Despite gale force winds and a local power cut that threatened Dinner, CGC and its guests enjoyed a day of Golf and socialising at the very hospitable Abridge GC. I found it personally pleasing that the day was attended by virtually the whole club including the Honourable Secretary, Treasurer and President plus all of the committee.
After a hearty breakfast and some interesting practice swings the brave golfers of Chingford took on the challenge of a beautifully kept course in the powerful gusts of Storm Helen. The round started with a long par 4 Dogleg into the wind where only the mightiest hitters dared take on the corner with their drives. And the series of dog legs continued for most of the front nine. More traditional and picturesque holes followed on the back nine but the wind did not relent.
Congratulations to that colossus Max for producing a best score of 35 points on an unfamiliar course from a handicap of 6 and taking the spoils. Commiserations to Peter Steward who came within a point but had to accept the consolation second prize.
Congratulations to that colossus Max for producing a best score of 35 points on an unfamiliar course from a handicap of 6 and taking the spoils. Commiserations to Peter Steward who came within a point but had to accept the second prize.
Other commendable performances were as follows; Nearest to the Pin;
2nd Max 9th Jonathon 15th Toby 17th Scouser Mike
Mark Smith took the Best Guest prize for the second year running. If he wins next year we will have to insist he becomes a member!
My very supportive no nonsense Vice Paul Wilson kindly donated prizes for some additional performances; Best Front 9 Steve Bundy 17 Points Best Back Nine Toby Hall 19 Points Best Score on Par 3’s Scouser Mike 10points
The office and kitchen staff of Abridge Golf Club were superb in all respects with me whilst I was organising the event including on the day. They very generously donated a Fourball Voucher for the raffle which was won by Peter Lawrence a kind and generous man himself so it went to a good place. And more thanks to him for preparing the scorecards once more.
A ‘cancer recoveree’ April Beeson donated a lovely Pandora necklace won by that old sailor Tiger Burns, I fully expect to see him wearing that at the Captains Home Day which is on Sunday 20th September!
Further Prizes were donated by my eloquent friend Greg Harper and Vice Paul, the best collector of money since Paul the Tax Collector of biblical fame. These were won by two of the guests. In total £300 was raised for Cancer Research.
Club News
The Dinner and Dance sadly has had to be cancelled in the face of a possible second peak of the dreaded and disruptive Covid virus. But if the demand and support is there we could have a curry night next year around February or March when hopefully people are more confident in going out to eat.
Finally, I would like to report on some club success in the interclub competitions;
In the Ballantyne Trophy we have successfully fought through the first round with a 2-1 victory and are looking likely to be able to field a strong team in the second round on September 6th.
We were victorious in the Area final of the Gordon Forster Trophy by a 7 point margin following a massive 40 points away from home from the Colossus who is next year’s Vice Captain. Our reward is a place in the National Final to be held at the Gallically named Gaudet Luce Golf Complex. Well done to the whole squad for getting us this far.
We have also got 3 teams through to the second round of the Top Rock Salver plus one team in the 3rd round as two of the teams are drawn together.
I am looking forward to September 20th at Chingford Golf Course. Thank you all for your continued support during what has been a difficult year for many.
Major Sundhu, having completed the ritual swipe at the ball with an ancient wood is now our new captain.
A large gathering was present to wish him well and to thank the outgoing captain, Jonathan Margrave, who duly putted out.
Speeches were delivered and enjoyed, beer was drunk and the first and second prizes for guessing the distance our new captain would whack it were won by Denise Durman and her granddaughter, Olivia.
Here are some pics to prove that it wasn’t all a dream:
I will
start off with a run-down of the events of Captain’s Day on Sunday
9th June and then
finish off with other club updates as I am a bit behind on writing my
reports!
So, what a
great day it was weather wise on my Captain’s Day. After several
days of very indifferent weather to be polite we were blessed with a
full day of lovely sunshine and the course was in the best nick it
had been for ages enabling good scoring on the day………..more of
that later!
So, after
Brian Gee man-handled £10 out of everybody on the first tee (thanks
Brian) the first competition of the day was a charity putting event
held on the practice green. At 2 goes for a £1 my Wife Amanda and
Leann Arkell made sure that as many people as possible joined in the
event and did the best to win the prize – including people not
actually playing in the Captain’s Day – nice one Ladies!
There were 3 winners with the 1st prize of a Putt Out training aid and a sleeve of commemorative Titleist Pro V1s going to Bernie Baker as he holed out on his first attempt whilst the other two took two goes. The joint runners up, each receiving a sleeve of commemorative Titleist Pro V1s were Rob Collett (REFGC) and Dave Applegate.
