Bedfordshire Golf Club will host the first of a series of county senior matches on 30th April against Norfolk and BGC has no fewer than 5 members playing in this match. 

 

It is also the first match in which John Haines takes charge as the new County Seniors Captain, which is of course a great honour, both for him and the club. 

 

In the first match on the 30th April at Stagsden, Messrs Brown, Hollands, Marshall, Sullivan and Haines will all be playing, so why not come along and cheer them on. 

 

Later in the season we will host Middlesex and BB&O, and hopefully both Colin Beard and Richard Harris will have joined the ranks by then! 

The weather has not been very kind so far this year but our hardy seniors have prevailed against the adverse conditions and filled the starting sheets with the early season competitions. 

The 13 Hole Stableford on the 5th of February saw our national seniors Champion, Mark Lewin taking the title with an excellent score of 27 points followed by Andy Jones and John Bates on 26 points. 

The Greensomes Stableford on the 12th February was won by Richard Suthers and Brian Ralph with a superb 43 points, with Dick Thompson and Andy Jones on 37 and John Duffy and Ray Gawn on 36. 

The Betterball Stableford on the 19th February was a very close affair with Nick Serrecchia and Phil Rajotte winning on count back from Dick Thompson and rob Mayfield on 44 points and Barry Sullivan and Graham Crawford on 43 points. 

The Yellow Tee Stableford on the 26th February was won on count back by Andrew Duthie 37, followed by Jim Heaney 37 and David Pattle on 36 points. 

 

On the 7th March saw the first seniors White Tee Stableford played in tough conditions but, Tony Marsh ignored all that and pulled off an excellent performance winning with 37 points. He said he wanted to play off 18 in the future and Masterscoreboard duly obliged that very afternoon! The runner-up on count back from Steve Coppock was John Cribb with 34 points. Chips were provided by Jim Heaney ... see caption competition! 

 

We start the interclub matches this month with an away fixture against the Bedford on the 19th of March. This is followed by regular fixtures at home and away. Please keep an eye on the notice board for the entry sheets. Our ‘coach’ who is responsible for team selection and match tactics is our very own Phil Rajotte. His motto is, ‘just don’t miss those short puts’ ... thanks Phil, we will try to remember that!! 

 

We also have a full list of competitions and this year a new Seniors’ Club Championship format is introduced for the first time. This is over 2 rounds on the 13th and 24th May. Entry is for BOTH rounds. The other change this year is the revised format for the Seniors’ invitation day on the 20th June. This will be a 4 Ball Invitation charity Waltz. Competition entry is very flexible and can be made up entirely of members or up to 3 guests per team. The objective is to make it a fun day of golf with superb prizes and raise as much as possible for the captain’s charity – Willen Hospice. Your captain, Tim, has been working very hard to make the arrangements for this event and your support in both entry to the competition and the invitation of guests would be very welcome indeed. The entry sheet will be on the board shortly so look out for it and get your name down early! 

 

There is a lot going on in our senior section and we want to capture those precious moments so please feel free to take pictures of our members at “work” on the golf course or, at play in the bar after a hard day’s golf. Send the pictures to me (your secretary) at nick9s@sky.com. They will be used to populate the gallery section which was recently introduced to our section of the website. Please check out the ‘romantic dinner for 2’ picture in the Seniors’ gallery. It deserves a good caption so any suggestions would be most welcome! 

That’s it for this month. I look forward to posting your contributions in next month’s edition. In the meantime, if you have any worthwhile gossip please let me know. We fact check everything so no fake news please!! 

 

Nick Serrecchia 

Senior’s Secretary 

March 2018 

 

The Men’s Senior Section is a very active section within the club with over 180 members over the age of 55. 

 

There are numerous competitions throughout the year with a Seniors' Championship, Invitation & Captain's days. In addition there are over 25 matches per season played against other clubs on a home & away basis; all members are encouraged to represent the club. The 2018 match calendar is shown below. 

 

There is a modest sub payable (£5 per annum), which covers entry to all Competitions and the engraving of the various trophies which are presented at the AGM in October each year. 

