Senior Captain's Drive-in and Jack Wisbey (Stableford) Cup 2023
30th January 2023
Captain Kev's Big Day
The big drive-in moment: personal fortunes to be decided by Captain Kev's 3 Iron
Last year's Seniors' Captain Dave, had to dip his hand into a bag to decide which random club Kev had to use for his drive in. Out came his trusty (!) 3 iron - yes at least one senior has one.
Captain Kev's Playing Partners
The Big Swing
I was going to ask one of the pros, Wayne or Russell, to give us an analysis of the swing plane, but I've had so many lessons now I can do it myself!! Set up ok, although slightly too far back in stance; pull back good with weight change to back foot (a little more maybe?); Good arm extension in top of swing - head not quite staying over the ball in the turn; not enough weight change from the back to front in the downswing and follow through. What happened to the ball? More later.
Seniors Captain's Lunch and The Jack Wisbey Cup
After the game, which went better for some than others (!), came the Captain's lunch.
The Captain's choice of Lasagne was well received, particularly as the food quality was excellent on the day. Most also loved the old favourite of Apple Crumble and Custard for dessert, but such was the size of the helpings most also didn't manage to finish it! It must have been big!
Captain Kev has said all along that there would be few words in his year, and that's just how it was - business done quickly, with no fuss or long speeches, leaving more time for conversation and fun!
The Captain's choice of Lasagne was well received, particularly as the food quality was excellent on the day. Most also loved the old favourite of Apple Crumble and Custard for dessert, but such was the size of the helpings most also didn't manage to finish it! It must have been big!
Captain Kev has said all along that there would be few words in his year, and that's just how it was - business done quickly, with no fuss or long speeches, leaving more time for conversation and fun!
Recognising Colleagues' Contributions
One of the most important initial acts as Captain was for Kev to record both his personal and our collective thanks to Dave Skinner and present him with a gift in recognition. Dave's commitment in taking on the Captain's role in 2022 at short notice, and managing that role excellently with good humour and good leadership led to a very successful year for the Seniors Section. Thanks from us all Dave.
It was Seniors' Chairman (and current Club Vice Captain) Steve Abbott's turn next to make a presentation to Chris Vander. Chris has been and continues to be a valued member of the seniors section and has contributed enormously, serving terms as Vice- Captain and Captain of the seniors. He served on the section's committee for some years and acted as Assistant Competitions' Secretary, doing much work in the background, and then more recently took on the full Competitions' Secretary role. Since deciding to step down he has been mentoring Ray Wells to take over the role, which is being managed this year very successfully. Chris has been a model Seniors supporter, helping colleagues out (always ready to look for a golf bargain, refining grips, finding someone who can help sort out a problem etc) and has become a friend of many. In deciding to take a step back (yes, he really is 80!) it was appropriate that we marked that with a presentation gift. Thanks from all of us Chris.
Drive in Charity Board Results
Vice Captain (hope he knows what he's let himself in for!!) Mike Tringham announced the result of the drive-in and cash winners!
At 111 yards it wasn't Kev's best (that lack of weight transfer to the front!!), but it did beat Dave's drive last year of 76 yards! It was also 'equidistant' (vice captain Mike Ts exact term) from a guess made by Chrissie Severn (at 107 yards) and the 6 people who had guessed the ditch.
The Drive in Distance Board raised £440. So £210 was awarded to the 7 'winners' (£30 each to Chrisse, Jo House services, Spiggy, John Clare, Bill, Ivan and guess who VC Mike Tringham - he clearly had no faith in his Captain ) and £230 to the Club's nominated Charity - Corbets Tey School. At least 4 of those winners have donated their share of the winnings to Captain Kev's personal Charity.
At 111 yards it wasn't Kev's best (that lack of weight transfer to the front!!), but it did beat Dave's drive last year of 76 yards! It was also 'equidistant' (vice captain Mike Ts exact term) from a guess made by Chrissie Severn (at 107 yards) and the 6 people who had guessed the ditch.
The Drive in Distance Board raised £440. So £210 was awarded to the 7 'winners' (£30 each to Chrisse, Jo House services, Spiggy, John Clare, Bill, Ivan and guess who VC Mike Tringham - he clearly had no faith in his Captain ) and £230 to the Club's nominated Charity - Corbets Tey School. At least 4 of those winners have donated their share of the winnings to Captain Kev's personal Charity.
Competition Results
35 Seniors managed to get time off to play in the Jack Wisbey Comp immediately following the drive in. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case for Club Captain Wayne, who was due to play in Kev's group - the price you pay for being a working youngster. But Wayne was able to attend the drive in and later on the lunch - our thanks for going out of his way to do that.
Given the time of year the weather was very kind to us and the course was in pretty reasonable condition considering what it has been through recently. But we have been playing a lot of PWP everywhere recently, so it was bit of a shock to some to suddenly find that those shots landing off the fairway couldn't be set up better! The wide ranging scores might have reflected that!
Based on the handicaps of those playing on the day the Handicap split for 2023 Winners and Seconds' of 'on the day' prizes was set at 'Cat 1 : Up to 22' and 'Cat 2 : 23 Plus"
The overall winner of the JW Cup and 1st in the Category 1 Group, was Kevin Benmore with an excellent 42 points. Great result - well done to the other Kev.
(NB If we'd managed the Senior Captain succession differently we could have had a year of 'Kev's')
2nd in Category 1 was Dave Handley, with 37 points, playing off the lowest HC on the day.
Very well done to Dave.
Last year's JW Cup winner Tim Wayman continued to show well, coming 1st in Category 2 (and 2nd overall) with an excellent 40 points. Excellent Tim.
2nd place in the Category 2 Group proved to be a little controversial as it was Ian Patterson with 39 points, on a better back nine from Dennis O'Neill. But hard as it may be neither was present for the prize giving and in line with well established and published rules they could not therefore receive the cash prizes. So up stepped Henry Vialls whose 38 in the Category 2 Group was good enough to take the money.
I think a hard luck to Ian and Dennis is the least we can do!!
Capt Kev kept the final prize of the Wooden Spoon for our own man of the NORTH Ken Paton, who managed 18 points but then found he had been DQ'd for not submitting his score! As a newbie he says he wasn't told that he needed to do that - a full inquiry is underway which will be published in Jan 2024.
Additional prizes went to:
Dave Handley for the longest drive (10th)
Chris Vander for NP on the 8th
Spiggy (Simon Hall) for NP on the 18th.
Presentation photos below, along with the full results.
And for the curtain call Capt Kev offered for auction a 4 ball voucher at Stapleford Abbotts GC - It went to our intrepid travelling golf reporter - Spiggy. I'm sure it was a bargain!
And finally, some lovely and not so lovely tables of seniors