CAPTAINS CORNER

As I write this article for the newsletter the weather has changed from the heat of mid July to cool and cloudy. The weather seems to have been a recurring theme throughout this year with meetings being held either in warm and sunny conditions or subject to torrential rain, a typical British summer.

My year as Captain started with an invite to the Kent dinner with golf at Weald of Kent. The course had suffered with the wet winter but I still started the golf year with a win in the guest’s competition, a taste of things to come. Meeting other Captains gives an insight into how differently the various counties are organised but how similar the problems are that we all face in recruiting and retaining members.

Bicester provided the venue for our Spring meeting, a course which seems to generate strong feelings, and some low scores. The meeting was won by returning member John Morley on countback from Martin Hamilton with 33 points. I was pleased to introduce 8 new members to their first meeting; I hope we can encourage more past captains to join us. After listening to feedback from members the Spring meeting next year is to be at Berkhamstead.

Our matches started on a sunny day with the traditional fixture against Bedfordshire who regained the Lucky Bali trophy; in contrast the next match against Northamptonshire was badly affected by heavy rain with 4 groups abandoning their match after 9 holes. We had our first win against South Wales Coast at Flackwell Heath and our second against London at Finchley, in all others we have come a close second. However we still have 4 more matches to go so hopefully our record will improve. Our hosting of the 4 Counties South at Chiltern Forest didn’t give the advantage we hoped for as we tied for third, the trophy being won by Oxfordshire. However in terms of organisation we definitely came first and I would thank Peter Short for all his hard work in making the day such a success. I look forward to an improvement at 4 Counties North at Kings Lynn. We again had a wonderful day hosted by the Ladies’ Past Captains at Burnham Beeches. Following the high standard set last year by our past captain, Doug, the Ladies’ captain Di Davies and myself were winners with 41 points.

The Tour this year saw 26 of us descend on the Bells Hotel and Forest of Dean golf club. The weather forecasts were not positive throughout the week but although we got a bit wet on Sunday, a delayed tee time at Forest Hills enabled us to play a great course in wonderful sunshine and that continued to our final day at Rolls of Monmouth. The hotel looked after us very well with our own dining room and put on a special large screen for the football on the Monday. I joined the lucky ones watching Wales on the TV in the lounge rather than England on the big screen. My golf hit a golden patch during the week and I came away with the Miners Lamp. Competition for the other prizes was close with Quentin Easton holding on to second place following his win on the Tuesday and John Kettley coming third. In the needle match Tony Jefferies and Peter Hill were tied fourth with Peter eventually winning on countback on the discarded score. I had a great time revisiting an area that I lived in 25 years ago and would thank all those on the tour for their friendship, good humour and support during the week which made it so enjoyable.

 

 

Following the decision taken last year Captain’s Day was again combined with the Annual Dinner. Hazlemere looked beautiful in the warm sunshine and we were very well looked after, although some members took a bit of persuading to leave the halfway house and play another 9 holes. I would like to thank the Ladies of Hazlemere who ran reception, did the starting, baked cakes and manned the half way house and in particular my wife Linda for all her hard work and support that made the day go so well. The dinner in the evening was attended by 20 guests but only 35 members however it was a great evening with excellent food, plenty of wine and humorous contributions from John Kettley, Hazlemere’s inaugural Captain and Mike Lewis our guest speaker. John Marr, Vice Captain of the London Society of Golf Captains won the guest’s competition with 35 points and Hazlemere member Rod Jones won the John Barton Salver with 36 points. A special prize was given to Hazlemere’s current Captain, David Forrest, who scored 38 points playing off a handicap of 5.

On a sad note we remembered at the dinner two members of the Association who had passed away recently, Bob Hurst who was Secretary of the Association for four years from 1998 and John Hardcastle from Chesham and Ley Hill who would have been Captain this year. Since then we have been informed of the death of Bill Reynolds of Whiteleaf. I would thank the members of the Association who by attending the funerals supported their families and passed on our condolences.

As Captain of the Association you rely heavily on the support from members and especially the Committee. My Vice Captain, Rob Southerden has been a great support attending all the matches, most of the dinners as well as being a match manager and I’m sure will have an enjoyable and successful year in 2017. Gerry Cotter, our clothing officer, has carried out his duties in fine style and David Liston has provided many ideas and support. This year will be Derek William’s last year as treasurer and he leaves us in a good financial position and we will miss his invaluable contribution to the Association, I will be proposing that Doug Ebdon takes over that role at the AGM. Peter Short continues to be a whirlwind of great organisation which has been carried out with some humour and a little frustration. Peter has suggested that we should now reinstate the role of Match Secretary so we are looking for volunteers to take this on. I would also thank the Match Managers who have supported Peter in this part of his work.

It has been an honour and a great experience representing the Association through the year and so enjoyable to be part of such a friendly and supportive group of fellow golfers. This year has had some memorable moments which I will always look back on with great joy and look forward to being reminded of some of them over the coming years. I hope to see a good turnout at the AGM at Beaconsfield on the 19 October and in the meantime I wish you all good health and good golf.

Brian