Captain's Blog, 7th May 2025

Wow what a week it’s been! Another win for our Rangers team on Thursday beating North Middlesex 4.5 to 3.5. Friday Club Night was very well attended with music by the jazz trio, then Saturday’s May Stableford was slightly quieter as it was a Bank Holiday weekend, nevertheless 69 players took part, and the overall winner was Macauley Sharp, beating Graham Trimmer on count back with 40 points. Division 1 was won by Nigel Bidmead with 38 points.

Division 1 (Points)

Nigel Bidmead (38)

John Stolliday (37)

Rob Collett (37)

Division 2 (Points)

Macauley Sharp (40)

Graham Trimmer (40)

Pete Wafford (39)

Sunday saw the last of the Winter finals completed (the Edgar Collar Cup), and the 36-hole final was finally won by Club President Iain Lanario, and Andrew Corden beating Dave Webbing and Tim Clarke, 20 players turned out for the four ball draw, which was won by Jack, Dave Webbing, Paul Clark, and Stephen Budgett. In the afternoon, Alison and I had out first defeat in a knockout comp, losing in the Rose Bowl to Ruth Goulding and David Jackland. Well played all.

The first big event for my Captain’s year, Charity Day, took place on Monday - a slightly stressful run up to it with so many people working tirelessly in the background to make it happen. Leigh and his team were out on Sunday night and early Monday morning cutting and rolling the greens and generally beautifying the course, ready to test 120 golfers on the day. And they did not disappoint - we had so many compliments on the day of how nice the course looked. The day started with bacon rolls, coffee, and pastries, then everything seemed to fall into place. Peter and Sue from Nightingale made sure people got raffle tickets, a 9th Spurs legend - Teddy Sheringham - made a surprise appearance, and then we had a shotgun start with the whole course loaded, including an extra putting competition as players came through the 18th.

Danny and Jack did a fantastic job raising money with Beat The Pro on the 13th and some absolutely lovely cakes kindly made by some of the ladies. Drinks were served in the hut by my wife Hannah, Vicky Ward, and Lesley Avent. The generosity of members and guests on the day was outstanding and the total amount raised will be announced in next week’s blog, as there is still so much cash and many card payments to reconcile. As we finished the golf, we drew the raffle and held the auction, both of which were filled with incredibly generous donations from our members, raising even more money for the Charity. Second place on the day was Rob Clegg, Denis O’Shea, Kyley Bland, and Graham Corr, and first place was Carol and Andy Dodd and Anneka and Tom Vestey. After all of the presentations, we were given a superb two-course feast put together by Roy and his team, which finished off a wonderful and very memorable day. My sincere thanks again to all who took part both on the day and everyone who worked behind the scenes to make it such a success.

Now unfortunately a bit of a nag, please do not park in the disabled bays by the Pro Shop unless you have a genuine reason to use them. It stops those who are in genuine need of parking nearer to the clubhouse. Also, the two VIP spaces to the right of the clubhouse are not to be used by anyone other than the two members who kindly bought them in our charity auction.

A bit of housekeeping; when you enter a card for handicap purposes, please try your best to make the scores or strokes as legible as possible, every effort will be made to decipher them, but they will be voided if they are too difficult to read.

Danny and I are very much looking forward to playing our Captain and pro Challenges, which will culminate with which ever pair manages to beat us by the biggest margin, being invited to play a rematch at Royal Cromer Golf Club, please email Danny or myself and we can book you in.

Please remember to repair pitch marks and divots. This helps enormously with the repair of the course and greens if done straight away. We have a divot repair evening on May 19th at 5pm with lasagne, salad and garlic bread provided afterwards to all volunteers - please sign up if you are able to help. As the hut is self-service on a Saturday for the time-being, please leave it as you wish to find it. Unfortunately, it is becoming messier every week and if it can’t be kept clean we will have to keep it closed.

As we are now underway for the season, a reminder that the 13th is the Captain’s Charity Hazard. If you go into the water then a donation into any of the buckets around the clubhouse will be gratefully received, if like me that does happen a little too often! Then an idea to see you through the year could be a one-off donation via the JustGiving Page of £10.

Guy Croton
Club Captain

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