 

The Seniors Section is an officially recognised group with the Seniors' Captain sitting on the General Committee. 

 

Every weekday morning, there are groups of senior golfers offering friendly roll-up golf, to be enjoyed. All senior members will find a group to play with. 

 

So why not join us? Further information can be obtained from Lynne or Mags in the General Office. Call 01234 822555 x2 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tim Bailey has now taken over as the Men's Seniors' Captain from Terry Mizzi. Delighted at his appointment, he said "...it is a honour and privilege to have been selected as Seniors' Captain for the forthcoming year". 

 

A 'local lad', Tim was raised in Lavendon and now lives in Broughton, Near Milton Keynes. A relative newcomer to golf, (having picked up a club less than 4 years ago) he has experiencing all highs and lows of golf in a short space of time. Tim says he has made many new friends in the Seniors', and can only hope that when he gets to the age of some of them, he is still enjoying the game as much! 

 

He is away celebrating his 60th Birthday over the coming weeks, but plans to be on the course as much as possible in 2018. 

 

Tim asks that everybody abides by course rules and etiquette, and accepts decisions that sometimes have to be made by others. If anybody has any issues, or just wants to say hello, he'd be pleased to hear from you. Tim says that he has some ideas which will hopefully be beneficial to our course and members and will post these early in the new year, but if others have any suggestions, he'd like them to get in touch with him to discuss them. 

 

Finally, Tim commented, "l wish you all good health and good golfing, and an exciting year ahead and I look forward to meeting as many of you as possible, either on the course or in the bar". 

 

Wed 17th Four Club Competition 

 

Mon 5th 13 Hole Stableford 

Mon 12th Greensome Stableford 

Mon 19th Pairs BetterBall Stableford  

Mon 26th Yellow Tee Stableford (Q) 

Wed 4th Ken Savill Salver (Medal) (Q) 

Mon 9th Scott Cup Draw 

Mon 16th Seniors President's Putter 

Mon 23rd Kitchen Trophy Draw 

Wed 25th Leighton Buzzard (HOME) 

 

Wed 2nd South Beds (AWAY) 

Tue 8th Pattison Salver Draw 

Mon 14th Seniors Championship Rnd 1 (Q) 

Thu 17th White Tee Stableford (Q)  

Fri 18th St Ives HOME 

Mon 21st Young Plate Draw 

Wed 23rd Seniors Championship Rnd 2 (Q) 

Thu 24th Pavenham Park (AWAY) 

Thu 31st Wellingborough (AWAY) 

70's PLUS 3x9 hole 9 (see bottom of page **)  

Mon 2nd Senior Mens White Tee Medal 

Thu 5th TATS Summer Comp & Lunch 

Mon 9th Beds & County (HOME) 

Tue 17th Beds & County (AWAY) 

Mon 23rd Aspley Guise (AWAY) 

Thu 26th Wellingborough (HOME) 

Mon 30th Mixed Texas Scramble 

 

Wed 1st Autumn Eclectic Begins 

Thu 2nd Pavenham Park (HOME) 

Mon 6th Leighton Buzzard (AWAY) 

Mon 13th Bert Hurley Salver (Medal) (Q) 

Wed 15th Kettering (HOME) 

Mon 20th Brampton Park (AWAY) Rescheduled 

Thu 23rd St Ives (AWAY) 

Fri 31st Abbotsley (HOME) 

Mon 1st Barry Allen Trophy (Stableford) (Q) 

Wed 3rd Buckingham (HOME) 

Mon 8th Bedford (HOME) 

Fri 12th Autumn Eclectic Ends 

Mon 15th White Tee Stableford (Q) 

Fri 19th AGM and DINNER 

Tue 23rd Buckingham (AWAY) 

Mon 29th Yellow Tee Medal 

 

Notes ** 

70's PLUS - Veterans Bedfordshire Trophy (May) 

Played over 27 holes 

9 on Academy course 

9 on Front Main course 

9 on Back Main course 

Played during May June July 

Card to be nominated before play 

Mon 5th Absent Friends Cup (Stableford) 

Mon 12th Texas Scramble 

Mon 26th Greensome Stableford