The next prize (£5000 cash) was for a hole in one on the 3rd hole which nobody claimed on the day but the winner of nearest the pin (and very nearly a hole in one winner) was my old mate from Sunny Scunny Ian Jenkins. Well done Ian who received a sleeve of commemorative Titleist Pro V1s and a specially designed tee bag full of tees and markers.
The next prize (Motocaddy Electric Trolley) was for a hole in one on the 7th hole which again nobody claimed on the day but the winner of nearest the pin was Peter Steward (just nicking it off our Guest Trevor Newell!)who again won a sleeve of commemorative Titleist Pro V1s and a specially designed tee bag full of tees and markers.
Next up was nearest the pin in 2 on the tricky 11th which was won by our resident injury prone star Max Lawrence (thanks for playing on the day mate!). Max again wins a sleeve of commemorative Titleist Pro V1s and a specially designed tee bag full of tees and markers.
Whilst everybody re-fuelled after the 12th green it was on to the next prize which was for a custom set of Titleist AP2 irons on the 13th hole for scoring a hole in one. Again nobody claimed this but there was a nearest the pin winner (after eliminating other prize winners) it became the prize of Kevin O’Donoghue – Kevin wins a sleeve of commemorative Titleist Pro V1s and a specially designed tee bag full of tees and markers.
And so onto the last on-course prize which was for the longest drive on the 18th hole which I held briefly before first Paul Wilson out drove me and then the eventual winner Marc Smith, a guest of Major. He wins a sleeve of commemorative Titleist Pro V1s and a specially designed tee bag full of tees and markers too.
OK so on to the main prizes and a big thank you for being such a great sport to Michael Johnson who came in with the lowest score on the day of the members and readily accepted his prize of a plastic set of golf clubs. He tells me that it will be a great prezzie for his niece, but rumour has it that there is a photo of him using them at a golf course in Brentwood………
Best Guest Prize on the day went to our second guest from Royal Epping – Jason Arnold – who shot a great score of 38 points. Well done Jason you win a selection of commemorative items and equipment and an American Golf Voucher. Hopefully see you and Rob at my away Day.
Runner Up on the day for the members with an excellent score of 42 points was Alan Charlton (yes Terry got the scythe out for him afterwards!!). Well done Alan you also won a selection of commemorative items and equipment and an American Golf Voucher.
The overall winner on the day with an excellent never been seen before ever in all the times I have played with him did I say ever was Mike Steele with 43 points. Huge congratulations go to Mike, a great mate whom I am delighted to see win on my day. (Yes, Terry scythed him down too afterwards!). Mike also wins a selection of commemorative items and equipment and an American Golf Voucher.
During the
speeches I said a number of thankyous to all that helped to make the
event what it was on the day. I would like to do so again here.
Major Sundhu – my Vice Captain for helping chase up the numbers whilst some of us were on tour to get the tee times sorted for the day.
Elaine (helped by Hubby Kevin O’D of course) and Karen who gave up their time and put on a great stall by the 12th green to keep everybody fed and watered with what they fancied.
Dave Bundy and Scott Parnell who acted as spotters for the hole in one prizes on the 3rd, 7th and 13th holes. [no pictures available]
Max for running the bar on his dodgy leg in the club afterwards
The caterers for putting on a lovely spread for the buffet in the afternoon.
My Wife and Leann Arkell for their help on the putting green.
My Son (Oliver) and his fiancée Simone who were sensational on the day in collecting charity money for the hole in one prizes on my behalf on each of the holes. They did a fabulous job and I was very proud of them. My Daughter (Laura) unfortunately put her back out on the Saturday before the day but gamely came down any way to support me on the day.
The main aim of the day wasn’t to have a game of golf and enjoy the marvellous weather it was to raise as much money for my charity CALM.
Due to the
great work of my family and friends and the generosity of all of
those that played on the day we managed to raise a great total of
£450.
Thank you
everybody for making my Captain’s Day so special!
My
Captain’s Away Day is fast approaching (Friday 12th
July at Muswell Hill) – please can you confirm your attendance with
myself and/or Major ASAP if you haven’t already. I am hoping to
get 40 names down as a minimum.
The cost
is £70 for the day which includes 27 holes with 3 meals and some
good prizes to be won!
So far, we
have a good mix of Chingford members and guests so it should be a
great day. I will hope that we have good weather for this day too!
Other
Club News
We had our
first Bingo night on Friday 19th
April which was well attended and enjoyed by the many that did.
It was
Easter themed and as a result Easter Eggs and chocolate of many
different styles were won on the night.
A massive
thank you to Max and Jessica Lawrence who were the comperes for the
evening – clearly Max has a new career after teaching if he wants
it!
Again the
idea of the night was to raise some extra money for my charity and we
managed £100 in total by the end of the night – thank you.
