Lots of news to get through this week! Our 2022 Championship took place, as did the first round of the Tatton League, hosted at Lymm. We have played two inter-club friendlies since the last newsletter. The promise of better weather is attracting players back to ‘Happy Mondays’. And we have good news to report on Mike Pigott’s progress in the Cheshire Super Seniors (over 65s) scratch team.

Thank you to Rob Taylor for his help in reporting, and to the inter-club friendly captains for their reports. Also, thanks to Tatton League captain Bob Mycock, with support from Les Williams and Rob Taylor, for superb organisation in hosting the Tatton League and welcoming all the visitors from our neighbouring clubs.

Championship 2022 – Played Friday 14th April 2023

Reporter: Rob Taylor

No, not a misprint – it is the 2022 competition.

Cast your minds back. This final was scheduled to be played in the September of last year but had to be postponed because of the drought and the fall out from the failed storage tank in the irrigation system .

So, on a Friday in April ( some 8 months later) ,  22 of our finest players were invited to compete for the coveted “Green Jersey” . The winner to be  be named the  Senior Champion of 2022.

Now April . . . weather wise?

Well,  ever so perversely, it actually rained.

A light drizzle when the first group tee’d off at 08.00 but it got steadily harder  – you know, the right-through- to- your- underwear harder. And it kept on raining until well after the last group staggered in from the 15^th hole some 3 ½ hours later.

17 players made it to the start line ( the missing 5 had produced notes from their mothers along the lines of “Johnny gets a chest if he plays out in the damp”) but only  13 made it to the finish. One of the later groups decided to call it quits at hole 12 – cards were soaked and mostly illegible anyway so probably a wise decision.

And the results?

Only 2 players managed par or better. The runner up was Mark Pickles with a creditable 30 points, just pipped at the post by the new 2022 Senior’s Champion, with 31 points . . . . .

Paul Lennie, presented with the ‘Green Jersey’ by our chairman Mike Bennett. And a photo of the scoreboard for those who may be interested.

Many thanks to all that stayed for the presentation.

Tee Booking Schedule tomorrow (Thursday 20th April)

This is the tee booking schedule for play on Friday 5th May. Due to a match against Hale GC, there will be no league match, and therefore a prize of a bottle of wine. If your name is in the left column, please book for your group. Please note that if your name is not included below, you are most likely on the provisional list for the team match against Hale GC.

Match report for 14th April

Individual Stableford, for those who did not play in the championship. The difficult weather conditions were as the reported in the championship of course.

13 cards submitted.

Winner: Steve Gosling: 30 points.
Runners up: Peter Willson and Eric Cox: 29 points.

A nice bottle of Rioja went to the winner Steve.

Inter-club Match away at High Legh – 13th April

Captain’s report: John Hayes

Lymm Senior’s Team headed towards the match at High Legh full of optimism and intending to come back with the bacon. Unfortunately something didn’t quite work and the result was an honourable draw heavily in favour of the opposition. However the captain took full responsibility and has suggested that he be rested from captaincy for the remainder of the season!

J Hayes (C) / A Timms: Lost 3 and 1
M Pickles / M Lowe: Won 1 up
R Taylor / P Ormesher: Lost 2 and 1
B Mycock / P Moran: Lost 2 and 1
K Narraway / J White: Lost 3 and 2
S Lee / T Williamson: Lost 3 and 2
S Barlow / A Laird: Won 3 and 2
P Perry / P Lennie: Lost 1 up

The overall result was therefore a win for High Legh by 6 to 2.

The course had suffered heavy overnight rain [as had Lymm GC, where the bottom half of the course had to be closed] and there were several areas of standing water. The saving grace was that it didn’t rain whilst we were playing despite being forecast by the media, which meant that we were able to enjoy the game. The greens were fast and true which took some getting used to for some of us. Given that the games were all quite closely fought the overall result could have gone the other way. We were provided with an excellent meal to end the day and we look forward to entertaining High Legh at Lymm later in the year.

Inter-club Match away at Leigh – 18th April

Captain’s Report: Duncan Clarke

Duncan Clarke/Grahame Brickell: Halved
Mike Bennett/Steve Gosling: Won 6&4
John Armstrong/Steve Barlow: Lost 4&3
Richard Yates/Peter Willson: Lost – 2&1
Peter Broady/Paul Collins: Lost 4&2
Colin Crail/Stuart Baird: Lost 4&3
John Higgins/Alan Ranscombe: Lost 3&2
Sammy Lee/Mervyn Roberts: Won think 2&1

Wonderfully sunny day  and a real hint of spring – very enjoyable. All left with a smile on our faces although in some cases it might have been wind!

