June 2017 (No 91)

Henley Seniors Monthly Newsletter

The Long and Winding Road! – Henley members Eddie Hodgkiss(L) and Dennis Lawrence(R) run the

Knowle Fun (?) Run for the clubs charity.

Editorial

Perhaps the most common utterance in the club house bar is ‘by gum it was slow out there today’.

Slow is a very subjective term and will differ from golfer to golfer but personally I have experienced

relatively few slow (5 hours?) rounds in recent times. This probably has something to do with the

fact that I tend to play with experienced golfers who play briskly. Have you ever thought that a

minority of members play too quickly – ‘I had a great round today not far off 3 hours’. Playing at

break neck speed puts pressure on everyone else on the course and leads to friction on the

course. A four hour round of golf is an absolute pleasure. Always remember golfing great Walter

Hagen’s quote when playing golf – “Don‘t hurry. Don’t worry. You’re only here for a short visit. So

don’t forget to stop and smell the roses.”

Max Jones

Max Jones Page 2

May Monday Results

Tuesday 2nd May – 3 Ball Stableford

Men (8 teams)

1st – Kevin Walsh/Brian Hiorns/John West 88pts.

2nd – Keith Atherton/Ken Miller/Ray Chapman 85 pts.

Mixed (15 teams)

1st – Roger Bennett/Chris Johnson/Leslie Garrett 86

pts.

2nd - Glyn Carr/Tony Ferrett/Kate Watts 85 pts

3rd – Malcolm George/Janet Atherton/John Ibbotson

84 pts.

3rd – Fred Holtermann/Helen Chapman/Rob Bassett

84 pts

8th May Walker Cup – Stableford

Men – Len Postlethwaite 37 pts., Stuart Brookes 36,

Gareth Ginns 36, Roger Bennett 36, Steve Perring

35, Alf Rourke 34.

Ladies – Ena Mack 36 pts., Elena Johnson 33,

Maggie Taylor 33, Jane Bourne 33, Tessa

Richardson 31, Carollyn Mayall 30.

Match winners – Men’s Team.

May 15th - 4 club challenge

Men – Kevin Walsh 38 pts., Terry Blundell 37, Trevor

Webb 35, Pete Holden 35, Peter Hudson 35, Keith

Tarran 34, Keith Atherton 34,Roger Bennett 34.

Ladies – Liz Gilbert 31 pts., Pauline Maycock 27, Jan

Mason 27, Barbara Jones 27.

May 22nd Medal (Q)

Men – Mike Coombs 72 net (99 gross), Steve Wild 72

(81), Derek Williams 72 (88), Ken Miller 72 (92), John

Fitzpatrick 74 (92), Bob Pickard 76 (96), Steve

Perring 76 (94), Jim Griffith 76 (96), Alan Mobbs 76

(94).

Ladies – Helen Chapman 78 net (104 gross), Ena

Mack 80 (102), Judith Bootes 81 (115), Helen Carr 81

(110), Jane Bourne 82 (109).

May 30th Pairs Stableford

Men – 1st – Tony Capps/Terry Blundell. 2nd – Pete

Holden/Leon Mack. 3rd Keith Mawdsley/Terry Smith.

Mixed – Chris Scrimshire/Jane Roby. 2nd – Chris

Bootes/Betty Day.

The Terry Darby Trophy

The Fiddlers played the Terry Darby Putter Trophy

competition on Friday May26th.

Played twice annually in memory of Terry Darby,

arguably one of the Senior's best ever putters, this

was the 19th time the event has been held. Derek

Healing has competed in every one, having his first

win at the 19th attempt with 26 putts.

Bob Pickard, Derek Healing, Peter Holden

The Fiddle was won by Bob Pickard who also shared

the back 9 prize with Peter Holden. £50 was raised

for the Captain's charity

Max Jones Page 3

FRIDAY

The Friday Fiddle is a well-organised men’s

competition promoted by Derek Healing with enough

rules to fill a filing cabinet. Basically the Fiddle is a

stableford competition where cash prizes are

awarded for front nine, back nine and overall score.

That is the good news but the bad news is that

handicap shots are deducted for the winners.

May Fiddle winners were:

May 5th Jim Griffith (17/15/32) & Kevin Walsh

(13/18/31)

May 12th Chris Scrimshire (19/14/33 playing off

10), Gareth Ginns (13/16/29) & Les Ness (14/16/30)

May 19th Richard Ward (18/19/37 playing off 14) &

Rick Bailey (19/13/32)

May 26th Bob Pickard (18/17/35) & Peter Holden

(17/17/34)

MONDAY MORNINGS

Date Organiser Scorer Competition

June 5

L Garrett L Garrett Jarrett Salver and Individual Stableford Q

June 12

S Perring M+S Taylor Reid Trophy

June 19

R+S Hawkins

S Perring Peter Roberts Trophy

June 26

K+J Atherton

C Scrimshire

Jarrett Trophy (Men) medal Q

For those who do not know – an e mail has been

sent – the Kent Trophy has been put back to July

3rd. Margaret Kent will come on that day.