There will
be two or three more charity related events to be held before my year
is up so please look out for comms on this in the coming weeks.
In Golf
news we have had a mixed run of results for the club with our Norman
Plum team going out in the first round versus Southend. However, the
Sureguard (3 pairs playing betterball stableford matchplay) team got
a win playing away versus Cheshunt only for us to get knocked out in
June playing away again but this time versus Stevenage. There was
controversy in the first pairing of this match, however, that didn’t
affect the match result overall and didn’t spoil the day as
Stevenage were great hosts who fed and watered us well after the
match had been completed.
This means
that we are out of all competitions now with the Forest Cup being our
only hope of getting a win this year left. We are defending
champions of course after last year’s win so I am looking forward
to this one again.
The KO
matches are now in full swing – please keep Major in the loop when
organising matches so he can get the tee times in order – and put
your results on the sheets for Bryan and Terry to manage the draws.
Have a
fantastic few weeks everybody – next report will be after the away
day!
The new season is now
in full swing after this weekend’s April Medal, so I thought it a
good time to reflect on recent activities at the club.
We announced that there
would be no increase in the subs and the Corporation of London also
decided to keep their fees the same too. Hopefully this will
encourage all 2018 members to re-join in 2019, if they haven’t
already done so.
Our last remaining team in the Gordon Forster Bowl took on Trent Park, home and away, and in some exceptionally windy conditions managed to sneak a 2-point win thanks to some half-decent golf from Mr Knight and myself and some great scrambling from Mr Lovney and Mr Charsley. It also helped that their away team had a stinker. Next team up Haste Hill – see later in this report for news.
Prizes
We had the new golf
rules presentation and prize giving night at the club which was well
attended. After Bryan (and Terry) had finished with their rules slot
the evening was taken over my Mr Burns and his inimitable style.
What then happened was a procession of Don Johnson and Paul Wilson collecting all of the prizes for the next hour and a bit, with Dick Charsley collecting a fair few too. People commented how well he did in his Captain’s year going against the trend of previous Captains who didn’t win much in their year. Meanwhile his Vice Captain for that year won nothing for the first time since he joined the club………………., just saying.
Big thank you to June
Rymer for organising all of the food that evening, as she didn’t
get a public thank you at the time – she put on a great display which
was enjoyed by all!
Eight club members headed off to play the Ryder Cup course in Paris, via Le Touquet, and came back with wind burn from the gale forces experienced whilst out there and a tinge of disappointment that the Ryder Cup venue courses didn’t play as well as they looked on telly last year.
C’mon Chingford
We had our pre-season
opener Greensomes competition, taking over the old Shelton Trophy,
which by design introduced new players to this format ahead of the
Clapham Common. After an outstanding performance by John Hall and
Kevin Wright they took the spoils with 44 points – we could do with
that from a pairing this weekend against The Epping!
Speaking of which the
Team Members for this comp have been selected and pairings chosen –
an email will follow. The first 3 pairs will play the Epping
scorecard and the next 3 the Chingford scorecard. Come on Chingford!
Sadly, at the weekend just gone our adventure in the Gordon Forster came to an end with a disappointing away performance seeing the team go out against Haste Hill. Both their home players shot 36 points which makes it very hard to keep up with them anyway but unfortunately, we didn’t match that at home and our away performance was disappointing (me having a shocker around the greens!). Never mind, we go again next year!
Bingo!
The
next event at the club is going to be a BINGO Night on Friday 19th
April – hosted by Max and Jessica Lawrence (thank you Guys!) –
with a chance to win some cash prizes, Easter Treats and put some
money behind the bar and in my Charity pot! So far, we have had over
25 people express an interest in attending – it would be nice to
get as many of you as possible so we can give out more prizes so
please let me, or Kevin know if you will be coming. We will open up
from 7:00’ish and the BINGO will start at 8:00. I will provide a
few nibbles here and there but please either bring your own food (we
can order a big take-out if people want to) or eat before coming.
Watch out for a follow-up email from me/Max after we have finalised
everything!
That’s it for now
Happy Golfing, let’s beat the Epping and House!
Prize Night on Friday 8th March was a well attended event in three parts.
First up was Bryan Sinden explaining the rule changes to a class of increasingly bumptious students. Most of the Rule-Meister’s observations passed by without comment until the question was raised of the possibility of a hurricane causing the ball the partly enter the hole and then come out again. As it turned out it was a topical issue on a weekend of high winds.
The matter was not resolved but Sinders surrendered the mic and the assembled company fell upon a sumptuous spread of superior finger food prepared by June Rymer. Three Cheers for June!
Now came the main event with captain Jon Margrave handing out the prizes. The main man of the year seems to have been Paul Wilson, although Don (now “Donatello”) Johnson might contest that.