Tatton League, Round 1 of 6 – 18th April

Reporter: Rob Taylor

Today saw the opening round of the 2023 Tatton League competition being played here at our Lymm home course.

And the course looked its spring-time best in the brilliant, but oh, so deceiving, sunshine. The benign green fairways with a backdrop of fluffy white clouds belied the voracious shot-devouring beast that it became.

A gentle breeze soon turned into a “beast from the East”. Playing off the white tees, most of which were right back on the plates (perhaps Captain Bob had arranged it?), and with little run on the ball on the lower fairways, it was tough! Paddy Moran reported that his playing partners from High Legh described the course-difficulty level as ‘brutal’. At LGC, we prefer to call it ‘character building’. 😉

Alas – here are the all-important scores:

Styal: 124
High Legh: 131
Antrobus: 133
Birchwood: 135
Heyrose: 142 ( defending champions – 2 years running)
Lymm: 145

A great start to our campaign for this season. The good news doesn’t stop there though:

Best pair score of the day – 39 Points. Mark Pickles and Andy Timms. A bottle of wine apiece for their fine efforts. And you want more?

Longest drive – 15^th hole. The band wagon rolled on – Mark Pickles collecting his second bottle of the day.

The only accolade not scooped by our team was the nearest the pin on the 9^th which went to Ray Hodgkinson from Antrobus.

So  – after round 1. We have our nose in front. We have a pool of talented players. We have an immensely experienced manager guiding the team – Bob Mycock!

What could possibly go wrong!

Heyrose on 16^th May – the next challenge is already on the tee.

The Tatton League page will keep us abreast of the 2023 campaign.

‘Happy Mondays’ 17th April

Reporter: Peter Willson

Eleven happy-ish golfers set out from the 1st happy mainly because it wasn’t raining – bit of drizzle around the 6th.

Game: Team Stableford
Winners – Phil Lomas, Dave Waggitt and Steve Barlow – 83 points or +7 / 27.7 per player

2nd – Colin Chisnall, Alan Thomas, Charlie Heath and Jim Russell – 103 points or -17 or 25.8 per player

3rd – Ken Narraway, Les Fecitt (how many trees did he hit and bounce out of today?), Charlie Hill and Pete Willson – 97 points or -23 points or 24.3 points per player.

Mike Pigott at Cheshire ‘Super Seniors’ (over-65s)

Mike was selected to play in the Cheshire over-65 squad get-together at Stockport GC. Five evenly-handicapped fourballs were picked. A scratch best three from fours counted for the teams.

Mike’s team had the best score. And Mike had the best individual scratch score!

Mike tells me he now has a fair chance of being selected for matches against Lancashire, Cumbria, Northumberland, Yorkshire, Shropshire and Hereford later in the season.

Well done, Mike! All-in-all a good week for Lymm GC Seniors: some wins and two ‘honourable draws’ in our away inter-club friendlies! 😉

Newsletter Editor: Mark Pickles

No Friday-league match report this week as we skipped a week for the Easter holidays.

Tee booking schedule for tomorrow (Thursday 13th April)

This is the tee booking schedule for play on Friday 28th April. Due to the Heyrose match, there will be no league match, and therefore a prize of a bottle of wine. If your name is in the left column, please book for your group.

Inter-Club Matches

Leigh, Away, 18 April:

John Armstrong has drawn the team for the away inter-friendly at Leigh Golf Club on 18 April.

Duncan Clarke
Mike Bennet
Graham Brickell
Alan Ranscombe
John Armstrong
Richard Yates
Peter Broady
Peter Willson
Steve Gosling
Paul Collins
Dave Meir
Ken Pearce
John Higgins
Colin Crail
Stuart Baird
Steve Barlow

Reserves:
Sammy Lee
Ken Narroway
John Hayes
John White
Art Laird

Heyrose, Home, 28 April

And here is the team for the home match against Heyrose on 28 April:

Jeff Ashurst
Mervyn Roberts
Mike Piggott
Ken Narraway
Bob Mycock
Paddy Moran
Mark Pickles
Phil Perry
Colin Hughes
John Hayes
John White
Art Laird
Trevor Williamson
Rob Taylor
Phil Ormisher
Andrew Cox

Reserves:
Peter Broady
Steve Barlow
Duncan Clarke
John Armstrong
Grahame Brickell

John will supply full details for the inter-club matches, including start times and pairings, when he has confirmed them with the other clubs.