The Jarrett Salver – for Men over 70 on the day-

will take place as scheduled on June 5. All others

will play an Individual Stableford

Ray Chapman

Competitions

There has been a change in the programme published in the diary.

The Kent cup for ladies scheduled for Monday 5th June has been postponed due to a fixture clash. Consequently the lunch has been cancelled. The Jarrett Salver WILL HOWEVER STILL BE PLAYED but will NOT be a shotgun start. This salver stableford competition is open to MEN aged 70 and over. [On day of competition]. Those men under the age of 70 will play a normal stableford. When you collect your cards you MUST indicate at the top whether you are 70 and hence are in the Jarrett competition. [Exact age not required!!! The prize money will be allocated in age divisions NOT the usual handicap divisions. Ladies will have a separate stableford competition.

You will be allocated a tee time broadly in line with your usual Monday preference. [Remember when you signed up it was shown as a shot gun]. Hopefully this will be emailed to you on Friday June 2nd

The Jarrett cup will be played as a medal on June 26th as shown in the diary

On Monday 12th June we have the Reid Trophy which is a mixed Canadian Greensomes competition. On the following Monday, THE 19th June, there is the Peter Roberts Trophy which is an irons only competition played off Blue and Red tees [hybrids allowed]

You will have noticed that we are making more use of blue tees this year following requests from a number of seniors.

Sorry for the changes on the 5th June but clashes do sometimes happen!!

Leslie Garrett

Competition secretary, Seniors

Max Jones Page 4

Longest Day Challenge

On Tuesday 20th June four of our club will be taking

part in this year’s Longest Day Challenge. They will

be playing four rounds of golf at Henley in one day in

an effort to raise sponsorship monies for the

Captains’ charity which this year is the Solihull

Children’s Special Needs Association Green Lane

Playgroup (go to www.scsna.org.uk for more details)

Rob Bassett(missing from pic), Jim Dyer(chef), Steve

Taylor and Jim Griffith will be teeing off the first tee at

4.30 am and finishing at approximately 7.30pm some

72 holes and 26 miles later, ably supported by

volunteers who will drive buggies to carry their clubs,

provide food, drink and moral support.

Jim is a veteran of this event which started a few

years ago as an idea from Ed Ingram and is chief

sponsor chaser!

Should you wish to sponsor them there will be a

number of ways you can donate.

1. Put your name on the sponsor form when you see

any of these characters.

OR

2. Visit longestday.org.uk and click on ‘Donate’.

Please Gift Aid any of your donations to allow the

government to add 25% on top of your donation, to

do this you simply need to enter your address no

other details are needed.

We do need a couple of volunteers at various times of

the day to drive the buggies that will be carrying our

clubs around the course. See Jim if you can help.

Like last year, we are considering organising a

barbecue starting at about 7.30/8pm at the end of the

challenge although this is yet to be confirmed.

Jim Griffith

HENLEY MIXED OPEN Sunday 24th September

18 hole Better Ball Stableford

Put this in your diary!

Max Jones Page 5

PLAYER OF THE MONTH – Eileen Bennett

Current Occupation – Retired

Previous occupation - Gents hair stylist.

Birth Place/Home Town – Selly Oak Birmingham

Present Handicap – 17.5

Best ever handicap – 16

Sporting Life – Swimming, aerobics, keep fit.

Best Golfing Moment – two holes in one!

Worst Golfing Moment – Packing up for six months

(hated golf!)

Golfing Honours won – None – still waiting.

Strongest Aspect of the Game – Putting.

Weakest aspects of the game – keeping cool!

Most Liked About Henley – Everybody from the

green keepers to the members.

Most like to Change at Henley – bunkers –

everything else is great

Favourite player Past – Jack Nicklaus

Present – Fred Couples

Make of golf clubs – Callaway

Ball preferred - Titlelist

When did I take up golf? – 30 years ago.

Favourite course – Henley.

Other interests. – Grandchildren, reading, food.

Tip for beginner – Just enjoy the game of golf.

Motto in life – Take every day as it comes.

Hole in One! Congratulations to Graham Oakey who aced the 3rd on Friday 19th May with his trusty 9 iron. His luck continued when he entered the deserted clubhouse and he quietly whispered “drinks all round”.

Below is the board recording the elite group of Henley golfers who have recorded a hole-in-one in senior comps.

Max Jones Page 6

NATURE NOTES

We recently enjoyed our annual spring bird watching visit to North Norfolk, a prime location for both rare and common migrant and resident birds. We recorded 112 different species during the week. None were "lifers" that we had not seen before but we spotted several rarities, including; Bittern, Spoonbill, Glossy Ibis, Stone Curlew and Turtle Doves, the latter we used to see every summer when I was young but they have suffered a devastating population reduction over the last few years. My week's highlight was a male Ruff in full breeding plumage, a condition I have not seen before. A medium sized wader it is not threatened world- wide but there are very few pairs in the UK where we mainly see migrants in passage.

Ruff

The males in spring grow this extravagant neck collar

"ruff" and meet at a lek, an open grassy area, where

they display flamboyantly and aggressively to other

males and prospective female partners. There is wide

variation in colour of the neck decoration from white,

through orange or brown to black. The female Ruff is

called a Reeve and she has quite different plumage.

Reeve

They were a much sought delicacy between the 15th

and 18th centuries when fowlers would trap scores

together at the lek using clap-nets 14yds by 4yds.

The birds were then fattened in pens on a diet of milk,

bread and hempseed before sale. In 1769 a fowler in

Spalding, Lincolnshire made 60 guineas for his bag of

several hundred birds. This wholesale slaughter

resulted in an unsustainable population and the bird

was completely gone from England by 1850.

Attempts at recolonization by importing fertile eggs

from Holland and placing them in Redshank nests

was only partially successful and breeding Ruffs

remain a rarity.**.

The RSPB estimates only between 0 and 11 breeding

pairs may be found in the UK; hence a full plumage

male is a very welcome, although uncommon, sight.

Derek Healing

**ref: Birds Britannica, Mark Cocker & Richard

Mabey, Chatto & Windus 2005

Max Jones Page 7

H.a.K.S. Trophy

Henley’s unique golf society – the HaKS (Hips

and Knees Society) – is made up of members who

have undergone a replacement knee or hip

operation.

The 2017 championship will take place at the

Shirley Golf Club on Wednesday 23rd of August.

Rick Bailey is the organiser.

33 members are now in our Facebook group. This group is

a closed secure group which can only be seen by people

who are members so it’s nice and safe.

If you use facebook and would like to join please log into

your facebook account and then search for The Henley

Golf and Country Club and ask to join.

Thanks Roger Bennett

If you think you have had a bad day!

In a state qualifying completion for the USA Open

Clifton McDonald, playing off a 1 handicap, took 127

shots to finish last – 68 for the front 9 and 60 for the

back 9 which included a 14 at the par 5 seventeenth.

Just to make his day complete 0.1 was added to his

handicap.

TIGHT FIT!

Figure 1 -Sutton Coldfield is a superb Midland course but has a

unique feature - the greens are surrounded by fences to keep

the cows/deer off the greens. Ray Chapman just about

squeezes through the entrance to the green!

SENIOR MENS OPEN

Thursday 29th June 2017

Many thanks to members who have offered to help at

the start of this year’s Open.

I could do with a small group to help at the end with

producing the results, you’d need to arrive at about

1.30pm and you’d need to be there for an hour or so.

Any volunteers? Please email me at

rogerbennetted@btinternet.com if you can.

Thanks Roger

Max Jones Page 8

QUOTE

NOTE FOR YOUR DIARY

The diary gives the 13th of September as the

date for the Midweek Championship which is

strange since we are now all 7 day members! In

fact this is the date of the Henley Men’s Pairs

Championship which was first held in 2016.

Make a note in your diary.

Max Jones

G.I.T.S. News

This month we have worked on a variety of jobs. The rotovation has almost been completed, ready for seeds in the next week. Hoping for warm, wet weather! The bedding plants will be put out in the next week hopefully. The 10th area of beds, usually with weeds has been cleared and has the rose bed on the 1st. Filling around trees continues. We have also helped with the tining. Pete H will work on the steps on the 10th shortly. Thank you to those who bought seeds. We raised £110 which will go towards compost, manure and more seed purchase for next year. The 4 Round Challenge We have started the sponsoring process in aid of the Green Lane Nursery. We are already up to £400 and hope to raise approx. £2,500. The event is on Tuesday 20th June and there will be a barbecue at 7.30 approx. Everyone welcome. The Greens/Ground Committee We will be meeting mid-June so if there is anything you feel we need to raise just mention to John West, Maggie Taylor or myself over the next two weeks. Jim Griffith

Max Jones Page 9

Fiddlers Golf

Grumpy Golfer’s thoughts on the HANDICAP

STROKE INDEX

I was fascinated to study the publication in last

month’s Saga of the average scores against Par

which demonstrated the playing difficulty of The

Henley course, for men, off the yellow tees. The

statistics reminded me that when I joined the club

Hole 6 was a difficult S.I.1 and it seems it remains so

to this day! So I decided to read the CONGU

recommendations (not rules) to help me try and

understand why so called ‘recommendations’ are out

of sync’ with members’ playing performances on our

course. It may be the length of the course since

seven of the hardest holes are also seven of the

longest? It could be that our course is ‘imbalanced’

with six of the hardest playing holes featuring on the

front nine? All this is compounded by the statistics

which suggest that Hole 15 plays as the third easiest

hole on the course (S.I.4) yet when the wind blows,

as it did for the Seniors Walker Cup and for the Club

May Medal, the same hole plays second hardest!!

Rules of Golf 33-4 requires Committees to ’publish a table

indicating the order of holes at which handicap strokes are

to be given or received’. To provide consistency at

Affiliated Clubs it is recommended that the allocation is

made based on the following principles.

1. Of paramount importance for match play competition is

the even spread of the strokes to be received at all

handicap differences over the 18 holes.

2. This is best achieved by allocating the odd numbered

strokes to the most difficult of the two nines, usually the

longer nine, and the even numbers to the other nine.

3. The first and second stroke index holes should be

placed close to the centre of each nine and the first six

strokes should not be allocated to adjacent holes. The 7th

to the 10th indices should be allocated so that a player

receiving 10 strokes does not receive strokes on three

consecutive holes.

4. None of the first eight strokes should be allocated to the

first or the last hole, and at clubs where competitive

matches may be started at the 10th hole, at the 9th or 10th

holes. This avoids a player receiving an undue advantage

on the 19th hole should a match continue to sudden death.

Unless there are compelling reasons to the contrary, stroke

indices 9, 10, 11 and 12 should be allocated to holes 1, 9,

10 and 18 in such order as shall be considered

appropriate.

5. Subject to the foregoing recommendations, when

selecting each stroke index in turn holes of varying length

should be selected. Index 1 could be a par 5, index 2 a

long par 4, index 3 a shorter par 4 and index 4 a par 3.

There is no recommended order for this selection, the

objective being to select in index sequence holes of

varying playing difficulty. Such a selection provides more

equal opportunity for all handicaps in match play and

Max Jones Page 10

Stableford and Par competitions than an order based upon

hole length or difficulty to obtain par.

Note 1: Par is not an indicator of hole difficulty. Long par 3

and 4 holes are often selected for low index allocation in

preference to par 5 holes on the basis that it is easier to

score par on a par 5 hole than 4 on a long par 4. Long par

3 and 4 holes are difficult pars for low handicap players but

often relatively easy bogeys for the player with a slightly

higher handicap. Difficulty in relation to par is only one of

several factors to be taken into account when selecting

stroke indices.

Note 2: When allocating a stroke index it should be noted

that in the majority of social matches there are small

handicap differences thereby making the even distribution

of the lower indices of great importance.

The above recommendations for the ‘Handicap Stroke

Index’ provision are principally directed at match play and

have proved to be suitable for that purpose. The ‘Handicap

Stroke Index’, however, is also used widely for Stableford,

par and bogey competitions. In these forms of stroke play

competition the need to have a uniform and balanced

distribution of strokes is less compelling. There is a cogent

case for the Index in such competitions to be aligned to the

ranking of holes in terms of playing difficulty irrespective of

hole number. Such a ranking facility is available through

many of the licensed handicap software programs currently

used by Affiliated Clubs. Clubs that conduct a significant

number of Stableford, par and bogey competitions may

wish to provide separate stroke indices for match play and

the listed forms of stroke play. To avoid confusion this

would be best done on separate scorecards.

Conclusions from reading the above suggest to me

that we have interpreted the recommendations too

stringently and failed to acknowledge that the majority

of men’s’ golf, competitive and social, played at The

Henley comprises of Stableford, par and bogey

competitions. A more flexible approach which

incorporates hole length and difficulty to obtain par is

essential for The Henley due to its length and the

degree of difficulty over the front nine holes. Our

course is the longest, off the yellows, of eleven local

courses and longest for the ladies with the exception

of Robin Hood and Shirley off the reds (see

accompanying table).Significantly only The Henley

and Stratford Park (formerly Ingon Manor) adopt

CONGU Stroke Index recommendations. More

interestingly our own Ladies Red Tee Indices do not

acknowledge CONGU recommendations either, so

let’s have a fundamental review of Stroke Indices for

2018 to benefit all handicaps.

Club Yellow Red CONGU

1 The Henley 6712 5642 Yes

2 Robin Hood 6359 5769 No

3 Shirley 6288 5688 No

4 Copt Heath 6211 5637 No

5 Ingon Manor 6139 5595 Yes

6 Hollywood 6111 5484 No

Club Yellow Red CONGU

West Mids. 6010 5454 No

Moseley 5994 5569 No

Olton 5980 5601 No

Fulford Hth. 5951 5379 No

Stratford Oaks 5843 5377 No

Rick Bailey

Max Jones Page 11