Here are Paul’s handshakes:
Here are Don’s:
The rest will follow. But it should be mentioned that Dick Charsley did very well in his Captain’s Year:
So fresh from the drive-in Captain and Vice are up for their next challenge – bring on Wilson and Lovney. After a really tight match on the front 9 (not) Captain and Vice only lost 6&5 and to their credit Lovney and Wilson barely mentioned it at all throughout the round or afterwards! Whilst the hammering was justified Captain and Vice managed to win the back 9 and the birdie count to end up not losing any money! We might have mentioned that!
Next up was the match of the season so far – Charlton and Risby. Throughout last year Dickie and me could not beat them so I was determined to do so this time. What an extraordinary match it was with 3 out of the 4 players featuring in the top 3 of the medal competition overall – net scores of 67, 69 and 70. Eagles and birdies galore, great banter – the scores went backwards and forwards throughout but Captain and Vice prevailed with a whopping £9 going into the Captain’s charity as a result.
The following week Captain and Vice had a trial separation so Major could attend a 6 day wedding event!
Welcome Event
Next up was the Captain’s welcome event at East Herts golf club – thank you all for coming along to the event and a big thanks to my PA Gary Knight for organising it. With just one unfortunate drop out on the day 23 players went out into the misty lands of Buntingford to try and claim the day’s glory. After hitting the first tree off the first tee I did not have high hopes for my round but thankfully I ended up scoring a birdie out of the bunker on the last to ensure my golfing day ended well. Well done to Lovney and Knight for the best scores on the day and to Hall and Charsley for the NTP awards – all of you kindly donated your winnings to the Captain’s charity to the tune of £95 – thank you! The food and drink provided was excellent and I look forward to going back there at some point in the spring/summer for a cheeky round if anybody fancies it with me.
Stags
On that very same day – already full of cottage pie and apple crumble Captain and Vice crowbar’d themselves into their best dinner suits to attend the Gentlemen’s Stag Dinner at REFGC to support their new captain Gareth Davis. 5 courses later (and a few glasses of something nice) and we were fit to burst! The magical entertainment provided was excellent and gives us an option for our Dinner Dance next year – to be discussed at next committee. Thank you Gareth for your invite and company and to your Vice Ron too.
Something Different
The weekend golf was something a bit different for us all in that we ran a team competition based upon best 2 stableford scores on each hole, aggregate scores on the par 3’s. With a little bit of re-jigging to accommodate the 3-balls we managed to get the rules clear and this well attended friendly competition was thoroughly enjoyed and by pure coincidence the Captain’s team of Rymer, Risby and Parnell came out victorious with a cracking score of 98 points. 3 other teams (2 3-balls) came in second with 92 points. We will be running new comps like these in the New Year instead of Dev Stablefords until the full season starts again in April.
Last up for the month for Captain and Vice was Bandit Parnell and Ralgex Smith. Having got off to a winning start everything looked comfortable for Captain and Vice with some good scoring and the front 9 was taken. Unfortunately Captain and Vice forgot that Bandit Parnell gets 300 shots and he used every one of them to steal the last 2 holes and take the overall match. Ralgex Smith came alive on the back 9 too, particularly after the sun came over the yardarm….. well played Gents.
So Captain and Vice have 1 win and 3 defeats to their name so far – work to be done to restore some pride in December starting this weekend!
Other news and Events Update
I have sent out an email regarding needing more names for the Texas Scramble on December 15th so please can anybody else who can play let me know ASAP. For the quiz on that same day please make sure that Bryan knows that you are coming and what your food order is please.
The next key event is our New Years Party on January 26th – Major will be reaching out to everybody to get provisional numbers – tickets will follow. We will be having an 80’s theme so a chance to dress like you used to – or still do in some cases!
After the AGM on Friday evening attended by Gary Knight and a few others only (;-0) I was sworn in as the new Captain of Chingford Golf Club for the years 2018/2019. Major was also sworn in as Vice-Captain and thus Chingford became a club run by Northerners probably for the first time in its history! Ha, beware! Continue reading Captain’s Drive In 2018→
With fine weather and a good turn-out President’s Day lived up to expectations. Terry “Lucky” Rymer made off with the trophy with the second best card.
The President himself made the best score of 39 but with that noble modesty for which he is justly renowned (and his arm twisted up his back) he declined the prize. Terry was best of the rest with 38.
Jon Margrave took second with 36 on count-back and Bob Whitehall was third. Bill McEwan won nearest the pin on the third and Kevin O’Donoghue on the seventh.
Greg Anstey claimed nearest the pin on thirteenth but was denied the prize on the grounds that the President forgot to put out the marker. “My only decent shot of the day,” said the rueful Greg.