Ron Thornton cannot stop winning, and is first in Div 2 league for the third time in a row. I think that, at the next handicap-committee meeting, Ron could be heading for the biggest senior handicap reduction in recorded history! Alan Ranscombe has also posted two successive runner-up scores behind Ron. Well played guys!

Match Report for Summer League: 3 of 10 – Friday 31st March

48 cards posted (26 Div 1 and 22 Div 2).

Standing water in places and muddy – played over 10 holes starting from the10th. Cool, stiff breeze, 11 deg C. Light rain for early starters.

2s recorded: Ron Thornton, Colin Crail, Bob Mycock

I have updated the leaderboards.

‘Happy Mondays’ Report

Reporter: Peter Broady

Yet another senior moment on Monday! Six teams entered the competition, 3 teams played off the correct format, 3 teams played off the wrong format. All scores should have been added together then divided by the number of players in the team, as email instructions.

And so all agreed that the game should be void. I have the cards and money for those who left early.

Tee booking schedule for tomorrow (Thursday 6th April)

This is the tee booking schedule for play on Friday 21st April. If your name is in the left column, please book for your group.

Inter-club friendly match at Warrington

We played the first senior inter-club match of the season today, away at Warrington. Peter Broady was captain of the day, and announced that the recurrent ‘honourable draw’ did not, unfortunately, go Lymm’s way this year!

Result: Lymm lost 2.5 to 5.5.

Peter Broady and John Hayes: lost 4 & 3
Steve Gosling and Peter Willson: won 1 up
Mike Bennett and Mark Pickles: lost 4 & 2
Ken Pearce and John Higgins: lost 6 & 5
Paul Collins and David Meir: won 2 & 1
Mike Pigott and Andrew Cox: lost 4 & 3
Paddy Moran and Colin Crail: lost 1 down
Andy Timms and Stuart Baird: halved

High Legh friendly match (Away)

John Armstrong has now announced the team for the away match against High Legh on 13th April. John Hayes will be captain for the day. Tee off 09:06.

Here is the team:

John Armstrong has emailed full details to all team members, including timings and payment.

Congratulations to Dave Craggs!

Dave sends us this photo from Australia of the marriage of his daughter, Lorna, to Jarrod, an Aussie. The proud parents, Stella and Dave, will themselves soon be celebrating 50 years of marriage!

Padeswood and Buckley Golf Club Senior Open Tuesday 4th July

John Hayes approached me today to say there is still one place left for the trip to Padeswood and Buckley. 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!

Send me your news

If you have anything to report that might interest the senior section, don’t forget that you can use the ‘Report News’ page on this website. However, the feature does not accept graphics or attachments. If you would like a picture included in your news, please email it to me. If you do email, it would help if you could write ‘Newsletter’ as the email subject, to help me filter things when I put the newsletter together.

Newsletter Editor: Mark Pickles

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

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.

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:

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

Throughout the winter, early starters amongst us, such as Joe Priestner and George Clark, have occasionally enjoyed garrulous skeins of pink-footed geese (anser brachyrhynchus) flying over us in ‘V’ formations as we’ve been chatting in the carpark. The experts at Brian Ankers’ conservation group at Woolston Eyes tell me they have been roosting on the Wirral, and have visited Lymm from time to time to feed on the stubble of the large maize field that we overlook. In the coming weeks they will migrate back to their true homes and breeding grounds in Iceland and Greenland.

At the same time, the first of the spring visitors have started to appear from the southern hemisphere. Last week I spotted in the distance a silver-topped Taylor (Taylor argentum summo), recently flown in from New Zealand. Of course, there are many silver-topped seniors around, but the Taylor is easily identifiable in the car park by brightly-coloured attire, and a brown-leather satchel that habitually hangs off the left shoulder.

There were also reported sightings this week of the rosy-cheeked-bespectacled Clarke, now returned to England from his wintering ground in Malaysia. And Mike Bennett, in dapper plumage as always, and a healthy-looking suntan, has just flown in from the States to hook up with his mate, the equally dapper Richard Yates. In the next few weeks, we can expect to see more seniors returning to Lymm from their wintering grounds, particularly Spain. And we will truly know that Spring has arrived when our growling bear, Phil Lomas, wakes from his winter hibernation.

