Summer Knockout – Mike Smith Plate

Unless you have a preliminary bye, please remember to play the preliminary round of the summer knockout by 3 May.

Annual Business Meeting – Election of Committee Members.

Reporter: Dave Craggs

Whilst this may seem an early request we would like all members to give some thought to putting their names forward to join the Seniors Committee

The end of our financial year sees a small number of our 9 elected members completing their term in office .

We therefore have a few seats to fill at this year’s Annual Business Meeting which is on the 18th of October (concurrent with the Presentation Lunch) .

We need volunteers now please!

A list asking for nominations will be pinned on Friday onto the Senior’s Notice Board in the Locker room. (Statutory rule)

The suspension of the rule for seconders has been made permanent and the Guidance Notes and Rules have been amended accordingly. (Statutory rule)

If you would like to give something back to the Senior’s by joining the Committee, please either.

• Add your name to the list.
• Speak to any member of the existing Committee or
• e-mail/ phone the chairman, Mike Bennett, if you can’t get down to the club in person.

If more applications are received than seats available voting papers will be prepared, and a runoff will be held at the ABM.

The closing date for applications is the 16^{th of} October ( 2 days before the ABM)

Many thanks

Dave Craggs, Secretary to the Gents Seniors committee.

Nomination sheet attached:

Match Report for Round 3 of 9 – 19 April 2024

Reporter: Paul Foster

Div 1

Winner John Armstrong 36pts
R/Up Mike Pigott 33pts CPO
3rd Dave Meir 33pts

Div 2
Steve Bramall 36pts
R/Up Bob Ellison 35pts CPO
3rd Mervyn Roberts 35pts

2s recorded were:
Tommy Lawless
Mike Pigott x 2
Grahame Brickell
Dave Meir

Tee Booking Schedule for Tomorrow (Thursday 25 April)

Results from the Happy Monday’s – 22nd April

Reporter: Peter Willson

A goodly turnout – on what didn’t promise to be a good morning – 22 players / 7 Teams. Drizzle at 1st but mainly dry until the end

Game – the infamous Yellow Ball. Some really good scores, in-fact some very impressive one’s – the best team score on a single hole was 14 points on the 9th, which was aided by one player – new joiner Alan Copeland chipping in for 8 points. This feat was matched twice by Les Fecitt scoring 2 x birdies both for 8 points courtesy of the Yellow Ball bonus 

Winners: Alan Copeland, Steve Gosling and co-opted player Ray Rigby – 101 points

2nd on a CPO : Pete Broady, Les Fecitt and John White – 98 points 

3rd: Steve Bramall, Colin Chisnall and Alan Thomas – 98 points 

Tee Booking Schedule for Happy Mondays – Sunday 28 April

Round 2 of 9 of the Summer League

The golfing gods are still keeping us in winter conditions, and extremely wet winter conditions at that.

Last Friday’s comp was over 11 holes: 13, 10, 11, and 2 to 9.

Although we entered our results into the IG app, there are of course still no WHS handicap adjustments.

I have updated the leader boards page. Martin Franks (31 points) and Paddy Moran (33 points) continue their superb winter form, topping Division 1. And our Division-2 specialist, Michael John (31 points), maintains his seemingly unassailable lead.

Mark Pickles, yours truly, is on particularly bad form (22 points), and has booked a putting lesson!

Update 18 April:
I now have the results (based on card play off) for last Friday:

1st Div
Winner Arthur Nuttal with 38pts
R/up Paddy Moran with 33pts
3rd place Paul Lennie with 31 pts

2nd Div
Winner Eric Cox with 33pts
R/up Mike Bennett with 33pts
3rd place Mike Kendal with 33pts

Three 2s today
Andrew Cox on the 2nd
John Armstrong on the 5th
Paul Foster on the 9th

Tee-booking schedule for tomorrow (Thursday 17 April)

The match on 3rd May will be a bottle-of-wine competition, due to our home match against Hale GC seniors.

Happy Mondays Booking for Sunday 21 April

Here is the booking schedule supplied by Peter Willson for play on 3 May. In order to maintain maximum confusion, and to eschew popularity, Peter, bless him, has decided on yet another 3-ball comp (‘Waltz’) for the four-man teams:

Summer Knockout Matches

Peter Willson tells me that there have been some queries regarding the number of holes rules for the Summer Knockout competition, and has asked me to clarify it in this newsletter.

