maxitours – just the Golf. Order your own food and drink from their daily menu. Catering should be available from 9am.

Cost per person is £33 which includes £7 contribution to the prize fund. If we get 48 players that’s a prize fund of at least £336. There are both individual and team prizes.

I was reluctant to organise another event because our last Golf Day was a real pain chasing people for deposits, and then again for the balances. I also had a number of late withdrawals.

And so I’m now asking everyone to pay the full amount in one go by Fri April 14th latest.
The refund policy will be dependent on you finding a substitute if you cancel.

Cancellations before June 5th 2023 – full refund of £33
Cancellations after June 5th 2023 – refund of £33 less £10 donation to prize fund = £23.
If you can’t find a substitute – No Refund,

Please let me know as soon as possible if you can play or not. You must pay by April 14th latest to secure your place.
Bank details are below.
Thanks
Jim
Tel: 07456 509592
s/c 77-51-04
a/c 11016260

Jim Lindsay

Important message from the Committee

We have decided to try to reduce communication by mass email. Some email platforms, and some Internet Service Providers, prevent the sending and receiving of emails with large numbers of recipients. We will stop sending the email with a link to the newsletter in two weeks’ time. I think that most members are now used to going straight to the newsletter at http://www.lgcseniors.com. Remember also that you can ‘follow’ the website to receive emails every time a new post has been added.

I am also going to start adding the Friday booking schedule to this website, from next week.

And Finally…

If we haven’t already tempted you to venture beyond Lymm this season, Graham Brickell has notified me of the following:
Vale Royal Abbey GC seniors opens.
Two seniors’ comps are being run this year: 4th May and 3rd August:
Two-man teams: 4BBB.
£40 a head, includes a one course meal afterwards.
Some midday slots available for the May date. More slots available for August date.
And so pick your partner, and book through the VRAGC website!

Newsletter Editor: Mark Pickles

At the time of publication of this week’s newsletter I expect to be playing golf in Malaga with Paddy, Bob, and Lymm expat, Andy Howarth. (I am writing this on Sunday 26 Feb, and have set it to publish automatically on Wednesday 1st March.)

Therefore, we have a light newsletter this week, or at least that would have been the case, had not your old favourite, Rob Taylor, volunteered to pad it out 😉

At the Committee meeting last Friday, we discussed some changes and additions to this year’s calendar. Rob has agreed to update the calendar spreadsheet; when he has done so, I will upload it to the ‘Senior-Section Calendar’ page. John Armstrong is still firming up arrangements for the scheduled home and away friendly matches. And Graham Brickell is firming up arrangements, and a possible change of dates, for the annual golf trip.

Match Report for Winter League: 8 of 10 – Friday 24th February

39 cards submitted (22 Div 1 and 17 Div 2).

Weather: dry, but with bitterly cold breeze.

A superb round by Paddy Moran this week, who dropped only 1 shot gross to score 38 points. This takes Paddy to the top of the leaderboard for the first time this season.

You will see on the leaderboards that I’ve now added the best fives scores of all leaders and contenders.

Results:

Division 1:
1st: Paddy Moran (38 points)
2nd: Graham Brickell (37 points, on count back)
3rd: Andrew Cox (37 points)

Division 1:
1st: Andrew Ransom (36 points)
2nd: Phil Perry (35 points)
3rd: Eric Cox (34 points)

2s prizes:
Andrew Cox, Grahame Brickell, Mike Bennett, Jim Wilson, Phil Perry.

——

I will make up for the newsletter deficit next week. In the meantime – despite hopeful rumours that Rob had given up writing for Lent – I leave you with Taylor’s Tortuous Tuesday Tail with a Twist in the Tale.

Strange happenings on the course

Reporter: Rob Taylor

The sap is rising and that well liked hominid, Homo-Senior-Golfio has woken from his winter hibernation and appeared on the course on TUESDAY 21st ( last week) at precisely 09.15.

Picture this.

4 players standing on the 10th idly chatting away as the 2 ball in front played second shots towards the green ( starting on the tenth remember?) .

At that moment, Homo-Senior-Golfio appears up the path and waves enthusiastically and cheerily at the foursome.

“ Hello everyone “ says Alan ( for this is its name) .” Who am I playing with then?”

Blank stares – equalling : what in Hades is he on about? Our group, four players? Five would be illegal surely? Alan looked on ; RAN a COMBE through his hair (hidden identity clue? Keep up will you)

“What time are you due out Alan?”

Quick as a flash “09.20”

More blank staring – “ WE are booked out at 09.20, Alan.”

“Can’t be “ says Alan “ here I am” he says pulling out his phone, “quite clearly booked out at 09.20 – see? There it is – WEDNESDAY, 22nd – 09.20.”

This is the first time this senior type of strange behaviour has been observed this year, but we are sure there will be more. Quite harmless but thankfully extremely amusing . An hour early for your tee time is perhaps forgivable, but 24 hours?

We must underline – there was no cruelty to little furry animals in the making of this tale.

He was gathered up, squeezed in (a two ball with a three following closely behind) and a jolly time was had by all 5 on the tee that fateful 09.20 – when the laughing eventually stopped of course.

Newsletter Editor: Mark Pickles. Coda: Rob Taylor