The Stags held their Christmas competition and Christmas lunch on Monday 5th December. 43 Stags played in the competition and were joined by a further 7 for lunch.
Stags were fulsome in their praise for Hendry and his team for the great work they are doing on the course, Rob Hunter for his help in the shop, the bar and kitchen staff for the excellent service during the year and Louise for all her problem solving skills and happy demeanour.
Lunch was very good and a great time was had by all the Stags. Unfortunately the 2022 quiz went down like a lead balloon as short term memory loss took over, they could not even remember the names of the 5 Secretaries of State for Education we have had this year. Will have to make it simpler next year!
The Christmas golf competition was enjoyed, this is a one club team competition on the Par three course and a range of scores occurred.(see below) The Annual Award Show for trophies won during the year was presented by Captain David Gibbs and consisted of some people having to walk the red carpet several times. Photographs were taken by our professional camera man and part time golfer Tony Britton ( commissions available)
Unfortunately the organiser forgot that Alan Brushett was a late addition and should have received the Clive Stone Trophy but the small compensation was that he was part of the winning team on the day. Presentations were made to John Astle,Dick Brown, Terry Wing and Bill Crofts for winning the Ces Dowson Trophy and the Bill Jones Trophy, to Paul Steward for winning the Summer Away Day, to Nigel Palmer for the Autumn Away Day, to Ron Maudlin and the Irish team for the Dermot Hurley Trophy, to JUlian Westwood for the Winter league, to Mike Gilbey and Bill Griffin for the Beere & O'Neill Trophy, to Bill Griffin for the Grimmer and Norton Cup, to Ron Maudlin for the Seniors over 55 Trophy and for the Order of Merit , a season long competition, in third place was Bill Griffin, in second place was Barrie Nutter and in first place and winner of the Tasker Shield was John Astle.
Surprisingly John and Ron, winners of several trophies along with Derek Ridley came last in the par three competition but won another prize for coming last. The winners on the day were Mick Lloyd, Mario Secola, Derek Grover joined at last minute by Alan Brushett.

Scores on the day were as follows

" In an age of confusion, chaos, calamities, and crisis, isn't it nice to be able to report on a nice gentle game of golf in idyllic Leicestershire countryside, followed by a wholesome lunch of beef and ale pie and good natured chat without any political jokes or allusions. Well it would be, but this is the Stags and their Autumn Away day which took place at Cosby Golf Club. Confusion reigned when, after two late drop outs, certain Stags decided to change their tee times, Chaos reigned when the longest drive marker had not been put out on the ninth tee, Calamities occurred when one Irish member lost 7 balls, I presume not on one hole, and Crisis occurred when Ron had to wait on the group ahead. But at least there were no political jokes, even the Stags know the situation is too serious for that!!

As usual it did not rain in spite of curmudgeonly forecasts by individual Stags and there were no mobile phone call on the course, heaven forfend, and the traffic was remarkably light on the eastern by-pass and all we got there on time. (I was transported by a jet propelled Mercedes so was considerably early)

The bacon rolls and coffee were good, the course was leafy, but in good nick and the greens very fast. Cosby is an interesting course with only three Par threes, two of which are very long, only two Par Fives and the rest tricky par Fours. A challenge to most Stags, a severe challenge to some Stags. By the way, the big news is that Bandit Bill is back, finalist in the summer pairs and summer singles (do you mean they haven't been completed yet!!) and a good score at Cosby. I wonder how many qualifiers he has played this year ( answers on a postcard!).

We were blessed with three guests, Mark Brown ,former occupier of the pro shop, Charles McTear, the bard and former Captain, and Chris Langbridge , surrogate son of Ron and hard working member of the fiddle!
Scores were very average with a best of 37 points. The presentation after the lunch was made by our captain David Gibbs.

A word about the nearest the pin. No marker was out but a magnificent shot of 189 yards to within two feet of the pin with a driver by Mick Jephcott had to be acknowledged and he had to be rewarded with a prize and a two! And as there was no longest drive , this became the most arduous round and this prize was deservedly won by John Woodward.

Onward and upward (in golf, of course)

Scores as follows:

In rather subdued circumstances 38 stags entered the Four nations competition and in a very close competition, Ireland, led this year by Ron Maudlin, retained the trophy with 287 points from a spirited revival from the Wales team, led by John D Woodward with 285 points, followed by Scotland, led by Peter Jamieson with 278 points and languishing in last place with 268 points were England, led by Tony Britton.

Best country scores were Ron Maudlin for Ireland with 38 points, Mike Gilbey for England with 38 points, Rick Pedrick for Scotland with 41points and David Spillane for Wales and overall winner on the day with 42 points.

Full teams performances are as follows.

The Stags Summer Away day took place on Wednesday 6th July at Nuneaton Golf Club AND IT DID NOT RAIN!

The course was challenging but in fine nick. Bacon Rolls were terrific and the 28 Stags plus three guests enjoyed the day tremendously. This was down on previous years which was a pity but affected by a late Covid withdrawal and a withdrawal by a Stag injuring himself doing DIY. (will they ever learn!!) Some good scores were returned which is slightly unusual for an Away Day but conditions allowed the ball to roll and roll and those who mastered the very tricky putting surface did very well. Lunch was good as was the after lunch discussion about matches next year, thanks for the feedback. Robin Whitehouse generously donated four bottles of wine to augment the prizes and narrowly lost both the nearest the pin and longest drive competitions. The longest drive was won by Jim Jobson and the nearest the pin by Phil Youett. In third place in the competition was Robin Cathcart, in second place was Dave Lole but the winner of the Summer Cup was Paul Steward who won by one shot and had the distinction of his golf ball never going above 6 feet high during his round. well done to Paul. The captain presented the prizes to the winners. Full results were as follows

There was a tremendous response to the Captains Day by the Stags. 17 teams of 4 entered the competition, 19 holes were sponsored, 30 prizes were given for nearest the pin and longest drive competitions and 15 prizes were donated for the raffle. In all

£ 2045 was raised for the Captains Charity, The British Heart Foundation, which was a tremendous effort. Thanks to all the Stags who donated prizes, entered the competition, bought raffle tickets, sponsored holes; your efforts were tremendous.

Before the main competition a presentation was made to the correct winner of the Stags nett championship, Ron Maudlin. He was late for the presentation!

The competition on the day was won by Terry Wing, Dick Brown, John Astle and Bill Crofts.

The Red Ball competition was won by Steve Hyland, Steve Waugh, Nick Kirby and Julian Westwood.

Winners of hole prizes and raffle prizes are shown below

Full results of main competition and Red Ball competition (only 9 teams returned their red balls) are shown below.

Nearest the pin in 3 over 70 years Terry Devlin