Greetings fellow members of Bletchingley Golf Club and welcome to the first of a series of updates I hope to share with you throughout my captaincy year.
Reflections on the Drive In
As I sit down to write this, I cannot help but think how lucky we were that the Drive In could take place at all. Firstly, we had, in the main, a dry day after a very wet spell in the lead up, indeed if Saturday’s weather had been repeated the whole day would have been a washout. Then we just managed to avoid the national lockdown and closure of golf courses from the 5th November through to the 2nd December.
Despite some Covid related changes to the order of the day I felt the golf, putt outs, drive ins and lunch for those able to stay went very well and so a massive note of thanks must to go all those on the Committee and Comps & Matches who helped out in various ways, to Neil and Hilary for making the Drive In element so memorable for Ros and me, to Kevin, Tracey and the team for laying on a lovely spread. Then last but not least a huge thank you to you the members who showed up in numbers for either the golf or putt out/drive in or both; without you we would not have days like these to remember so fondly.
Finally, as I sat down to lunch and looked around the room and took stock of the day I could not help but think about those who could not make the Drive In this year through a variety of reasons but would have been there if they could; if they ever get the chance to read this, rest assured you were all greatly missed
World Handicapping System (WHS)
Anyone with the golf bug (or affliction) running through their veins would have had to temporarily move to Mars to escape the noise, excitement and frustration generated by the transition from our old CONGU based handicapping system to the new, unified World Handicapping System (or WHS for short). I’d need to be from the Donald Trump school of denial to pretend the cut-over was a success but by now I hope you all have a new Handicap Index and have at least a rudimentary idea of how to use it once we can get out on the course again; once the dust has settled I firmly believe this will present an improvement on the old system especially when playing courses away from Bletchingley with varying levels of difficulty.
This leads me neatly onto…..
Updated Comps Book for the Club and Men’s section
The change to the new WHS has created the need to update the Competitions Book for both the Club and our Men’s section (the Ladies and Seniors have their own Comps Books and will be updating theirs accordingly).
These changes have now been made with the most up to date version available to view on the club website (please note the copy in the Spikes Bar is now obsolete but cannot be changed out until at least the 3rd December).
To open and review the book you need to go on the club website then login to the Members area, once logged in select Competition Procedures from the Members drop-down tab, then select Club & Men’s to open a PDF version of the book.
While there are many small changes throughout the book, most are in the Preface under section 9. Eligibility for Competitions & Boards Events and section 10. Handicap Allocations. No doubt many would consider it a dry read, but it is a priceless document for those organising our competitions, and for new and established members alike it is a handy reference as to how our golf is organised throughout the calendar year.
If you have any questions or queries about the book and its content please do not hesitate to contact my Vice Captain, Neil Tunbridge, who is Chair for the Comps & Matches Committee for the next 12 months.
Neil’s e-mail address is entun@hotmail.com
Impact of the one-month lockdown on our organised golf competitions
The current lockdown, unless prolonged beyond the 2nd December or repeated in early 2021 has little impact on our organised golf.
For the Winter KO’s which cover the Men’s Singles, Men’s Pairs and Mixed Greensomes the organisers have been able to juggle rounds 1 & 2 and keep the same overall schedule. All remaining competitors have received an email from Alan Cottle explaining the new deadlines, and like Alan I would encourage those still in the KO’s to use this time to arrange outstanding 1st round games and where both players are already through to get ahead and arrange 2nd round games.
We are determined to continue with the popular Turkey and Ham Trot on Sunday the 13th December (for new members this is a step-a-side scramble and as a drawn event is also a great way to meet different people in the club). Obviously, a sign-up sheet is a problem as the club is shut, so this year we will do a virtual sign-up with anyone wanting to play registering with Neil Tunbridge by Saturday the 5th December at the latest. Another aspect we cannot do is the normal presentation of Christmas goodies to all the teams and the infamous Paxo to the team coming in last; so this time around we will stick with cash (on cards) as a way to distribute some Christmas cheer, although we will still look to organise a little socially distanced Christmas tipple & treats at the halfway hut.
Of course, in the unfortunate event that the lockdown is extended, we will need to reschedule or reformat the T&H Trot and further reschedule the winter KO’s. So, fingers crossed everyone that we are allowed out again on the 3rd December.
Masters sweep
There was a great response to the sweep, numbers were going like hot cakes and my phone nearly melted with the volume of requests especially in the first few hours of announcing it.
The prize fund will be distributed as follows:
Top Amateur – £10 (assuming at least one of them makes the cut)
Top 4
1st £46
2nd £34.50
3rd £23
4th £11.50
Note if there are ties the distribution would alter e.g. if there is a joint 2nd the distribution would be 1st £46, 2nd £28.75 each, 4th £11.50
Given the popularity we will definitely run other sweeps for the Majors in 2021, the good news being for the other three Majors there are 156 players which will mean those who missed out this time will get a chance to enter. Watch this space.
