Men’s Golf Captain’s Blog – 1^st September 2022

Club Knockouts

We’ve reached the final stages of this season’s knockouts.

• David Birn will play Pete Crocombe in the final of the Scratch Knockout. Commiserations to Max and Scott Stanley, the losing semi-finalists.
• The two semi-finals in the Lockwood Foster are Ben Wilson vs Ollie Hunt, and Andy Nowell vs Suresh Vara.
• In the Men’s Fourball Betterball, Alec and Michael Lever have reached the final (defeating Niels Verbeek and Bryn Rocke) and will face either Chris Lipscomb and Pradeep Patel or Andrew Walker and Alex Millward.
• In the Mixed Foursomes, Vice-Captains Simon Butler and Charlotta Lyckeus (who won against Tricia Morgan and myself in their semi) will play the final against Caroline Williams and Nigel Brown, who beat Nigel Karmel and Sue Latham in their semi.
• And finally, in the Married Foursomes, the final is to be played between Andrew and Kathleen Bacon and Tim and Astrid Drayson. The losing semi-finalists were Claire and Roy Martin, and Stuart Bailey and Hanneke Smits.

Club Match vs Royal Mid Surrey (24^th September)

In my absence, Simon Butler will be leading our side in this annual match.  Playing to win back the Whale Cup, it’s a home fixture this year.  If you would like to be considered for selection, please register via IG and email Simon directly (simonbutler87@gmail.com).  The team is open to all members with weekend playing rights; it’s 18 holes 4BBB followed by lunch and is always enjoyable.  We are keen to have up to eight pairs of varying handicaps.

Club Roll-ups

The Club Roll-Up on 28^th August was won by Nigel Reynolds (off 15) with 41 points, winning on countback from Peter McGovern (off 7), next year’s vice-captain.  We had a far better turnout than previous roll-ups, though it was unfortunate that we had a couple of members who did not turn up, and who failed to notify the Club.

In the Roll-Up on 20^th August, Harry Rowlinson (17) won with 43 points, with Chris Lipscomb (12) in second with 38 points.  There were just seven players who entered.

At the next meeting of the Men’s Golf Committee (on 13^th September), and in order to boost numbers at the Roll-Ups, we will decide whether or not we should return to the pre-Covid Roll-Up arrangements – i.e. roll-up on the morning (or afternoon), and groups decided that morning.

Mixed Foursomes

The final summer 9-hole Wednesday evening mixed competition was played last week.  Playing  greensomes this time, the competition was won by Martin Abbott and Perrine Faye with 24 points, with Jo and Justin Thesiger in second with 20 points.  Jinni Featherstone-Witty and David Moss were in third with 19 points, but they stormed to victory in the Bank Holiday Mixed Foursomes with 51 points!  In second were Ginny Gotla and Bob Storer with 43 points, and in third place were Derek and Pippa Lyons (41 points – on countback from Michael Godfrey and Caroline Leslie).

Men’s Competitions

Over the next month, the following competitions are scheduled (details on IG):

• Men’s Autumn Meeting – 10^th and 11^th September
• Club Roll-up – 17^th September

European Legends Tour Pro-Am, 5^th September

Entries are now closed for this but if you are at the Club on Monday morning, you will have the opportunity to see some of the leading players on the Legends Tour play, including three former Ryder Cup players David Gilford, Philip Price and Steve Richardson.

Men’s Annual Golf Dinner, 18^th November – reminder

The winners of this year’s major competitions will be presented with their trophies and our guest speaker is Andrew Cotter, the BBC sports commentator.  I hope that as many Members from across the section will be able to attend this year’s dinner.

PS Scott Stanley, our Club Champion, scored another Hole-in One two weeks ago – on the seventh with a 5 iron.

Happy golfing everyone.

Paul