The Seniors Section Three Club Competition, Christmas Lunch and Presentation 2008

On Wednesday 10^th December the Seniors held a three club (and a putter) competition followed by the Christmas Lunch and presentation of the trophies and medals for 2008.

The Senior Captain for 2009, Alan Hastings (who took over at the AGM on 3^rd November), was the host and organiser. Alan had a lot of help from his Wife, Sandy, particularly on the day.

As the three club was a fun competition, Alan decided that all bunkers would be out of play and all players would be allowed five Mulligans (retaken shots) at anytime during the round. There were 39 seniors played.

We also had nearest the pin on the par threes and nearest the pin in two on the 13^th for 21 and above handicappers. Unfortunately nobody claimed the prize for the 13^th. There were some very creditable scores so most of the Seniors may have their unused clubs for sale.

There were 50 sat down to lunch and as usual, Steward Bill put on an excellent two course Christmas lunch (the Seniors would struggle with three, poor things). Sincere thanks to Bill from all of us. The lunch was liberally accompanied by some very pleasant red and white produce (wine) and rocket balloons, party poppers, crackers and other fun things. The Seniors are still kids at heart.

We invited Tony Clingan to represent GCM and Paul, the greenkeeper to show our appreciation for providing us with a great course on which to play our golf. The Senior Captain asked the Seniors to raise their glasses to thank Tony, Paul and his staff.

Jim Burbidge asked the Seniors to raise their glasses to absent friends and the Captain made special mention of Charlie Isles, a long time Member and past Captain, who unfortunately was unable to attend.

Following the lunch, Alan presented the prizes for the day. This was followed by presentation of the various trophies, medals, etc., by the Senior Captain for 2008 Dave McCormick. The winners are listed below.

The Senior Captain for 2007, Peter Sharrocks, thanked Dave for all his hard work during his 2008 Captaincy, which was loudly applauded.

Finally, a few of the Seniors continued to ‘enjoy’ themselves for a little longer. It was difficult to tell whether the Seniors were supporting the bar, or the bar was supporting them.

The most important thing was that all had a great and most enjoyable day.

The Seniors wish everybody a very merry Christmas and a happy and great 2009. May your swing improve and your putts disappear into that little hole.

Alan Hastings

Senior Captain 2009

Alex Lennon Cup  

Dennis Smith HH Cup 

Singles Matchplay  

Runner up 

Pairs Matchplay     

Runners up   

May Medal  

June Medal 

August Medal   

October Medal 

Golfer of the Year  

 Fred Webster

Bob Rogers

Dick May

 Keith Howarth

Joe Corfield and Peter Du Puy

Barry Hawker and Ray Wood

 John Mills

 Sinclair Holm

 Fred Webster

 Bill Casey

 Bill Casey  

Within the Club we have a very active and friendly Seniors section, for which the joining criteria is being retired (or at least semi-retired) and the attainment of at least the age of 55 years.

The Seniors play on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays of each week unless there is a Bank Holiday. We meet at 7.30 a.m. for a first tee time of 7.45 a.m., except during the really dark mornings around the turn of the year, when we have an extra 15 minutes in bed.

Playing partners are selected on each day by all putting a ball in the bag, which are then drawn in threes and fours depending on the numbers present. We play in the order of the draw and tee off as soon as the match in front is out of range. We expect all matches to take a maximum of four hours to play 18 holes.

At the end of each round we put £1.00 in the pot of which £5.00 is paid to the winner(s), the remainder goes into our funds to subsidise away days and club matches. The winner(s) are cut one shot, this becoming their social (playing) handicap, except for trophies, medals, qualifiers, where they revert to their formal club handicap. The social handicapping system helps to spread the winnings around more players, i.e. it reduces the number of “the same old winners all the time”. Twice per year we start the social handicapping system all over again by reverting to our official club handicap.

Whilst we generally play the stableford method of scoring, we try to vary this occasionally with other formats. However, from April through to October on pre-specified days, we play a monthly medal (stroke play) and a handicap qualifier (stableford). In addition we play various other competitions/trophies, together with singles and pairs knockouts that run through the Summer months.

We play club matches, home and away, against the Seniors of several other local clubs, i.e. Abbey Hill, The Bedford, Wavendon, Silverstone and Aylesbury Vale. Another important match is the three cornered team event played against teams from Abbey Hill and Wavendon at Wavendon, which is always a good day.

On top of the above, we have three or four away days (the number depends on the strength of our kitty) at other local courses.

So, all in all we have a very busy season, which is enjoyed by all.

To help spread the cost of subsidising our various activities, we pay a small amount into the kitty at the start of the year, currently £12.00.