It seems like only yesterday but it is nearly three long years ago that the Stags rebellion started. Since that time the rebels, as I like to call them, have had three leaders. The first when he realised that they had won the rebellious vote gave up immediately and retired to his garden shed to write a thesis on how to play golf on courses in Europe when the value of the pound made it too expensive to play. The second laboured long and hard to be be strong and stable and reach a deal but eventually frightened the horses too much and was voted out by an even more rebellious rump of the rebellion who wanted a complete rout of the system and an end to the Stags as we know them. They then persuaded one of their kind (or is he?) to become the new leader but insisted he had a little poisonous aide to make sure he didn't cave in and not achieve their wishes. This new leader is a strange cove,  previously a man of words who made his living peddling lies about the Stags, he is prone to agree with anybody he talks to, so we really don't know what he really thinks or perhaps he doesn't know what he really thinks. He seems to be very happy with his role as leader however. It seems he has achieved his life's ambition.

 It is against this background that the Stags continue to organise events and competitions, hoping that the rebellion will die away or they will agree to rerun the vote and we get back to a more normal life.

 Meanwhile it is Autumn of 2019 and we have our Away day to play in.  About 37 Stags plus three interlopers played at Coventry Golf Club, a malodorous course which is in beautiful condition but suffers from the waft of Finham Sewage works and the noise of the Kenilworth By Pass. But the greens were superb and the fairways great. A pity we didn't grace their excellence by posting some big scores. But is is a tough course especially the back nine. We started with coffee and a very good bacon roll as we looked out on the course and thanked the organiser for his innate ability to pick good courses and fine weather. The first hole is better played from the white tees about 10 yards back but with an extra shot given. This happens again on the tenth hole. We of course were off yellows so no pars were recorded on this hole and only 5 bogeys  and the rest of the scores were worse. Now I am not going to analyse every hole in this fashion, suffice it to say it was a difficult start. We then entered into the mephitic area of the course which was especially effected by a south west breeze wafting across the fairways. Too many people must have had curries the previous night I think. However the quality of the course shone through and people started scoring better. The nearest the pin was on the 7th and quite a contest ensued, eventually won by Roger Burton even though he missed his putt for a birdie. The second nine are tough and include some long Par 4's and very difficult Par threes. Scoring was not so good on the back nine but the longest drive was the scene of a massive tee shot from Rohit Shah who made birdie , equalled by Nick Kirby who duffed a chip straight in the hole for birdie also.

Ham Egg and chips followed plus some delightful Tribute ale and Captain Paul gave out the prizes to the aforesaid Nearest the Pin and Longest Drive winners and the top three who each made a less that impressive 31 points but were ahead of the rest. In third place, unusually for him, was Bill Griffin, second by a whisker Charles McTear, visiting us from outer Wales, and in first place was slimline Ron Maudlin with a better back 6 score.

 Full results were as follows

Lets hope we are still able to play next year, unless the rebellion wins. We might even have more of this rubbish to read.

Eleven teams played in the Shrumble on Monday 30th September in a rain free environment.

A very close contest for 1st place ensued with the winners triumphing on the back nine with a 72 compared to the runners up 71.

Congratulations to the winners and runners up who were both well ahead of the field.

Wednesday 25th September

Congratulations to Tony Lee on taking the top spot with a score of 40 points

2nd Place was decided on count back and awarded to Norman Joyce with 37 points

Well done to both winners!

A new competition was launched on Monday 23rd September for the Stags. This was a competition sponsored by Brad Arian in memory of his wife, Delia, and aimed at raising money for Myton Hospice.

66 Stags played a pairs competition with the combined stableford scores counting. A new format and therefore we had no idea what sort of score would win as it demanded both players playing well on every hole. Quite a difficult task for some Stags.

 However a good day was enjoyed by all and although a little long with so many players, most Stags stayed for the presentation. There were three raffle prizes and a bottle of special Scotch, presented by Garry Watts was auctioned and raised £40 for the Charity( bought by Garry himself). The raffle prizes were won by Trevor Sidaway, George Lynch and Paul Turner.

 Winners of the tournament were Mike Gilbey and Colin Yapp, runners up on countback were Ken Wykes and Reg Dann and third place was taken by Ivor Williams and Dick Brown.

 It is hoped that around £600 was raised for Myton Hospice.  Thanks to everyone who took part.

 Full results were as follows.

The Stags Four Nations was held on Monday 16th September and 47 Stags competed. Maybe this will be the last Four Nations competition for who knows how many nations will be left next year. However we already saw defections and sharp practice occurring, some who had steadfastly supported the true green country defected or were bribed by some supply and confidence agreement and wound up scoring 39 points for England!! But Ireland were not averse to sharp practice sending one of theirs to last years winners to subvert them with his awful play. Oh perfectly legal you might say but a Supreme authority may have to decide. The weather was drizzly, but some played excellent golf. The only Irishman in the Ireland team  won the day with a glorious 44 points ( people asked to see his birth certificate but David Templeton insists he is old enough) , Scotland's Rick Pedrick with 42 points was their top player , likewise Malcolm Lunn with 40 points on count back for England and John D with 39 points for Wales.

Wales as has been their fate came last with 301 points , next was Ireland with 330 points and second was Scotland with 337 points. England just managed to win with 340 points ( thanks to the Irish renegade)

 Full Results