Men’s Golf Captain’s Blog

I started my January blog with a good old moan about the weather and being a ‘glass half full’ (not) Yorkshireman proclaimed that ‘things can surely only get better’! Well that certainly hasn’t happened. In my 23 years as a Member, I have never seen the course as wet and boggy and, to be honest, I am surprised that the course has been open as much has it has been. Thanks again to David and his greenkeeping team for all their continuing hard work in trying to keep the course playable in the most testing of conditions. And as I sit here writing my blog on Sunday morning the rain is once again torrential! And by the way, if you follow these blogs I lost to Ken Pratt in the Colum Sharkey on the 18th having played the course with 18 temporary greens.

Alan Scott

It was with great sadness that we learnt of Alan’s passing in mid-January. Many Members attended a reception last Wednesday at the Club with his family and friends following his funeral. Alan was the Club’s Golf Pro for almost 30 years, having followed in the footsteps of his father, Syd. Alan was the Pro when I joined the Club 23 years ago and was very welcoming. He was such a genial and kind man, a wonderful golfer and a very patient and calm teacher. I last saw him when he presented the Alan Scott Trophy to Bryn Rocke following last year’s competition. He told me then that he would be definitely joining us again this year. Sadly, he won’t with be with us on Saturday, but we will remember him both on Saturday and in the future. His name is synonymous with golf at Roehampton Club.

Mike Cochrane

It was also sad to hear that Mike Cochrane had passed away. Mike was a former captain of the Club and of course Jo’s father. Our thoughts are with you and your family buddy.

Competition Results

Again, the conditions have curtailed a lot of the men’s competitive golf over the last four weeks, but we have managed to get out a few times. The weather behaved impeccably on Saturday 24th January for the monthly Stableford competition and, having been galvanised by me calling him the ‘bridesmaid’ in my previous blog, Neil Anderson recorded a massive 45 points and won by 7 points from Dante Mama and Ethan Waunford-Brown. Given that Dante and Ethan play off 5 and 3 respectively both recorded very impressive gross scores. Neil, you are now officially no longer a ‘bridesmaid’! Well played all.

The scoring in the Mixed Individual Stableford on Sunday 1st February was as equally impressive. Of the 15 entries, 9 players scored 35 points or more, the podium prize winners being:
1st – Jamie Letten – 39 points
2nd – Sam Huxtable – 38 points (on countback)
3rd – Sam Lynes – 38 points
Congratulations to Jamie. More about the two Sams later!

The Four Club Stableford competition, which was postponed from 10th January, took place on a crisp, sunny morning on Saturday 14th February. The competition yet again demonstrated that some golfers are just as good with four clubs as they are with a bagful. Given the wet and often boggy underfoot conditions, as well as five temporary greens, the scoring was good and the medal winners were as follows:
1st – Henry Umney – 35 points
2nd – Will Glassey – 34 points
3rd – George Palmer – 33 points (on countback from Greg Whitaker and Paul Taylor)
I will ask last year’s winner Ben Walmsley to present Henry with the trophy at the Annual Dinner in November! I wouldn’t get too excited about the trophy Henry!

Upcoming Competitions

It is very poignant that the Alan Scott Trophy is being played for this coming Saturday 21st February with a shot gun start at 9am and coffee, breakfast butties and pastries being served in the Piazza from 8.15am. There are still a few places available so please do sign up. It would be a fitting tribute to Alan if we could have a full field and hopefully some dry conditions and no temporary greens. We can’t control the latter two, but we can ensure a full start sheet.

The annual Men’s International Teams Competition is being held on Saturday 14th March which is the last day of this season’s Six Nations rugby competition. This is always a fun day particularly for those that fancy a full day of golf, rugby and Six Nations rivalry. Having just sat through the disappointment of yet another English defeat to the Scots in Edinburgh we need to ensure that Messrs Hector, Anderson and Findlay don’t get too carried away. Please do sign up and declare your national allegiance and hopefully we can get six 10-man teams out to represent England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, Europe and the Rest of the World.

Admin Issues

I also thought I would give you all a quick heads up about a few issues that have been discussed recently at both the Men’s Golf Committee and the main Golf Committee:

Winter mats – these are very likely to be compulsory for all golf next winter so I suggest you buy one from Ricky and get practising!

Slow play – we are introducing a new policy to hopefully ‘encourage’ those slower players amongst us to quicken up their pace of play. Watch out for notice of the new policy.

Late cancellations of tee time – you will all have hopefully seen Matt’s email reminding us all about the rules relating to late cancellations of a start time. We appreciate that sometimes Members have good reasons to cancel their tee time but please do this as soon as you know that you can’t play. We have a lot of Members wanting to play golf and it is particularly irksome to see a full start sheet and then to come up to the course and see that it is half empty.

Stroke indexes – we are assessing the stroke indexes (again) and have made some proposals which are currently being considered by the Golf Committee. Watch this space for the new stroke indexes which are likely to come into effect this spring.