"Wednesday 17th May and it is the day of the Stags Spring Away Day. This is normally a day when the heavens open and we all get very wet. However this year no such luck. Dry, warm, you could almost believe Spring had arrived. We took a chance on Bromsgrove, based on a recommendation, from a previous Captain, who had heard it was good value.
Well, what a nice surprise it was. Well organised reception, good bacon roll and strong coffee set us up. The course was in fine condition and dry, well marked out with GRU where necessary, lots of greenside and fairway bunkers and greens that were true and fast. Time markers every four holes to remind us to keep to schedule and all of the early groups did. But the course was tough and very challenging contravening the slope index it carries. Consequently with few exceptions scoring was below par, in fact considerably below par!!
Now with 31 golfers of average standard you would think that a goodly percentage would get the ball on the green and contest the nearest the pin. Oh no, not this lot. Not one Stag got the ball on the dancefloor and the prize was turned into a fourth prize in the comp. And when the longest drive was on the 18th when all most of the Stags could do was walk slowly along the fairway playing a shot every 50 or 60 yards and looking forward to their lunch, it is no wonder that the longest drive was won by the youngest player in the field, not really a Stag, but invited because he plays in more Stags games than most. One of Isaac's guys who should be out there picking vegetables and fruit and contributing to our pension!
Three or Four returned good scores and the winner of the Bill Collier Cup with a score of 39 points was a new Stags , who looks barely old enough to be one, and has been spraying the ball around Stoneleigh to places no-one has seen before, hitting 2 irons which sometimes, but not often, go straight won the tournament followed by the aforementioned youngster leaving Bandit Bill to come in third and Speedy Ron fourth.
Lunch was very good which rounded of a good day. Scores recorded were as follows

The first Stags competition of the new golfing year took place on Monday 17th April. This was the annual Captain's versus Past Captain's match. This is a relatively straight forward competition with pairs of comparable handicaps playing scratch match play in six mini tournaments of three holes of Texas scramble, Foursomes and Better Ball. Each played twice, once on the front nine and once on the back nine. The score of the match should therefore add up to 6, maximum. Well the Captain had to interpret most of the cards to obtain the correct result. It is no wonder that Rish! wants to extend maths training to all 18 year olds, just don't ask any of the Stags to become tutors.
The tournament raised £144 for the Captain's Charity.
It was a very close fought competition and the Captain's team eventually won by 7 matches to 5. David Gibbs , the past Captain presented David Templeton the present Captain with the Trophy. Of particular note was the win by Keith Owen and his partner Nigel Palmer that caused much merriment and celebration. Well done Keith!!

Full results were as follows

The finals of the AWOWS were held at Stoneleigh Deer Park with Teams from Atherstone, Whitefields, Oakridge, Windmill and Stoneleigh.

The AWOWS has two competitions, the Winter League played over 6 months and the Fife Cup played for on Finals Day. The Winter League was a close call between Oakridge and Atherstone by only one point and was won and retained by Oakridge.

The finals day at Stoneleigh was a great success in both the weather that held off as well as the organisation of the event. The top three individual prizes were won by, Ellis Roberts (Whitefelds) on 40 points, Phil Youett (Stoneleigh) on 37 points and Bill Griffin on 36 points.

The nearest the pins were won by Ed Iles (Oakridge) on the 15th and Eric Ward (Atherstone) on the 11th​​​​​​​​.

I am pleased to say that on home turf the overall winners on the day and winners of the FIFE CUP were Stoneleigh narrowly beating Atherstone in to second place with Oakridge third, Whitefields fourth and Windmill last. Team on the day were David Gibbs, Dave Templeton, Mike Gilbey, Jim Jobson, Michael Quinn, Stu Bryan, Bill Griffin, Richard Parham, Nigel Palmer and Phil Youett.

Well done to the team!.

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: