Another Summer meeting @ Thorpeness bites the dust. Having been bathed in sunshine the course was dry & hard, giving some Baltic golfers the opportunity to display a few shades of lobster by the end. The weekend meeting was very efficiently arranged by Chris Cox with military precision, all the pairings and groups were pre-arranged with attention to who needed buggies, extra beer and sufficient supplies to last the weekend. The field included 4 rookies, which was excellent news as BEGS is always striving for new players, especially in the Summer meeting.
After some had played a warm up 18 holes on Friday afternoon to gauge the speed of the greens, fairways and obviously checking how deep the rough was. This year it was decided to play the singles in the morning with the hope of an earlier finish at the end of the day. Nick Perry gave everyone a full demonstration of stretches and yoga positions in an impressive pre game routine. The morning golf was dominated by our current President Robert Gemmell, who stormed in with a fine 41 points. In second place was the Hon Treasurer on 39 points and bizarrely another BEGS Committee man the Hon Sec James Pendered was third on 37 points which included 2 birdies on the Par 3’s. Other important winners were Kevin Coughlan for nearest the pin, Trevor Marsh for the longest drive, Nathan Ellisdon was nearest the pin in 2 and Bob Childs won longest drive in the rough, as well as best trick shot from a bunker (see picture). All this action was swiftly followed by a “rolling lunch” and we were pushed for time by the starter, so some took their sandwich on the course.
The afternoon was pre-arranged foursomes and again high quality golf was being played despite the pressure off the tee with the foursomes format. Newcomer Tom Ward, a staunch Pilgrim, playing with Chris Cox scored 39 points and won the foursomes on a countback where they had a staggering 22 points on their inbound 9. Second place went to Duncan Jeffcock playing with our sole lady player Ildi. Legendary Thorpeness golfer Andy Powell playing with John Madden managed 36 points for 3rd place. Clearly John was on links form having scored 37 points playing the tough nearby course Aldeburgh earlier in the week.
After a shower turnaround that was faster than superman in a phone box, everyone gathered for the dinner proudly wearing their society tie & jackets, where we all tucked into a great meal with a few drinks to wash it all down. As usual the pairings were then drawn and announced for the Sunday greensomes and some interesting teams appeared. Following tradition all the rookies had to tell a joke which they all performed admirably. Trevor Marsh had volunteered to take on anyone for the old Noddy Collins bet which meant any player that beat his singles score he would pay them a fiver. Thanks for taking this on Trevor, I believe you just about broken even?
Sunday’s weather was excellent and conditions could not have been better as Chris Cox & James Pendered opened the batting. Clearly the greensome format encouraged even better scoring and the runaway winners were Nathan Ellisdon & John Madden with a staggering 44 points. They ended up 4 points clear of the wily Rigel pairing of Neil Harper & Kevin Coughlan on 41 points and in third place 2 stalwarts of the Summer meeting President Robert Gemmell and Malcolm Stephenson on 40 points. Nearest the pin was won by Bernard Coughlan, the longest drive was achieved by Robert Gemmell proving that it is not just the youngsters that can give the ball some welly. Ray Nicholls won the longest drive in the rough for the second year and rookie Paal Norenberg playing with Bernard Coughlan won nearest the pin in 2. As the scores came in, it was up to Coxy and the Hon Sec to work out the various winners in the age categories for combined scores over the w/e.
Best youngster (under 45 years old) was Nathan Ellisdon with 85 points, beating Nick Perry by 4.
Best score for age 45-60 years was John Madden on 110 points, edging out Anthony on 101.
In the 60-70 year age bracket, the winner was Chris Cox on 115 points and second place was James Pendered with 106.
Best super veteran (over 70 years young) was Robert Gemmell on 113 points which was some margin ahead of second place Duncan Jeffcock on 95.
Winner of the Bob Bird tankard - James Pendered
Most consistent player was James Greenley with the same score for all 3 rounds!
The Captain Anthony Grenfell had the task of nominating his selection for the Noddy Collins award, which is given to someone who embodies the spirit of the weekend or had a memorable shot(s) over the 3 rounds and he awarded this to our tanker rookie Steve Ballard. The overall Victor Ludorum by the slim margin of 2 points was Chris Cox on a very impressive 115 points which was achieved through consistent scoring in all 3 rounds, unlucky for Robert who had a whopping 113, in fact we had 5 players who totalled over 100 points this year so competition was hot. Well done Chris and on behalf of all the players thanks very much for all the time & effort you put in to arrange another brilliant Summer meeting.
Next year is already booked for 14/16 June 2024 at the same venue.