If there is any topic, you’d like covered in future volumes please drop me a line, but until then stay well and stay safe.
Tim
Full Runner and Riders in the Master’s Sweep
| Masters Invitee | BGC Member | Masters Invitee | BGC Member | Masters Invitee | BGC Member |
| Duncan, Tyler | Kev Lucas | Rose, Justin | Jon Waters | Smith, Cameron | Ian McGowan |
| Griffin, Lanto | Charlie Hopkins | van Rooyen, Erik | Steve Hurrion | Wallace, Matt | Michael Harvie |
| Kisner, Kevin | Lesley Crick | Westwood, Lee | Kieron Young | Lyle, Sandy | Paul Brack |
| Michel, Lukas | Eddie Stubbs | Poston, J.T | Adrian Bourne | Sugrue, James | Nick Drollas |
| Schauffele, Xander | Terry Gay | Pan, C.T. | Steve Ghost | Janewattananond, Jazz | Andy Dean |
| Thomas, Justin | Andy Rumble | McDowell, Graeme | Cathy Sidhom | DeChambeau, Bryson | Phil Rhodes |
| Weir, Mike | Graham Gomez | Kuchar, Matt | Andy Rankin | Day, Jason | Andy McGillivray |
| Woods, Tiger | Len Kirton | Kang, Sung | Danny Mohindra | Olazabal, Jose Maria | Pat Wilkins |
| Cabrera Bello, Rafael | John Wright | Immelman, Trevor | Kelvin Harman | Im, Sungjae | Betty Loveland |
| Imahira, Shugo | Dave Allard | Hatton, Tyrrell | Don Baillie | Couples, Fred | Eddie Parsonage |
| Lin, Yuxin | Mark Fuller | Fitzpatrick, Matthew | Mark Hughes | Johnson, Dustin | Robyn Cattell |
| Todd, Brendon | Sharon Wright | Augenstein, John | Peter Gray | Stenson, Henrik | Ros Shepherd |
| Woodland, Gary | Neil Tunbridge | Kokrak, Jason | Dalma Scott | Matsuyama, Hideki | Barry Wilkins |
| Ogletree, Andy | Stuart Palmer | Morikawa, Collin | John Blackley | Frittelli, Dylan | Gill Brack |
| Homa, Max | Bob Besley | Schwartzel, Charl | Tony Clarke | Cantlay, Patrick | Sue Beaman |
| An, Byeong Hun | Gary Walker | Wiesberger, Bernd | Tony Woolford | Leishman, Marc | John Donelan |
| Scheffler, Scottie | El Rhodes | McIlroy, Rory | Chris Tyler | Snedeker, Brandt | Ben Haymes |
| Watson, Bubba | Phil Johnson | Howell III, Charles | Ricky Betteridge | Walker, Jimmy | Roger Borer |
| Wolff, Matthew | Sue Munday | Champ, Cameron | Mags Aylott | Singh, Vijay | Rosie Shelley |
| Taylor, Nick | Alan Herring | Ancer, Abraham | Steph Butcher | Reavie, Chez | Helen Wickens |
| Perez, Victor | Hilary Rankin | Hadwin, Adam | Phil Crichton | Putnam, Andrew | Peter Wickens |
| Mize, Larry | Simeon Potter | Koepka, Brooks | Bev Clarke | Lashley, Nate | Debbie Rose |
| Kim, Si Woo | Pauline Bourne | Lowry, Shane | Sarah Hussey | Garcia, Sergio | Warren Fisher |
| Glover, Lucas | Beryl Tatnell | Poulter, Ian | David Poat | Fleetwood, Tommy | Jake Grogan |
| Finau, Tony | Nick Mabbutt | Scott, Adam | Mike Everton | Casey, Paul | Ann Pressey |
| Bezuidenhout, Christiaan | Bob McDonnald | Willett, Danny | Geraldine Edwards | Spieth, Jordan | Dean Laval |
| Fowler, Rickie | Jeff Knott | Simpson, Webb | Seamus Maher | Reed, Patrick | Wally Coleman |
| Harding, Justin | Roy Fellowes | Na, Kevin | Lesley Wood | Rahm, Jon | Allen Collenson |
| Landry, Andrew | Graham Symonds | Johnson, Zach | Myles Carroll | Munoz, Sebastian | Bill Jenkins |
| Niemann, Joaquin | Mike Blacker | Mickelson, Phil | Tim Dedman | Horschel, Billy | Andy Trainor |
| Oosthuizen, Louis | Mike Arnold | Langer, Bernhard | Colin Crick | Gallegos, Abel | Doug Patterson |
| Molinari, Francesco | Graham Wallace | Conners, Corey | Viv Harrison |
