Wednesday 3rd July 2019
Seniors Open - 4BBB
Terrific warm sunny day today for our 4BBB Seniors Open. Thirty one away pairs and twenty three home pairs competed in this stableford competition. Vouchers were awarded for the first three places both home and away.
Unfortunately the course of true competitions never runs completely smoothly and again today there were a few talking points. The Away nearest the pin on the second was shown as Home, the first five teams were read out in reverse order when only the top three were receiving prizes causing some confusion and the '2s' sweep came under debate. The first two were quickly rectified but the '2s' question is still to be resolved. As visitors rarely stay for the presentation and leave early, in the past, we have given a fixed amount of golf balls for them to take before the full results are known, in today's case it was two sleeves. This means that potentially if there were a lot of '2s' we could make a loss however as there were only three '2s' today the prize seems totally inadequate and caused complaints. Where we go horribly wrong is communication. If we had advertised a fixed prize of six balls for a '2' then players could decide whether the £1 entry per person was worth it and the argument that this was a sweep and a separate competition would not arise. To my mind '2s' like nearest the pins just add a little to the fun element on the day and if it leaves a small amount for the charity then everyone is a winner. Complaints must be taken seriously however and this will go to the committee to decide if any retrospective action should be taken.
But back to the day. The course never looked so good, the greens were quick and true, the meal was fine and our visitors were extremely complimentary about all aspects with many taking away entry forms for our next open in September. A huge effort by many people made for a great event and lots deserve credit.
Again the ladies graced our reception and halfway hut, thanks go to Barbara, Marilyn, Fran, Jenny Hall, Jan, Alyson Martin and Rosemary Davis. Head Green keeper Dave and his team, Head Chef Andy and his team, the bar staff who were busy all day, Mark and the pro shop and office staff who had a big input. John Pearce for the technical bit, Bob Barrow scrutiniser, Mike Aldridge printing, Keith Branchflower treasurer, Alan Chance and Stuart Pope gazebo erectors, stockist and gardeners extraordinaire, Alan Davis starter and not forgetting Ian Rowland who risked injury spotting on the first.Vice Capt James was also very helpful and supportive.
For the record the winners were:-
Home Away
1st Alan Chance/ Stuart Pope 43 (Back 6) Mike King/ Tony Chedzoy 47 Mixed
2nd Barrie Heath/ Derek Gardener 43 ( back 9) Chris Stokes/ Charles St. George 43
3rd Steve Southgate/ Martin Bargery 43 Mark Barber/ John Docherty 43 Yeovil
Nearest the pins 2nd and 16th Nearest the pins 9th and 13th
As for the Charity,Guide Dogs for the Blind, we added over £600 to the annual total and everybody who took part today deserves warm praise and thanks for their kind generosity.
Peter Spencer-Farr Seniors Capt.
Terrific warm sunny day today for our 4BBB Seniors Open. Thirty one away pairs and twenty three home pairs competed in this stableford competition. Vouchers were awarded for the first three places both home and away.
Unfortunately the course of true competitions never runs completely smoothly and again today there were a few talking points. The Away nearest the pin on the second was shown as Home, the first five teams were read out in reverse order when only the top three were receiving prizes causing some confusion and the '2s' sweep came under debate. The first two were quickly rectified but the '2s' question is still to be resolved. As visitors rarely stay for the presentation and leave early, in the past, we have given a fixed amount of golf balls for them to take before the full results are known, in today's case it was two sleeves. This means that potentially if there were a lot of '2s' we could make a loss however as there were only three '2s' today the prize seems totally inadequate and caused complaints. Where we go horribly wrong is communication. If we had advertised a fixed prize of six balls for a '2' then players could decide whether the £1 entry per person was worth it and the argument that this was a sweep and a separate competition would not arise. To my mind '2s' like nearest the pins just add a little to the fun element on the day and if it leaves a small amount for the charity then everyone is a winner. Complaints must be taken seriously however and this will go to the committee to decide if any retrospective action should be taken.
But back to the day. The course never looked so good, the greens were quick and true, the meal was fine and our visitors were extremely complimentary about all aspects with many taking away entry forms for our next open in September. A huge effort by many people made for a great event and lots deserve credit.
Again the ladies graced our reception and halfway hut, thanks go to Barbara, Marilyn, Fran, Jenny Hall, Jan, Alyson Martin and Rosemary Davis. Head Green keeper Dave and his team, Head Chef Andy and his team, the bar staff who were busy all day, Mark and the pro shop and office staff who had a big input. John Pearce for the technical bit, Bob Barrow scrutiniser, Mike Aldridge printing, Keith Branchflower treasurer, Alan Chance and Stuart Pope gazebo erectors, stockist and gardeners extraordinaire, Alan Davis starter and not forgetting Ian Rowland who risked injury spotting on the first.Vice Capt James was also very helpful and supportive.
For the record the winners were:-
Home Away
1st Alan Chance/ Stuart Pope 43 (Back 6) Mike King/ Tony Chedzoy 47 Mixed
2nd Barrie Heath/ Derek Gardener 43 ( back 9) Chris Stokes/ Charles St. George 43
(Back 9) Oake
3rd Steve Southgate/ Martin Bargery 43 Mark Barber/ John Docherty 43 Yeovil
Nearest the pins 2nd and 16th Nearest the pins 9th and 13th
Roger Stone and Mark Cording
Jeff Andrew Oake and David Lyscom
Sherborne
Nearest The Pin in
Two 18th All
Nigel Groves Weymouth.
As for the Charity,Guide Dogs for the Blind, we added over £600 to the annual total and everybody who took part today deserves warm praise and thanks for their kind generosity.
Peter Spencer-Farr Seniors Capt.
It all started very early, with the set-up Team arriving before 07:00 to get ready to receive our 100 plus guests, well done to John W, Keith, Barrie, Frank, Peter etc - but other teams had been there the night before to set up the Gazebo and banner...hidden at the far end is Barbara Shaw, where would we be without our Ladies..
Even the Starter made a brave appearance,,with just one eye & one leg working Alan had even left his other-half over at the 10th...
The Captain made a dramatic appearance, before he was sent to change into something more suitable for Golf....
..seen here on the 7th..can you see the ball just starting a 243 yard journey to the middle of the fairway......mind you that was after 2 more shots...
The 09:28 Teams on 17th passing the 12:18 Team on the 6th - with Danny, Bob, Frank & Mr Michael Light...
Then as the Ladies departed, with our thanks, Farmer Bob and Keith Branchmanager started to process the cards and build the Leader Board. Typical of them, they ate dinner whilst typing and I've just managed to clean up my keyboard...No DQ's this time but Bob did spend the time talking to each Team that had 'dodgy ' cards and explained the error of their ways.
I did see one team whose score on the Computer was totally different to their card - until they explained that the had ignored the Player A & Player B at the top of the card and just written different names above A & B on the card...so it was re-entered and came out OK..but what strange things people do !!!
Leader Board was always on Display and keenly followed by many..but very tight at the top with 3 on 43 points...
As the Captain mentioned at his summary above, I personally am not a big fan of seeing Members stood in the middle of the floor having a blazing argument ( yes it did get quite loud) about one aspect of the Open - in front of our Visitors who were enjoying their Lunch and watching the great game of Cricket. remember what Granny taught us years ago - Never Air your Dirty Linen in Public - wise words and I was close to going home as the protagonists continued to make their points.
We have plenty of Committee Meetings & the AGM - but once the decision has been made we must stick together , and as the Captain says - resolve it for the next time.
I thought the preparations all went well this year, with Mark in the Pro Shop being very keen to help us out with new ideas.
Just one more snippet - did you leave a sum of money on the seat in the Locker Room around 08:45 - The Treasurer has the money but it will go into the Charity Pot if not claimed...betting is on scatty Dicky Hall as favourite .....