Match Report for Winter League: 7 of 10 – Friday 17th February

Staying on the avian theme, Friday’s match witnessed a rare winter bird indeed:

Eagle 2 for Peter White on the 4th hole.
Paul Foster got the only other recorded 2 of the day (on the 5th).

The wind was very strong on Friday, but dry at least. Greens now running faster. We started on the 10th hole.

Les Fecitt with 35 points, was Division 1 winner for the second week in a row!

I was asked last Friday if there are weekly prizes for Div 1 and Div 2 winners, or just a prize for the highest score. My apologies on behalf of the Committee for not making things clear earlier in the season. Yes, there is small prize money for winners of each division, which will be credited to your account in the Pro’s shop.

Results:

Division 1:
1st Les Fecitt (35 points)
2nd Barry Smith  (33 points)
3rd= Bob Mycock, Paddy Moran, Paul Collins, and John Higgins (32 points)

Division 2:
1st Alan Ranscombe (35 points)
2nd Alan Thomas (32 points)
3rd Gordon Ballantyne (31 points)

Once again, several players used a wrong handicap, six in fact, which Peter Willson needs to spend his time correcting and recalculating the Stableford score. Please make a small and considerate effort to use your correct senior handicap. Put yourself in Peter’s position, as he checks through a whole box of scorecards on a Friday afternoon.

‘This is your captain speaking’

Saturday’s competition featured no less than five members of the Senior Section in the top two 4-man teams. There was a howling westerly, more than enough to energise any windsock to its fully horizontal indication.

Format: 4-man teams: 15 holes: two-to-score on the par 4s and par 5s, and three-to-score on the par 3s.

I was down to play with our own Steve Barlow (always a pleasure), who introduced me as ‘Captain Pickles’ to the others, namely Paul Fuller, and Steve Perrone, a young man and relative beginner, whose main participatory sport until recently was Speedway!

It turns out that Paul Fuller is a genuine captain, a passenger pilot who mainly flew the British Aerospace Jetstream airliner (30 Series), and worked almost into his seventies as a flight instructor. We found we have much in common, because shortly after I left the RAF in the late 80s I was a Technical Author (avionics) on the team that wrote the manuals, including the pilot’s manual, for the BAe Jetstream 30 Series.

Michael John captained a team comprising Bob Ellison, Peter White, and the good-honest lawyer, Adrian McGurk. They had a superb round. Peter was outstanding, with six consecutive pars on the last 6 holes: i.e. 6 x 3-pointers off his competition handicap of 18. All-in-all, an impressive 80 points.

‘Unfortunately’, John, Ellison, White & Co. were defeated on the day by the team of Pickles, Barlow & Co., who came in with 81 points, to take first prize 🙂

Final of the Andy Ward Pairs Trophy

Despite Les Fecitt’s recent good form, Les and his partner Jim Wilson were knocked out in their semi-final this week, by Barry Smith and Mark Pickles.

The final is to take place on 22nd March: Smith and Pickles versus Charlie Hill and Alister Cook.

Happy Monday?

No report submitted this week from the Monday regulars.

Newsletter Editor: Mark Pickles

A sensational 38 points over 15 holes by Les Fecitt took the honours in Round 6 of the winter league last Friday.

The top of the Division 1 leaderboard is unchanged, with Charlie Heath and Michael John in first and second place respectively. However, the handicap committee (Bob, Paddy and me) meets tomorrow. I have had a cursory look at our spreadsheet, and I suspect that Charlie will be ‘knocked’, as will Michael – our mathematician-in-residence and former member of the Handicap sub-committee – who will doubtless be analysing (to no avail) the arithmetic mean, and median and modal averages for the last 8 matches!

In Division 2, Phil Perry, has been overtaken by Colin Hughes. See the Leaderboards page for more details.

A reminder of the handicap rules established last year: single-figure handicap players can choose to use their WHS handicap. Although we had hoped that everyone would be committed to WHS, this has not transpired, and so we need to maintain a separate system for the senior section.

I don’t doubt that the Div 1 and Div 2 league leaders will uncomplainingly accept any redress to handicap, and, in good sporting spirit, maintain their good form going into the closing matches of the season. In other words, it’s still all to play for!

Staying on the subject of handicaps, Peter Willson reports that 4 people used a wrong handicap last week. In the Senior Section, you won’t be disqualified for marking against the wrong handicap, but please do check your handicap on the Senior’s noticeboard before marking your card on Friday morning, to make Peter’s task a little bit easier in his weekly scrutiny of every scorecard before he populates the spreadsheet.