Our knockouts are played over 18 holes, where possible. If the course has limited holes open due to weather conditions, players should play the number of holes open on the day.

Do you have any news to report?

We all have interests outside of golf. I’m invariably fascinated by the activities that my playing partners pursue in their retirement. I reported a two weeks ago on Charlie Heath’s passion for boating. I’d like to do a feature on the pastimes of another of my fellow Yorkshiremen, Dave Waggitt, if he approves.

And did you know that Duncan Clarke is an aspiring artist?

Stockton Heath Festival 2024

Did you know that Dave Craggs is the organiser of the Stockton Heath Festival (first week of July)? Here is the festival’s shiny new website:

https://www.stocktonheathfestival.co.uk/

I will certainly be attending some of the events, not least because Dave has suggested I exhibit-for-sale one or two of my paintings in the arts festival. I have submitted these two, oil-on-canvas, 70cm x 60cm framed. A bargain at £400 each, with 20% going to the Stockton Heath festival charity.

Breaking all records!

It has certainly been a record-breaking autumn, winter and early spring, with more rainfall than any of us can remember. And it’s looking like we will see record-breaking delays to the start of the season. The Gents’ Spring Medal, scheduled for Saturday 20 April, has already had to be cancelled (a four-man team event is now scheduled for April 20).

Other golf clubs are also struggling to get their courses summer-ready, hence the postponement of our first two away inter-club matches (Warrington and Leigh), causing a headache for John Armstrong to rearrange things.

Michael John has certainly been breaking the records. He is by far the youngest senior in our history to graduate from Division 1 to Division 2. And in his first league game in Div 2 – using his generous WHS handicap – he posted the lowest ever Div 2 gross score, resulting in a mighty 44 points for 15 holes! Michael was an incredible 12 points clear of the runner-up, Mike Bennett.

However, Div 2 players need not fear Michael running away with the Div 2 league trophy. He’s got his eyes on bigger prizes. Our baby-faced bandit tells us that he’s going to skip the Senior Friday comps in order to conserve his handicap for the Saturday white-tee comps.

There were some excellent Div 1 scores on Friday, all based on WHS handicap, which were not adjusted because we were playing off mats on the winter course.

Division 1:

1st Martin Franks: 38 points (beating Dave Meir on CPO)
2nd Dave Meir: 38 points
3rd Paddy Moran: 36 points.

Division 2:
1st Michael John: 44 points
2nd Mike Bennett: 32 points
3rd Eric Cox: 32 points.

See the Leader Boards page for full results of Round 1 of 9.

2024 Calendar Updated

I have now updated the Senior Section Calendar page with an updated spreadsheet provided by Dave Craggs. This is the reflect changes to dates for inter club matches, namely Warrington away now 21/6/24 and Leigh away 24/6/24.

Tee-Booking Schedule for Tomorrow (11 April)

Happy Mondays Tee Booking

Peter Willson has asked me to include the Happy Monday tee booking schedules in the weekly newsletter. Therefore, expect to see following kind of booking list every week. The booking for Mondays is done at 8pm on Sunday evenings two weeks in advance.

Strategy, Rules and Guidelines document up-revised

The Committee have updated our LGC Senior Section – Strategy, Rules and Guidelines document which has now been placed on this website. A hard copy will be placed on the Seniors Notice Board in the plastic folder provided. The document will be further updated prior to the Winter session.

Tee-booking schedule for today (Thursday 4 April)

Charlie’s Voyage

Yesterday I arrived safely into Doncaster Boat Club with fellow Yorkshireman Charlie Heath. Charlie sends his thanks to Bob and Paddy for their invaluable help on the ascent to east Lancashire. LGC seniors really is about, as we say in our rules, friendship and camaraderie!

I thoroughly enjoyed the experience, including, at times, the hard work. I learned a lot about the fascinating history of the canals, some built in the late 1700s. They are of course the first infrastructure for moving large quantities of materials and goods without which there could have been no Industrial Revolution.

Here are a few snaps:

I have developed a huge respect for Charlie in the past week. He’s a true friend for life. It’s amazing where senior golf can take us, hey!