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Men’s Golf Captain’s Blog

Captain and Pro is without doubt the highlight of the captaincy year. With the temporary greens last weekend meaning our organised Captain and Pro couldn’t happen, I was delighted to introduce a variation – ‘Captain and Roy’ where the formidable Roy Martin and I took on Andrew Linford and Bob Mitchell in a battle of guile and wits. Andrew showed that a positive attitude takes the trophy with long drives, accurate irons shots and by consistently sinking long putts on the temporary greens!  Thanks, chaps, for the most excellent game.

On the subject of ‘golfing positivity’, last Thursday over 60 Members enjoyed the mental coaching of Karl Morris – the performance coach who works with Louis Oosthuizen, Graeme McDowell, Darren Clarke, Ryan Fox among others. We heard many pearls of wisdom which went way beyond ‘be positive on every shot’. I’m certain we all had our favourite takeaway, mine was ‘Before every shot, ask yourself the question ‘What does a good shot look like here?’’  Food for thought in the Butler approach to golf!

 

This Karl Morris session was swiftly followed by a fantastic curry (thanks to the F&B Team) and then a ‘Golf Rules and General Knowledge’ quiz originated and hosted by the Golf Operations Team of Simon, Louis and Matt.  We certainly had our rules knowledge tested and thoroughly enjoyed the evening.

Onto the course, we are hoping that better weather is on the horizon!  The last roll up was hotly contested and, assured of a Top Two position (given they were the only players) Vice Captain Peter McGovern and Ollie Rimmer did brilliantly to battle round and finish the round. Commitment and tenacity chaps!

The next roll up is this Saturday 11th February. Meet in the Members Bar at 07:30. The draw is made at 07:45 and first cards go out at 08:00.  This is a great way for Members new and old to get out and have a competitive round with card in hand.

The field for the Alan Scott Trophy is filling up nicely. This is traditionally our ‘season opener’ and is a shotgun start, partners are drawn at random, and we gather in the bar afterwards to laugh / cry / scream / applaud. I am certain that we will have all given our best and, needless to say, those who heard Karl Morris will be in the Winners Circle. A few spaces are still open so please sign up and make the field complete.

The entry for the knockouts for scratch, handicap and fourball is now open via IntelligentGolf.  The entry for all requires three qualifying cards submitted since January 2022 and, in fairness to all competitors, this has to be enforced.  If you don’t have three cards – please see my note above and take part in the roll up!

Finally, each year the Golf Captains select a charity ( www.sportinmind.org ) to support with the proceeds of various events held throughout the year. With the terrible weather, we’ve not been able to hold several events and we are still trying to find a new date for the Christmas Charity competition – not least because we have some exceptional auction items from which the charities benefit. Anyway – onto the point of this! Like a golfing ‘Artful Dodger’, Roy Martin ‘picks the pockets’ of the Claret Club Members most Saturdays – most birdies, most Stableford points, nearest the pin, longest drive etc. etc.  Apparently, Roy has been ‘reviewing the situation’ as I was very grateful to receive the most generous donation of his winnings from the annual ‘Claret Club’ eclectic competition.  Thanks so much Roy!

Simon Butler, Men’s Golf Captain