Match Report for Winter League: 6 of 10 – Friday 10th February

Started from the 10^th hole. Mainly dry, still cold weather but the course continues to dry out, allowing the bottom fairways to be cut.

Results:

Division 1:
1st Les Fecitt (38 points)
2nd Graham Brickell (36 points, on countback)
3rd Dave Meir (36 points)

Division 2:
1st Alan Thomas (35 points)
2nd Jeff Chapman (34 points)
3rd Colin Hughes (34 points)

2s: Michael John; Charlie Hill; Bob Mycock; Colin Chisnall

Happy Mondays

Monday 13th Feb. Team stableford: all players to score and divide the result by the number of players in the team.

Four teams competed in the event. It was a fine day which improved continously from the early starters at the ungodly hour of 07:32, when saw Chissie and Alan T set the ball rolling as a 2 ball due to no-shows.

3 balls followed, Charlie Heath, Steve Barlow, & Les Fecitt. Next: Ron Thornton, Tony Lambert and Charlie Hill, and finally the 4 ball of Bob Mycock, Paddy Moran, Peter 2LLs and Steve Rowley.
Struggling to cope with their reduced team, Colin & Alan scored 26pts (div by 2 =13pts),
then Bob, Paddy, Pete & Steve R scored 108pts (div by 4 = 27pts),
followed by Ron, Tony & Charlie Hill with 85pts (div by 3 =28.3 pts),

and the winners were:
Charlie Heath, Steve B & Les with a score of 99 pts (div by 3 =33pts).

As the weather improves let’s hope to see more teams turning out for our ‘Happy Mondays’.

Match Reporter: Les Fecitt

Message from the Committee on Friday and Monday Availability

David Craggs asks us all to let him know, a few weeks in advance (if possible), of any Fridays for which we know we are going to be unavailable, be it for holidays, dental appointments, looking after grandchildren, etc,. Please help David to produce a more realistic booking schedule by informing him of your known Friday absences.

Peter Willson looks after the Monday competitions. He asks members to let him know if they no longer want to be regularly included in the ‘Happy Mondays’ bookings. If you only play on Mondays very occasionally (as I do) you can usually find a spare slot without needing to be included in the regular bookings.

Wednesday Greens Volunteers (‘Dad’s Army’)

Those of us who play golf regularly on Wednesday mornings often see familiar faces of the Senior Section working on the golf course. They look after everything from the smallest details (such as repainting the engraved letters on the stone markers), to refilling and re-seeding divots, to more arduous tasks, involving chainsaws and heavy lifting, all in support of our remunerated staff and their guidance and expertise. The volunteers are a fit bunch of men, by any standard! And with some former civil engineers on the team, they know a thing or two about drainage, construction and groundworks.

Last week, Andy Timms, John Tomlinson, Grahame Brickell and Phil Young, ably led by Andrew “Captain Chainsaw” Cox, cleared away some of the saplings that had seeded on the bank to the right of the 11th and then (see picture above) cleared away the damaged branches from the willow to the left of the 3rd after it suffered storm damage a few weeks ago. It looks a bit tidier round there now, and it should make it easier to spot your ball if you tug your drive over there!

Andy Timms, former civil engineer, has agreed to update us regularly about ongoing projects.

I spotted Andy Timms this morning. They let him out in the little red buggy. Here is his report today, in which he introduces the team:

How far is it?

The greens volunteers numbered just two this week, namely Cox and Timms. However we covered quite a lot of ground. We picked up and jet washed all the 150 and 100 yard markers on the course, and then neatly replaced them. No excuses now for not knowing how far it is to the green!

Just the two of us is an unusually low number to turn out. I must acknowledge the efforts of the much larger army of “regulars” who turn out on a Wednesday morning. The team currently includes (in no particular order), Andrew Cox; Phil Young; Duncan Clarke; Paul Lennie; John Tomlinson; Tim Langley; Richard Cooper; Barry McGuigan; Grahame Brickell; Bob Ellison; Dave Jones; Ken Everett; Mike Pigott; Ted Broady; Nigel Boucher; Koos Alders; Richard Catchpole; Andy Timms.

If anyone else is interested in joining us on a Wednesday morning for a couple of hours, get in touch with Andrew Cox or Phil Young and they’ll get you added to the WhatsApp group.

Greens Volunteers Report: Andy Timms

And finally

Congratulations to Tony Lambert, who, with his son Steven Lambert, came 3rd in the Saturday competition (Canadian foursomes), scoring 41 points over 15 holes.

Newsletter Editor: Mark Pickles